VZ: In Its First Year, Verizon Business Establishes Itself as a Global Leader in Network Operations, Technology and IT

In its first year of operation, Verizon Business established itself as a global technology leader with a number of innovations and service introductions. Verizon Business, which owns and operates the world's most interconnected IP network (based on autonomous system connections), was created from the merger of the former MCI and Verizon on Jan. 6, 2006.

Verizon Business set milestones for advanced technologies such as its ultra long haul network, converged packet access and undersea cable network systems. The company also launched the Verizon Business Customer Center and introduced eBonding capabilities to enhance its customers' service experience.

These operational achievements helped Verizon Business win customers and several industry awards.

Ultra Long Haul Network Extended

Verizon Business added 5,800 miles to its ultra long haul (ULH) network in 2006, increasing its total UHL deployment to more than 24,000 miles. The ULH system supports 40 Gbps (gigabits per second) wavelengths, which are capable of delivering both 10 Gbps and 40 Gbps signals. The UHL system provides ideal support for high-bandwidth data applications such as multimedia content distribution, grid computing, real-time imaging and storage networking. Routes that were expanded this past year include Atlanta to Houston; Worcester, Mass., to Albany, N.Y.; and Sacramento to San Jose.

Converged Packet Access Grows

Complementing its ULH strategy, Verizon Business also extended its Converged Packet Access (CPA) capability to five international locations in Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and two sites in Australia. Domestically, the company expanded CPA to 31 U.S. cities, including New York City, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, San Diego and San Francisco. CPA is a service-agnostic architecture that enables a customer to obtain different types of communications services - including frame relay, IP VPN, Private IP, Ethernet, Private Line and voice - over a single packet access connection using a simple, low-cost Ethernet interface such as 10bT, 100bT or Gig E.

Submarine Cable System Expansion Plans

Enhancing its ability to serve customers on a global basis, Verizon Business made a number of strategic investments in undersea network cables. The company joined a consortium of international carriers to build the first next-generation, multi-terabit, optical undersea cable system linking the U.S. and the mainland of China. Verizon Business is the only U.S.-based carrier in the consortium, which includes China Telecom, China Netcom, China Unicom, Korea Telecom and Taiwan's Chunghwa Telecom.

Verizon Business also deployed an advanced mesh design on the trans-Atlantic portion of its global IP network, providing additional diverse routes for customers. The mesh network design uses three major submarine cables to create six diverse paths and is considered the first of its kind for undersea cable networks.

Verizon Business continued to add customers to its SEA-ME-WE4 submarine cable that was turned up at the end of 2005. Verizon Business is the only U.S. major provider in the consortium that owns this next-generation undersea cable, which spans 20,000 kilometers and links France to Singapore via the Middle East and Indian sub-continent.

One-Stop Customer Service Enhanced

Verizon Business's IT efforts since it began operations last January have focused on transforming the way customers do business with the company. The Verizon Business Customer Center is a robust one-stop portal, allowing customers access to multiple applications with a single sign-on. Customers can access critical information and resources for such tasks as invoice management, e-payment and expanded reports and analysis of specific products and services.

New eBonding capabilities enable Verizon Business customers to track and manage information directly for large-scale tasks such as opening and reviewing their own trouble tickets and running queries for inventories. eBonding is the integration of systems between two companies that allows one system to communicate directly with the other. eBonding also gives customers the freedom to process mass requests from their own desktop using their own internal processes, procedures and applications. Customers can access eBonding through the Verizon Business Customer Center.

Honors and Awards

Verizon Business earned several awards from industry publications and organizations in 2006. Judy Spitz, Verizon Business chief information officer, was recognized as one of Computerworld's 2007 Premier 100 IT Leaders, an annual award honoring individuals who have made a positive impact on their organizations through technology.

Computerworld magazine also named Verizon Business as a finalist for a Best Practices Infrastructure Management Award for Managing to Improve TCO/ROI (Total Cost of Ownership/Return on Investment) for its IMPACT (Integrated Management Platform for Advanced Communications Technologies) system. IMPACT – Verizon Business's automated network monitoring, troubleshooting and problem-resolution system for managed network customers – is thought to be the first end-to-end business process automation implementation for network fault management by a communications service provider.

Another IT program, the Verizon Business Sarbanes-Oxley compliance program, earned the 2006 Technology Managers Forum Best Practices Award in IT Compliance, marking the second year in a row the company has received a Best Practices Award from the Technology Managers Forum.