Global Crossing (News - Alert), a global IP solutions provider, has announced that it will provide a link between Rio de Janeiro and New York for Eurovision, the premier sports and news content distributor for broadcast and media platforms, during the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

The contract is a successful expansion on the broadcaster’s existing Private Line Services to accommodate enhanced audio visual content.

"Eurovision has over 50 years of experience in putting sports programming exactly where broadcasters and federations want it, in a seamless, reliable and cost-effective way," said Stefan Kuerten, director of Eurovision operations, in a Wednesday statement.

"We're delighted to work with Global Crossing for this vital SDH leg in our worldwide video network. Global Crossing delivers highly reliable and secure services, which are critical for our operations."

The Private Line from Global Crossing provides highly reliable, secure, point-to-point, digital connectivity, for a wide range of applications that are used by enterprise customers. Such applications include hosting, resource planning, business continuity, content distribution and disaster recovery.

"This agreement with Eurovision illustrates our ability to meet the exacting demands of the corporate market in Brazil and worldwide," said Marcos Malfatti, Global Crossing's senior vice president of sales in Brazil, in Wednesday’s statement.

"Our success is based on our commitment to understanding the needs of our customers and to becoming a key business partner to them."

The Private Line services also lend support to high-bandwidth operations, including large data transfers, medical imaging, record archiving, database sharing and replication, and remote office access to application servers.

Eurovision is a department of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the largest association of national broadcasters in the world. The company operates a global fiber and satellite platform that is dedicated to the delivery of top sports and news events to the international broadcast and media market.

Global Crossing has established its presence in the market as providing telecommunications solutions over the world’s first integrated global IP-based network.

The company’s core network connects roughly 390 cities in more than 30 countries throughout the world, while delivering services to approximately 690 cities in more than 60 countries and 6 continents.

The company’s successful link to provide coverage of the 2008 Olympic Games will help to further position Global Crossing as a premier provider of IP-based telecommunications solutions. There are few events that will garner more coverage, or place Global Crossing in a better competitive position, helping to provide opportunities where it can extend its reach and strengthen its brand.

Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMC (News - Alert) and has also written for Market Drive News. To see more of her articles, please visit Susan J. Campbell’s columnist page.