Premium Car and Motorcycle Manufacturer Accelerates Car Dealership Services with Level 3 Content Delivery Network Services
— Always-on, Real-time Data Access Helps More Than 4,000 Global Dealers Boost Customer Satisfaction
FRANKFURT AM MAIN, Germany and BROOMFIELD, Colorado, Feb. 18, 2015 – Level 3 Communications, Inc. (NYSE: LVLT) today announced that BMW, a premium manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles, is using Level 3 Content Delivery Network (CDN) services to speed the information flow between its Munich headquarters and its more than 4,000 dealers around the world. Level 3’s CDN is part of a major BMW infrastructure upgrade project tailored to BMW’s precise requirements.
Real-time data boosts customer satisfaction
BMW is using the Level 3 CDN service to send large volumes of high-bandwidth data to its global dealers, replacing the DVD-based distribution that the company used for several years. The solution is designed with a very high level of redundancy to ensure maximum availability at all times. Dealers utilise the information to securely access key information, as well as configure vehicles for customers, apply software patches or upgrade navigation systems. Delivering it in this way further increases dealer and customer satisfaction, while leading to cost savings.
Security and speed
Since changing to the Level 3 CDN, BMW enables its dealers to react much faster to customer requirements. BMW staff uploads the relevant information assets to the Level 3 storage platform. Dealers then connect to the platform following authentication. The solution automatically detects where the dealer is located and will select a server to provide fast and reliable performance. The CDN solution then checks the Web URL and login credentials of the dealer, who can then download the data in seconds.
High-performance global connections
Dealers are essential to BMW’s success and to the way the brand is perceived by customers. That is why offering them the best possible service to get the data they need quickly, regardless of the volume, is important. Level 3 has strong local presence, with specialists available in Germany and an exemplary performance and support team across global markets.
“Enabling BMW to significantly improve the dealer and customer experience was a tangible outcome of this project,” explains Gerald Rubant, director of sales, Enterprise Business for Germany, Austria & Switzerland at Level 3. “It underscores how our unique combination of customer proximity and global performance is suited to the demands of today’s global corporations.”
Focus on maximum availability
In addition to this project, Level 3 provided fibre optic cables that connect BMW’s headquarters directly to the Level 3 global network, including two additional routers located directly at BMW’s premises in Munich. These ensure the highest protection against downtime along with maximum bandwidth at all times to global partners. With its global network, Level 3 provides the bandwidth BMW needs to share large quantities of data with its dealers and business partners globally.
To prepare for the implementation, Level 3 and BMW have installedDense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) equipment at BMW’s headquarters. This technology increases transmission capacity using existing fibre optic networks.
About Level 3 Communications
Level 3 Communications, Inc. (NYSE: LVLT) is a Fortune 500 company that provides local, national and global communications services to enterprise, government and carrier customers. Level 3’s comprehensive portfolio of secure, managed solutions includes fiber and infrastructure solutions; IP-based voice and data communications; wide-area Ethernet services; video and content distribution; data center and cloud-based solutions. Level 3 serves customers in more than 500 markets in over 60 countries across a global services platform anchored by owned fiber networks on three continents and connected by extensive undersea facilities. For more information, please visit www.level3.com or get to know us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
