US West Communications, Englewood, CO, has signed a contract with NextLevel Communications (nlc) of

US West Communications, Englewood, CO, has signed a contract with NextLevel Communications (nlc) of Rohnert Park, CA, to deploy an nlc Switched Digital Access System (sda) and related products. US West agreed to purchase a minimum of 450,000 broadband xdsl lines and residential gateways, but financial terms were not disclosed. US West will deploy nlc`s Asynchronous Transfer Mode-based Nlevel3 sda System as a unified access platform to support both fiber-to-the-curb and twisted-pair network topologies. US West will use the Nlevel3 System`s broadband digital terminal (bdt) in its central offices. The terminal will connect to the Nlevel3 System`s Digital Loop Carrier Universal Service Access Multiplexer, which supports 96 "plain old telephone service" or special service lines as well as Integrated Services Digital Network and xdsl plug-ins to transport high bandwidth over standard twisted pair. US West will also use the bdt to connect to Nlevel3 System Broadband Network Units that support 8 to 16 living units for fiber-to-the-curb installations. The contract also calls for nlc to perform system integration, including engineering, design, installation, integration, test, and turn-up to ensure a standard, sustainable full-service network. nlc is a subsidiary of Next Level Systems Inc. of Chicago, IL.