New Cloud, IT Consulting Services Help Position Verizon Business to Lead Evolving Industry

BASKING RIDGE, N.J., Jan. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- The business communications industry is moving rapidly toward a cloud-based global model where converged IP and IT solutions are securely delivered through managed and professional services.  Verizon Business continued during the fourth quarter to assemble the key components to lead that evolution.

Highlights of the quarter included the launch of a strategic security alliance with McAfee and new cloud computing and data discovery IT consulting services, along with the rollout of professional services developed specifically for the health care and utility industries.  The company also expanded its virtual private LAN service globally and launched cloud-based services aimed both at keeping corporate applications running smoothly and protecting Web-based applications from security threats.

"The capabilities we've put in place and our continued focus on solutions for key industries have set the stage for Verizon to be the leader in delivering truly converged IP and IT services via a secure cloud-based model," said Kerry Bailey, Verizon chief marketing officer-business.  "Through this unique and powerful everything-as-a-service model, we will empower our customers to do business better by getting whatever they need, whenever they need it, wherever they are in the world."

Verizon Business during the quarter also enhanced customer service provided through the Verizon Enterprise Center (VEC) global portal.  This included enhanced online billing capabilities that provide businesses of all sizes with simplified payment options and enable businesses to analyze their bills, track their communications expenses in detail, and obtain faster responses to billing inquiries.

Continued Focus on High-Performance Solutions

Verizon Business delivered new capabilities supporting the convergence of IP and IT during the quarter including:

• Integrated IT consulting and managed services that offer enterprises a holistic approach to transitioning to cloud computing, while addressing specific security, privacy, performance and governance requirements.  The Verizon Cloud Computing Program helps enterprises manage, monitor and maintain their clouds, whether applications are delivered from an enterprise's own data center, or one operated by Verizon or a third party.  

• Integrated security solutions to be offered through a global strategic alliance with McAfee Inc. Through this agreement, Verizon Business will offer McAfee's entire line of enterprise security products and services while McAfee taps Verizon Business' data center outsourcing and expert consulting and managed services capabilities. Additionally, the companies will jointly develop a suite of next-generation, cloud-based managed security services.

• Expanded IT security consulting services, called Data Discovery, Identification and Security Classification, that address the heightened risk businesses face because they often do not know where all of their data resides or what that data contains.  

• A set of cloud-based Application Vulnerability Scanning (AVS) solutions that help businesses better understand, identify and mitigate potential Web-based, application-security threats.  AVS is available in the U.S., Canada and 13 countries in Europe and Asia-Pacific on an annual subscription basis via the software-as-a-service (SaaS) model.

• A cloud-based Application Assurance service that helps business customers keep their network-based business processes running smoothly and reliably.  The service provides an enterprisewide view of how applications such as e-commerce Web sites, voice over IP and CRM (customer relationship management) software are performing and how that performance is affecting end-users.  

• Expansion of Verizon's Virtual Private LAN Service, giving customers in a number of countries in Europe and Asia-Pacific, as well as additional North American locations, a scalable solution for managing voice, data and video applications across distributed business locations.

Expanded Focus on Vertical Industries

Verizon continued its increasing focus on key vertical markets during the fourth quarter include the rollout of new capabilities:

• A Telehealth Collaboration Services portfolio that enables health care providers to consult remotely with patients and other providers, offer continuing medical education and training to medical professionals, and help health care administrators avoid costly and time-consuming travel.

• Professional consulting services aimed at helping electric utilities prevent hacker threats to critical infrastructure.

Verizon Amplifies Industry Leadership

In addition to continuing to enhance its global solutions capabilities, Verizon Business drove breakthrough research on key technology industry trends during the quarter.  This included:

• A new Frost & Sullivan study, "Meetings Around the World II: Charting the Course of Advanced Collaboration," sponsored by Verizon and Cisco, which found that organizations around the world that deploy the most advanced Internet-protocol-based collaboration technologies achieve more than twice the return on their collaboration investment and perform better than their less collaborative peers.

• An unprecedented look at the 15 most common security attacks and how they typically unfold, as described in Verizon Business' "2009 Supplemental Data Breach Investigations Report: An Anatomy of a Data Breach."  Based on the company's detailed investigations, the report provides real-world scenarios and warning signs, and details nearly 150 ways to detect and combat security threats.  

