Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Yes. I attended. Recording I was told will be made avl. Charlie talked.
Follow Edgemode on LinkedIn.
Level 3 and du introduce new fiber-based global broadcast solution for the Middle East
<< Level 3 and du introduce new fiber-based global broadcast solution for the Middle East, to meet growing demand for high-quality content
du in cooperation with global carrier Level 3 Communications will offer fiber-based video transmission services with a dedicated node serving the UAE and beyond.
Dubai, UAE, 12 March 2014: Strengthening their presence in the Middle East, du and Level 3 Communications today introduced the expansion of Level 3's Vyvx Solutions into the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This marks a welcome addition for international broadcasters to better meet viewers' demand for high-quality content, such as major sporting events. Co-operating with UAE telecom operator du in delivering the service, Level 3 established a Point of Presence (PoP) at datamena, the carrier-neutral data centre and connectivity platform based in the UAE serving the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region.
The Level 3 suit of Vyvx services will complement du's existing broadcast services with global fiber-based video transport services, designed to meet ever expanding bandwidth needs. As a result, du will be able to provide its broadcast network customers with on-net access from the local node to Level 3's global network footprint.
du and Level 3 Communications are confirming their commitment to delivering high-quality global broadcast solutions in the UAE with a joint presence at CABSAT, the conference dedicated to professional content management in the Middle East (Dubai, UAE; 11th - 13th March 2014).
"These are exciting times - the UAE is well-known for hosting major sporting events and concerts as well as some of the world's newest production studios which focus the world's attention on the country", said Martin Ford, senior vice president of Sales for Europe Middle East and Africa at Level 3 Communications. "Our first Vyvx PoP in the Middle East will enable regional broadcasters and content producers to send and receive their content globally over Level 3's secure, reliable and high-speed media network."
"Level 3's growing broadcast infrastructure and network scalability is helping us expand our business," said Mahesh Jaishankar, vice president datamena & Broadcast, du. "As a leading provider of media broadcast solutions in the UAE, we service the major broadcasters. The introduction of Vyvx will play a critical role in delivering our customers the international reach they need, and to meet expectations of viewers for high quality content."
Media organisations in the Middle East will now be able to receive and transmit live sports, breaking news and other video content to global audiences in a more agile and reliable way. The new Level 3 offering will also provide global enterprises with the opportunity to deliver their broadcast content more readily to avid audiences throughout the Middle East.
Compared to traditional satellite services, fiber cables are less prone to interferences and therefore more reliable, while also offering greater bandwidth capacity at a price point that has become more accessible. The Level 3 Vyvx service will harness the new local PoP, as well as subsea cables reaching the UAE, to offer protected, direct digital fiber connections to global media companies, who are already familiar with and using the Level 3 Vyvx offering in other markets around the world.
Fitch Affirms Level 3 Communications IDR at B; Positive Outlook
http://www.fortmilltimes.com/2013/09/30/2993514/fitch-affirms-level-3-communications.html
Is the Tide About to Turn For Level 3 At Long Last?
July 9th, 2012 by Robert Powell
Last week marked nine months since Level 3 Communications (NYSE:LVLT, news, filings) closed its purchase of Global Crossing, and this week will be fifteen months since the deal itself was announced. The company’s stock price today is still below where it was on both of those dates, but the underlying fundamentals seem poised to shift dramatically in their favor over the next quarter or two.
The company offered EBITDA guidance of 20-25% growth above a $1.216B base, or $1.45-1.52B. In order to merely reach the lower end of that range they’ll need to be at $400M in quarterly EBITDA by year’s end. For example, a linear progression that would get there would start with Q1's $327M, then $352, $377, $402 over the next three quarters, or $1.458B for the year. Personally, I think Q2 comes in a bit lighter than that with a bigger ramp needed in the second half (as always), but the overall trend goes in the same direction unless you assume an integration disaster scenario from the beginning.
Big deal, right? Well, at their current enterprise value, that $400M annualized EBITDA run rate at year’s end would correspond to an EV/EBITDA multiple of just 7.3 with more synergies still in the wings. That’s down where it was during the credit deep freeze. To keep their EV/EBITDA ratio where it is now, the stock price would have to pass $35. At that point models start predicting actual positive earnings per share a quarter or two later, with big free cash flow numbers for 2013.
Which way things go may hinge on Level 3's Q2 earnings report in a few weeks. Investors merely hope to see a continued growth trend accelerating in to the second half along with steady integration progress. Shorts are just waiting to pounce on any news of integration troubles.
Remember the 9 month mark was when the integration of Broadwing (and six other companies) reared its ugly head. But there are more eyes on their progress this time. While I have heard word of a couple minor hiccups, by and large the integration seems to have been a quiet one thus far. If they pull through in Q2, then the integration looks downhill from here and the improvement in the fundamentals quickly becomes unignorable.
It’s been a decade since Level 3 turned from an overoptimistic builder into a desperate consolidator looking to stay afloat amidst the ruin of all its neighbors. But now the tide looks like it just might be ready to shift back the other way at last, with consolidation complete and organic buildouts making sense again for other fiber operators already.
As long as they don’t stub another toe. The cautious way Crowe, Storey, and Patel have been working this integration, that toe seems much better protected this time.
An IP Engineer and Consumer View of Xfinity Traffic Prioritization
http://blog.level3.com/2012/05/17/an-ip-engineer-and-consumer-view-of-xfinity-traffic-prioritization/
For Level 3, Even a Miss Would Win
February 24th, 2012 by Rob Powell
Earlier this week in the discussion following my article a few days ago on CenturyLink’s possible interest in Level 3 Communications (NYSE:LVLT, news, filings) I said that the math for Level 3 doesn’t require heroic assumptions to get to positive earnings and substantial free cash flow next spring. In fact, the math is so favorable that my model suggests that even if they materially miss guidance throughout 2012, they still likely start generating actual positive earnings and substantial cash flow in 2013.
So let’s take a look at such a hypothetical ugly scenario, one where Level 3 clearly misses its 2012 EBITDA guidance while failing to materially accelerate its core network services growth rate for an extended period. The model makes various assumptions:
5.2% annualized CNS revenue growth in 2012, and 6.9% in 2013
Incremental EBITDA margins of 60% on new revenue
Slowly declining wholesale voice and other revenues at a fixed gross margin
Realized synergies lag before affecting published results by half a quarter
Integration spending and synergy realization remain on schedule
No additional savings are found beyond those already discussed
Net GAAP and cash interest remain at guidance
D&A stabilizes at guidance
What I get when I put it all together is a table like this:
Q1/12 Q2/12 Q3/12 Q4/12 Q1/13 Q2/13 Q3/13 Q4/13
- Core Network Services 1370 1384 1410 1439 1452 1473 1501 1538
- Wholesale Voice/Other 209 207 205 203 201 199 197 195
Total Revenues 1579 1591 1615 1642 1653 1672 1698 1733
COS 656 655 655 655 654 6504 657 662
Cash SG&A 580 576 574 573 571 569 570 576
Integration spending 25 25 25 25 25 25 20 7
Adj. EBITDA 317 336 362 388 402 424 451 489
Depreciation/Amortization 195 195 195 195 195 195 195 195
GAAP Net Interest 185 185 185 185 185 185 185 185
Stock Compensation 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35
Tax/Other 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10
Net Earnings -108 -89 -63 -37 -23 0 26 64
Net cash interest 170 170 170 170 170 170 170 170
Capex 189 191 194 197 198 201 204 208
Working capital bias -110 -35 15 100 -100 -25 25 100
Free Cash Flow -152 -60 14 121 -66 28 103 211
The synergies are reflected in relatively flat COS and SG&A, as realized synergies should essentially balance the increases that would result from revenue growth. If you add it up, this scenario has revenue of $6.44B missing current analyst estimates in 2012 and doing even worse in 2013, while the 2012 EBITDA number is just 1403, up just 15% over 2011 and badly missing the bottom rung of the 20-25% growth promised by Level 3 in their earnings call.
