Level 3 Communications in Broomfield has signed a multi-year contract with the Internet2 university and research community to start in 2007.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Denver-based Qwest holds the current contract, providing high-speed Internet services to the universities and government research groups in the Internet2 project.
That contract will not be renewed when it expires next year, said Lauren Rotman, an Internet2 spokeswoman.
Level 3 will provide Internet service at speeds of 100 giga bytes, said Randy Dunbar, the company’s senior vice president of long-haul networks. That’s 10 times faster than the 10-gigabyte Internet service touted by companies such as Qwest and Time Warner Telecom.
“We’re very excited to see all the applications they can use this network for,” Dunbar said.
Scientists can use high- speed Internet access to do things such as coordinate satellite and space data. Medical researchers and doctors can use it to transmit large picture and X-ray files.
Since customers are demanding faster Internet speeds, Level 3 was smart to update its fiber-optic network, said Eric Paulak, a Gartner research analyst.
“Demand requirements are increasing,” he said.
Qwest made a similar play in May, purchasing OnFiber Communications of Austin, Texas, for $107 million, Paulak said.
Staff writer Beth Potter can be reached at 303-820-1503 or bpotter@denverpost.com.
