NEW YORK, May 13 /PRNewswire/ --

- Level 3 Teams with High-Performance Transporter Aspera to Expedite Large-File Content Delivery

Level 3 Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: LVLT) today announced that it will offer its Content Delivery Network (CDN) customers a new High-Speed Content Upload service that enables rapid uploading of multimedia content to the Level 3 Origin Storage Platform.

Level 3 has augmented its Origin Storage offering to facilitate the upload and delivery of large files at speeds of up to 1 Gigabit per second (Gbps). To deliver this new service, Level 3 selected Aspera Inc.'s innovative fasp(TM) transport technology for its ability to move data at extremely high speeds, regardless of file size, network conditions and transfer distance. Level 3 is the first CDN provider to fully deploy Aspera's high-speed file transfer technology solution.

With a single 1 Gbps bandwidth connection, Level 3 CDN customers can move a terabyte of data - equivalent to approximately 1,000 full-length feature movies - from New York to Los Angeles in just over two hours.

Level 3 has one of the most-connected fiber networks in the world, said Cary Capece, senior vice president of Sales and Business Development at Aspera. Aspera's next-generation fasp transport technology combined with Level 3's CDN provides customers with maximum ingest and transfer speeds, reliability and security - exactly what companies are looking for from their content delivery provider.

The High-Speed Content Upload service comes at no additional cost to Level 3 CDN customers who use Level 3's Origin Storage service, a solution that allows customers to outsource the storage and management of their multimedia content.

We continually look for ways to expand our CDN service portfolio to meet our customer's growing online needs, said Peter Neill, senior vice president of Level 3's Content Markets Group. Aspera has been a fantastic company to work with, and our new High-Speed Content Upload service is a significant enhancement to our end-to-end content delivery workflow.

About Level 3 Communications

Level 3 Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: LVLT) 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.

Level 3 Communications, Level 3, the red 3D brackets and the Level 3 Communications logo are registered service marks of Level 3 Communications, LLC and/or 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, product or company names recited herein are 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.

media, Vince Hancock, +1-720-888-2146, or investors, Mark Stoutenberg, +1-720-888-2518, both of Level 3 Communications, Inc./ Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19990721/LVLTLOGO