Yet it doesn’t matter! Despite such a clear miss in 2012 and mediocre improvement thereafter the company still reaches earnings breakeven in the second quarter of 2013, on the way to generating more than $200M in free cash flow that year. Earnings per share for 2013 then would amount to be something like $0.30. (Note, the positive earnings comes earlier than anticipated largely due to the change in depreciation scheduled they announced.)
There’s no room here for four more columns, but if you then take another year of mere 7% CNS growth and no further integration work and nothing fun to spend additional capex on, the 2014 numbers work out to $2.1B in EBITDA on $7.1B in revenue, with earnings per share near $2 and over $500M in free cash flow. Now I seriously doubt that cash flow would be generated and not used for other growth projects, it’s just a number that results from a set of assumptions that have been extended too far.
But this is the pessimistic scenario, I simply can’t bear to put the optimistic one in print. Obviously there are risks that would make things worse. The economy could go into another deep recession. Anything that materially affected the business model itself or the competitive environment could change the cost structure or even kill off a chunk of revenue. But for a decade, the bear case against Level 3 has been simply that they can’t and won’t ever turn the corner on their debt. But with what we know of now, the math just plain works and the bear case needs external help. All they need to do is integrate on a conservative schedule without screwing up and maintain current (low) growth rates — nothing more is required to turn that corner.
This is precisely why I harped incessantly on the singular potential of a Level 3/Global Crossing merger for three years before it finally went down. It’s actually pretty hard to screw up unless some external factor shifts the business model or the integration goes very badly. Such things have happened several times before already of course, but for Level 3 the paradise just over the horizon has never been this close.
http://www.telecomramblings.com/2012/02/for-level-3-even-a-miss-would-win/
Upgrading on Strong Secular Demand; Positive EPS and
FCF Likely by 2013
What's Changed
Rating Equal-weight to Overweight
Price Target NA to $31.00
Our above consensus estimates are driven by
top-line acceleration, operating leverage and synergies.
We expect a 47% EBITDA growth over 2
years, with FCF and net income by late 2012 / 2013.
Investment conclusion: We're upgrading Level 3
(LVLT) to OW due to 1) accelerating revenue growth, 2)
strong margin expansion, and 3) controlled capex levels.
Strong secular demand for connectivity along with expanded
footprint and capabilities from the Global
Crossing (GLBC) acquisition, positions LVLT for accelerating
revenue growth. Similar to other Enterprise-
exposed names, we see LVLT continuing the
revenue growth trends of standalone LVLT while the
top-line pressures from GLBC should improve as acquisition-
related churn tapers off. Despite guidance of
20-25% growth, consensus’ 2012 EBITDA of $1,455M
implies 19.6% growth due to the limited revenue visibility.
We believe consensus has reservations on the name
due to LVLT’s prior fluctuations with acquisitions. The
stock has remained essentially flat Y/Y. As LVLT continues
to show solid revenue trends, we believe the
market view may turn more positive.
What's new: With PF financials and guidance, we’ve
updated our revenue, synergies, and cost projections.
Our base case increases to $31, offering 48% upside.
Where we differ: Our above consensus 2012E EBITDA
growth of 21.6% is consistent with management’s guidance.
This is one of the lowest rated stocks by the sell side in our coverage universe.>>
Notably MS has projected FCF of $557 million by FY '15. Maybe, just maybe, things are starting to go right for a company who's bread always seemed to fall jam side down.
Cowen Summary
Cowen's summary: Conclusion: We are upgrading Level 3 to Outperform from Neutral based on
better visibility of net synergies/integration costs tied to its acquisition of
Global Crossing and the consequent impact we expect it to have on EBITDA over
the next few years. With the stock trading below where it was the day before the
announced acquisition last April and only two out of 14 analysts recommending
the stock, we believe our contrarian call could provide significant upside.
? The reasons we were initially excited about the acquisition are
still true today. When Level 3 announced the acquisition of Global
Crossing we highlighted that the transaction was positive because it would
1) be significantly accretive to EBITDA, 2) improve the company's capital
structure, and 3) enable the company to reduce its interest rate.
? Synergies throughout 2012 will have a very meaningful impact
on 2013. We believe the true impact of net synergies will not be reflected
until 2013. While the 2012 EBITDA guidance the company provided
yesterday implies organic EBITDA growth of 20% to 25% we believe EBITDA
growth can accelerate from 21% in 2012 to 25% in 2013.
? Biggest risk to our thesis is that we still have no evidence of
said synergies. If Level 3 delivers results that are in-line with 2012
EBITDA guidance we believe the stock will react favorably although
admittedly the company's previous track record surrounding
acquisitions/integrations suggests it is not necessarily an easy task.
Renesys Rankings
Measuring the competition
11 January 2012 | Alex Hawkes
Close
Hard cold facts are difficult to come by in the world of wholesale telecoms.
The pace at which carriers enter markets, deploy or extend networks and engage in M&A activity, can make an annual review of the state of the industry rather exhausting work. Helping to put it all into black and white are the Renesys service provider rankings. Renesys collects internet routing data. Huge amounts of it. Using this, the Renesys team is able to rank service providers into global, regional and market league tables – which concisely inject fresh perspective on what was a frantic 2011.
So what lessons can be learnt from the Renesys wholesale service provider rankings from 2011? Well at a glance, significant shifts to IP transit have occurred in both the Asian and African markets. Traditionally, carriers in the former have routed traffic via the west coast of the US but last year saw a burst of intra-regional traffic to the obvious benefit of Asian-based companies. The likes of PCCW, for instance, were able to move from ninth to sixth in the rankings, while NTT remained glued to the top spot. In Africa, the drastic shakeup of the continent’s rankings came in the wake of the vast amount of new subsea cable capacity being enjoyed up and down its east and west coasts. This market also saw the fiercest repercussion of the Level 3-Global Crossing deal, with the company rocketing from outside the top 10 into pole position in the space of a year.
Rankings in Europe could almost be described as stagnant throughout 2011, while any movement in North America’s rankings can be largely attributed to consolidation. Overall, the global wholesale rankings for 2011 point to what Bob Fletcher, VP for worldwide sales at Renesys, describes as a “changing of the guard”. With Sprint dropping from second to third, AT&T plummeting from fifth to ninth, and Verizon slipping one position to seventh, it was another unsettling year for US carriers. Meanwhile, Level 3 sat unchallenged at number one and Tata moved up two places to fifth, proving that emerging markets are the place to be right now. In a nutshell, that will most likely be the case again during 2012.
Alex Hawkes, Deputy Editor
alex.hawkes@capacitymedia.com
Wholesale service provider rankings referenced in this column are taken from data up until December 1 2011.
Streamworks Selects Level 3's CDN Services to Enhance Global Delivery of Associated Press Television News Direct
NEW YORK, Jan. 18, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Following the company’s debut at CES, Streamworks, the global streaming company that uses proprietary technology and end-to-end service to help news, sports and entertainment brands deliver better streaming experiences, today announced it has signed an agreement with Level 3 Communications, Inc. to employ its expansive content delivery network (CDN). Leveraging Level 3's far-reaching global footprint and its network reliability, Streamworks will be able to deliver live, uncut video news feeds to digital publishers across its premium breaking news video service, Associated Press Television News (APTN) Direct.
The Associated Press introduced live broadcasting via satellite in 2003 when it covered the invasion of Iraq in real-time, and today it delivers breaking news video to nearly 200 broadcasters worldwide. In October 2011, AP partnered with Streamworks to utilize its proprietary encoding technology to deliver unrivaled picture quality to online, mobile and tablet devices to meet the growing demand for live content from digital platforms.
