Verizon Business Advances Global IP Networking With New Tools to Improve Application Performance and Enhance Security Across an Extended Enterprise

LAS VEGAS - Verizon Business is advancing IP networking to help improve application performance and security across an extended enterprise of employees, customers, suppliers and partners.

The company on Wednesday (May 20) unveiled at Interop, the global IT conference and exhibition here, several new "cloud-based" (in the network) capabilities that further strengthen Verizon Private IP as the premier IP networking offering available to global enterprises.  The new capabilities are:

• Asset Assurance - a new suite of fault management and monitoring tools and reporting capabilities that provide a cost-effective solution for global network device management.  The service is available immediately to Verizon Private IP customers in the U.S., with plans to expand availability to a number of countries around the world by the end of 2009.

• An enhanced Internet Security Assessment service, available globally, to provide expert analysis of potentially harmful traffic that could undermine the network connecting an extended enterprise.
• New managed security capabilities for Verizon Secure Gateway-Firewall, also available globally, aimed at protecting customer networks from harmful traffic as enterprises move data, voice and video traffic between public and private networks.

"IP networks have fast become the heart of most business operations worldwide, which means that companies, more than ever before, are relying on network security and the performance of their business applications to fuel success," said Blair Crump, president of worldwide sales for Verizon Business.  "As a result, we've deepened our global Private IP capabilities to even further boost customer confidence that business communications within and beyond their corporate walls will perform seamlessly and securely."

The SaaS Solution for Network Management

Verizon Business' new Asset Assurance, powered by CA Spectrum® Infrastructure Manager, will advance network monitoring, IT service management and service-level reporting for devices across a customer's Private IP network.  Part of Verizon Business' robust Application Aware suite of network and application management tools, Asset Assurance is a SaaS-based service that employs a powerful combination of device monitoring, alarming, fault isolation,  root-cause analysis, service-level reporting and IT service management that allows customers to pinpoint the cause of incidents and quickly remediate issues across their infrastructure.  The service helps companies mitigate issues that can compromise network health while also reducing the time it takes to identify and repair problems that may occur.

This new cloud-based capability is offered to Verizon Business customers via a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model, eliminating the need for customers to purchase, learn about or maintain network-management software and hardware.  The SaaS delivery model is ideal for small and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises because services can be purchased a la carte. This helps customers control costs while attaining the required levels of security, performance, scalability and reliability.  In addition, customers gain energy-conservation benefits by using IT resources (connectivity, server and storage) on an as-needed basis.

Asset Assurance evolved from Verizon Business and CA working together in delivering Wide Area Network (WAN) Analysis, a robust reporting tool for performance analysis and capacity and bandwidth utilization that is automatically available to Private IP customers as part of their service agreements.

The new service is available with the Verizon Private IP - Layer 2 and Layer 3 network services.  The solution's three package options - standard, enhanced and premium - are tailored to meet the diverse requirements of customers of all sizes, and offer desirable features for the IT manager up to the most-senior executive.   

Internet Security Assessment Helps Secure Extended Enterprise

Verizon Private IP customers around the world can now take advantage of Verizon Business' Internet Security Assessment.  This solution provides customers with an innovative and powerful approach to review important aspects of their security posture and then assess the risks associated with Web-based network infrastructure.  The Internet Security Assessment includes Virtual Discovery & Classification and External Risk Assessment, supported by professional services. 

To protect an organization's extended enterprise of customers, partners, vendors and suppliers, both components provide customers with a view of their security landscape based on an analysis of their Internet activity coupled with a rigorous scan for vulnerabilities. 

Virtual Discovery & Classification helps enterprises understand emerging threat activity and other related network issues.  This service combines Verizon Business' security intelligence with data captured through Verizon's expansive backbone to provide customers with an unparalleled view of their network security.  Underscoring the need for this service is the Verizon Business "2009 Data Breach Investigations Report," which concluded that 32 percent of breaches studied were linked to business partners (www.verizonbusiness.com/products/security/risk/databreach).

The External Risk Assessment service, a component of Verizon's proprietary Security Management Program, utilizes intelligent vulnerability scanning and identifies potential threats to a network's health such as historically vulnerable software, unnecessary services and unusual use, as well as devices that have atypical characteristics that may indicate risks.

New Secure Gateway Firewall Capabilities

Verizon also announced new capabilities available globally for its Secure Gateway offering.  Specifically, Private IP customers can now take advantage of a fully managed offering that enables them to offload the management and administration of the network-based firewall. 

Verizon's security experts can help customers determine and implement optimal firewall policies to serve as an effective first layer of defense against potentially harmful traffic.  Verizon Business will work with customers to implement appropriate firewall policies and will monitor and update those policies as business requirements change. Previously, customers were required to use a Web-based graphic user interface (GUI) to define and modify policies to control the public Internet traffic that they chose to allow on their private network.

Verizon Business' Secure Gateway Firewall services can be used with Private IP and Verizon's other network services.  Customers benefit from extending their communications reach by securely exchanging traffic between Private IP and the Verizon Business global Internet backbone.

Verizon Private IP Completely Separate from the Public Internet

Verizon Business' new services further enhance the inherent advanced security capabilities of Verizon Private IP, which offers global multinational companies a secure, scalable and flexible foundation for their next-generation, IP-based communications needs. Separated from the public Internet, Verizon Private IP offers customers a dedicated network infrastructure on which to build e-commerce, immersive video, mobility or other solutions, supported with best-practice security measures.

A full range of Verizon Business professional and managed security consulting services further enhances the protection of global corporate and government networks.

For a retrospective and prospective view of Verizon Business IP innovation, visit http://www.verizonbusiness.com/about/ipinnovation.

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 the world’s most connected IP network 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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