CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- US LEC Corp. (NASDAQ:CLEC) , a full-service provider of IP, data and voice solutions to businesses and enterprise organizations throughout the Eastern United States, today announced the expansion of its MPLS VPN service to the cities and surrounding areas of Birmingham and Mobile, Ala., Memphis and Nashville, Tenn., and New Orleans, completing one of the final stages of the company's MPLS VPN roll-out.

"The expansion of MPLS VPN to the Mid-South and Gulf Coast regions continues our strategy of providing advanced IP-based solutions to meet our customers' needs," said US LEC CEO Aaron Cowell. "US LEC now provides MPLS VPN to 93 percent of its network, enabling nearly our entire footprint with next- generation IP-based data networking services."

US LEC's MPLS VPN breaks away from current generation ATM and Frame Relay "hub and spoke" designs and instead offers a fully meshed and routed network, improving security and survivability. With US LEC's MPLS network, no business location depends on a single "hub" or host for throughput and operation, allowing a network to survive even with a critical central location outage.

MPLS VPN also prioritizes specific application traffic such as VoIP or CRM applications, allowing important traffic to receive QoS (Quality of Service) guarantees according to customer requirements. Priority traffic travels over available bandwidth first; then, as prioritized traffic decreases, all other traffic uses available bandwidth, ensuring full use of the local loops at all times. By differentiating between classes of traffic, a business can better utilize its data network and reduce unnecessary costs associated with excess bandwidth investments. As bandwidth needs increase, customers can purchase incrementally and avoid costly upgrades.

US LEC Corp. (Nasdaq: CLEC)