Streamworks’ Universal Delivery Network (uDN) is an all-encompassing delivery solution that utilizes all of the major CDNs and ISPs to achieve the high global network penetration necessary to ensure an exceptional viewer experience.
“Streamworks is making great strides in online video experiences to bring live news and events to digital publishers around the world, and our scalable, global CDN is the ideal platform to support their objectives and growth,” said James Heard, regional president of the EMEA region for Level 3. “Using Level 3's content delivery system, Streamworks will be well-positioned to accommodate increasing global demand for APTN’s online streaming services as viewers around the world continue to rely on the Internet — mobile or fixed — to remain informed of world news as it happens.”
“As digital publishers turn to APTN Direct for live, uncut news, they will have greater flexibility to provide an immersive news experience for their audiences with high-quality viewing across a variety of devices to engage with them on social platforms,” said Ray Mia, CEO of Streamworks. “The addition of Level 3's CDN provides the bandwidth, worldwide connectivity, security, and control to help monetize customers’ content.”
Streamworks is part of the Black Ocean group of companies. Black Ocean is a digital media company that invests in, builds and operates technology businesses around the world.
Defense contractors vie for FAA data contract
By Karen Jacobs Tue Jan 10, 2012 6:18pm EST n">(Reuters) - Defense contractors ITT Exelis Inc (XLS.N), Harris Corp (HRS.N) and Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) are vying for a contract expected to be awarded in June to build a data communications system for the Federal Aviation Administration's NextGen program. The system to be built and operated under the contract is meant to replace voice with digital data for many of the communications that take place between pilots and air traffic controllers.
The contract is the second major step in building NextGen, the FAA project to transition from an air traffic control system based on World War II-era radar technology to one based on satellite technology."If we're going to be able to safely and efficiently move traffic on into the 21st Century, we've got to get away from the speed of voice and analog communications," said Dan Elwell, vice president of civil aviation for the Aerospace Industries Association trade group.
He added he was concerned the Next Generation air transportation program as a whole could be set back after a bipartisan congressional committee failed last year to agree on $1.2 trillion in deficit-cutting measures. That failure triggered a process called sequestration that mandates $600 billion in across-the-board cuts at the Defense Department to kick in starting next year.
NextGen has "been funded so far adequately to stay on track, but if sequestration goes forward ... we're very concerned that NextGen will suffer dramatically," Elwell added.
An FAA spokesman declined to comment on the value of the data contract, but industry observers said it is believed to be at least a billion. The defense contractors who have confirmed their bids all have longtime ties with the FAA."It's not surprising that all the big players would be vying for it," Ellwell said.
ITT Exelis said this week its team includes Airbus (EAD.PA), Rockwell Collins Inc (COL.N), United Parcel Service Inc (UPS.N) and air carrier United Continental Holdings Inc (UAL.N).Exelis said the FAA data contract win could be a springboard to new international business as the defense company, which was spun off from ITT Corp (ITT.N) last year, looks to expand its customer base outside the U.S. Pentagon."We see it as a big market and a big growth platform for us," said Ed Sayadian, president of air traffic management at ITT Exelis.
In 2007, ITT was awarded an FAA contract to install and operate ground stations for Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) technology that is the backbone for the NextGen system, which is aimed at reducing traffic congestion and allowing more flights.
Harris Corp, which developed and installed the advanced telecommunications infrastructure system now used by the FAA, said its team includes ARINC, which provides communications and engineering for defense and commercial sectors, as well as Thales (TCFP.PA) and General Electric Aviation (GE.N)."We are a very, very large FAA contractor, so we would bid for an opportunity like this no matter what the (U.S. defense) budget environment looked like," said John O'Sullivan, Harris vice president of mission critical networks.
Diane Desua, Lockheed Martin director of NextGen strategy, called the data contract a "high priority" for Lockheed, which is already working with the FAA to replace the existing air traffic control automation system that is more than 30 years old.Lockheed's team in the data contract bid includes aircraft maker Boeing Co (BA.N), IP service provider Level 3 Communications Inc (LVLT.N), telecommunications software firm Telcordia and airlines, Desua added.(Editing by Andre Grenon)
A Big Federal Victory for Level 3?
January 11th, 2012 by Rob Powell
While there hasn’t been a PR on the subject yet, a helpful reader came across this little item detailing a 10 year DISA/DITCO contract worth up to $410.8M apparently won by Level 3 Communications (NYSE:LVLT, news, filings) over the holidays:
DEFENSE INFORMATION SYSTEMS AGENCY
On Dec. 29, 2011, Level 3 Communications, L.L.C., Broomfield, Colo., was awarded an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract not-to-exceed $410,848,162 million dollars for fiber cable operations and maintenance support. The period of performance is 10 consecutive years, with one-year options through Dec. 29, 2021. Performance will be at various locations throughout the United States. The solicitation was issued as an other than full and open competitive action pursuant to 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1). Level 3 Communications is a large business. The Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization, National Capital Region is the contracting activity (HC1047-12-D-0002).
The source is this article on Defence Professionals. And while $410M would be the theoretical maximum and not any sort of guarantee, it’s not often we see a nine-digit federal bandwidth deal in the hands of someone other than Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, or CenturyLink/Qwest. Winning it would be a heck of a way to have closed out 2011.
Hopefully more details will emerge.
http://www.telecomramblings.com/2012/01/a-big-federal-victory-for-level-3/
DEFENSE INFORMATION SYSTEMS AGENCY
On Dec. 29, 2011, Level 3 Communications, L.L.C., Broomfield, Colo., was awarded an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract not-to-exceed $410,848,162 million dollars for fiber cable operations and maintenance support. The period of performance is 10 consecutive years, with one-year options through Dec. 29, 2021. Performance will be at various locations throughout the United States. The solicitation was issued as an other than full and open competitive action pursuant to 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1). Level 3 Communications is a large business. The Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization, National Capital Region is the contracting activity (HC1047-12-D-0002).
http://www.defense.gov/contracts/contract.aspx?contractid=4702
Limelight and Level 3 Expected To Make Joint Announcement Soon
Dan Rayburn | Thursday November 3, 2011 | 04:14 PM
Over the past 24 hours, some Wall Street money managers have been calling me saying they are hearing that Level 3 and Limelight will soon make a joint announcement regarding both company's CDN business. I have been hearing the same thing and expect the news will come out shortly, maybe even tomorrow. Back in August I reported that Limelight was in discussions to work with Level 3 to potentially merge their CDNs businesses and work with one another to sell CDN and value add services. The companies have been speaking since the summer and while various options were looked at, it appears that both companies have now settled on a deal, which I originally heard was suppose to come out today. Maybe it will be after the market closes or will come out tomorrow, but an announcement is imminent and it will not be an acquisition, but rather some kind of partnership.
Since I don't know all of the exact details on how the deal will be structured, I'm not going to release only partial info on what I have heard and will let both companies share the full details themselves. But with the news expected to hit shortly and Limelight reporting earnings on Monday, I expect we'll hear a lot more about this very soon. I've already outlined how a deal like this could help both companies, but until a deal is officially announced and we know exactly what the structure of the deal looks like, it's still too early know how this will impact the CDN market in the near-term.
Level 3 Communications Celebrates Recent Listing on the NYSE
For Release: 19 Oct 11
President and Chief Operating Officer, Jeff Storey, and Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Level 3 Communications, Sunit Patel, Ring The Opening BellSM
Who/What:
On Thursday, October 20, Level 3 Communications will visit the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), to celebrate the completed transfer of its common stock listing to the NYSE under the ticker symbol "LVLT".
In conjunction with its listing on the NYSE, Level 3 implemented a 1-for-15 reverse stock split of its common stock, which will take effect after the close of trading on October 19, 2011. The reverse stock split will automatically combine every 15 shares issued and Level 3 common stock without any change in the par value per share.
