Announcements : Verizon

Verizon Business rolls out VoIP enhancements

janderson — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 11:31:00 GMT

Verizon's Integrated Communications Package upgrades its VoIP offering with access to e-mail, calendar synchronization, and fully managed voice communication

By Grant Gross, IDG News Service

August 21, 2007

Verizon Communications' Business unit will launch a VoIP service for customers of its Hosted IP Centrex package that will give users access to new features like text messaging and calendar synchronization.

Verizon Business' Integrated Communications Package is targeted at businesses and government agencies whose employees want more collaboration and mobility functionality with their VoIP phones, Verizon said. The package is designed to reduce the time and effort needed to connect employees, the company said.

The package allows users to access voice e-mail, control incoming and outgoing calls, manage their online presence, send text messages, and synchronize contacts and calendars, Verizon said.

"The major advantage ... is the ability for an employee to manage communications wherever they are, and whenever they'd like," said Jeff Cayer, group manager of VoIP marketing for Verizon Business. "An end-user is given the control to determine who can reach them, when they can be reached, and how."

The software includes administrator and user point-and-click interfaces allowing employees to access and manage their office phones, e-mail, Lotus Sametime instant messaging, and voice mail. The services can be used on a Web-based interface or run in conjunction with a stand-alone desktop client and Microsoft Outlook plugin. The administrative console provides a Web-based tool for near real-time service control and management, Verizon said.

"Every day we are bombarded with e-mails, text messages, calls to our cell phones, calls at work and at home," Cayer said. "With Integrated Communications Package, we are empowering end-users to take some control back."

Integrated Communications Package will be available beginning next month to U.S. customers of Verizon's Hosted IP Centrex, an enterprise VoIP service Verizon hosts and manages. Verizon plans to expand the service internationally later this year. Verizon Business also plans to integrate the service with its audio, net and video conferencing services and contact center services.

Some consumer VoIP services already offer similar features, and Verizon Business has offered a GUI that allowed for some call control and feature management, Cayer said. "However, we were not able to give users access to calendars and text messaging," he said. "Our focus, though, was to first build the network and platform to offer scalability and enterprise-level features. Once that foundation was set, we were then able to enhance some of the end-user capabilities."

One analyst praised Verizon's new package. "As businesses deal with more mobile and remote employees, the need for a product that provides phone, e-mail, calendaring, messaging, and presence capabilities will be on their list of must-haves to further enable collaboration," Will Stofega, research manager for VoIP Services with IDC, said in a statement. "This offering is a good start, delivering a user-friendly platform to help enhance a company's VoIP investment."

An intermediate level of the Integrated Communications Package starts at $5.50 per user per month, and an advanced service including Microsoft Office plug-ins and real-time call management will be $7.50, Cayer said.

Verizon Business expands network service in Europe, Asia

janderson — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 22:48:00 GMT

Verizon Business' CPA will offers businesses 'broadband on demand'

By Grant Gross, IDG News Service
June 19, 2007

Verizon Communications' Business unit will expand its business-level data platform to parts of Europe and the Asia Pacific region this year, the company said Tuesday.

Verizon Business' Converged Packet Architecture (CPA) combines IP (Internet protocol) and traditional data onto one common network-access interface, with the goal of allowing customers to more easily order bandwidth or make other changes.

CPA is "broadband on demand" for businesses, said Joseph Cook, Verizon Business' vice president for global network engineering and planning. With the CPA interface, customers can order bandwidth ranging from 512Kbps to 1Gbps, he said.

Verizon is pushing into Europe and Asia-Pacific because many multinational corporations have offices there, and they want the same data services available as in the U.S., Cook said. Verizon Business is focused on becoming a top carrier for multinational corporations worldwide, company officials said.

In Europe, Verizon Business will deploy CPA in 19 cities this year, including London, Frankfurt, Paris, Vienna, Amsterdam, Warsaw, Dublin, Madrid, Brussels, and Zurich.

In the Asia-Pacific region, Verizon Business is deploying CPA in five locations this year: Hong Kong, Tokyo, Singapore, Melbourne, and Sydney.

Verizon Business also continues CPA deployment in the U.S. It now serves 37 cities, and by the end of the year, will add nine more, including New Orleans, Louisiana; Orlando, Florida; and Memphis; and Nashville, Tennessee.

CPA supports legacy and newer services including IP, Private IP, Ethernet, private line data, voice traffic, Ethernet Virtual Private Line and Virtual Private LAN Service. It provides a single packet-access connection via an Ethernet interface at speeds up to one gigabit per second, often called GigE.

