Global Crossing Helps Businesses Get 'Smart' About Improving Global Ethernet Network Performance

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Oct 19, 2010, 07:00 ET

FLORHAM PARK, N.J., Oct. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- As Ethernet increasingly becomes the technology of choice for global wide area network solutions, Global Crossing (Nasdaq: GLBC), a leading global IP and Ethernet solutions provider, today announced that it has added smart demarcation capabilities to the Global Crossing EtherSphere™ family of services that delivers global Ethernet over its Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) network. These capabilities help customers improve the performance of their networks by using tools that mitigate and address many of the challenges associated with applying traditional Ethernet technology to a Wide Area Network (WAN) solution.

Smart demarcation uses a network interface device to provide Global Crossing with an extensive end-to-end view of the customer's EtherSphere WAN which can help speed service turn-up and troubleshooting. To complement this capability, Global Crossing also has introduced two additional, fee-based optional service features; performance assurance and traffic management, as well as other service enhancements. The performance assurance service feature facilitates the collection of service and network statistics to support end-to-end service level agreement (SLA) metrics. The traffic management feature provides increased control and flexibility to meet the demands of customer applications. These service features can be ordered as of November 1, 2010.

"Global Crossing recognizes that end-to-end service management and administration 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."

Ethernet technology was initially intended to be used for local area networks only, and is now widely used and in high demand for enterprise applications. The use of the technology for wide area networks presents challenges that increase the complexity of implementing global Ethernet-based networks. Global Crossing's new EtherSphere service capabilities and features address these challenges and benefit customers in a number of ways. They simplify network testing and turn-up by giving Global Crossing end-to-end visibility across the customer's EtherSphere WAN; and they enable Global Crossing to offer end-to-end SLAs for frame delivery, latency and jitter; and they enable customers to track SLA performance metrics via uCommand®, Global Crossing's customer portal. uCommand provides 24x7 online access to troubleshoot, monitor, support and manage the EtherSphere service. Having this level of visibility into their networks facilitates better network planning and management by Global Crossing's customers. Customers can also request Global Crossing's assistance in managing their traffic to improve the efficiency of network resources and the performance of their applications.

"The introduction of smart demarcation and the other new EtherSphere service features distinguishes Global Crossing's service offering in today's global Ethernet WAN marketplace," stated Brian Washburn, Research Director at Current Analysis. "With this solution, Global Crossing can offer enterprises the benefits of end-to-end performance guarantees for high-speed global Ethernet VPLS, achieving simplified service activation and greater levels of visibility into their enterprise networks."

Global Crossing EtherSphere WAN services are part of the company's Ethernet WAN transport portfolio. They use mature, familiar Ethernet technology for wide area transport of enterprise services, such as file sharing, email, document management, enterprise resource planning and real-time collaboration.

According to Gartner, a leading industry research and consulting company, the worldwide market for Ethernet WAN services is projected to grow from $14.1 billion in 2009 growing to $22.2 billion in 2014, equating to a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.5 percent.(1)

Global Crossing EtherSphere WAN services are available globally to enterprise and wholesale customers in multipoint-to-multipoint, point-to-multipoint and point-to-point configurations. The technology is reliable; can easily accommodate additional bandwidth in small increments; offers cost efficiencies traditionally associated with Ethernet; and interworks with other Global Crossing WAN solutions, such as Global Crossing IP Virtual Private Networks and Internet access. The services are provided over Global Crossing's dedicated Multi-Protocol Label Switching global network to ensure high-speed, reliable, region-to-region connectivity.

Global Crossing EtherSphere WAN services support six classes of service, enabling customers to prioritize traffic to maximize bandwidth use and efficiency. They also offer a highly desirable usage-based billing component that helps enterprises more easily accommodate irregular and unpredictable bandwidth use, as well as more effectively manage their network costs. This is especially beneficial for backup and disaster recovery implementations.

Global Crossing EtherSphere WAN services are supported by numerous access methods. Through the company's EtherExtend Flex access service and UK EtherSphere service, enterprises can now connect to Ethernet transport services from 150 locations, supporting 26 countries in North America, Europe, the United Kingdom (UK), Asia, and Latin America.

ABOUT GLOBAL CROSSING

Global Crossing (Nasdaq: GLBC) is a leading global IP and Ethernet solutions provider with the world's first integrated global IP-based network. The company offers a full range of data, voice and collaboration services with an industry leading customer experience and delivers service to approximately 40 percent of the Fortune 500, as well as to 700 carriers, mobile operators and ISPs. It delivers converged IP services to more than 700 cities in more than 70 countries around the world.

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

CONTACT GLOBAL CROSSING:
Press Contacts
Kate Rankin
+ 1 973 937 0417
[email protected]

Jennifer Campbell
EMEA
+ 44-1256732663
[email protected]

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

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