Five Companies Win Bell Atlantic Supplier Excellence Award

Five Companies Win Bell Atlantic Supplier Excellence Award

Winners Help Bell Atlantic Provide Outstanding Service to Its Customers

May 25, 2000

NEW YORK - Of the thousands of companies that provide products and services to Bell Atlantic, five stand out among all the rest. Bell Atlantic will honor them with its Supplier Excellence Award for their outstanding performance during the past year.

Bell Atlantic selected the winners from more than 6,500 suppliers. The companies were judged on quality, responsiveness, delivery and customer satisfaction for the products and services they provided to Bell Atlantic.

"Our suppliers play a vital role in Bell Atlantic's mission to care for our customers, anticipate their needs and provide them with outstanding service," said Jeannie Diefenderfer, vice president of Corporate Sourcing. "The Supplier Excellence Award program enables us to recognize the winners for their hard work and dedication to excellence, which help Bell Atlantic maintain its competitive edge in the marketplace."

Bell Atlantic presented the awards in three categories - service provider, small business and minority/women-owned business (M/WBE). The winners are:

Service

• Office Depot, one of the world's largest sellers of office products, operating a total of 836 stores throughout the United States and Canada. Office Depot also controls a national business-to-business delivery network, through its Business Group, and provides direct mail marketing of products through its wholly owned subsidiary, Viking Office Products. Office Depot provides products and services to Bell Atlantic's Information Services group. The company has its headquarters in Delray Beach, Fla., and has 48,000 employees worldwide.

  Small Business

• JBA Consulting, Inc., JBA Consulting, Inc., a management-consulting firm that provides expertise in a full range of business processes, from procurement to payables. JBA supplies Bell Atlantic with auditing and analysis consultation as well as financial software. The company has 45 employees and has its headquarters in Greensboro, N.C.

• Premium Electric, Inc., an electrical contracting company specializing in commercial and industrial electrical construction. Premium has provided services to Bell Atlantic in New Jersey for 32 years. The company has 40 employees and is based in Clifton, N.J.

  M/WBE

• The Resource Connection, Inc., a staffing services firm specializing in temporary and permanent placement. The company has been recruiting, screening and evaluating candidates for Bell Atlantic's Information Services group for seven years. The Resource Connection is based in Middleton, Mass. and employs more than 200 people.

• Telamon Corp., a provider of equipment, network design and integration, technical support and broadband deployment to telecommunications providers, Internet service providers and equipment manufacturers. Telamon supplies Bell Atlantic customers, who subscribe to the company's enhanced maintenance plan, with loaner equipment. Telamon has its corporate headquarters in Carmel, Ind., and has 400 employees.

Bell Atlantic will present the awards and a congratulatory banner to the winners at their company locations over the next few weeks. Members of the media will be invited to attend those individual award presentations.

Bell Atlantic is at the forefront of the new communications and information industry. With more than 44 million telephone access lines and more than 20 million wireless customers worldwide, Bell Atlantic companies are premier providers of advanced wireline voice and data services, market leaders in wireless services and the world's largest publishers of directory information. Bell Atlantic companies are also among the world's largest investors in high-growth global communications markets, with operations and investments in 23 countries.