Level 3 Reaches Long Term Agreement With Relera - Brief Article

ISP Business, Sept, 2000

Level 3 Communications has signed along term agreement with Relera Inc., a privately-held provider of Internet services and solutions, including collocation, carrier-diverse connectivity and managed services. Under the terms of the contract, Level 3 will receive approximately $30 million a year.

Specifically, Relera will buy bandwidth from Level 3, a broadband infrastructure company, and lease space inside facilities Level 3 owns along its network in 11 mid-size US markets. Level 3 currently has facilities in 38 cities around the US. Relera will build high-availability Internet data centers in the space and market its services to content providers, e-commerce companies, and others that rely on the Internet during the day-to-day operation of their business. The contract value will grow to more than $30 million a year following a ramp-up period.

"We're particularly pleased to have reached this important agreement with Relera," said Devin O'Hara, Level 3's president and COO. "We are looking forward to working with Relera as the company executes its ambitious business plan. We anticipate that their need for bandwidth will grow exponentially as they meet the demands of their customers."

Eric Hood, CEO of Relera, noted that in addition to leasing space in the 11 existing Level 3 facilities, Relera will also be building Internet data centers from the ground up in 14 other US markets. "Upon completion of our rollout, we will have a significant national presence in midsize cities across the country, and we will have access to bandwidth from Level 3 and a number of other carriers," Hood said. "Our agreement with Level 3 will help establish us as a dominant provider of Internet data center services in these under-served markets."

Level 3's O'Hara noted that Level 3 has secured more than 4.4 million square feet of technical space around the world and pre-funded the acquisition and construction of another 2.1 million square feet.