Verizon Business Takes Virtual Private LAN Service Global

Enterprises around the world now can seamlessly and cost-effectively transform their Ethernet local area networks into wide area networks, with Verizon Business' global expansion of its Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS).  

The offering is now available to customers in Europe, Asia-Pacific and North America, giving global enterprises a scalable solution for managing voice, data and video applications across distributed business locations. 

Verizon Business' VPLS service combines the simplicity of Ethernet and the flexibility of multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) to help organizations cost-effectively and efficiently reap the benefits of wide area networking from their local area networks.  The service uses a seamless and standardized global provisioning platform that appeals to multinational customers that require a consistent look and feel to increase efficiencies and control support costs.

"Verizon Business was the first major U.S. service provider to introduce VPLS, and continues to be a leader in the Ethernet space by now providing one of the most geographically diverse and technologically advanced solutions in the marketplace today," said Tom Vitale, vice president of Verizon network solutions marketing.  "Our expanded offering is bolstered by an award-winning Ethernet portfolio of services offering world-class levels of coverage, consistency and performance."

With this global expansion, the reach of Verizon VPLS will extend beyond the U.S. to customers in 31 international locations, including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, India, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea.  Verizon Business leverages its extensive network of interconnection agreements with other in-region Ethernet providers to offer this expansive coverage.

Verizon VPLS, an advanced MPLS-based layer 2 virtual private network delivered via Verizon Business' innovative global-provisioning Ethernet platform, is ideal for organizations seeking to link multiple sites in a flexible, operationally efficient model.  VPLS is protocol-independent, supporting both IP and non-IP applications, which allows customers to retain complete control of their own routing.  In addition, VPLS allows customers to access Verizon's extensive portfolio of Ethernet services and other data networking services offered by the company. 

"In a challenging economy, Verizon Business' global expansion of VPLS service and growth of its Ethernet portfolio is a good-news story," said Stan Hubbard, senior analyst with Heavy Reading.  "The company's global provisioning platform for enabling a seamless experience, long history delivering Ethernet services, broad portfolio and stability will certainly all appeal to multinational customers."

VPLS is an optimal platform for converged networking as it allows for prioritization of applications via multiple classes of services (CoS).  An organization can customize prioritization to ensure that business-critical applications receive the highest priority across the network.  Verizon Real-time CoS, for example, makes VPLS ideal for carrying latency-sensitive traffic such as voice-over-IP (VoIP) and digital video.  VPLS also enables customers to provision their network bandwidth from 1 megabit per second to 1gigabit per second and beyond, enabling efficient and cost-effective transmission of voice and data traffic. And VPLS is backed by robust service level agreements (SLAs), which customers expect from a carrier-class wide area network service.

Verizon Business is a recognized leader delivering Ethernet services for business customers around the world.  For three consecutive years, the company has annually been named the Service Provider of the Year by the Metro Ethernet Forum on the strengths of the company's broad portfolio and international reach.  In September, the company was recognized as the Metro Ethernet Forum's 2009 European Carrier Ethernet Service Provider of the Year for Service Innovation. Extending VPLS to its global customer base is proof that Verizon Business is committed to continuing this leadership.

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 one of the world's most connected IP networks 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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