Content Delivery Network Blog | CDN EvangelistThe blog for CDN professionals

February 16th, 2010 : Linda Leung

Some cloud storage providers compete on features, others on price. Startup CloudLeverage says it will compete on both fronts, claiming it offers enterprise-grade features at public cloud pricing. At $0.05 per gigabyte of storage, the pricing announced by CloudLeverage undercuts Amazon’s $0.15 per GB pricing and yet offers customers such enterprise features as network-attached storage, VPN tunneling, or an MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching) infrastructure.

CloudLeverage, funded by hosting and colocation provider Netriplex, says it will provide storage, acceleration, security, load balancing, and DNS services from 32 data centers worldwide. Storage customers can choose to place their data in up to nine data centers.

READ MORE >> CloudLeverage Eyes Enterprise Cloud Storage « Data Center Knowledge

Written by R. Scott Raynovich

comScore Inc. recently announced in its “Year in Review” for 2009 that use of Internet video continues to explode, which will continue to fuel the debate about whether serving Internet video can be a profitable business.

Hulu LLC ’s growth was 140 percent, year over year. Then take a look at YouTube Inc. : It recently said it’s serving 1 billion streams per day! YouTube maintains the leading market share of the online video market at 26 percent, according to comScore’s calculations.

READ MORE >> Internet Evolution – R. Scott Raynovich – Online Video: Booming Growth, Sinking Costs

BROOMFIELD, Colo., Feb 08, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Level 3 Communications, Inc. /quotes/comstock/15*!lvlt/quotes/nls/lvlt (LVLT 1.27, -0.11, -7.97%) today announced that the company will provide content delivery network (CDN) services for the United States Geological Survey (USGS), a bureau of the Department of the Interior. Level 3 CDN services will optimize Web site performance for www.usgs.gov and related Web sites that deliver publicly available information about natural resources and hazards, including critical updates about earthquake activity.

Under the terms of the multi-year agreement, Level 3 will deliver online content caching and downloading. These services cache Web site files in numerous locations across the Level 3 network. Redundant content storage and delivery capabilities help to ensure Web site availability and performance, particularly during earthquakes and other natural hazards that drive unpredictable demand for online content, such as interactive maps and video.

"Level 3 CDN services offer government agencies a new set of tools to manage their network infrastructure and move high-demand content," said Edward Morche, senior vice president of Federal Markets for Level 3. "Level 3 is a pioneer in the development and delivery of CDN capabilities and we are proud to put these services to use for the USGS as they communicate reliable scientific information and critical event updates to the public."

Level 3 delivers services to USGS under the Government Services Administration [GSA] Schedule 70 contract. The Level 3 CDN serves the U.S., Europe, Asia and Australia with more than 40 content caching or storage sites in 14 countries. CDN capabilities place information at the edge of networks — close to the end-user — to provide quality, on-time delivery, particularly during peak traffic and unpredictable demand.

About USGS

USGS provides science for a changing world. For more information, visit www.usgs.gov.

About Level 3 Communications

Level 3 Communications, Inc. /quotes/comstock/15*!lvlt/quotes/nls/lvlt (LVLT 1.27, -0.11, -7.97%) is a leading international provider of fiber-based communications services. Enterprise, content, wholesale and government customers rely on Level 3 to deliver services with an industry-leading combination of scalability and value over an end-to-end fiber network. Level 3 offers a portfolio of metro and long-haul services, including transport, data, Internet, content delivery and voice. For more information, visit www.Level3.com.

(C) Level 3 Communications, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Level 3, Level 3 Communications and the Level 3 Communications Logo are either registered service marks or service marks of Level 3 Communications, LLC and/or one of its Affiliates in the United States and/or other countries. Level 3 services are provided by wholly owned subsidiaries of Level 3 Communications, Inc. Any other service names, product names, company names or logos included herein are the trademarks or service marks of their respective owners.