Customers can also use CPA to migrate from older time division multiplexing (TDM) hierarchy to a packet-based technology.

Some traditional network access plans require separate lines for voice, video, data and Internet, and require specific bandwidth contracts. CPA, instead, converges all applications on a single carrier-class packet access network and improves operating efficiency, Verizon Business said.

MCI, which was acquired by Verizon in January 2006, launched its CPA service in July 2004. Analysts praised the move, saying it would help business customers move to packet-based services.

Qwest, AT&T, Verizon Win Government Telecom Contract Worth Up to $48 Billion; Sprint Left Out

janderson — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 17:13:00 GMT

AT&T, Qwest Communications and Verizon on Thursday were awarded the government's largest telecommunications contract ever, a 10-year deal worth up to $48 billion.

The contract winners, who beat out Sprint Nextel Corp., don't simply split a pool of money. They now have to compete with each other for the various telecom needs of dozens of federal agencies, the General Services Administration announced.

The contract covers voice, video and data services and technologies for as many as 135 agencies operating in 190 countries. Several major departments, including Homeland Security and Treasury, have already signed up.

While AT&T Inc., Qwest Communications International Inc. and Verizon Inc. gained an important and deep-pocketed client, the announcement was a huge blow to Sprint, analysts said, because it has been providing telecom services to the federal government for nearly 20 years.

"The federal government was Sprint's first major customer since the company started," said technology consultant Warren Suss of Jenkintown, Pa.

While current GSA officials would not say why Sprint lost out, Bob Woods, a former official at the agency who now works as a consultant, surmised that Sprint could not meet the low prices of its competitors. Woods estimated that Sprint could lose roughly $200 million to $250 million annually in existing government business.

Executives from Sprint plan to meet with GSA officials next week to discuss why their contract proposal fell short, and the company will decide afterwards whether to file a protest, spokeswoman Sukhi Sahni said in an e-mail.

For the winners, Thursday's announcement was perhaps most significant for Qwest, the smallest among them. Suss said Qwest can now leverage its government business to gain more corporate clients.

Qwest senior vice president Diana Gowen conceded that the Denver-based company has its work cut out for it going up against AT&T and Verizon, but said Qwest's smaller size would make it more agile. "If you want to make it the David and Goliath story, we'll be the David and slay the dragon," she said.

Don Herring, president of AT&T's government business, said getting on the contract is "a really important first step," adding that it will be several months before the companies start bidding on specific agency projects. AT&T is based in San Antonio.

Industry analysts said they expect the federal government to spend at least $20 billion over the life of the so-called Networx Universal contract, which is capped at $48 billion.

"The advanced technologies and services defined in the Networx program will serve as a platform to transform the government's telecommunications infrastructure to a more seamless and secure environment," GSA's acquisitions commissioner Jim Williams said in a prepared statement. GSA procures and manages federal assets.

The two previous 10-year government-wide telecom contracts had two main providers. The first went to Sprint and AT&T. The second to Sprint and MCI Worldcom, since acquired by Verizon.

For the losers of the Networx Universal contract, there is a consolation prize on the table. GSA is planning in May to award a second telecommunications contract called Networx Enterprise -- worth up to $20 billion -- that contains fewer mandatory requirements and services in select areas across the nation.

In a statement, Sprint said it expected to win the second contract.

Verizon is now available as a Telephony Partners Carrier!

janderson — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 15:56:00 GMT

Verizon is well respected as both a local phone company as well as a worldwide networking provider. With the acquisition of MCI, Verizon has a broad and well respected network and product set. You can sell from both the Verizon ILEC and Verizon Business product sets and this includes Local Service, Data and Long Distance both in and out of Verizon local service areas. Verizon Business products are available nationwide as well as internationally and includes services such as MPLS, VoIP, Local PRI, DSL and more.

Sales Opportunities are available to upgrade or re-contract existing customers while making considerable commissions. Verizon pricing for Integrated T1 service in-region is very attractive, as well as Verizon Business Dedicated Internet outside of local Verizon territory. VoIP products are available that include Hosted IP Centrex and Flex T1 services...both of which include virtually unlimited long distance usage and on-net calling. Dry Loop DSL (DSL without local phone service) is available in Verizon Local region as well as Verizon Business DSL and POT's services that are available nationwide. FIOS (fiber optic Internet Access) is available with speeds up to 30 Mbps for only $350 a month!