Metro Ethernet Forum Recognizes Verizon's Carrier Ethernet Leadership for Third Consecutive Year

LAS VEGAS - Verizon's excellence and leadership in the development, marketing and delivery of Carrier Ethernet business services has earned it top recognition by the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) for the third consecutive year.  The company has been named Carrier Ethernet Service Provider of the Year, Best in Business, North America on the strength of its global Carrier Ethernet portfolio and its continued commitment to Ethernet innovation.

"More and more, companies are recognizing the power of Ethernet for their crucial voice, video and data business applications," said Tom Roche, vice president of corporate marketing for Verizon. "This award reinforces Verizon's continued leadership in delivering end-to-end Ethernet solutions as well as access to our expansive private and public IP network services.  In addition to strong enterprise-customer adoption, we're seeing Ethernet take hold in the small- to mid-sized-business marketplace as well as increasing interest as a solution for wireless carriers."

Verizon accepted the 2008 Service Provider of the Year award at an MEF-sponsored reception Wednesday (June 18) at NXTcomm 2008 in Las Vegas. 

"Verizon continues to lead by example by expanding and enabling new Carrier Ethernet solutions," said MEF President Nan Chen.  "The company has played an important role helping to evolve Ethernet from local and metro-area networking to a truly global wide-area network technology and perfect path to IP."

Verizon's award-winning portfolio of Ethernet services includes:

• Metro Ethernet Services (E-LAN and EVPL) - available within 100 metro markets in the United States.

• Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS) - available virtually anywhere in the U.S.
• 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 in the U.S. 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 10 European countries.
• Ethernet Access for Private IP and the public Internet - available virtually anywhere in the U.S, within 20 European countries, 13 countries in Asia-Pacific, and four countries in Latin America and 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
Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ), headquartered in New York, is a leader in delivering broadband and other wireline and wireless communication innovations to mass market, business, government and wholesale customers.  Verizon Wireless operates America's most reliable wireless network, serving more than 67 million customers nationwide.  Verizon's Wireline operations include Verizon Business, which delivers innovative and seamless business solutions to customers around the world, and Verizon Telecom, which brings customers the benefits of converged communications, information and entertainment services over the nation's most advanced fiber-optic network.  A Dow 30 company, Verizon employed a diverse workforce of approximately 232,000 as of the end of the first quarter 2008 and last year generated consolidated operating revenues of $93.5 billion.  For more information, visit www.verizon.com.

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