Forward-Looking Statement

Some of the statements made in this press release are forward-looking in nature. These statements are based on management’s current expectations or beliefs. These forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of performance and are subject to a number of uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside Level 3’s control, which could cause actual events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the statements. The most important factors that could prevent Level 3 from achieving its stated goals include, but are not limited to, the current uncertainty in the global financial markets and the global economy; disruptions in the financial markets that could affect Level 3’s ability to obtain additional financing; as well as the company’s ability to: successfully integrate acquisitions; increase the volume of traffic on the network; defend intellectual property and proprietary rights; develop effective business support systems; manage system and network failures or disruptions; develop new services that meet customer demands and generate acceptable margins; attract and retain qualified management and other personnel; and meet all of the terms and conditions of debt obligations. Additional information concerning these and other important factors can be found within Level 3’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Statements in this press release should be evaluated in light of these important factors. Level 3 is under no obligation to, and expressly disclaims any such obligation to, update or alter its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

SOURCE: Level 3 Communications, Inc.

Level 3 Communications, Inc.
Media:
Kimberly Greene, 720-888-3675
or
Investors:
Mark Stoutenberg, 720-888-2518

Level 3 to Deliver CDN Services for U.S. Geological Survey – MarketWatch

CUPERTINO, Calif. – (Business Wire) ParaScale, Inc., a leader in developing cloud storage software solutions, announced today that Voxel dot Net, Inc, a New York City-based managed hosting and IaaS provider, has selected ParaScale software as the cloud storage platform to power its cloud storage offering. Voxel delivers scalability for demanding Internet applications using its VoxSERVER dedicated server line, VoxCLOUD cloud computing services, and VoxCAST global content delivery network (CDN) across North America, Europe and Asia.

Tweet this: Voxel chooses #ParaScale cloud storage platform http://bit.ly/bgNN94

"ParaScale’s unique architecture enables us to offer differentiated cloud storage solutions to meet the needs of our customer base,” said Raj Dutt, CEO of Voxel. “With ParaScale, we have been able to realize our target feature-set and TCO. Unlike what we have seen with some other products, ParaScale is truly designed to scale out both performance and capacity by using commodity servers running Linux.”

“With ParaScale technology, Voxel is now able to offer high performance, multi-location, multi-tenant cloud storage at an attractive price point,” said Sam Machiz, Vice President of Sales at Voxel. “Additionally, the ease of provisioning and deploying ParaScale, combined with the automation features of VoxCLOUD, allows us to create high-value hosted private clouds for our most demanding customers that meet their required levels of security, performance and compliance.”

There is significant opportunity for service providers in cloud computing. Analyst firm Tier1 quantifies the public cloud service market to be around $300M in 2009 and conservatively estimates 100% growth per year for the next three years. Cloud storage is estimated to be approximately 40-60% of this market and customers can adopt it quickly because it doesn’t require many programming tweaks to existing applications.

“Voxel’s cloud storage services go beyond the basic cloud storage offerings in the market today. This next generation of services leverage ParaScale’s flexible infrastructure that provides internet-scale storage, self-management and the flexibility to function simultaneously as a cloud, a NAS pool, an analytic platform or integrated virtual compute/storage platform,” said Sajai Krishnan, CEO of ParaScale. “We are pleased to have been selected by Voxel as their global partner in deploying a cloud storage solution.”

Read the rest of this entry »

NATICK, Mass., February 9, 2010 – Nasuni™ today unveiled its gateway to cloud storage, the Nasuni Filer. This is a virtual NAS file server that runs on VMware and leverages the resources of the cloud to simplify file storage and protection. Targeting the mid-market, Nasuni’s solution eliminates the need for incremental storage hardware, and the resulting capital expense, to manage unstructured file growth. When it comes to primary or nearline storage, companies are looking to save money while maintaining control.

