Global Crossing Deploys EtherSphere Service to New Locations in U.S., Europe and Asia

FLORHAM PARK, N.J., May 23, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Global Crossing (NASDAQ: GLBC), a leading global IP solutions provider, today announced it will expand its Global Crossing EtherSphere™ Virtual Private LAN Services (VPLS) to more than 40 new locations in the United States, Europe and China by the end of 2011.  Global Crossing's EtherSphere family of Wide Area Network (WAN) transport services – including multipoint-to-multipoint, point-to-multipoint and point-to-point solutions (known to the industry as VPLS E-LAN, EVPL and E-LINE, respectively) – is ideal for interconnecting data centers and remote locations and is especially beneficial for backup and disaster recovery implementations.  EtherSphere services are available today as carrier and enterprise offers in North America, Europe, the United Kingdom, Asia and Latin America.  

"With this EtherSphere expansion, Global Crossing continues to deliver on its commitment to create high-value Ethernet service offerings for our customers," said Omar Altaji, Global Crossing's managing director, Worldwide Carrier Services.  "EtherSphere is a proven service that brings the benefits of familiar LAN technology to the wide area network.  Equally important, EtherSphere complements our MPLS IP VPN offer to leverage the benefits of a Layer 2 service, such as routing control, with the benefits of Layer 3 service, such as support for large numbers of remote or mobile locations, in a hybrid network architecture."

EtherSphere's market leading features include flexible bandwidth options from 1 Megabit per second (Mbps) to 2 Gigabits per second (Gbps); up to six Classes of Service for prioritizing traffic to maximize bandwidth use and efficiency; and a usage-based billing component that accommodates irregular and unpredictable bandwidth use.

EtherSphere's best-in-class smart demarcation for all customer sites – with available end-to-end service level agreements (SLAs) – mitigates and addresses many of the challenges associated with applying traditional Ethernet technology to a WAN solution.  Smart demarcation ensures an optimal customer experience by providing critical Ethernet operations, administration and maintenance capabilities such as simplified test and turn up; end-to-end fault and performance management; and optional services for fault reporting.

"Global Crossing recognizes that end-to-end Ethernet service management, administration and SLAs have become indispensible capabilities for our customers to ensure optimal network performance," said John Dobbins, vice president of Transport and Infrastructure Product Management at Global Crossing.  "We're helping businesses get more return on their network investments by enriching our comprehensive portfolio of Ethernet WAN services and features."

EtherSphere expansion in North America and Europe will be in Global Crossing points of presence (PoPs) in key business centers.  Expansion in China will be through Global Crossing's extended reach partner, CITIC Telecom CPC Limited (formerly CPCNet).  The companies plan to deploy Global Crossing EtherSphere Layer 2 VPLS to business centers in China.

Global Crossing EtherExtend services, which provide regional local access for the EtherSphere solutions via multiservice edge routers, already serve more than 150 locations in North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.  This new EtherExtend service expansion will enable EtherSphere to reach more customers in more locations around the world.  EtherExtend also provides a converged services connection supporting Global Crossing's IP Virtual Private Network (IP VPN), Dedicated Internet Access (DIA), Voice over IP (VoIP) and Communications as a Service (CaaS).

Global Crossing's award-winning uCommand™ customer portal directly provides 24x7 online access to provision, troubleshoot, control, monitor, support, and manage the EtherSphere service.  This self-service portal is an integral component of the company's customer experience initiative and a crucial resource that supports the company's longstanding commitment to customer satisfaction.  

Global Crossing is a Tier 1 global Internet provider, offering connectivity to all domains worldwide, optimizing traffic routing.

ABOUT GLOBAL CROSSING

Global Crossing (NASDAQ: GLBC) is a leading global IP, Ethernet, data center and video solutions provider with the world's first integrated global IP-based network.  The company offers a full range of data, voice, collaboration, broadcast and media services delivered with superior customer service. 

Global Crossing provides services to enterprises (including approximately 40 percent of the Fortune 500); government departments and agencies; and 700 carriers, mobile operators and ISPs. It delivers converged IP services to more than 700 cities in more than 70 countries, and has 17 world-class data centers in major business centers around the globe.

Please visit www.globalcrossing.com for more information about Global Crossing.

Website Access to Company Information

Global Crossing maintains a corporate website at www.globalcrossing.com, and you can find additional information about the company through the Investors pages on that website at http://investors.globalcrossing.com.  Global Crossing utilizes its website as a channel of distribution of important information about the company.  Global Crossing routinely posts financial and other important information regarding the company and its business, financial condition and operations on the Investors web pages.

Visitors to the Investors web pages can view and print copies of Global Crossing's SEC filings, including periodic and current reports on Forms 10-K, 10-Q, 8-K, and in respect of GCUK's Forms 20-F and 6-K, as soon as reasonably practicable after those filings are made with the SEC.  Copies of the charters for each of the standing committees of Global Crossing's Board of Directors, its Corporate Governance Guidelines, Ethics Policy, press releases and analysts presentations are all available through the Investors web pages.

