Level 421 partner with Expand Networks to deliver increased bandwidth capacity over remote satellite links

As specialists in providing professional 2-way Internet broadband connectivity, Level 421 utilises over 38 geostationary satellites across the globe, uplinked from four teleports including its own, located in Ulm, Germany.

As network infrastructure investments have been traditionally focussed in the industrialized nations in Africa, Middle East and Asia, satellite links have become essential and quickly reached capacity.

This has limited the amount of bandwidth available for corporate organisations, as Markus Haut, General Manager of Level 421 explains, "Due to the geography of these regions, it is precisely these poorest markets that have the least broadband capacity, and therefore the most demand for expensive satellite communications. We specialize in covering areas where local carriers cannot deliver broadband solutions at an acceptable quality or cost. WAN Optimization technology was the logical solution for us to maximize existing assets to enable high-performance connectivity back to the European backbone from these regions."

Level 421 works with corporate organizations, government institutions and within key industries, such as oil and gas, across the globe. These organizations constantly have to connect to remote project teams via satellite links. As these organizations become increasingly aware of the cost-saving and productivity benefits of WAN Optimization, Level 421 looked to Expand Networks' technology to enhance the bandwidth across its satellite links.

Following competitive testing of a number or products on the market, Level 421 chose to partner with Expand to optimize bandwidth, and for its ability to reduce capacity through its intelligent compression algorithms.

"Bandwidth is riddled with connectivity challenges and our corporate customers are increasingly faced with limited throughput, latency and congestion on the network. On top of this, the likes of YouTube and other high-capacity social networking sites and applications has led to an increased demand for bandwidth, increasing by a massive 40% every year. By partnering with Expand, we can utilize WAN Optimization technology to reduce the TCP protocol bottlenecks and congestion on the satellite links, in order to detract these bandwidth issues from our customers,"

comments Haut.

Mike Betz, VP of Sales EMEA at Expand concludes, "While satellites prove to be a fitting solution for network-challenged locations, increasing capacity restraints translates into considerable network latency for corporate customers. Add this to the high price tag, and more and more global organizations are searching for a more cost-effective solution. As experts in the satellite service arena, we are delighted to partner our technology with Level 421 in order to bring remote satellite network performance up to the level where high productivity becomes a reality."