Nasuni’s Storage-as-a-Service technology, coupled with unlimited cloud capacity, allows companies to use and pay for only what they need, when they need it. Included in the Nasuni solution are advanced caching, snapshot and deduplication technologies and key management to simplify file access, storage and protection, while eliminating hardware acquisition and installation. Now in beta, the Nasuni Filer can be downloaded at www.nasuni.com. There is no charge for cloud storage during the beta period to facilitate end-to-end evaluation of all Nasuni is offering.

Nasuni’s virtual NAS file server delivers automatic file storage provisioning with built-in file protection for enhanced security. It includes advanced caching, snapshot and deduplication technologies to simplify file access, storage and protection. Nasuni partners with leading cloud storage providers to combine online storage for offsite file protection and backup with local caching for performance. The Nasuni Filer runs on VMware and can be used as primary storage instead of, or in combination with, traditional file servers. Full Windows CIFS Shares, ACL and Active Directory support enable the Nasuni Filer to fit into existing environments where it can be used to consolidate a NAS cluster into a single device or to support an existing application, such as a content manager or an image server. Those not ready for a complete transition to all-in-one cloud storage can use the Nasuni Filer for keeping second copies offsite for disaster protection.

“We see the cloud, with its undeniable efficiencies of scale, as the future for all file storage,” said CEO and co-founder Andres Rodriguez. “We want to knock down the barriers that are keeping ordinary business users away from taking advantage of cloud storage. We make the cloud simple and we make it secure. We increase the performance and we give our customers a choice of cloud providers.”

Features of the Nasuni Filer include:

Automatic provisioning

As a gateway to unlimited storage in the cloud, Nasuni allows for unlimited capacity expansion, and automatically adjusts to increasing or decreasing storage needs. By managing the complexity of provisioning, users gain a virtual storage device that never fills up and is never underutilized, reducing or eliminating the need to acquire more hardware. The user is charged only for is the storage capacity used.

High-performance caching

The Filer’s large cache keeps copies of working files in the user’s local storage for fast access. Changes to these files are deduped, compressed, aggregated, and sent to the cloud, keeping the cloud storage file set up-to-date while minimizing storage space. Cloud traffic is WAN optimized for top performance and actual storage used is minimized.

Synchronous snapshots with fast restores Nasuni captures the entire file system hourly and saves snapshots to the cloud, where they remain offsite yet accessible. Snapshots are deduped to minimize capacity usage. Administrators can roll back to any point in the life of a file, directory, or file system with a few clicks using Nasuni’s easy-to-use interface. Nasuni’s file security and simple restores render additional backup/restore schemes unnecessary for most businesses.

End-to-end encryption

The Filer encrypts data at the customer site using the industry’s highest level of security and key management (OpenPGP with AES-256), or any other standard the customer selects, and the data remains encrypted in the cloud for total protection. Files are never visible to Nasuni or to cloud vendors and the customer retains control of decryption keys, which can be escrowed with Nasuni or a trusted third party.

Choice of Cloud Vendors

Customers can choose among several cloud providers with a simple click of the mouse, and set up multiple volumes in a single gateway sending different files to different clouds. Similarly, customers can send the same set of files to different clouds for redundancy.

Post Beta, Nasuni’s Storage-as-a-Service solution includes an easy-to-install downloadable virtual appliance and a pay-as-you-go pricing structure with a flat monthly fee, or annual plans, plus capacity usage. Customers will receive a single bill from Nasuni for simplicity. Setup and connection is simple and takes less than 15 minutes, on average. Initially, Beta program users will be offered Iron Mountain or Amazon S3 storage, with additional partners to follow over the next 60 days.

“Nasuni’s vision of bringing simple but secure cloud storage access to the mid-market complements Iron Mountain’s core strengths,” said Ramana Venkata, president of Iron Mountain Digital. “We have been protecting and securing customers’ data remotely since 1995 and our Archive Services Platform offers ISVs such as Nasuni a secure platform to build applications and store mission-critical data. Not only will Nasuni’s customers have the confidence that their data is protected by Iron Mountain, but they will also have the ability to leverage our other services to help them extract and leverage intelligence about the stored data.”

