Verizon | Verizon Business Customers to Benefit From Global Network Expansion, Enhancements

The Verizon Business global IP network has been ranked as the most-connected Internet backbone network, based on autonomous system connections, for 10 consecutive years (1999-2008), according to TeleGeography, a research division of PriMetrica Inc. As the global network expands into new growth regions and moves deeper into the countries where services are already offered today, global enterprise customers will continue to benefit from unsurpassed capacity, security, reliability and speed.

Strategic global network plans for 2009 include expansions of Private IP/multiprotocol label switching (MPLS), converged packet architecture, submarine cable systems and optical global mesh architecture.

Private IP/MPLS Deployment

Responding to the growing demand for IP solutions, Verizon Business is expanding its MPLS network with new and diverse nodes in South Asia, North Asia, Singapore, Japan, Mexico, the United States, Europe and the Middle East. The MPLS network also provides the foundation for multinational customers to optimize the cost and effectiveness of operating business processes among multiple locations. Currently, Verizon Business supports Private IP services in more than 120 countries around the world, including two of the fastest-growing countries - China and India.

Converged Packet Architecture

Expanding its converged packet architecture (CPA) network to 87 markets in 27 countries in 2008, Verizon Business will continue to add more CPA sites this year. CPA enables convergence of services onto a single packet access connection via a simple Ethernet interface. This gives customers the ability to move seamlessly from legacy time-division multiplexing (TDM) to packet-based technology, resulting in improved efficiency. New CPA locations this year include: Japan (Tokyo and Osaka); Taiwan (Taipei); South Korea (Seoul); Hong Kong; Singapore; Australia (Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane and Canberra); and India (Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, New Delhi and Hyderabad).

Submarine Cable Leadership

With participation in more than 80 submarine cables in the world, Verizon Business continues strategic investments in submarine cable capacity. The on-time completion in 2008 of the first phase of the 17,000-kilometer (10,500-mile) Trans-Pacific Express cable network from the U.S. to mainland China, South Korea and Taiwan paved the way for the second phase of the TPE cable, which is expected to land in Japan in early 2010. Verizon Business is the only U.S.-based company that is an original charter member of the Trans-Pacific Express Consortium.

Using those same cable leadership skills on the other side of the world, Verizon Business is a lead member of the Europe India Gateway (EIG) Consortium. The EIG is the first direct, high-bandwidth optical-fiber submarine cable system to be built connecting the United Kingdom, the Middle East and India.Verizon Business will be one of the terminal parties for the more than $700 million EIG cable. The company will provide a cable terminal facility in Marseille, France, for the 15,000-kilometer (9,000 mile) cable. This will give the EIG direct connectivity to the Verizon Business network in Europe, as well as provide significant redundancy in cable stations and routing.Verizon Business expects to have its terminal ready for the installation of EIG equipment in the third quarter 2009. When the EIG system is ready for service in 2010, it will provide additional capacity and diversity to the Middle East and India.

Optical Global Mesh Expansion

As the industry leader implementing seven-way mesh technology on its Atlantic and Pacific submarine cable routes, Verizon Business will expand its global mesh network to India and Egypt. The company also will continue optical-mesh architecture expansion in the U.S. and Canada. The mesh-network architecture utilizes additional paths for rerouting traffic in the event of a cable cut or other network disruption. The Verizon Business mesh network achieves industry-leading rates of availability exceeding 99.999 percent, given the high number of diverse links and network nodes.Other Major Network

ProjectsAdditional major network projects scheduled for 2009 include:

* Second phase of the India network expansion.
* Expansion of the ultra-long-haul (ULH) network in the U.S. and Europe.
* Deployment of ROADM (reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexer) technology used to remotely configure wavelengths on the network, allowing for faster provisioning and trouble isolation.
* Implementation of packet-optical transport platform (P-OTP) network design.
* Deployment of 40 gigabits per second technology on additional selected network routes for the private IP and public IP networks.
* Continued testing of 100Gbps capabilities in an effort to move the industry toward production-quality 100Gbps in 2010.
* Expansion of new data centers in the United Kingdom and Hong Kong, and additional capacity at numerous other data centers.

Verizon | Verizon Business Customers to Benefit From Global Network Expansion, Enhancements