Level 3 Rolls Out SD-WAN For Business Customers

Level 3 Communications now is offering SD-WAN to businesses as a new component to its overall hybrid networking strategy.

Level 3 SD-WAN provides customers with the ability to create secure private networks over a mix of public and private infrastructure, with site-to-site encryption — regardless of access or backbone method, the company said. It also grants centralized management and control to enterprises to steer traffic on an application-by-application basis or by access type, and it allows for the connection of disparate sites across a variety of backbone connections.

Level 3’s Anthony Christie

Anthony Christie, Level 3’s chief marketing officer, tells Channel Partners that customers are undergoing rapid digital transformation and they need “agile, efficient and high-performing network solutions like SD-WAN to keep pace.”

“Industry research reinforces what we’re hearing from our customers: that the market opportunity is growing for adaptive networking capabilities like those we’re announcing today,” he said. “As a global network services provider, Level 3 is uniquely positioned to support customers in transitioning to SD-WAN at their own pace. Not only can Level 3 help customers operate the service, but we can also help them migrate over to a network-based SD-WAN solution over time.”

Today, networking customers of all sizes are building more internet-based network offerings for themselves, Christie said.

“Level 3 SD-WAN opens up the opportunity for partners to expand their internet business by selling more bandwidth with increased revenue per unit,” he said.

The centralized policy management provided by SD-WAN offers increased governance and control of enterprises’ network operations, the service provider noted.

“If they take advantage of Level 3 internet services, customers also benefit from Level 3’s deep peering and performance,” Christie said. “Additionally, Level 3 offers a pathway to increased security controls and a sophisticated security environment that goes beyond IPsec and firewalling for a more unified security model, next-generation security and defense. Customers also have a single point of contact and a single bill for all of their aggregated broadband, whether it’s regional or global.”

CenturyLink is in the process of acquiring Level 3, with the $34 billion merger expected to close by Sept. 30. At last November’s Wells Fargo Securities Technology, Media & Telecom investor conference, Level 3 CFO Sunit Patel said SD-WAN would be an important tool for the combined company in growing its enterprise business.

Roopa Honnachari, an analyst with Frost & Sullivan, says the addition of Level 3’s SD-WAN comes at an important time in the market “as SD-WAN emerges from the early adopter stage and traction builds around it with enterprises seeking to deploy dynamic WAN solutions for network agility and efficiency.”