Please note that the information contained on any of Global Crossing's websites is not incorporated by reference in, or considered to be a part of, any document unless expressly incorporated by reference therein.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR INVESTORS AND STOCKHOLDERS
This communication shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities or a solicitation of any vote or approval.  The proposed amalgamation between Level 3, Inc. ("Level 3") and Global Crossing Limited ("Global Crossing") announced on April 11, 2011 will be submitted to the stockholders of Level 3  and the stockholders of Global Crossing for their consideration.  Level 3 and Global Crossing will file a registration statement on Form S-4, a joint proxy statement/prospectus and other relevant documents concerning the proposed transaction with the SEC.  Level 3 and Global Crossing will each provide the final joint proxy statement/prospectus to its respective stockholders.  Investors and security holders are urged to read the registration statement and the joint proxy statement/prospectus and any other relevant documents filed with the SEC when they become available, as well as any amendments or supplements to those documents, because they will contain important information about Level 3, Global Crossing and the proposed transaction.  Investors and security holders will be able to obtain a free copy of the registration statement and joint proxy statement/prospectus, as well as other filings containing information about Level 3 and Global Crossing free of charge at the SEC's Web Site at http://www.sec.gov. In addition, the joint proxy statement/prospectus, the SEC filings that will be incorporated by reference in the joint proxy statement/prospectus and the other documents filed with the SEC by Level 3 may be obtained free of charge by directing such request to:  Investor Relations, Level 3, Inc., 1025 Eldorado Boulevard, Broomfield, Colorado 80021 or from Level 3's Investor Relations page on its corporate website at http://www.level3.com/ and the joint proxy statement/prospectus, the SEC filings that will be incorporated by reference in the joint proxy statement/prospectus and the other documents filed with the SEC by Global Crossing be obtained free of charge by directing such request to: Global Crossing by telephone at (800) 836-0342 or by submitting a request by e-mail to [email protected] or a written request to the Secretary, Wessex House, 45 Reid Street, Hamilton HM12 Bermuda or from Global Crossing's Investor Relations page on its corporate website at http://www.globalcrossing.com.

Level 3, Global Crossing and their respective directors, executive officers, and certain other members of management and employees may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies in favor of the proposed transactions from the stockholders of Level 3 and from the stockholders of Global Crossing, respectively.  Information about the directors and executive officers of Level 3 is set forth in the proxy statement on Schedule 14A for Level 3's 2011 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which was filed with the SEC on April 4, 2011 and information about the directors and executive officers of Global Crossing is set forth in the proxy statement for Global Crossing's 2011 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, which was filed with the SEC on April 29, 2011. Additional information regarding participants in the proxy solicitation may be obtained by reading the joint proxy statement/prospectus regarding the proposed transaction when it becomes available.

This press release contains statements about expected future events and financial results that are forward looking and subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially, including: the failure to occur of any condition to the closing of the acquisition of Global Crossing by Level 3 and uncertainties as to the timing of the closing; the failure to achieve or any delay in achieving expected synergies and other financial benefits from the acquisition; changes in Global Crossing's risk profile resulting from the acquisition; limitations on Global Crossing's financial and operational flexibility that arise under the covenants in the amalgamation agreement that could restrict it from taking advantage of opportunities to strategically enhance its business or improve its capital structure; delays or reductions in purchases from Global Crossing by customers because of their perceived uncertainty about its ability to meet their needs after closing of the acquisition; disruptions in Global Crossing's business due to current and prospective employees experiencing uncertainty about their future roles with the company and the diversion of their time and attention from ongoing business operations; Global Crossing's history of substantial operating losses and the fact that, in the near term, funds from operations will not satisfy cash requirements; the availability of future borrowings in an amount sufficient to pay Global Crossing's indebtedness and to fund its other liquidity needs; legal and contractual restrictions on the inter-company transfer of funds by Global Crossing's subsidiaries; Global Crossing's ability to continue to connect its network to incumbent carriers' networks or maintain Internet peering arrangements on favorable terms; the consequences of any inadvertent violation of Global Crossing's Network Security Agreement with the U.S. Government; increased competition and pricing pressures resulting from technology advances and regulatory changes; competitive disadvantages relative to competitors with superior resources; political, legal and other risks due to Global Crossing's substantial international operations; risks associated with movements in foreign currency exchange rates; risks related to restrictions on the conversion of the Venezuelan bolivar into U.S. dollars and to the resultant buildup of a material excess bolivar cash balance, which is carried on Global Crossing's books at the official exchange rate, attributing to the bolivar a value that is significantly greater than the value that would prevail on an open market; potential weaknesses in internal controls of acquired businesses, and difficulties in integrating internal controls of those businesses with Global Crossing's own internal controls; exposure to contingent liabilities; and other risks referenced from time to time in Global Crossing's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Global Crossing undertakes no duty to update information contained in this press release or in other public disclosures at any time.

CONTACT GLOBAL CROSSING:
Press Contacts
Rich Larris
+ 1 973 937 0153
[email protected]

Paula Vivo
Latin America
+ 55 11 3957 2424
[email protected]

Michael Schneider
UK and Europe
+44 1270 534204
[email protected]

Analysts/Investors Contact
Mark Gottlieb
+ 1 800 836 0342
[email protected]

GEN/PR1

SOURCE Global Crossing

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