Level3 announced on Wednesday that it has completed construction of Internet2's new 100Gbps backbone network.

One year after announcing that Level3 would be Internet2’s new network provider, the carrier says the research network is up and running.

The announcement was made here in Chicago at NXTcomm.

Level3 inked a multiyear agreement with Internet2 in June 2006 to build out a 13,500 long-haul-route mile network, deploy new metro fiber and provide dedicated wavelength and IP services to the organization.

Internet2 is a consortium of 201 universities that works with government and the IT industry to develop and deploy advanced network applications and technologies with the goal of accelerating development of the public Internet.

Level 3 says it was key to complete construction of the backbone months before Internet2’s old network, Abilene, will be turned down. All Internet2 members are expected to be transitioned off of Abilene by September 2007.

Internet2’s new network will support dynamic provisioning of multiple 10Gbps wavelengths, Level 3 says. This feature will enable universities to quickly turn up bandwidth for ongoing or short-term experiments.

Doug Van Houweling, president and CEO of Internet2 says in a press release the new Level3 network has 10 times more capacity than its old network.