“Moving to the cloud can help companies avoid the cost of an expanded infrastructure, including equipment, power and management,” said Laura DuBois, Research Director, IDC Storage Software. “Nasuni’s approach is a minimal investment and minimal disruption that addresses swelling volumes, simplifies file management, and addresses data security objectives.”

Now in beta, the Nasuni Filer can be downloaded at www.nasuni.com. There is no charge for cloud storage during the beta period to facilitate end-to-end evaluation.

Follow Nasuni on Twitter: www.twitter.com/nasuni and Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nasuni/233631748168

Read the rest of this entry »

New performance-optimized network helps boost game download speeds by nearly
400%
New York – February 4, 2010 – As part of continual efforts to better serve
their community of PC and Mac gamers, GamersGate today increased their
download speeds by as much as four times by migrating their game library to
a powerful, performance-optimized Content Delivery Network (CDN) hosted by
leading Internet solutions company, Internap Network Services Corporation.
Effective immediately, users can now download their favorite games faster
and easier than ever before.
"As an online retailer, our first priority is to constantly seek
technological solutions that will help us increase our quality of service to
customers," said Theo Bergquist, CEO of GamersGate. "This transition to an
incredible high speed CDN will greatly decrease the amount of time players
must spend waiting for their favorite games to download."
By hosting their library of thousands of downloadable PC and Mac games on
this new CDN network, GamersGate multiplies, several-fold, the speed at
which their customers can download their favorite video games. Increasing
download speeds is only one facet of GamersGate’s continued dedication to
their philosophy of maintaining the absolute highest quality of service for
gamers across the world.
Internap’s CDN optimizes online game downloading and the overall player
experience through its patented Managed Internet Route OptimizerT (MIRO)
technology, which analyzes network performance characteristics – such as
available bandwidth, delays and packet loss – in real time and ensures that
Internet traffic is routed over the best path 100% of the time.
"As both enterprise and consumer applications and services – including
online gaming – move to cloud-based environments, performance quality will
be critical to end user satisfaction and ultimately to their adoption and
success," said Peter Evans, senior vice president of marketing at Internap.
"With the industry’s only route-optimized CDN, Internap offers organizations
the distinct competitive advantage of an optimized customer experience,
whether that involves downloading and playing online games, streaming video
or utilizing enterprise IT applications."
Look for other convenient services provided by GamersGate, such as their
liberating client-free download platform, their exciting Blue Coin loyalty
program, their newly added chat overlay functionality, and, of course, their
extensive library of thousands of AAA and Indie PC and Mac Games at:
www.GamersGate.com

Read the rest of this entry »

Startup Founded by Serial Entrepreneur Barrett Lyon

Offers Tools to Let Content Providers Better Manage CDNs

SAN MATEO, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Citing the inequitable economics plaguing the healthy growth of the online content industry, 3Crowd Technologies announced its first set of new services designed to help tip the financial balance in the industry back towards content providers and away from content distribution networks.

“These services will have significant implications on performance, vendor flexibility and costs and not only impact the business of current content providers, but also re-orient the economics and invite a new generation of providers to participate in the market.”

3Crowd is the latest startup founded by serial entrepreneur Barrett Lyon, creator of the Opte Project, an Internet mapping project, founder of Prolexic Technologies and co-founder of BitGravity.

Even with the surge in online video and other content, online content providers are struggling to reconcile the escalating expenses of controlling the performance and quality of already costly bandwidth. While absolutely necessary, cloud services such as Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) are often ‘black boxes’ without specific business rules or controls over costs, quality and performance.

3Crowd has developed two new services to give content providers not only greater controls over their content delivery, but also enabled these developers to utilize multiple CDNs at once and thereby command new pricing and performance dynamics.