When/Where:
Thursday, October 20, 2011
NYSE Security Checkpoint/Tent at corner of Exchange Place and Broad Street
9:00 a.m. Media escorted into the building for bell ringing
9:30 a.m. The Opening Bell rings
Contact:
Media interested in covering the bell ringing please contact Anthony Drizis at 212.656.2147 or adrizis@nyx.com .
Photo/Video:
Photos available via Associated Press/New York (212.621.1902), Reuters America (646.223.6285) and Bloomberg Photo (212.617.3420). The Opening Bell® (starting at 9:25 p.m.) feed is available via Ascent loop #4009. Media seeking footage via The Switch should contact NYSE Broadcast at 212.656.5483.
*SOCIAL MEDIA*:
Connect with NYSE Euronext on Facebook (NYSE Euronext-Official Site), Twitter (@NYSE_Euronext) and YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/user/nysetv1).
Predicting the Next Big One for Level 3
October 17th, 2011 (8 hours ago) by Rob Powell
Since FBR speculated that Level 3 might be about to make a late bid for PAETEC, I have been fielding numerous questions offline about the possibility – with skepticism as I have already noted and won’t rehash here. But one of my main responses is that if Level 3 is hungry then they have tastier targets than a national US CLEC with its own integration to worry about, at which point obviously I am immediately asked who those targets might be. Let’s talk about just one of them.
What if I told you there was an acquisition candidate out there that had the following characteristics:
deep metro fiber spanning 38 major cities, 10 being current Level 3 metro markets and a dozen more they still serve only with a PoP or two.
more on-net buildings than Level 3 has now
little risk to their current integration tasks in the US
19 data centers with a cloud infrastructure business getting current focus
$2B+ in revenue, with growing data & IP balancing declining lower margin voice
20%+ EBITDA margins
Current EV/EBITDA trading far below 5x, and that’s before any possible synergy thoughts
You’d probably think I was making it up.
Look at this from Level 3's perspective. What do they need? First and foremost, they need the Global Crossing integration to not hit speed bumps because it gets them so much closer to where they want to be all by itself. You can hear that reflected in everything the company says these days, it is priority number 1. Any M&A hunger on their part simply can’t risk that without being a truly awesome opportunity, which I think greatly decreases the likelihood of a major US CLEC acquisition of any sort for a year or so.
Second, in terms of assets they already have everything they need to go to bat against the big boys in the USA, the UK, and Latin America. The one place their assets are perhaps not so complete is in continental Europe. Last week the company announced the expansion of its enterprise business into Germany, which highlights the fact that their European business outside the UK remains mostly wholesale. They have metro assets there of course, but the coverage doesn’t match their other regions.
European metro assets don’t get the same kind of credit yet as in the US, and hence they aren’t priced for royalty. I think that logically Level 3 can get more bang for its buck sooner by making a big move on a pan-European asset with metro connectivity. Well, if it’s transformational, why not make a bid for Colt? Yes, Colt is the company I was iterating the characteristics of in the list above. That on-net building count is actually 18,000, and EV/EBITDA is – well it isn’t even close to 5 if my calculations are correct.
Add up the GCUK business, Level 3's European unit, and COLT’s pan-European assets and enterprise penetration, and you have an operating unit with both asset depth and breadth that already has the scale to make a serious competitor on all fronts and which complements the US and South American portfolios quite nicely. The declining voice business would parallel and compelement the one they already operate in the US, possibly stabilizing as a result. And you don’t have to break into anyone’s party at the last minute to get this, in fact the other serial acquirers they compete against in the US seem unlikely to even show up at the table. Assuming of course that there is a table to sit at, but that’s another matter.
Before Global Crossing, Colt didn’t make as much sense as an M&A target for Level 3 because other needs were paramount, but now I think the situation has evolved substantially. Obviously there are other targets that also fit this general idea to various degrees – euNetworks, Interoute, various regional assets – but Colt seems quite ripe for the picking these days given current valuations and the economic uncertainty over there.
Could they fund it? It’d be easier than a deal for PAETEC I’d wager…
Internet2, ESnet light up transcontinental 100G network
October 12, 2011 — 12:16pm ET | By Sean Buckley
Internet2 and the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Energy Sciences Network (ESnet) have put the finishing touches on their transcontinental 100G network.
Taking advantage of the coherent optical technology on Ciena's (Nasdaq: CIEN) 6500 Packet-Optical Platform, the new 8.8 Tbps network is equipped with 100 Gbps optical backbone connections.
To date, Internet2 and ESNet have made connections operational in eight markets, including New York, Washington, D.C., Cleveland, Chicago, Kansas City, Denver, Salt Lake City and Sunnyvale, spanning a distance of nearly 4,000 miles.
While the two providers serve slightly different clientele, what's driving them to upgrade their networks to 100G is the ongoing growth in scientific research traffic by U.S. research labs and universities.
Seeing itself as a community member, Internet2's network will also support other community anchor institutions including libraries, hospitals, K-12 schools, community colleges and public safety organizations via its U.S. Unified Community Anchor Network (U.S. UCAN) project. Managed by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), ESnet is a national network that connects the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science researchers at more than 40 different U.S. laboratories and supercomputing facilities and links them to other global research partners.
This latest announcement is the culmination of an agreement Internet2 and ESnet made to share capacity on the Ciena platform being built as part of the Advanced Networking Initiative (ANI). As part of the agreement, Internet2 is also providing dark fiber to ESnet for a nationwide experimental network test-bed.
Initially, ANI will be used as a test network to connect DOE's three unclassified supercomputing centers as well as the Manhattan Landing International Exchange Point (MAN LAN) in New York. At the end of 2012, ESnet will make the network into a production network with 100 Gbps connections that connect the DOE Office of Science sites.
Read more: Internet2, ESnet light up transcontinental 100G network - FierceTelecom http://www.fiercetelecom.com/story/internet2-esnet-light-transcontinental-100g-network/2011-10-12#ixzz1adExVYt1
Subscribe: http://www.fiercetelecom.com/signup?sourceform=Viral-Tynt-FierceTelecom-FierceTelecom
Oppenheimer Doesn’t See Level 3 (LVLT) Placing an Offer on Paetec (PAET)
October 7, 2011 2:29 PM EDT
Oppenheimer analyst Timothy Horan believes that it is highly unlikely that Level 3 (Nasdaq: LVLT) will place an a competing offer for Paetec (Nasdaq: PAET), given that the company is still in the process of integrating its merger.
The firm also highlights that Paetec shareholders prefer dividends, which will be unlikely if LVLT acquires the company. Oppenheimer does anticipate that the industry will begin to consolidate and sees an Akamai (Nasdaq: AKAM) acquisition by telecommunications company or IBM (NYSE: IBM), but doesn't forecast it anytime soon.
Oppenheimer currently has a Market Perform rating on shares of LVLT. Shares of LVLT are trading up 2.17 percent on the day to $1.65.
Sidestepping Windstream, Level 3 Might Make 11th Hour Bid for PAETEC
4 hours ago By Josh Long
PAETEC Holding Corp. is well into its merger agreement with Windstream Corp., but a financial analyst last week raised a question that makes PAETEC’s future seem less certain. Would Level 3 Communications, fresh off its acquisition of Global Crossing, submit an unsolicited bid that PAETEC’s board of directors would have to consider?
In a research note Oct. 6, FBR Capital Markets & Co. analyst David Dixon said Level 3 would be justified to offer a higher bid than Windstream.
“While the WIN/PAET deal makes sense from a defensive perspective and offers some synergies, an LVLT/PAET deal makes greater strategic sense from a scale perspective and we believe creates more upside for both LVLT and PAET shareholders due to even higher synergies from their overlapping network coverage and operations," the analyst wrote.
Spokesmen for Level 3 and PAETEC declined to comment on the report.
