MFN, RealNetworks in Fiber Pact

Digital-infrastructure product provider Metromedia Fiber Network Inc. (MFN) said it will provide metropolitan fiber to RealNetworks(R), Inc., supporting the streaming-media company’s real.com and realnetworks.com Web sites.

Under the multi-year agreement, the financial details of which were not released, MFN said it will lease fiber to RealNetworks to satisfy its current and future communications needs.

MFN said its bandwidth products lets customers like RealNetworks launch the latest generation of bandwidth-intensive applications, because its “unshared, unmetered and virtually unlimited bandwidth” provides a fully scalable infrastructure.

This new pact expands the relationship already held between the two companies, officials said. “Under our new agreement with MFN, we have increased our previous bandwidth capacity,” said RealNetworks’ Network Infrastructure Manager Mark Vickers.

MFN has deployed fiber-optic cable in major metropolitan areas throughout the U.S. and Europe. In addition, it maintains a long haul backbone across the U.S. and in Europe, and has undersea connectivity to Asia and Europe.