According to the terms of the multi-year agreement, Level 3 will deliver a virtual private network based on its recently upgraded multi-protocol label switching network, with direct connections to several Shriners Hospitals and data center sites, and providing full mesh connectivity.

Shriners Hospitals is implementing advanced health care information technology across the 22 hospitals in its international health care system, which will enable Shriners Hospitals and affiliates to share and store medical images electronically.

The Level 3 infrastructure enables this Picture Archive Communications System technology across the hospitals and provides greater efficiency for image storage and retrieval, resulting in reduced operational costs and improved response to patient requests for their medical records.

"Shriners Hospitals for Children needed a highly reliable network to help ensure data center security, improve disaster recovery efficiency and support bandwidth-intensive applications like digital imaging," says Raouf Abdel, president of Level 3's Business Markets Group. "The solution Level 3 provided gives Shriners, its affiliates and its patients access to critical leading-edge medical care that can help improve patient privacy and safety while potentially saving time and lives in emergency response situations."

Level 3 Communications says it operates one of the largest Internet backbones in the world, connecting more than 180 markets in 20 countries.

The company serves a wide range of wholesale, enterprise and content customers, offering services such as IP, broadband transport and infrastructure, colocation, voice and voice over IP, and content delivery and media distribution.