PAETEC’s shareholders are scheduled to vote on the Windstream merger on Oct. 27 in New York. But PAETEC revealed in its proxy statement/prospectus that it “may terminate the merger agreement if PAETEC has received a proposal that its board of directors determines in good faith to be superior to the merger and certain other conditions are met, including PAETEC’s provision to Windstream of notice of such a proposal and an opportunity to revise the terms of the merger agreement."
PAETEC, whose stock price has climbed since the Windstream merger was announced Aug. 1, would have to pay Windstream a $40 million termination fee.
“Hostile takeovers are rare, and there is much market uncertainty but at current valuation, LVLT could present a topping bid to the board of $7.30 per share and should be able to retain 50% of synergy upside," Dixon wrote.
PAETEC Shares Up
On Aug. 1, Windstream revealed an agreement to acquire Fairport, N.Y.-based PAETEC in a deal valued at $2.3 billion. Windstream said it expected to issue 73 million shares of stock valued at $891 million and assume or refinance debt of $1.4 billion at the time of closing. PAETEC shareholders will receive .460 shares of Windstream common stock for each PAETEC share. That represents a roughly $5.93 value for each share of PAETEC common stock based on the closing price of Windstream ‘s common stock on Sept. 16, according to Chairman and CEO Arunas Chesonis, in a letter last month to shareholders.
Level 3 to deploy submarine cable system in Colombia
Monday 10 October 2011 | 10:23 CET
Level 3 Communications will deploy a submarine cable system in Colombia. "We've nearly finished studying the investment and hope that, in a very short time, the submarine cable [project] will be a fact", Hector Alonso, director of Level 3 Communications for Latin America told Portfolio. The submarine cable will connect the country through the Pacific coast. Colombia's international internet connections are currently based in the Caribbean Sea. Level 3 also plans to deploy metropolitan networks in the region to provide a point to point service to its customers, and integrate them with its two data centres located in Colombia.
Level 3 Provides Professional Sports Quality Broadcast Services to Universities Across the U.S.
University of Florida First to Use Level 3's Vyvx VenueNet Lite Service to Televise Major Sporting Events
BROOMFIELD, Colo., Sept. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Level 3 Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:LVLT - News), which delivers some of the most-watched sporting events in the world, today announced a new service that will make high-quality, professional sports broadcast services available to universities. Level 3 is supporting the University of Florida and its network of affiliated organizations including WUFT-TV, the University of Florida Athletic Association and Florida LambdaRail (FLR), to deploy its Vyvx VenueNet Lite service to support the high definition delivery of the university's football, basketball and baseball games as well as other programming featuring coaches, analysts and fans.
"We were looking for a scalable broadcast solution that could be employed at several of our Gator sports venues, offering the same high-quality transmission that's delivered by professional sports broadcasts," said Jon Rubin, Director of Multimedia Operations for Florida's University Athletic Association. "Level 3's VenueNet Lite solution is ideal because it allows us to utilize our existing campus fiber network to connect our three major sports venues and our on-campus studio."
Randy Wright, Executive Director of the University of Florida's Division of Multimedia Properties, added, "Now we can easily distribute all of our content in the highest resolution available, giving our fans – the Gator Nation – access to more of our programming. The service also offers major broadcast networks the ability to interconnect seamlessly to televise our games and other content nationally."
"Level 3's Vyvx suite of services has an international reputation in providing the highest quality professional sports broadcasts to some of the largest TV networks, and we're proud to now offer reliable and proven solutions to leading universities," said Mark Taylor, vice president of Content and Media at Level 3. "Not only do we offer professional-level broadcasts for college sports, but also the inaugural launch of our VenueNet Lite service at the University of Florida will give the Gators a customizable broadcast solution that can support a variety of on-campus venues."
The Vyvx VenueNet Lite service provides a centralized, scalable solution that uses a university's existing fiber infrastructure to connect all major sports locations on the campus – eliminating the need for satellite trucks and expediting the video feed booking process. The service is supported by a 24x7 operations team.
For more information on VenueNet Lite and Level 3's advanced event delivery capabilities, please visit www.level3.com/Products-and-Services/Video/Vyvx/VenueNet-Lite.aspx.
Level 3 to Stream Television Programming to PC and Mobile Users for Prisa TV, A Leading Spanish Broadcast Network
Broadcaster Relying on Level 3's HTTP Live Streaming Solution to Deliver 20 Channels to iPhone, iPad and PC Audiences in Spain
LONDON , Sept. 8, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Level 3 Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: LVLT) today announced it is providing content delivery network (CDN) services to support the live online streaming of TV programming to PC, iPhone and iPad users in Spain for leading Spanish broadcaster Prisa TV. As part of Prisa TV's new offering, Level 3 will stream 20 of Prisa TV's broadcast channels to viewers in Spain over Level 3's CDN platform. As users increasingly demand a more portable content experience, Level 3's Internet broadcast and mobile delivery solutions are designed to provide customers with a fast, reliable way to get content to virtually any mobile device.
"We want our viewers to have access to their favorite programs wherever they are," said Jose Amselem , Communications Director, Prisa TV. "Level 3 has the network capacity, the right technical tools and a team with the acknowledged industry expertise that we know we can trust to help us deliver our programming to viewers when, where and how they want it."
Level 3 will provide it's live adaptive publishing solution (AOS) to support the delivery of 20 Prisa TV's broadcast channels to viewers in Spain delivered over Level 3's CDN platform. The company's CDN platform is backed by the company's international Internet backbone network, giving Prisa TV the scale needed to deliver quality content to viewers no matter how large the audience. To further improve the user experience, the channel content will be delivered to viewers using Level 3's HTTP adaptive bit rate streaming, which is designed to provide high-quality video streaming, regardless of the user's connection speed.
"Our Internet broadcast solutions are the result of years of experience working with some of the world's largest broadcasters and content owners to deliver media to online and television audiences," said James Heard , president of European Markets. "We've taken that experience and refined the technical process to make it as easy as possible for broadcasters like Prisa TV to deliver quality content to viewers whether they're watching on their mobile device or tablet."
For more information on Level 3 Internet broadcast services, please visit http://www.level3.com/Solutions/business-need/Internet-
Another Limelight/Level3 Possibility: Federation
August 17th, 2011 (1 hour ago) by Rob Powell
The recent rumors and speculation about some sort of combination of the CDN assets of LimeLight and Level has perhaps neglected an intermediate possibility. The two companies could be exploring a federation of some sort that would allow both companies to move in the differing directions each wishes to go.
Limelight’s body language says they want to move deeper into managed services and spend less of their resources on scaling the commodity side of things. But that doesn’t necessarily translate to leaving the space entirely. Suppose they wanted to transition their infrastructure toward serving the high end, while offloading the commodity heavy lifting to a company that actually likes that sort of thing. Some sort of interconnection agreement could serve that purpose without going through the trouble of an M&A or joint venture.
Consider IP transit networks. It takes major investment to be a top backbone and the rewards are sparse, but that doesn’t mean thousands of companies don’t run smaller IP backbones that fit their technical and economic needs while peering and buying transit for what doesn’t. The CDN world is filled with plenty of smaller players that have other plans than to replace Akamai, and whose infrastructure reflects that. Limelight has been moving up the food chain, but their CDN infrastructure is still focused much more generally. That doesn’t require them to sell that infrastructure, but perhaps simply to re-tune it so that it serves the niches they want to serve and perhaps not try to do it all.
Level 3, on the other hand, owns the underlying network and its whole approach is based on its ability to use that fact to scale its CDN infrastructure better, faster, and larger than anyone. The niche managed services stuff has always been less interesting to them, and they’d be just as happy helping Limelight get there while enhancing their edge at the lower end. An evolution of the CDN space in parallel with the IP transit and peering space with them at the center of both… well it has its attractions.