“If content owners have better control over how their assets are shared and delivered, they get more efficiencies and increased profits,” said Mr. Lyon. “Our approach is to utilize a CDN-neutral delivery strategy creating a mechanism for directing traffic between multiple CDNs, based on rules, pricing and real-time conditions.”

For content owners with high customer service goals, 3Crowd offers a turnkey multi-cloud service strategy. Its two new services, CrowdMonitor and CrowdDirector, effectively convert multiple CDNs into a single cloud-service that can be monitored, managed and deployed as a single service.

“We are using the idea of a ‘crowd’ or ‘crowd-sourcing’ by leveraging multiple CDNs to perform the function that only one has performed traditionally,” Lyon said.

CrowdMonitor lets content providers actively monitor and react to cloud service performance and reliability data. Passive monitors are placed throughout a network and at the end user’s location. CrowdMonitor collects continuous streams of logs and analyzes information related to traffic path, speed, downtime, whether or not content is cached, latency times, etc.

CrowdDirector effectively acts as a virtual load balancer on a network, enabling enterprises and content owners to manage their services across multiple CDNs, cloud services, and web servers, using a set of simple and articulate rules. These rules, which include feedback from the ‘crowd’ or the performance from the actual content delivery, are built from a multitude of parameters such as time, location, networks (ASNs), content types, CDN performance, traffic capacities, pricing and more.

The rules also help direct content requests to the appropriate CDN or content hosting location, giving the content providers control over what, when, where and how much each CDN/content hosting location contributes to the overall content delivery.

“These services give content owners the power to know what’s happening with their content and the tools to dynamically manage their assets,” said Mr. Lyon. “These services will have significant implications on performance, vendor flexibility and costs and not only impact the business of current content providers, but also re-orient the economics and invite a new generation of providers to participate in the market.”

Read the rest of this entry »

CommVault Simpana Software now includes integrated Nirvanix cloud storage

SAN DIEGO – February 1st, 2010 –Nirvanix®, the premier enterprise cloud storage service provider, is partnering with CommVault to bring enterprise cloud storage to CommVault® Simpana® 8 customers via an integrated cloud storage connector. The Nirvanix Storage Delivery Network™ (SDN) will be accessible as an offsite scalable storage target for CommVault customers enabling secure transfer of deduplicated backup and archive data directly to any of its globally distributed storage nodes on up to three continents.

The combination of Nirvanix’s secure and reliable access to scalable enterprise cloud storage and Simpana software’s data and information management software, reduces the complexity of moving, managing and protecting data in the cloud while significantly lowering overall operational costs. With backup, granular recovery, records management, deduplication, archiving, heterogeneous content search and compliance management capabilities all offered from the Simpana single platform and extendable to the cloud, the integrated CommVault-Nirvanix solution provides limitless capacity and eases the burden of managing large amounts of data while meeting compliance requirements.

"By integrating Simpana software with Nirvanix, our customers can seamlessly and securely access the Nirvanix Storage Delivery Network,” said David West, CommVault’s Vice President of Marketing and Business Development. “Customers now have the unprecedented flexibility to choose how and where they store their data. With Simpana software and Nirvanix, businesses gain all the operational and cost benefits of cloud storage, while retaining the full range of data and information management capabilities inherent in our single platform approach.”

