Much of the internet connectivity in and to the Continental United States including our two datacenters was degraded by an outage within the Level3 Communications backbone that began at approximately 17:22 1 August 2011 UTC.  The impact of this event was felt not only on the Level3 backbone but also on other carriers as providers shifted large amounts of traffic that would have normally transited the Level3 network onto alternate network paths, causing increased latency, congestion and packet loss.

Many providers who utilize Level3 Communications for transport services, both telephone and IP,  were also impacted as these transport services utilize the same converged backbone as the Level3 transit product.

The Level3 Communications master case number is 40976066.

The Level3 Communications official statements regarding the unscheduled network event are:

8/1/11 7:12:56 PM GMT The IP NOC reports that the network equipment self
restored, resolving the routing issue and restoring services at
approximately 17:55 GMT. The IP NOC states that they will continue to
work with Level 3 OPS Engineers and the equipment vendor to isolate the
root cause of the service interruption. The Level 3 TSC has confirmed
that all customer services have been restored and the IP NOC will
continue to monitor for stability.

8/1/11 6:29:26 PM GMT The IP NOC reports that a routing issue failure
between Dallas, TX and Los Angeles, CA is impacting IP services in
multiple markets. The IP NOC has engaged the equipment vendor, as well
as Level 3 OPS Engineers and continues to investigate to isolate the
issue at this time.

If you have anymore questions about this outage, please contact our support team at support@rootbsd.net.