Level 3 is one of the largest colocation providers in the world, with 70 CONUS facilities totaling nearly 6.9 million square feet of space. Our colocation offering provides state-of-the-art data center service designed for secure and reliable service. Our facilities provide physical security, redundant power availability, infrastructure flexibility and customer support.

Our CHS provides the government with the freedom to connect both to Level 3’s premier network and the networks of other providers in our facilities.

The Level 3^SM CHS contributes to the government’s objectives for the Networx Enterprise Program:

Highly competitive prices

Level 3 has one of the largest colocation footprints in the industry. Because of the economy of scale, Level 3 can provide colocation service at very competitive prices. At the same time, we retain the flexibility to create custom colocation solutions as the government may require.

High Quality Service

Level 3 built its own data centers to the same exacting standards of reliability and availability. This helps Level 3 to deliver high-quality colocation services regardless of location and size of customer.

Alternative Sources

Level 3’s data centers operate in a “carrier neutral” environment. As such, Level 3 does not require IPS (or any other network service) be purchased from our CHS customers. While Level 3 will encourage our CHS customers to utilize Level 3’s industry-leading IP network for Internet access, we recognize that the government may, at times, need to procure services from alternative sources. Level 3 fully supports and enables the government connecting to alternate providers within a Level 3 facility.

Technical Support

The Level 3 technical service provides the government with world-class field personnel to meet key hands-on maintenance requirements. This reduces costs borne by the government by leveraging Level 3’s internal staff. It also allows the government to gain access to the same resources who maintain our network, and is designed to support 24 x 7 coverage.

Basic Storage Space

Level 3 will provide agencies with basic storage space, accessible to authorized agency personnel 24 x 7, which will be configured and leased on a per-rack basis. The following (or like) options will be provided:

• Quarter rack (18” x 19” x 36” – One Shelf)
• Half rack (36” x 19” x 36” – Three Shelves)
• Full rack (72” x 19” x 36” – Six Shelves)

A variety of space options is available to the federal government, from standard cabinets and cages to customized suites. Level 3 will work to develop a colocation solution that will meet applicable price, space, power, connectivity and privacy requirements.

Security (Building and Facilities)

Level 3 is equipped to maintain security on a 24 x 7 basis. A description of the security methods and procedures included in our colocation offering follows.

All Level 3 Network Gateways feature positive physical controls that continually monitor and archive access to the facility areas. Photo identification (ID) access cards are used as the first layer of security. These devices are located at authorized entry points for securing critical areas within a gateway. All perimeter doors are centrally monitored from the Level 3 NOCs. Authorized customers and vendors are required to have validated palm scans to enter sensitive area. The access control system supports, monitors, and logs access at entryways of the facility. Access records stored in the event records are required for non-repudiation.

Network Connectivity and Bandwidth

Our colocation facilities support direct Internet connectivity using our IPS.

Redundancy:

The Level 3 colocation facilities are IP-enabled and docked to our Tier 1 backbone and in addition, all Level 3 data centers feature true route diversity. Each Level 3 Gateway is connected to the intercity network and its resident metropolitan network by at least two physically separate building entrances. Whenever possible, the Gateways are connected to the fiber by three entrance facilities. This provides for the greatest protection from network outages caused by events such as fiber cuts that could disable one of the fiber links into the gateway.

In addition to route diversity, Level 3 ensures network access with redundant and duplicate equipment including routers and switches with various port speeds. The following types of port interfaces are available options at collocation facilities:

• 10/100 Ethernet/Fast Ethernet (10 Mbps/100 Mbps)
• 1000SX/Gigabit Ethernet (1000 Mbps)
• 10 Gigabit Ethernet

Redundancy is engineered in the network architecture to ensure continued service in the event of a network failure.

• Dual access routers/switches are located in each collocation facility and offer port speeds of 10/100 Mbps Ethernet, 1 Gbps Ethernet and 10 Gbps Ethernet (as well as other port options previously listed). Level 3 also ensures sufficient capacity for normal and fail-over operations by limiting every internal network link to less than 50 percent utilization. Any time an internal Level 3 Network link approaches 50 percent utilization, capacity on the link is immediately increased. Limiting link utilization to less than 50 percent guarantees redundant capacity in the event of failure of other network links.
• All colocation routers/switches are dual-homed to the IP network.

Burstable Bandwidth

Level 3 will provide burstable bandwidth, as needed by an agency. Available Internet bandwidth will scale in 10 Mbps increments from the Committed Information Rate (CIR) of 10 Mbps up to the full port speed.

Internet Infrastructure

The Level 3 Internet access service, targeted at sophisticated users of IP bandwidth, is delivered via Level 3’s world-class IP backbone network, optimized for Internet traffic. Level 3’s high-performance backbone is combined with robust and balanced customer and peering interconnectivity to create a platform that sets a new standard for IP performance.

Key indicators of high performance for which the Level 3 IP network is engineered include:

Robust peering with other Tier 1 ISPs

Government agencies in our colocation facilities are able to take advantage of Level 3’s extensive network as well as our multiple peering relationships. Level 3 is a Tier 1 provider in North America, meaning that we have settlement-free interconnections with other Tier 1 providers. Greater than 95% of off-network bound IP traffic traverses a private peering connection rather than the traditional, congested public peering exchanges. We have more than 325 Gbps and growing of peering capacity and 600 active peering sessions in 17 key peering locations. With such a large peering network, the number of hops is minimized, and quality is maintained. Level 3 maintains strict policies with respect to our peering arrangements that provides for the highest performance and reliability. Please see Section 2.2.2 for an in-depth discussion of Level 3’s peering arrangements.

Minimal latency

The ability to move information quickly through a network results in better performance and a better experience for an agency. Level 3’s IP network consistently outperforms other providers’ networks in on-net latency comparisons. In contrast to other providers, Level 3 measures one-way latency across all backbone links to ensure that performance across the network is accurately gauged. Many networks report roundtrip latency, which may in fact hide performance issues that can occur in one direction, only to be resolved on the return trip.

Internet Connectivity in a Neutral Business Environment

Level 3 offers the government the unique combination of both carrier-neutrality and our own broadband international network. This simultaneously fulfills both networking and collocation requirements. Agencies will have the freedom to choose any carrier, and all the benefits that come with having a Tier 1 network integrally docked at the doorstep of their colocation space. Level 3 gives agencies the freedom to network on their terms, not ours.

While Level 3 expects that our customers will often leverage our IP network, we understand that at times unique needs may call for the services of another telecommunications company. As noted previously, Level 3 is “carrier neutral,” meaning that our customers are free to use whatever carrier best meets their needs. Gateways offer connectivity to an average of eight alternative telecommunications providers.

Alternative Services

• SONETS
• CHS
• NBIP-VPNS

Restrictions

• None