NEW YORK, NY -- Verizon today announced a new initiative, Enterprise Advance, to interconnect its powerful local networks and provide large business and government customers with advanced communications services that go well beyond the company's existing offerings.

Building on Verizon's already well-regarded local service to enterprise customers, Verizon will offer large companies, governments and others data services that stretch beyond their local territories to affiliates or subsidiaries in other regions around the U.S. Enterprise Advance services include network management and data storage, business recovery, security, remote access, voice and data networking.

"With our most recent long-distance approval in Virginia, Verizon can provide long-distance voice and data service to roughly 90 percent of our customers, and the three remaining approvals are just a few months away," said Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg. "This means we can now offer the kinds of long-distance data services these businesses need and want."

The company will offer its new services to the enterprise market comprised of Fortune 1000 corporations, governments, and finance, education and healthcare entities.

Verizon Services Deliver Customer Value, Meet Customer Requirements

With a string of recent long-distance regulatory approvals and only three more to go, Verizon can offer enterprise customers the nationwide, regional or intercity networks and services they require. Verizon expects to receive long-distance approval for the rest of its service area by the end of the first quarter of 2003.

At the same time, Verizon Wireless is continuing a nationwide network expansion to support the Express Network, its high-speed wireless data service. Verizon Wireless was the first carrier to provide enterprise customers with third generation (3G) technological options for the wireless transmission of mission-critical data and remote access to their intranets.

Verizon Enterprise Advance Includes High-Speed, IP-Based Network

The new enterprise services arsenal will include transparent LAN/gigabit, fast packet and IP (Internet protocol) services, optical networking and voice switching enhancements. With these, Verizon for the first time will offer a complete range of products and services with national service and support capabilities, becoming a one-stop, single point-of-contact provider for enterprise customers coast-to-coast.

Enterprise Advance will be based on an optical and IP backbone offering customers "any-to-any" transmission, a network that is indifferent to the protocols used in systems at either end of a transmission, allowing firms to communicate seamlessly across the Verizon network.

Business and government customers in the Northeast's I-95 corridor, reaching from Boston to Virginia, will be the first focus for Enterprise Advance.

The company will then build out its IP backbone to further connect its national service territory in locations like Dallas, Los Angeles, Seattle and Tampa. This element of Enterprise Advance will give Verizon the ability to deliver enterprise services in 56 key U.S. markets.

Verizon Communications Inc.