Verizon Expands Global Enterprise Network Platform in Africa and the Middle East

NEW YORK, Jan. 26, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Verizon has expanded its global enterprise network platform, enabling multinational corporations to take advantage of Verizon's Private IP service in six additional African countries, and Bahrain and Qatar in the Middle East.  The expansion will make it possible for Verizon customers with locations in these emerging markets to more effectively exchange data and global business applications and employ the company's world-class managed network and security solutions.   

Leveraging the strengths of Verizon's global multiprotocol label switching network and the reach of the company's network alliance provider Vodacom Business in Africa, Verizon enterprise customers can add Private IP services to their offices in: Gabon on Africa's western coast; Djibouti and Ethiopia on the Horn of Africa; Malawi and Zimbabwe in Eastern Africa; and Swaziland in the southern region.  In addition, Verizon professional consulting services can help customers in the region design and implement a networking solution tailored to their business requirements. 

The expansion brings to 21 the number of African countries where Verizon's Private IP is now available.  The other countries are: Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia in Africa's eastern region; Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Morocco and Nigeria in the northern and western coastal regions; and Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa in the central and southern regions.  In the Middle East, services are also available in Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and United Arab Emirates (Abu Dhabi and Dubai).

"Verizon's high-IQ networks are a platform for innovation, and the platform just got stronger with Private IP service coverage in Africa and the Middle East," said Martin Burvill, vice president of enterprise sales for Europe, Middle East and Africa.  "This expansion further demonstrates our commitment to this emerging region and meeting the evolving requirements of our multinational business and government customers.  Expansive network services like Verizon's Private IP will play a central role in creating global connections between people, machines and their environments, and contributing to business and societal progress." 

Verizon Private IP customers benefit from six classes of service (CoS), and latency-sensitive applications, such as VoIP and video, receive priority over less time-sensitive applications such as email. The ability to prioritize applications, combined with advanced reporting tools for network and application performance to the desktop and user level, makes Private IP an ideal global platform for business communications and day-to-day operations.

Verizon delivers a comprehensive portfolio of managed network services, managing more than 300,000 security, network and hosting devices across more than 4,200 customer networks spanning 142 countries and territories, all backed by industry-leading service-level agreements.

Terremark, a Verizon company, also offers a full range of colocation, cloud computing, managed hosting and carrier-neutral connectivity through its data centers in Belgium, England, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Turkey. Redundant systems and on-site monitoring allow for maximum security and reliability, ensuring constant access to enterprise systems. The company's facilities in Europe and  the Middle East provide essential IT and cloud infrastructure to enterprises active in this key area and will soon offer connectivity to the Private IP network through its network access point (NAP) in Amsterdam.  

The company's global infrastructure, one of the largest global IP fiber-optic networks, spans six continents and provides a solid foundation from which to serve multinational corporations and government agencies. Verizon also participates in more than 80 submarine cable networks including next-generation undersea cables Europe India Gateway (EIG), which goes from the United Kingdom to India, with a cable landing in Djibouti; SEA-ME-WE-4 (Southeast Asia-Middle East-Western Europe) linking Southeast Asia to Europe via the Indian subcontinent and the Middle East; and the Trans-Pacific Express network connecting the United States to mainland China, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan. Verizon is the only U.S.-based founding member of SEA-ME-WE-4 and the only U.S. charter member of TPE.

Verizon also is a consortium member and owner of the SAT-3/WASC/SAFE submarine cable system. This system has been in service since 2003, and Verizon uses it to support regional requirements, largely in South Africa. 

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE, Nasdaq: VZ), headquartered in New York, is a global leader in delivering broadband and other wireless and wireline communications services to consumer, business, government and wholesale customers.  Verizon Wireless operates America's most reliable wireless network, with nearly 109 million total connections nationwide.  Verizon also provides converged communications, information and entertainment services over America's most advanced fiber-optic network, and delivers integrated business solutions to customers in more than 150 countries, including all of the Fortune 500.  A Dow 30 company with $111 billion in 2011 revenues, Verizon employs a diverse workforce of nearly 194,000.  For more information, visit www.verizon.com.

VERIZON'S ONLINE NEWS CENTER: Verizon news releases, executive speeches and biographies, media contacts, high-quality video and images, and other information are available at Verizon's News Center on the World Wide Web at www.verizon.com/news.  To receive news releases by email, visit the News Center and register for customized automatic delivery of Verizon news releases.

SOURCE Verizon