Florham Park, NJ -- Nov 29, 2004 -- Global Crossing (NASDAQ: GLBC) today announced new Service Level Agreements (SLAs), assuring uninterrupted, end-to-end service around the world for customers. These new, higher performance parameters for Global Crossing's industry-leading, converged IP services, IP VPN, Voice over IP (VoIP) and IP video, build on the company's leadership in customer satisfaction and network performance guarantees.
"Our global customers require exceptional performance for delivery of mission-critical voice, video and data over a single connection, worldwide," said Anthony Christie, Global Crossing's chief marketing officer. "Global Crossing continues to differentiate itself as a leading provider of converged IP services, offering customers uncompromising network performance and a lower total cost of ownership."
Global Crossing's upgraded SLAs offer customers industry-leading guarantees for its converged IP services provisioned over the premium Class of Service (CoS).
The new SLAs leverage the exceptional performance of Global Crossing's IP network, which has been operating at 99.999 percent packet delivery and availability, and less than 5 ms of jitter during 2004. Routing is optimized across the network through the use of Multi Protocol Label Switching traffic engineering (MPLS-te), enabling IP convergence and real-time applications including VoIP and IP video.
"The scope and level of service guarantees under SLAs are increasingly becoming a point of service provider differentiation," stated Brian Washburn, senior analyst at Current Analysis. "Global Crossing's enhancements to its SLAs for IP VPN, VoIP, IP video and IP access services strengthen its value proposition, leveraging the performance of its IP network to deliver SLA metrics that are among the industry's leading on a global scale, such as 5 ms jitter plus service availability and packet delivery at 99.999 percent."
By offering such stringent guarantees on a global basis, Global Crossing is supporting its customers' transition to a converged environment. Businesses around the world are deploying real-time applications such as supply chain replenishment, customer relations management, and multi-media collaboration, which require high-performance networks with high packet delivery and very low jitter to avoid distortion leading to "popping" or "cracking" sounds on VoIP telephone calls or uneven, jerky movements on IP videoconferences.
"Time-sensitive applications are affected by any service degradation, not just outages," added Mr. Christie. "We're confident enough about the performance of our network to offer customers a service and performance guarantee that provides greater reparations or penalty-free service cancellation in the unlikely event of extensive or multiple service-impacting issues. This is a critical step in making customers comfortable with the transition to a converged IP service platform."
Global Crossing has firmly established its leadership role in the VoIP arena with a robust set of fully interoperable solutions for enterprise and carrier customers, detailed in previous announcements. The company currently runs up to 2.5 billion minutes per month over its private, global VoIP platform, deployed four years ago.
Global Crossing's IP video leverages the company's IP VPN to deliver real-time videoconferencing over a private, secure, global platform. Customers utilizing Global Crossing's IP video service benefit from a fully integrated and interactive environment, which accelerates decision-making, reduces travel and operational expenses, and facilitates team rapport efficiently and cost-effectively. Global Crossing's iVideoconferencing service has been recognized as "Best New Videoconferencing Service of 2004" by Frost & Sullivan.
Global Crossing is committed to delivering efficient, scalable IP services to its customers while supporting their transition to a converged environment. Global Crossing's converged IP network, connecting more than 500 cities in more than 50 countries on 6 continents and operating at 99.999 percent availability, enables customers to fully experience the benefits of IP. Global Crossing's IP knowledge center, found at www.ipknowledgecenter.com, further details the features and benefits of IP convergence.
About Global Crossing
Global Crossing (NASDAQ: GLBC) provides telecommunications solutions over the world's first integrated global IP-based network. Its core network connects more than 300 cities and 30 countries worldwide, and delivers services to more than 500 major cities, 50 countries and 6 continents around the globe. The company's global sales and support model matches the network footprint and, like the network, delivers a consistent customer experience worldwide.