So perhaps something of this sort is what the two are talking about – a federated solution that would let Limelight get out of the commodity side of things. They’d still be selling CDN services of all types, but their own infrastructure would be more limited and focused on what they do best while they can offload the rest to Level 3's lower cost structure. Level 3 gets more bits, greater scale, and less competition, while Limelight gets to reconfigure its business to something more sustainable. No need for M&A or JV – both of which have substantial downsides IMHO. Thoughts?
Limelight Networks And Level 3 In Discussions To Merge Their CDN Offerings
Dan Rayburn | Monday August 15, 2011 | 11:36 AM | Comments (11)
Two weeks ago, I wrote about the discussions I was hearing with regards to Limelight Networks being in talks to get acquired. A week after my post, Limelight Networks reported earnings and missed guidance by $2M, sending their stock to an all-time-low. As a result of the drop in their stock price, it's going to be hard for Limelight to get the kind of buy-out they were hoping for before their stock price took a hit, but they that does not change the fact they are still in the market looking for a buyer.
While I've heard that both AT&T and Microsoft have passed at acquiring Limelight, the bigger news I have confirmed is that Level 3 and Limelight have been in discussions for a few weeks now about joining forces and combining their CDN assets as a joint venture. I also hear that Limelight wants to sell their EyeWonder business and exit the interactive advertising portion of the market, which would be a smart move. I don't know what Limelight will get for the business, but they paid $110M for it last year.
I don't have details on how a deal between Level 3 and Limelight would be structured, if it happens, but it sounds like there are two ways this can go. Limelight could acquire Level 3's CDN business and then own and operate the CDN portion of the network with a guarantee from Level 3 to use the newly combined CDN. In a deal like this, one would expect Level 3 would get a couple of board seats on Limelight's board and have a great deal of say in the business. Combined, Level 3 and Limelight will have over $200M in CDN based revenue this year and taking Level 3's network and Vyvx business and Limelight's content management and web acceleration platforms, both companies would have all they need to double-down on the CDN space. The other option is that Level 3 could just buy Limelight outright. Considering Limelight has no debt and such a low share price, it would be a cheap buy for Level 3 and a deal that could close quickly.
One could argue that the CDN space is too commotizied to ever make a real business of it, let alone a profitable one with the way pricing declines each year, but if you own the network and have the ability to scale at a lower cost, profitability can be reached. Plus, even though CDNs have been offering delivery services for fifteen years, the real surge in demand for video delivery is in the next few years, when we actually have a real penetration and usage of tablets, broadband-enabled TVs and Blu-ray players and more subscription based content services. Traffic volumes are going to skyrocket in 2012-2013 and Level 3 has been betting big on the future of IP based video delivery.
Based on the recent data from my Frost & Sullivan report on the CDN market, we expect the video CDN market alone to have a revenue CAGR of 28% between 2012-2015 with the video CDN market reaching over $1B in 2013. With Limelight's current CDN business expected to grow between 10-12% this year, that's a long way away from the 28% number. But a combined Level 3/Limelight solution that integrates Limelight's platforms with Level 3's network and Vyvx assets, there is no reason to believe the new venture, however it is structured, can't grow the business much more than 10-12% a year.
Screen shot 2011-08-14 at 2.39.38 PM
Right now, Level 3 offers the lowest price in the market, in most cases under-cutting Akamai by 25-30% on CDN deals as Level 3 owns the network and has a lower cost of delivering bits. One of Limelight's biggest costs is the network and if they can merge with Level 3 in some fashion, the cost of doing business will go down a lot for both companies, simply based on the scale and volume of bits being delivered.
While I've heard some suggest that Goldman Sachs, who owns almost 35% of Limelight, wants to dump their shares and get out of the CDN business as quickly as possible, I don't think that's accurate. Goldman could have sold shares back in February, but didn't, when Limelight raised another $71M and offered more shares to the market priced at $7.10 per share. I've also heard some say that Akamai should acquire Limelight and just get rid of their closest competitor. While that sounds good on paper, the problem is that Level 3 is the one creating the pricing pressure, not Limelight. So acquiring Limelight would not solve the price compression problem for Akamai. Also, if Akamai acquired Limelight they would most certainly shut down Limelight's network and move customers over to the Akamai platform. Akamai doesn't value Limelight's technology so any offer by Akamai, if they made one, would put no value in Limelight's platform, only in their customers and revenue. As a result, the price Akamai would offer to acquire Limelight would be too low.
If Level 3 acquires Limelight, it's a pretty straight-forward deal. But if Level 3 wanted to spin off their CDN business and have Limelight operate it, in order for Limelight to actually acquire Level 3's CDN business, it would be logical to expect them to have to raise more money as the $116 million in cash and short-term marketable securities that Limelight has right now would not be enough to acquire the business and still have operating capital. Selling off the EyeWonder platform might be enough, but I don't know what Limelight would get for it or how much it would take to acquire Level 3's CDN business. Clearly, Limelight knew they would miss earnings weeks before they announced and have been looking at multiple options for their business, as any smart company does. But being I'm not a banker and don't know the inner workings of how complex deals can get done, between cash and stock, someone with a background in finance would be better suited to figure it out. But maybe that's why I was also hearing rumors of Limelight raising money at the same time as acquisition talks.
With the patent lawsuit still on-going between Akamai and Limelight, one interesting thing to watch would be what happens if Level 3 and Limelight merge. When Level 3 entered the CDN space by acquiring the CDN assets of SAVVIS in December of 2006, Level 3 said that for any CDN to be successful over the long term, they’d have to have the intellectual property necessary to protect their investment in the CDN market. Back in 2008 I reported that Level 3 was quietly buying up CDN related patents, including at least 20 from IBM.
In 2008 Level 3 had 50 patents that were pending pertaining to content delivery and already owned over 80 patents specific to content delivery and streaming media technology. Today, those numbers are probably even higher. So I don't think Level 3 is worried about any patent suit from Akamai and if Level 3 merges with Limelight, one has to wonder how that may affect patent suits amongst Akamai, Limelight and other CDNs moving forward.
If a deal between Limelight and Level 3 gets done, it's going to have a lot of impact on the content delivery market overall. Such a combined offering would also give telcos and carriers a run for their money and might also convince a few of them not to spend money to try and build out their own CDN. While it's too early to know all the ramifications of such a deal, it would drastically change the CDN landscape. None of these deals I am hearing about are final and anything can still happen, but I don't think it will be too long before we have confirmation in the market on what the end result for Limelight Networks will be. The natural fit for Limelight is to be acquired or team up with a carrier, and there is no carrier who understands the CDN market better than Level.
Both Limelight and Level 3 declined to comment for the post saying, "we don't comment on these kinds of rumors".
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/getboards.asp?SearchStr=lvlt
Level 3 Provides CDN Services for RuTube, Helping Increase Video Views on the Popular Russian Video Portal Site by 15 Percent
Level 3's Media Delivery Solution Improves Quality, Reach and Volume of RuTube's Online Video Streams and Post-Roll Advertising
LONDON , Aug. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Level 3 Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: LVLT) today announced that it has been selected to provide content delivery network (CDN) services to Russian online video portal RuTube, enabling the delivery of the portals video content throughout Europe . Since Level 3 began providing service to the company in April 2011 , RuTube tests have shown significant improvements in the quality and reach of its video content, resulting in a 15 percent jump in the number of full video views on the site.
"Using Level 3's CDN services, we're able to steadily increase the capacity of our video platform and seamlessly meet demand as our online audience grows," said RuTube chief technology officer Evgeny Kukushkin . "By helping us increase the quality and reach of our content, we've seen not only a significant increase in total video views, but also an increase in views of our advertising — a critical factor in helping us monetize our content."
