Verizon Business Again Advances State-of-the-Art Metro Ethernet

BASKING RIDGE, N.J. - Large businesses and government agencies seeking to easily and cost effectively extend their Ethernet local area networks (LANs) to new locations can now benefit from enhanced optical capabilities from Verizon Business.  The enhancement facilitates easier connectivity and transport of critical voice, video and real-time data applications around the country.

The Next Generation (NG) Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) for Metro Ethernet services enhancement was unveiled by the company Tuesday (April 15).  It is primarily targeted to Verizon Ethernet LAN (E-LAN) or Ethernet Virtual Private Line (EVPL) customers to link their far-flung business locations.  

NG SONET for Metro Ethernet further demonstrates Verizon Business' leadership and commitment to innovation in the carrier Ethernet market by enabling businesses, government agencies and other institutions with campus environments to connect directly to associated sites easily and cost effectively with all the advantages in reach, ease-of-use and resiliency inherent in SONET technology. 

The new NG SONET enhancements enables customers that can be served by Verizon's fiber-optic network in 53 metro markets to link directly to new locations via Ethernet, eliminating certain costly connection charges.  Customers also benefit from reliability and security built in to SONET ring networking and flexible bandwidth configuration of Ethernet at each location. 

"Verizon Business is helping growing businesses stay connected with cost-effective and advanced Ethernet services that leverage our proven, highly resilient optical infrastructure," said Michael Marcellin, vice president of product marketing for Verizon Business.  "These new capabilities harness our company's knowledge of optical technologies and vast fiber footprint to enable robust metro Ethernet connectivity for business customers that increasingly rely on Ethernet to transport mission-critical data across their extended enterprise."

Extending Optical Benefits to Ethernet

As more companies deliver bandwidth-intensive business applications across Ethernet services like E-LAN and EVPL, network resiliency becomes absolutely critical.  NG SONET is well-suited for voice, video and data applications because the technology extends the inherent strength of optical technology to Ethernet applications traversing LAN and wide area network (WAN) connections. 

Verizon Business also offers networking flexibility through its Ethernet Packet Ring Service (EPRS), which combines the exceptional reliability of optical networking technology with the multipoint capabilities of Ethernet switching.  The service is designed to avoid a single point of failure and also provides flexible and scalable Ethernet handoffs at each location connected to the link. 

EPRS is easy to deploy and allows growing companies to add new applications to their existing or new ring without purchasing and deploying a separate network. 

Verizon Business also offers 24 x 7 monitoring and support, and competitive network service level agreements (SLAs).

Carrier Ethernet Leadership

Verizon Business is a recognized leader developing, marketing and delivering Carrier Ethernet business services to its customers.  The company on Monday (April 14) received five of six Nemertes PilotHouse awards for Ethernet services to become the only carrier to dominate a single PilotHouse awards category.   The awards, voted by a survey sample of 600 enterprise users, recognize major and emerging service providers that are setting the standard in advanced communications.

In 2007, Verizon was named the Carrier Ethernet Service Provider of the Year - National Category by the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF). 

With the introduction of the NG SONET enhancement to E-LAN and EVPL Metro Ethernet Services, Verizon continues to evolve and enhance its award-winning portfolio of Ethernet services, which include:

• Metro Ethernet Services (E-LAN and EVPL) - available within 53 metro markets in the United States.

• Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS) - available virtually anywhere nationwide.
• Ethernet Private Line (EPL) - available within 145 U.S. metro markets and in many locations in 21 European countries.
• Ethernet Virtual Private Line (EVPL) - available virtually anywhere nationwide and in many locations in six Asia-Pacific countries and territories, as well as between the United States and six Asia-Pacific regions, and between the United States and 21 European countries.
• Ethernet Access for Private IP and the public Internet - available virtually anywhere nationwide, within 21 European countries, 13 countries in Asia-Pacific, four countries in Latin America and in Canada.

Customers can use Ethernet either as a stand-alone end-to-end service in the United States, Europe and Asia-Pacific regions or as a means of quickly and easily accessing either the Internet or Private IP, Verizon Business' MPLS-based, layer 3 virtual private network (VPN).

About Verizon Business
Verizon Business, a unit of Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ), is a global IP leader and network-based partner for delivering integrated communications and information technology (IT) solutions to large-business and government customers worldwide.  Combining unsurpassed reach with managed services, security, mobility, collaboration and professional services capabilities, Verizon Business delivers global solutions that power innovation and enable its customers to do business better.  For more information, visit www.verizonbusiness.com.

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