Businesses operating in Mexico or multinational companies with a significant Mexican presence are receiving positive news from Level 3 Communications. The company has initiated a major project to provide high-bandwidth packet network services to businesses across Mexico.

Level 3 identifies a business opportunity in Mexico that other carriers, except the incumbent Telemex, may overlook. Level 3’s recent acquisition of Global Crossing, an international bandwidth competitor with significant network connectivity in Latin America, is highly advantageous. One of those assets is a 3,484 km fiber optic ring connecting Monterrey, Mexico City, Mazatlan, and Guadalajara. This ring links to the Pan-American Crossing submarine cable, which runs from South and Central America to the United States. Another connection point exists in Tijuana, landing at Grover Beach near San Luis Obispo, to connect to the California backbone and trans-Pacific submarine cables.

The Mexico ring boasts a bandwidth capacity of Terabits per second, capable of transporting voice, data, and multimedia services. Level 3’s network service offerings in Mexico include EtherSphere, Managed IP VPN, High-Speed IP, Dedicated Internet Access, Wavelength Services, and Private Line Service.

EtherSphere, a global Ethernet-based WAN service, connects Ethernet transport services from 150 locations, supporting 26 cities worldwide. It provides Virtual Private LAN services (VPLS) specifically designed for businesses with geographically dispersed locations. VPLS, a mesh network technology operating on the Level 3 MPLS (Multi Protocol Label Switching) core network, is also known as Transparent LAN Service. It aims to connect multiple Ethernet LANs, creating a single bridged network serving all locations.

EtherSphere is a comprehensive VPLS service that supports six Classes of Service to prioritize traffic and enable large-scale network convergence. Bandwidth is easily scalable in increments between 1 Mbps and 2 Gbps, with system support for bandwidth exceeding 2 Gbps. Service type options include multipoint-to-multipoint (mesh), point-to-multipoint (hub and spoke), and point-to-point connectivity similar to Ethernet private lines.

Level 3’s IP VPN service operates on their converged MPLS backbone instead of the public Internet. This provides six-level Class of Service (CoS) for high-performance voice and video transport, as well as data connections. Level 3 owns over 100,000 fiber miles connecting 450 markets in more than 45 countries, with last-mile connection options ranging from T1 to Gigabit Ethernet.

Level 3, one of the world’s most connected Internet Service Providers, offers Dedicated Internet Access with IP port speeds from DS-1 (1.5 Mbps) to 10 Gigabit Ethernet. High-bandwidth users can choose High-Speed IP (HSIP), a dedicated wholesale high-speed Internet service.

For maximum bandwidth, Level 3 Wavelength service delivers high-performance, low-latency fiber optic wavelength services over their high-speed DWDM network. Available speeds include GigE, 2.5 Gbps, 10 Gbps, 10 GigE, and 40 Gbps, with protected and unprotected point-to-point configurations. Native Fiber Channel and FICON protocols are supported.

Level 3 Private Line services are globally available in over 45 countries. Delivered over reliable SONET and SDH architectures, these protocol-independent connections can transport IP, voice, data, and video as Layer 2 or Layer 3 traffic.

Businesses with connectivity needs involving service to locations within Mexico or other international destinations from the United States are encouraged to obtain prices, features, and availability for International fiber optic network services.

Note: Map of Mexico courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.