Among the benefits of the Nirvanix/CommVault joint solution are:

Instant setup and limitless capacity

• Nirvanix cloud storage eliminates the need to design, purchase, and provision onsite capacity

• Nirvanix cloud storage scales seamlessly from initial install to petabyte scale

• Simple drop-down selection of Nirvanix SDN from within the Simpana storage policy GUI

Solid ROI

• Users pay only for what they need with no wasted capacity, data center space, or power

• Nirvanix is a fully managed service, allowing storage managers to focus on other storage applications

• Optimizes utilization of existing storage assets and data center space

• Data can be transferred from existing infrastructure to Nirvanix cloud storage with lower TCO

Ease the burden of managing large amounts of data

• Automates transfer of data from traditional storage hardware such as disk or tape to Nirvanix cloud storage based on user-defined data policies

• Enables compression and deduplication before data crosses the network

Meet compliance and retention requirements

• Automatically supports Nirvanix policy based storage enabling the storing of data on any of Nirvanix’s globally distributed storage nodes

• Available Content Indexing before data crosses the network to meet eDiscovery requirements of on-premises and cloud data from a centralized management console

• Available FIPS-certified encryption before data crosses the network

• Nirvanix is SAS-70 type II certified and all storage nodes are in Tier III facilities with state of the art physical and software security

“Unlike other data management to cloud storage solutions we evaluated, the combination of Nirvanix and CommVault technology is well thought out. We were impressed right away,” said Jack Vant, System Engineer at Boise State University, who had an early opportunity to evaluate the joint solution. “The setup was fast, and support was on the ball and available to ensure everything was running smoothly. I was expecting it to take weeks, but was moving data to the cloud after a few hours utilizing the existing policies I had already set up in Simpana software.”

“The overwhelming majority of customers we talk to tell us that managing data growth from a data awareness and storage provisioning perspective is what they struggle with the most,” said Geoff Tudor, Co-founder and SVP of Business Development of Nirvanix. “Through our partnership with CommVault we are able to offer a complete solution that leverages Simpana software’s industry leading single platform approach to data management with scalable and fully managed enterprise cloud storage powered by Nirvanix. Users of the combined solution can now automate data transfer to the cloud to any one of our 5 globally dispersed locations and instantly provision as much storage as they need.”

Nirvanix is working directly with CommVault to offer the joint solution to end users. CommVault resellers can sign up for the Nirvanix Partner Program to access training materials and generate recurring revenue via annuity- based commissions. In addition, Nirvanix will assign approved resellers a Nirvanix representative to train and help their staff during the sales process. Interested resellers can get more information and apply to become a Nirvanix Channel Partner at http://www.nirvanix.com/partners/nirvanix-program-for-commvault-resellers.aspx

Read the rest of this entry »

DALLAS, Jan. 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — AT&T Business Solutions, the business unit within AT&T* offering services for business customers, completed a successful fourth quarter 2009 highlighted by the acquisition in October of VeriSign’s global security consulting business.

Acquiring VeriSign’s security consulting business aligns its experience in comprehensive risk assessment with AT&T’s suite of network-based cybersecurity services and will enable AT&T to more quickly develop and bring to market capabilities to address the evolving security needs of businesses around the world.  In addition, the acquisition now enables AT&T to deliver a comprehensive suite of Payment Card Industry (PCI) related solutions to its clients.  In other merger activity, AT&T in the quarter completed its acquisition of Centennial Communications Corp., a move that enhanced AT&T’s network coverage across the Midwest and Southeast United States and in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. 

The business unit further expanded its cloud computing portfolio with the announcement in November of AT&T Synaptic Compute as a Service(SM).  The global, cloud- based offer is designed to give companies of all sizes simple on-demand access to scalable computing capacity in which customers pay only for the amounts they use. The service provides companies with a self-service approach for using IT solutions without having to worry about over-building or under-investing in the capacity needed to handle their traffic demands. AT&T Synaptic Compute as a Service is the third addition to the AT&T family of Synaptic Services that includes Synaptic Hosting(SM) and Synaptic Storage as a Service(SM).

Also during the quarter, AT&T announced plans to work with TerreStar Networks to offer an integrated smartphone mobility solution that will combine primary cellular wireless connectivity with the ability to connect to a satellite network as a backup, using one phone number and one smartphone device.  The AT&T integrated solution will redefine the mobile satellite services experience by providing users with easy access to both cellular and satellite networks through a cutting-edge handset that is both smaller and more feature-rich than previous satellite devices.

