Virtela Wins Prestigious 2011 World Communication Award for Best Cloud Service

DENVER, Nov. 16, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Virtela, the world's largest independent managed network, security and cloud services company, today announced it has been named a winner of the 2011 World Communication Awards (WCAs) for its Cloud-based Application Acceleration Service, the industry's first virtual managed application acceleration service.

One of the most coveted communications industry awards, the WCAs honor companies responsible for the innovations, achievements and outstanding new services that are helping to build tomorrow's industry. Virtela won the fiercely competitive Best Cloud Service category, and was named a finalist for Best Global Operator and Best New Enterprise Service, for its Cloud-based Mobile Device Management solution.

In describing why Virtela was selected for one of the highest accolades in the industry, the independent panel of WCA judges praised the "excellent and relevant customer testimonials" for Virtela's Cloud-based Application Acceleration Service, and highlighted the application performance guarantees offered by the service as well as overall benefits for multi-location companies.

"Virtela was made for the cloud, and the cloud for Virtela," commented one judge.

Powered by Virtela's breakthrough Enterprise Services Cloud (ESC) architecture, the world's first open platform for cloud IT services, the Cloud-based Application Acceleration Service boosts business application performance up to 25 times without any upfront cost. With instant service delivery via 50 Virtela Local Cloud Centers (LCCs) strategically located around the world, the service can be activated in more than 190 countries at a fraction of the cost of on-premise solutions. As a result, enterprises can escape the high costs and complexity of deploying and maintaining dedicated hardware at each branch office while improving end-user satisfaction and productivity. The service is backed by the industry's only application response time guarantee: If customers are not satisfied with the performance improvement, they do not pay; Virtela will pay them 250% of the service fee.

Virtela's application acceleration service has the unique ability to boost response times and productivity anywhere around the world without adding bandwidth, equipment or support staff, said one global manufacturing customer, who reports that the service slashed transfer times for CAD files from 8 hours to just 20 minutes -- ultimately saving the company $2 million per month in engineering resource costs.

Virtela ESC is the only independent cloud platform available today, meaning application acceleration and other service benefits can be exploited regardless of the underlying transport provider and will work across any public, private or hybrid network. This innovation further opens the door to widespread adoption of application acceleration across the enterprise, which has been hampered by the high capex, complexity and closed architectures of traditional approaches.

"We are honored to receive recognition from such a distinguished industry body as the WCAs," said Ron Haigh, Virtela's vice president of customer solutions and cloud architecture. "This award is a key milestone in the success of our cloud network services strategy. It's truly a testament to the outstanding innovations and extraordinary customer support of our employees, which results in tangible business benefits for every customer while easing their transition to cloud services."

Introduced in 2010, Virtela's Cloud-based Application Acceleration Service continues to earn recognition from prominent industry bodies as well as customers who are reaping the benefits. Recently, the service also won the Communications Solutions Product of the Year, the GTB Innovation Award and the Frost and Sullivan Product Leadership Award.

Winners of the 13th annual World Communication Awards were honored at a gala dinner in London on November 7, 2011.

About Virtela

Virtela Technology Services Incorporated is the world's largest independent managed network, security and cloud services company. Virtela offers an award-winning suite of services - including managed networks, security, application acceleration and proactive infrastructure management - to mid-market and Fortune 500 customers around the world. Virtela offers unparalleled geographic reach to more than 190 countries through its partnerships with more than 500 network providers.

Virtela is headquartered in Denver, Colorado, with global support centers around the world. For more information, please call +1 (720) 475-4000 or visit www.virtela.net.

SOURCE Virtela