Verizon Hosts E-Commerce Training For Minority and Women-Owned Businesses

NEW YORK -- Verizon Communications, the national telecommunications company formed by the merger of Bell Atlantic and GTE, will bring its e-commerce training sessions for minority and women-owned businesses to downtown Boston this Tuesday (7/11).

This session will teach businesses how to use the Internet to market their products and services, and to conduct business-to-business transactions. Attendees will learn about Web page development, e-commerce software requirements and marketing and sales over the Internet.

The session is open to all minority and women-owned businesses at no charge. It will take place at 185 Franklin St., Boston, in the Lecture Hall from 8:45 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., and is being co-hosted by the Telecommunications Industry Group of the National Minority Supplier Development Council.

"Minority and women-owned businesses tend to be small companies that often lack the time and resources to keep up with the rapid advances of the Internet and to take advantage of its potential," said Verizon Senior Vice President--Procurement Jeannie Diefenderfer.

"At the same time, Verizon and other large corporations are purchasing more and more goods and services electronically by using the Internet. This training will help give minority and women-owned businesses the tools they need to compete for contracts with us," she said.

Joe Anderson, Verizon executive director - Supplier Diversity will open the training session. The company hosted similar very successful e-commerce-training sessions earlier this year in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Penn. and in New York City.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ), formed by the merger of Bell Atlantic and GTE, is one of the world's leading providers of communications services. Verizon companies are the largest providers of wireline and wireless communications in the United States, with 95 million access lines and 25 million wireless customers. A Fortune 10 company with more than 260,000 employees and approximately $60 billion in 1999 revenues, Verizon's global presence extends to 40 countries in the Americas, Europe, Asia and the Pacific. For more information on Verizon, visit www.verizon.com.