Other fourth quarter highlights included:

• A $120-million contract extension for AT&T Government Solutions to support U.S. Postal Service facilities across the country under the Postal Advanced Telecommunications Network (PATN) contract.
• The rollout of AT&T Security Event and Threat Analysis and AT&T Security Device Management, two new managed security services that enable customers to engage AT&T security professionals selectively to provide customized security support.
• Expansion of AT&T’s efforts with smart grid technology by announcing a teaming agreement with Silver Spring Networks to deliver 3G wireless communication services to Silver Spring’s utility customers throughout the U.S.
• The bundling of AT&T Tech Support 360(SM) with select Lenovo PCs, enabling small and midsize businesses to get industry-leading devices and access to live, U.S.-based 24/7 technical support with a single purchase.
• Deployment of a new node in Kuwait City that will provide AT&T’s global customers with improved connectivity in the Middle East and allow local Kuwaiti companies better access to global markets via AT&T’s worldwide network.

Additionally, AT&T Business Solutions made the following updates to its enterprise portfolio this quarter:

Voice Over IP (VoIP)

Joint AT&T/Avaya Customer Sales Center for Small to Medium Businesses:  AT&T and Avaya launched a dedicated customer sales center to serve the enterprise needs of their joint small and medium business customers.  The sales center serves as a common "front door" for one-stop shopping for customers’ equipment and network needs.  Also, AT&T advanced SIP services and AT&T Mobility Services customers can use the center to purchase Avaya’s IP Office solution and find out more about benefits the combined solutions provide whether on the road, in the office, or at home.

IP Telephony

Cisco Certifications:  AT&T has renewed two IP Telephony certifications from Cisco:

• Cisco Master Unified Communications Specialized Partner certification.
• Cisco Gold Certified Partner designation that recognizes AT&T’s broad range of expertise having achieved four advanced specializations — Unified Communications, Routing & Switching, Security, and Wireless LAN technologies.

Managed IP Telephony Support on Cascaded Routers:  AT&T has added capabilities to its IP Telephony and local area network services that support cascaded – or linked – routers at the customer premise.  Customers now can link multiple on-site routers containing features such as conferencing, transcoding, remote survivability, PSTN gateway connectivity and Cisco Unified Border Element (CUBE) functionality.  Customers can use these capabilities with AT&T Managed Wide Area Network Services such as AT&T IP Flexible Reach, AT&T Enhanced Virtual Private Network, AT&T Managed Router Service and Managed Internet Service Plus.

Data Services

New Options for Serial Component and High Definition Video Transport:  AT&T added four new options to its Serial Component and High Definition Video Transport services to give broadcast customers greater flexibility in their network design solutions.  Among the additions are interfaces allowing customers to handoff a SMPTE 310M digital (19.39 Mbps) video signal, or an NTSC (National Television System Committee) transmission stream.  Other supported interfaces include HD-SDI, SDI, SDTI, and DVB-ASI.

Mobility

AMP Component of AT&T Mobile Enterprise Applications Platform (MEAP) Achieves SAP Certification:  The Antenna Mobility Platform (AMP) v.4.0 component of AT&T’s Mobile Enterprise Applications Platform (MEAP) has been certified by SAP AG for integration with SAP® applications via enterprise services. Through the certified integration, AT&T’s MEAP can integrate with SAP solutions by using an open standards-based platform and architecture. This provides customers with the ability to access and interact with their key SAP processes and data directly from their AT&T mobile device, delivering improved applications interoperability, increased flexibility and reduced total cost of ownership.

Collaboration

AT&T Telepresence Solution Available via Enhanced VPN:  In addition to the AT&T Virtual Private Network architecture, AT&T Telepresence Solution is now available as a standard offer to customers using AT&T Enhanced Virtual Private Network service.

