Level 3 Communications Inc. announced it has signed agreements to provide both metropolitan and inter-city dark fiber to the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California (CENIC), a non-profit corporation founded by California's public and private universities.

CENIC will use the fiber to create a statewide, multi-tiered, advanced services network linking the top 40 research institutions across the state, including Stanford University, the California Institute of Technology, the University of Southern California, the University of California system, and the California State University system. The network will be used for experimental and high capacity research applications.

The fiber-based infrastructure will also link all California educational institutions, including 108 community colleges and nearly 8000 elementary and secondary schools. CENIC's network is known as CalREN (the California Research and Education Network).

CENIC has purchased metropolitan fiber from Level 3 in San Diego, San Francisco and San Jose as well as inter-city fiber linking those cities with Sacramento, San Luis Obispo and Los Angeles. The multi-million-dollar agreements have a 20-year term.

This latest announcement follows an earlier agreement for network services between CENIC and Level 3 signed last year. Under that contract, CENIC is using IP service from Level 3 to provide Internet access for more than seven million students and faculty at California institutions.

CENIC was formed to coordinate the deployment, development, and operation of seamless and robust network services for all academic institutions throughout the state.

More information about CENIC is available at http://www.cenic.org/. For more information about Level 3 Communications, visit the company website at www.level3.com.