BASKING RIDGE, N.J. -- Verizon Business audio- conferencing services now are available in significantly more locations globally, under an expansion of country and local city access points announced Wednesday (May 30).

A leading provider of audio, Web and video-conferencing services, Verizon Business has added country access points in Latin America and Eastern Europe, complementing city access points recently rolled out in France and the United Kingdom. Multinational corporations using Verizon Business' global conferencing facilities in more major global business centers are therefore able to realize cost efficiencies by accessing audio meetings through local dial-in numbers.

In addition, Verizon Business has also announced direct IP Access to its Instant Meeting audio conferencing services for Verizon Private IP customers. These customers already benefit from access to Verizon Video Conferencing. With IP Access to Audio Instant Meeting, customers with a Verizon Private IP network in place can now further leverage their existing IP infrastructure to enhance their global collaboration capabilities. By utilizing existing corporate bandwidth to support their conferencing needs, customers are able to minimize the need for additional PSTN access charges. For multinational companies with widely geographically dispersed workforces, this can offer a significant cost benefit.

Verizon Business' audio conferencing services, built on the company's expansive global IP network, offer customers a high-quality, simple means of collaborating around the world. Customer calls are routed through local access points to provide customers with a cost-effective means of improving communication and productivity in globally dispersed teams. Millions of audio conference meetings are currently held per month using Verizon Business solutions.

The countries added in this access point expansion are Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Panama, Slovakia, Uruguay and Venezuela. Local city access numbers have been established in Marseilles and Lyon in France in addition to Paris, and Birmingham, Edinburgh, Leeds and Manchester in the United Kingdom in addition to London. Verizon Business therefore now provides its substantial base of global subscribers with access to 74 points of access from which to join a conference call. All access points are available to customers with an existing global access subscription to Verizon audio conferencing solutions.

"For any multinational corporation, the ability to collaborate cost effectively across globally dispersed operations is key," said Roberta Mackintosh, director, international products, Verizon Business. "Our audio conferencing solution, part of our integrated conferencing portfolio, is already part of everyday business life for many global companies. By expanding local access points, we are ensuring that we continue to support our customers' productivity and cost efficiency objectives as they support their own customers around the world."

Verizon Business sponsored a Frost & Sullivan study in 2006, "Meetings Around the World: The Impact of Collaboration on Business Performance," that determined that collaboration is a key driver of business performance. The study -- which defined collaboration as an interaction between culture and technology such as audio and net conferencing, e-mail and instant messaging -- also found that professionals around the world see their collaborative efforts as highly productive and believe that collaboration through communications technologies can provide a competitive advantage. Full details of the paper can be found at newscenter.verizon.com/kit/collaboration.

Mackintosh continued: "The 'Meetings Around the World' study demonstrated the benefits companies can achieve through collaboration solutions. As integrated IP communications moves up the agenda for our global customers, we will continue to harness the latest collaborative technology to enhance teamwork and break down geographical boundaries."

With more than 30 years' experience delivering conferencing services, Verizon Business is a pioneer in the conferencing industry. The company offers the convenience of one-stop shopping and a wide range of global customised products and services, including audio, video and net conference services, IP- based services and some of the most advanced meeting tools available today.

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