Essential Management Option for AT&T Telepresence Solution:  AT&T Telepresence Solution customers can now enjoy an Essential Management Option, giving them a choice between basic and premium management of their AT&T Telepresence Solution.

Hosting, Cloud, and Application Management Services

Expansion of the Lithia Springs, GA Internet Data Center (IDC):  AT&T completed a facility expansion to the Lithia Springs IDC outside of Atlanta to meet the storage and hosted server needs of customers in the region where they are experiencing growth.  AT&T’s IDCs encompass 2.6 million square feet of space.

Participation in Cisco’s Unified Computing System -Advanced Technology Partner Program:  AT&T has joined Cisco’s Data Center – Unified Computing System -Advanced Technology Partner program.  Cisco’s Advanced Technology Program is a certification program that recognizes AT&T’s expertise in designing, implementing and supporting data center networking infrastructure and data center storage networking solutions.  The program will add another Cisco certification to AT&T’s already diverse suite of data center solutions and will offer AT&T customers an even wider selection of data center solutions to best meet their unique requirements.

Digital Media Solutions(SM) Footprint and Portal Enhancements:  AT&T increased its competitive position with the top five Content Delivery Network (CDN) providers by enhancing the AT&T Intelligent Content Distribution Service(SM) (ICDS) footprint in Mexico and Southeast Asia to include Secure Socket Layer (SSL).  In addition, AT&T improved customer experience and reporting flexibility by adding self-provisioning features on the AT&T ICDS Reporting Portal.

Acquisitions, Cloud Computing Offer and Innovative Mobile Applications Highlight Fourth Quarter 2009 for AT&T Business Services — DALLAS, Jan. 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ –

Level 3’s CDN to Bring Popular Chef’s Recipes to Mobile Users

BROOMFIELD, Colo.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Level 3 Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:LVLT) today announced that it is working with software publishing company Zolmo Limited to deliver caching, on-demand video content and geo-targeting services for the Jamie Oliver “20 Minute Meals” iPhone application.

“It was important to us that the application provided a clean, fast, hassle-free customer experience, and using the Level 3 CDN to deliver content directly to the mobile device is helping us to ensure that”

The “20 Minute Meals” application is a mobile digital cookbook full of step-by-step instructions, full-screen photography, a shopping list feature, and high-quality videos that users can follow to create 55 healthy meals from the popular chef.

Level 3 is working with Zolmo to deliver caching and download services for the application over the Level 3 Content Delivery Network (CDN). Level 3 is also delivering token-based authentication and geo-targeting to give Zolmo the ability to customize delivery options to users. In addition, Level 3 worked with Zolmo to de-couple the video content from the application’s other content (recipes, photos, shopping lists) to enable users to more quickly download and install the application.

“As more people turn to mobile devices for content, there is a greater expectation that the quality of the mobile experience will mirror that of the traditional online experience,” said Peter Neill, senior vice president of Content Markets for Level 3. “By leveraging the Level 3 IP backbone, we’re able to provide the scalability and reliability needed to ensure a first-class user experience.”

The “20 Minute Meals” iPhone application was developed by Jamie Oliver and London-based Zolmo Limited, a software publishing and development company that creates lifestyle and entertainment applications for the next generation of digital devices.

“It was important to us that the application provided a clean, fast, hassle-free customer experience, and using the Level 3 CDN to deliver content directly to the mobile device is helping us to ensure that,” said Tristan Celder, CEO of Zolmo. “Users now have faster access to the videos, targeted content and a great application that’s designed to work with their mobile lifestyle.”

The application gives users access to over an hour of video clips from the chef, demonstrating kitchen skills ranging from cutting and chopping to cooking techniques. The video on-demand feature allows users to choose the videos they want to store on the mobile device and delete the ones that they have already watched. To download the application, please visit the iTunes store.

For more information on Level 3’s CDN services, please visit www.level3delivers.com. For information on Zolmo, visit www.zolmo.com.

Read the rest of this entry »