Verizon Business Deepens Private IP Global Footprint; Boosts Service Commitments and Capabilities

Basking Ridge, New Jersey (ots/PRNewswire) -

- Companies Can Further Rely on Verizon Business' Fastest-Growing
Service for Network Resiliency, Greater Application Control and
Flexibility

Verizon Business is enhancing and deepening its already expansive
Private IP global footprint to meet the global and in-region
networking communications requirements of large multinational
businesses. With more concentrated in-country coverage, enhanced
service-level agreements, improved reporting capabilities and a sixth
class of service, Verizon Business's Private IP service (Layer 3 MPLS
based Virtual Private Network) provides customers with more
flexibility and control over their networks.

"Private IP is the foundation for Verizon Business' portfolio of
next-generation products and services," said Mike Marcellin, vice
president of product marketing with Verizon Business. "We continue to
bolster Private IP's presence and capabilities to help ensure that
converged voice, data and video applications move across global
corporate networks with the speed, performance and reliability
customers demand."

Network Resiliency After the Taiwan Earthquake

A prime example of the reliability of Verizon Business' Private IP
network is the December 2006 earthquake off the coast of Taiwan,
which severely disrupted communications across East Asia and put
Verizon Business' network resiliency to the test. With eight undersea
cables damaged by the 7.1 magnitude earthquake, the company's
expertise, creativity and round-the-clock commitment to customer
service ensured there was virtually no downtime on Verizon Business'
Private IP network across six continents.

"This was the most extensive submarine cable outage ever
experienced," said Ihab Tarazi, vice president of global network
planning for Verizon Business. "Eight cables were cut in 22
locations, and most of these cables were out of commission on some
segments of their routes for an extended period of time."

In a globally connected world, such a disaster has far-reaching
ramifications. Major voice and data routes to Asia were affected. The
earthquake knocked out voice and data traffic to Taiwan, and the
major business center of Hong Kong was also hard hit. With Verizon
Business' physical and professional assets around the globe, the
company was able to maintain full network connectivity on its Private
IP network.

Expanded Global Footprint

Exemplifying Verizon's commitment to bring networking closer to
its customers, Verizon Business Private IP continues to enter more
countries and expand its in-country presence in key emerging business
centers. The service is now available to customers in 121 countries
and territories. Recent key node installations, enabling richer
coverage, include Malaysia, Thailand, Slovakia, the Russian
Federation, Turkey, South Africa, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates
(UAE), Vietnam and Slovenia. In countries that already have Private
IP, new nodes include Barcelona, Spain; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Calgary
[province of Alberta], Canada; and the Australian cities of Perth,
Brisbane, Canberra and Adelaide.

Enhanced Application Aware Reporting Tools

To provide Private IP customers more control and greater
visibility into network performance, Verizon Business has made
enhancements to its Application Aware reporting capabilities,
including increased customization of network and application
performance reporting tools, and extended international availability.
All Private IP customers now have the ability to generate customized
ad hoc reports, save them as templates and schedule these reports to
run automatically. Further, network managers have the ability to
group network points of interest for customized reporting and
monitoring. In addition, a new systems test feature is available to
check polling success rates, allowing customers automatic
confirmation that their router is properly set up for SNMP (simple
network management protocol) polling.

Enhanced Service Level Agreements

Verizon Business, a recognized leader delivering world-class
service level agreements, has introduced an enhanced Time to Repair
(TTR) SLA for all Private IP customers. This enhanced SLA is based on
the amount of time taken to restore service during an outage, rather
than the average or Mean Time to Repair (MTTR) service outages. This
enhanced SLA sets a new service standard of performance commitment
for Private IP networks.

In addition, Verizon Business now offers an improved network
transit delay SLA that uses city-to-city based latency metrics
instead of the previous country averages for all non-U.S. locations.
Also, a new Site Availability-Dual Port SLA is now offered for
customers that utilize the Disaster Recovery Port feature with Router
Diversity and redundant local access. And, customers providing their
own local access can now take advantage of certain Verizon Business
SLAs.

"Enterprises are demanding more and more from their service
providers, including better global coverage for their MPLS networks
and tighter service level agreements," said Jan Dawson, vice
president of Ovum's U.S. Enterprise practice. "Companies doing
business globally need to have a provider they can rely on in all of
the places where they do business."

Verizon Business' Private IP service, an optimal platform for
converged services, now allows for prioritization of applications via
six classes of service (CoS). An organization can customize
prioritization to ensure that business-critical applications receive
a higher priority across the organization's network. Real time CoS
makes Private IP ideal for carrying latency-sensitive traffic such as
VoIP and Digital Video.

Verizon Business is a recognized leader delivering IP services for
business customers around the world. The company announced separately
Wednesday (March 21) that it has been awarded the 2006 Frost &
Sullivan Product Line Strategy Award for Enterprise WAN (wide area
networking) services. Verizon Business was recognized for its ability
to introduce new WAN products that are strategically positioned to
balance its already robust overall product line. The Frost & Sullivan
Award for Product Line Strategy is presented each year to a company
that has demonstrated the most insight into customer needs and
product demands.

About Verizon Business

Verizon Business, a unit of Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ), is
a leading provider of advanced communications and information
technology (IT) solutions to large business and government customers
worldwide. Combining unsurpassed global network reach with advanced
technology and professional service capabilities, Verizon Business
delivers innovative and seamless business solutions to customers
around the world. For more information, visit
www.verizonbusiness.com.

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Web sites: http://www.verizon.com
http://www.verizonbusiness.com
http://www.verizon.com/news

ots Originaltext: Verizon Business
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Contact:
Maria Montenegro of Verizon Business, +1-703-886-6063, or
Maria.montenegro@verizon.com; Company News On-Call:
http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/094251.html