• A report by ICSA Labs, an independent division of Verizon Business, concluding that nearly 80 percent of security products fail to perform as intended when first tested and generally require two or more cycles of testing before achieving certification.  The first-of-its-kind study, co-authored by the Verizon Business Data Breach Investigations Report research team, details lessons gleaned from testing thousands of security products over 20 years.  

Network Leadership and Global Expansion

Verizon Business continues to invest in its leading global network, which is the essential platform for the company's integrated solutions. Network developments during the quarter included:

• Deploying the industry's first commercial 100G (gigabits per second) ultra-long-haul optical system for live traffic on the European optical core network between Paris and Frankfurt.

• Installing 19 Private IP edge routers, for a total of 753 edge routers in 212 sites across 59 countries. This included new sites in Bangkok, Albuquerque, and Pune, India. With its partners, Verizon now offers PIP services in more than 120 countries.

• Adding a Japan landing to the existing Trans-Pacific Express submarine cable system.

• Installing six new converged packet access (CPA) switches, including new sites in Istanbul, Perth, San Juan, Sao Paulo and Manila.  This brings the total number of CPA switches to 134 in 117 sites across 32 countries.

• Adding five additional nodes (San Juan; St. Denis, France; Pompano Beach, Fla.; Frankfurt; and Hong Kong) to the international mesh network. 

Verizon Business Industry Recognition

Industry experts continued to recognize the depth and breadth of Verizon Business' global capabilities during the quarter.  This recognition included:

• Gartner Inc. gave Verizon Business "Strong Positive" ratings in two reports that focus on the Asia-Pacific and European regions – "MarketScope for Managed Security Services in Asia Pacific"(1) and "MarketScope for Managed Security Services in Europe."(2)

• Independent research firm Yankee Group named Verizon a leader in delivering online service and support for its business customers through the Verizon Enterprise Center customer portal in the firm's new report, "Carrier ePortal Development in a Year of Reduced Budgets" (November 2009).

• An independent report from Forrester Research, Inc., named Verizon Business a leader in delivering global managed multiprotocol switching label services in its October 2009 report, "The Forrester Wave™:  Managed Global MPLS Services, Q4 2009."(3)

• The Metro Ethernet Forum awarded Verizon top honors for its leadership and innovation in developing and delivering Carrier Ethernet business services in Asia-Pacific, the Americas and Europe.

• Light Reading magazine selected Verizon's Computing as a Service (CaaS) as one of its 2009 Top Picks in the business services category (fixed or wireless).

• Verizon received NEC's first Empowered by Telecommunications Award for technical achievement, recognizing the company for its leadership role in optical control plane technology.

• ICSA Labs, an independent division of Verizon Business, became the first independent security-product testing and certification laboratory to earn ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation, further validating the laboratory's world-class capabilities.    

(1) Gartner, Inc. "MarketScope for Managed Security Services in Asia/Pacific"; 24 September 2009; Authors: Andrew Walls, Kelly M Kavanagh, ID Number: G00170555

(2) Gartner, Inc. "MarketScope for Managed Security Services in Europe"; 28 September 2009; Authors: Carsten Casper, Tom Scholtz, ID Number: G00171027

(3) "The Forrester Wave™: Managed Global MPLS Services, Q4 2009," Forrester Research, Inc., October, 2009

About the MarketScope

The "MarketScope for Managed Security Services in Asia/Pacific" is copyrighted 24 September 2009 by Gartner Inc. and is reused with permission. The "MarketScope for Managed Security Services in Europe" is copyrighted 28 September 2009 by Gartner Inc, and is reused with permission. The MarketScope is an evaluation of a marketplace at and for a specific time period. It depicts Gartner's analysis of how certain vendors measure against criteria for that marketplace, as defined by Gartner. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in the MarketScope, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest rating. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

About Verizon Business

Verizon Business, a unit of Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ), is a global leader in communications and IT solutions. We combine professional expertise with one of the world's most connected IP networks to deliver award-winning communications, IT, information security and network solutions. We securely connect today's extended enterprises of widespread and mobile customers, partners, suppliers and employees -- enabling them to increase productivity and efficiency and help preserve the environment. Many of the world's largest businesses and governments -- including 96 percent of the Fortune 1000 and thousands of government agencies and educational institutions -- rely on our professional and managed services and network technologies to accelerate their business. Find out more at www.verizonbusiness.com.

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SOURCE Verizon Business