Verizon Global Wholesale First to Win Metro Ethernet Forum's 'Best Wholesale Ethernet Service' Awards for North America and EMEA

NEW YORK, Nov. 19, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Verizon Global Wholesale has received two prestigious Metro Ethernet Forum Service Provider Awards for Best Wholesale Ethernet Service -- in North America and EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa). The awards recognize Verizon Global Wholesale's excellence and leadership in the development, marketing and delivery of wholesale carrier Ethernet services.

This is the first year the awards have been presented for Best Wholesale Ethernet Service, which honors the provider with the most robust wholesale service offerings that extend the reach of Ethernet services.

"These significant awards recognize the effective and dependable Ethernet solutions Verizon Global Wholesale offers in two important regions within our global footprint," said Quintin Lew, senior vice president of marketing for Verizon Global Wholesale. "Verizon Ethernet services set the standard when it comes to product and service differentiation, availability, scalability and a best-in-class network."

Verizon Global Wholesale's award-winning services feature:

• Ethernet Private Line Services offering dedicated bandwidth for wireless backhaul, storage and data mirroring.
• Ethernet Virtual Private Line Service with point-to-point and point-to-multipoint connectivity.
• Ethernet LAN, which offers a multipoint switched Ethernet service in the metropolitan areas.
• Ethernet access, a global architecture providing a common platform for Ethernet access to Internet, private IP and IT solutions, and layer 2 transport services.

Wholesale Ethernet services fulfill the needs of customers who have business demands for converging voice, video and data networks; connecting geographically dispersed sites beyond the reach of local area networks; reducing configuration requirements; taking advantage of plug-and-play technology; and migrating from lower speed to higher speed technology.

Verizon Global Wholesale has seen significant growth of its Ethernet services, especially for wireless backhaul, which is driven by the consumer and business demand for mobile applications, and for Ethernet exchanges, which offer wholesale customers the ability to interconnect their networks and control their costs.

The North American award was presented at the Light Reading Ethernet Expo in New York City in early November; the EMEA award was presented at the Carrier Ethernet World Congress in Poland in September.

Metro Ethernet Forum President Nan Chen said, "The inclusion of the wholesale category in this year's Service Provider Awards is a reflection of the increasing maturity of the carrier Ethernet services market. Verizon's commitment to a continuing expansion of its Ethernet product portfolio was clearly acknowledged by the judging panel."

The awards were judged by a panel of selected global and regional analysts on behalf of the MEF, a global industry alliance comprising more than 165 organizations that include telecommunications service providers, cable MSOs, network equipment/software manufacturers, semiconductors vendors and testing organizations.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE, Nasdaq: VZ), headquartered in New York, is a global leader in delivering broadband and other wireless and wireline communications services to mass market, business, government and wholesale customers.  Verizon Wireless operates America's most reliable wireless network, serving more than 93 million customers nationwide.  Verizon also provides converged communications, information and entertainment services over America's most advanced fiber-optic network, and delivers innovative, seamless business solutions to customers around the world.  A Dow 30 company, Verizon employs a diverse workforce of more than 195,000 and last year generated consolidated revenues of more than $107 billion.  For more information, visit www.verizon.com.

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SOURCE Verizon