With Level 3's highly scalable CDN services, bandwidth-intensive content such as video can be more quickly and efficiently delivered to RuTube users in Russia and internationally, regardless of how many users are requesting the video content at once. Since April, Level 3's CDN has been able to easily support the delivery of 20 gigabits per second (Gbps) of peak traffic for RuTube. At the same time, with Level 3's CDN, RuTube has been able to noticeably increase the quality of video playbacks, an important factor in improving end-user experience on the site.
"For customers like RuTube, whose business model depends on the reliable, high-quality delivery of video content, meeting users' expectation is critical," said James Heard , president of European Markets at Level 3. "With Level 3's CDN platform, RuTube has instant international connectivity and network scalability without the significant investment it would take to build out that infrastructure on their own. As demand for content such as video grows, we're committed to expanding the reach of our CDN services to meet the needs of our content customers in Russia and internationally."
For more information on Level 3's CDN capabilities, please visit www.level3.com/en/Products-and-Services/Video/Content.aspx.
Level 3 Supports Amazon Web Services' New AWS Direct Connect Service
Enables Private Cloud Option for AWS Where Enterprise Customers Can Increase Bandwidth Throughput, Improve Network Consistency and Reduce Cost
BROOMFIELD, Colo. , Aug. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Level 3 Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: LVLT) today announced that it is a solution provider for Amazon Web Services' (AWS) new service, AWS Direct Connect, offering dedicated network connectivity and services to support high-bandwidth customer adoption of the AWS platform.
AWS Direct Connect enables enterprises to set up a connection to an AWS region via a dedicated network circuit. Using AWS Direct Connect, enterprises can establish a dedicated connection between AWS and their organization's data center, colocation facility or main office, thereby increasing bandwidth throughput, improving network consistency and reducing network costs.
Enterprise IT departments are increasingly moving applications to cloud-based solutions and looking for additive services to ensure network connectivity is reliable and secure. Level 3's advanced network and cloud services enable an ultra-high availability, end-to-end cloud platform that optimizes business productivity by delivering AWS services over a network that meets the applications' availability, latency and security requirements.
"Enterprise adoption of Amazon Web Services is growing in both scale and complexity. With this increasing sophistication, many customers want network connectivity options that match their application-specific requirements for performance and security," said Andrew Crouch , president of Sales for Level 3. "AWS Direct Connect customers can leverage Level 3's network to meet the demands of high-end cloud adopters with extensive network reach, bandwidth scale and established connectivity to AWS Direct Connect sites."
AWS provides companies with an infrastructure Web-services platform in the cloud that enables application management to be tailored to the business need, and Level 3's international fiber-optic network is uniquely equipped to help scale in response to enterprise adoption of cloud-based services. With this collaboration, Level 3 can provide end-users 1G (gigabit) and 10G (gigabit) circuits to the AWS cloud at all Direct Connect sites.
For more information on Level 3's advanced network service solutions, visit www.level3.com.
Level 3 Connects London Stock Exchange to its Extensive Network
New Point-of-Presence at London's Financial Center Enables More Services, Faster Installation and Superior Network Reliability for over 400 Members
LONDON , Aug. 1, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Level 3 Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: LVLT) today announced that it now offers connectivity to its colocation facility at London Stock Exchange Group's Data Center in the City of London . The point-of-presence (PoP) offers connectivity to the world's leading financial institutions who are co-located within the Exchange Hosting facility, using Level 3's global network.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110523/LA06722LOGO)
With direct access to a secure and reliable backbone network, Exchange Hosting customers including members of London Stock Exchange Group, non-member firms, vendors and service providers, can leverage fast connectivity and wide network reach over diverse high-speed fibre links on Level 3's network. The Exchange Hosting Service provides access to the London Stock Exchange , Borsa Italiana , Turquoise and Oslo Bors trading venues.
"Connecting London Stock Exchange Hosting clients to our global network underscores our commitment to continually invest in improving connectivity to the financial community," said James Heard , president of European Markets for Level 3. "As a result, we can now provide secure connectivity to key participants trading on London Stock Exchange Group's markets."
"We are pleased to welcome Level 3 into our colocation facility to provide an increased choice of connectivity to our clients who are hosted within our Primary Data Centre ," said Nigel Harold , Head of Business Development for London Stock Exchange Group's Technology division. "Hosting clients will now be able to connect Level 3's low-latency metro, European and transatlantic routes to their own hubs and other business centers and trading venues world-wide."
For those of you that couldnt make the CC today.
http://seekingalpha.com/article/282271-level-3-communications-ceo-discusses-q2-2011-results-earnings-call-transcript?source=yahoo
Netflix shares down after subscriber outlook
July 25, 2011. REUTERS/Mike Blake
On Monday July 25, 2011, 4:37 pm
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Netflix Inc, the top video rental company, reported second-quarter revenue that fell short of expectations and cautioned that subscriber growth would slow in the third quarter, sending shares down about 9 percent.
The company said quarterly earnings rose to $68 million, or $1.26 a share, from $38 million, or 70 cents a share, in the period a year ago.
Revenue rose 52 percent to $788.6 million, but fell short of the average analyst estimate of $791.5 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
It also cautioned that it would add fewer U.S. subscribers in the third quarter than it did in the period in 2010, worrying investors about slowing growth and weighing on its share price in late trade.
Netflix shares fell to $256.01 after closing at $281.53 in the regular session on Nasdaq.
Netflix expected to announce monster earnings, revenue for Q2
July 22, 2011 — 6:58am ET | By Jim O'Neill
FierceOnlineVideo is the first place to turn for must-know B2B news in the online video industry. Join thousands of business leaders who get FierceOnlineVideo via weekly email for exclusive insights. Sign up today!
Email address:
Analysts expect Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) to announce another huge quarter when it releases earnings Monday, with revenues projected to increase more than 52 percent from the year ago quarter to $790.5 million. Total revenue for the year estimates are $3.26 billion, an increase of nearly 51 percent. Over the past four quarters, the company has seen its revenue increase an average 34.4 percent, including a 45.6 percent increase--its largest ever--in the last quarter. Earnings, analysts predict, will be $1.11 a share, up 38.8 percent from a year ago--the same as in the previous quarter, but slightly less than the $1.19 originally forecast.
Netflix executives Monday also are expected to give more details on the change in its pricing strategy which earlier this month bumped the cost of a combined streaming and DVD-by-mail service by nearly 60 percent to $15.98; it gave consumers the option of an all-streaming subscription or all-DVD-by-mail subscription for $7.99 each. The move prompted an outcry from many consumers, but the company quietly stuck to its guns. Analysts have been split on the impact the new pricing will have on subscriptions.
Monday, execs also will likely describe a more complete road map for the company's expansion into Latin America, a recap of its expansion into Canada last year, with the expectation that Netflix will announce huge subscriber gains--and profitability--north of the border. Netflix is also likely to clarify if it will follow its Latin American expansion with a move into the U.K. and Spain, as reported earlier this month.
The company will also report subscriber numbers, or course. After adding 3.3 million domestic subscribers last quarter, Netflix is expected to announce it has reached 24 million subscribers this quarter.
Read more: Netflix expected to announce monster earnings, revenue for Q2 - FierceOnlineVideo http://www.fierceonlinevideo.com/story/netflix-expected-announce-monster-earnings-revenue-q2/2011-07-22#ixzz1T9XK3cOJ
Subscribe: http://www.fierceonlinevideo.com/signup?sourceform=Viral-Tynt-FierceOnlineVideo-FierceOnlineVideo
Why Level 3 had better luck reaching IP interconnection accord with Cox than Comcast
by Joan EngebretsonJuly 19th, 2011
Nearly eight months after Level 3’s IP interconnection dispute with Comcast exploded (CP: Toll-gate: Level 3-Comcast traffic dispute explodes into Net Neutrality controversy), Level 3 apparently has managed to see eye-to-eye with at least one cable operator, announcing an IP interconnection deal last week with Cox Communications as part of a broader agreement for Cox to purchase a variety of services and network facilities from Level 3.
