Verizon Business Receives Top Honors From Frost & Sullivan for VoIP Services

BASKING RIDGE, N.J. - Verizon Business has earned the 2008 North American Frost & Sullivan Award for Product Line Strategy for its leadership in developing and delivering hosted IP telephony and voice-over-IP access services.  The award is presented by the leading analyst firm each year to a company that has demonstrated the most insight into customer needs and product demands.

"Verizon Business combines best-of-breed hosted IP telephony and VoIP access solutions with the financial and operational stability of the Verizon brand, enabling it to become a premier provider of enterprise communications services," said Imran Khan, research analyst, Frost & Sullivan.  "While a number of providers offer hosted IP telephony solutions, few are able to offer a robust product line that meets the diverse needs of small-, medium- and large-enterprise customers alike."

The award also singles out Verizon Business for working with customers to offer hybrid solutions - combinations of services from the company's VoIP portfolio - that enable customers to create a single, network-based solution to meet their business needs. The award notes the particular benefit this versatility presents to customers with more complex networks. 

"This award recognizes Verizon Business' leadership in helping companies through the IP transformation," said Nancy Gofus, senior vice president and chief marketing officer, Verizon Business.  "Our comprehensive IP portfolio, including advanced collaboration capabilities enabled by unified communications, helps our customers do business better in ways they may never have imagined."

In selecting Verizon Business, Frost & Sullivan also credited the company for offering a unified communications platform that integrates voice communications.  Verizon Business' Integrated Communications Package - available for customers of Hosted IP Centrex, part of Verizon Business' VoIP portfolio - provides a dynamic hub where employees can access voice mail, control incoming and outgoing calls, manage their online presence, send text messages, and synchronize contacts and calendars.  Ideal for managing communications and enhancing collaboration and productivity, Integrated Communications Package is available in the U.S. and will soon be available in Europe.

Moreover, Frost & Sullivan cited the wide array of professional and managed services available to Verizon Business customers.  Verizon Business' professional services experts are instrumental in helping organizations navigate the complexity of moving from the traditional legacy voice (PSTN) world to voice over IP.  In addition, the company provides a complementary set of managed network, managed hosting and managed services offerings, managing and maintaining more than 4,000 customer networks and over 260,000 communications devices around the world. 

Finally, Verizon Business' service level agreements (SLAs) and a wide range of customer premises equipment (CPE) options and vendors were named as contributing factors for Frost & Sullivan's recognition. 

Last year, Frost & Sullivan awarded its 2006 Product Line Strategy Award for Enterprise wide area networking (WAN) services to Verizon Business for its ability to introduce new wide area networking products that are strategically positioned to balance its already robust overall product portfolio.

About Verizon Business
Verizon Business, a unit of Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ), operates the world's most connected public IP network and uses its industry-leading global-network capabilities to offer large-business and government customers an unmatched combination of security, reliability and speed.  The company integrates advanced IP communications and information technology (IT) products and services to deliver leading enterprise solutions including managed services, security, mobility, collaboration and professional services.  These solutions power innovation and enable the company's customers to do business better. For more information, visit www.verizonbusiness.com.

About Frost & Sullivan
Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, partners with clients to accelerate their growth. The company's TEAM Research, Growth Consulting and Growth Team Membership(tm) empower clients to create a growth-focused culture that generates, evaluates and implements effective growth strategies. Frost & Sullivan employs over 45 years of experience in partnering with Global 1000 companies, emerging businesses and the investment community from more than 30 offices on six continents. For more information about Frost & Sullivan's Growth Partnership Services, visit http://www.frost.com.

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