SCIENCE

Level 3 Communications has announced it will provide services including high-speed IP, wavelengths and content delivery network (CDN) support for Nexon America, the North American publishing arm of Nexon Corp., to support the company's fast-growing massive multiplayer online games (MMOGs) business.

Under the terms of the contract, Level 3 will provide Los Angeles-based Nexon America with services including:

-- High-Speed IP: Level 3 will provide high-speed Internet for Nexon, giving the company access to a maximum of 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GigE) speeds at Nexon's hosting data center. This service is designed to meet the needs of the Internet's largest consumers of bandwidth and will provide Nexon America with a high degree of scalability and fault tolerance.

-- Wavelengths: Level 3's 10 GigE wavelengths transport solution will support Nexon's business continuity and disaster recovery, and provide end-to-end data center transport between Nexon's North American data centers.

-- CDN: Level 3 will provide CDN support for Nexon, including caching, download and origin storage. These services will allow Nexon to leverage Level 3's highly-connected IP network to efficiently and reliably deliver high-quality online content to its gaming customers worldwide, even during peak traffic and flash crowds.

"Nexon is committed to providing our customers with a great online game-playing experience and secure backup of our content. Internet speed and dependability are critical parts of that experience," said Soo Min Park, vice president at Nexon America. "In using Level 3 for these mission critical services, we have peace of mind knowing that we have reliable access to the bandwidth we need, backed by Level 3's extensive fiber optic network, with room to grow in the future."

Nexon America currently publishes a number of titles, including Combat Arms, MapleStory, Dungeon Fighter Online, Mabinogi and PopTag! Level 3's services will support both Nexon's current and upcoming titles.

"The growth in popularity of online games has resulted not only in an increased demand for bandwidth, but in a greater focus on and understanding of what makes a quality game-playing experience," said Mark Taylor, vice president of Content and Media at Level 3. "The breadth of services Level 3 offers -- from high-speed Internet to transport to advanced metrics -- as well as the extensive content delivery expertise we bring are well-suited for online games customers like Nexon who need to ensure consistently high performance."

For more information on Level 3's media delivery services for the online games industry, please visit www.Level3delivers.com.