Anyone seeking to understand the magical terms and conditions formula that enabled the IP interconnection deal to transpire will find themselves seeking in vain, however. Neither Level 3 nor Cox cared to provide details of the agreement to Connected Planet—such as answering questions about whether the network operators use “hot potato” or “cold potato” routing (CP: Who’ll carry the cold potato?). Considering that a key Level 3 customer is Netflix and that Netflix would want certain quality assurances to support its streaming content offering, my guess would be that Level 3 is the one carrying the cold potato—a scenario that would tend to shift some of the costs of carrying traffic between the two networks toward Level 3. But neither company would confirm that.
The new agreement calls for Cox to buy a variety of things from Level 3—including high-speed IP and transport services and dark fiber. The latter will be used to expand Cox’s backbone network. In addition, Cox will be able to use and resell Level 3 services.
At the peak of the Comcast/ Level 3 dispute, at least one industry observer noted that Comcast had the upper hand because it was critical for Level 3 to reach Comcast customers and Level 3 could only reach those customers with Comcast’s cooperation (Blog: Rayburn on Comcast/Level 3: Last mile, not peering, the issue). Comcast, some said, was unwilling to cooperate because it wanted to make things difficult for Netflix, which it viewed as a competitive threat.
Cox undoubtedly was in the same position as Comcast, but rather than fighting Level 3, it looks like Cox has leveraged its position as the operator of a major eyeball network to gain favorable terms on the network infrastructure and services it undoubtedly will need moving forward.
Critical Data Network, Inc. Selects Level 3 to Improve Network Capabilities
Level 3 Providing High-Speed Internet Services to Support Service Provider's Expanded Operations
BROOMFIELD, Colo. , July 20, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Level 3 Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: LVLT) today announced that is has signed an agreement with Critical Data Network, Inc. , an international service provider based in San Diego , to provide the company with high-speed Internet protocol (HSIP) services in support of its expanding operations in Southern California and Mexico .
Critical Data Network provides its end-users with a range of Internet solutions, including dedicated servers, colocation space, virtual private server (VPS) hosting and voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) services. In order to improve its network capabilities, Critical Data Network is leveraging Level 3's advanced IP services to provide customers with a high-performing and reliable Internet experience. Under the terms of the three-year agreement, Level 3, which currently provides colocation services to Critical Data Network, will provide the company with 10 gigabit per second (Gbps) HSIP, which Critical Data Network will resell to its customers.
"Critical Data Network is dedicated to continually improving its infrastructure and service availability," said Norman Jester , CEO for Critical Data Network. "Our customers demand a high-quality service experience, and working with Level 3 will better enable us to effectively meet that demand while expanding our current service portfolio."
"Level 3's network is engineered to offer service providers like Critical Data Network with first-rate solutions that are capable of helping them excel in their market," said Andrew Crouch , president of Sales for Level 3. "This new agreement expands our current relationship with Critical Data Network, and we are pleased that our high-speed Internet services will support them as they expand their service portfolio and customer base."
For more information on Level 3's advanced network and service offerings, visit www.level3.com.
Berkeley Lab and Internet2 to build 100 Gbps Prototype Scientific Network
Nation’s largest research and education networks harness next-generation technology to expand DOE research capacity and capabilities.
BERKELEY, Calif. and ANN ARBOR, Mich. – July 13, 2011 – The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and Internet2 today announced an agreement to build one of the world’s fastest and most advanced scientific networks to further accelerate U.S. competitiveness in science and technology. The new network will be built for the Department of Energy by Berkeley Lab’s Energy Sciences Network (ESnet) for its Advanced Networking Initiative (ANI), a $62M American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) grant.
Under this agreement, which builds on a long-standing relationship between the organizations, ESnet and Internet2 will work together to construct and operate the new 100 gigabit per second (100 Gbps) ANI prototype network using one of the first national-scale deployments of 100 Gigabit Ethernet technology. The ANI prototype network will significantly increase the information-carrying capacity of ESnet’s present network, which uses 10 Gbps technology.
“The ANI prototype is a crucial step forward to a future nationwide 100 Gbps production network that will connect DOE scientists with unprecedented network capabilities to conduct data-intensive research and collaborations, bolstering U.S. scientific innovation in areas that will impact society, such as climate studies, clean fuels, particle physics, and genomics,” said Steve Cotter, ESnet department head. “The agreement extends a strong working relationship between Internet2 and ESnet to provide the research and education community with the most robust networking resources to meet its current and future needs.”
Internet2 is an advanced networking consortium that provides a national high-performance network that connects America’s universities and research institutions and extends connectivity to research networks worldwide. Berkeley Lab-based ESnet’s national network connects thousands of DOE scientists at over 40 different U.S. laboratory and supercomputing facilities and links them to their collaborators around the world.
To build the national network, Internet2 will use fiber strands on Level 3 Communications’ Tier 1 fiber-optic network. ESnet will also have the option to access 4.4 terabits per second (Tbps) of capacity for the ESnet ANI network using Ciena’s 6500 Packet-Optical Platform. The ESnet ANI prototype network will initially connect three DOE unclassified supercomputing centers: the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) at Berkeley Lab, Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF) in Tennessee, and Argonne Leadership Computing Facility (ALCF) in Illinois, as well as the Manhattan Landing International Exchange Point (MANLAN) in New York.
During the prototype phase, the network will be used for applications and networking research, including connecting the Magellan cloud computing resources at NERSC to ALCF, and the Acadia project, which will develop network interface controller (NIC) hardware and device-driver/protocol-specific software for host and gateway systems operating at 40 and 100 Gbps. The prototype network will also serve as a platform for building out technologies leading to an eventual 1-terabit per second wavelength network.
“Science is becoming more data-intensive and remote instruments are producing significantly more data volume than in previous generations. As a result, research network traffic is growing at twice the rate of commercial Internet traffic, and the trend is expected to accelerate as the scope of scientific collaborations increases and scientists around the world draw data from geographically dispersed experimental facilities like the Large Hadron Collider,” said Dave Lambert, Internet2 president and CEO, “Increasing the capacity of networks is more important than ever to enable scientists to analyze data, collaborate, and combine data sets in new ways from these experiments. Working together with Berkeley Lab to build more capable networks like the ANI prototype will provide researchers with richer services that will increase scientific productivity and shorten the time to discovery for the innovations needed to confront the challenges facing our society today.”
Cotter added, “To bring ANI online, we are working together to dramatically increase both the capacity and the reach of our networks in a mutually beneficial way. By combining resources and expertise, we are realizing unprecedented synergies, making both of our investment dollars go further.”
The prototype network will contribute to accelerated development and wider deployment of 100 Gbps technologies as manufacturers realize economies of scale. The new network is also intended to help improve U.S. competitiveness in science and technology innovation leading to the development and commercialization of future technologies.
“The ANI project benefits our nation in two important ways,” said Mike Aquino, senior vice president of Ciena’s Global Field Organization. “First, it delivers next-generation infrastructure to enable new connectivity and applications for government, research and education, and enterprises, fulfilling a key goal of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Second, and just as importantly, it helps advance our understanding of the world and universe by enabling closer and richer collaboration among ESnet's scientific community.”
"Level 3's robust, scalable and expansive fiber-optic network is ideal for research and education projects of this size," said Edward Morche, senior vice president of Level 3's Federal Markets. "We're proud of our long-standing relationship with Internet2 and to provide the national backbone to support one of the world's fastest scientific networks."
In the spirit of collaboration between the national lab and university communities, Berkeley Lab will also make its dark fiber assets directly available to both DOE researchers and Internet2 university members for disruptive network research efforts, which are critical for enabling breakthrough networking technologies. In doing so, scientists can build testbeds at scale to experiment with new network protocols and paradigms in ways not previously possible.