Verizon Transforms International Content-Delivery Model With Direct-Connection Option for Content Owners and Aggregators

Linking Servers to Global Network at Exchange Points Improves Performance, Customer Experience

Basking Ridge, NJ(21 Apr 2010)

To meet the expected explosive growth in content consumption and generation, Verizon is expanding its successful Partner Port Program to content companies worldwide. Content owners and aggregators now have the option to connect directly with Verizon's global IP network at various key sites around the world.

"Content owners worldwide can benefit from the hard-wired links between their servers and our global network," said Quintin Lew, senior vice president of marketing for Verizon Global Wholesale. "Because our global IP network is just as available in Frankfurt or Tokyo as it is in New York City or Dallas, it makes sense to facilitate great content delivery from anywhere in the world, to the benefit of both the content companies and our end users.

"Our innovative program, which allows content providers worldwide to directly connect to Verizon's global IP network, gives innovators working on the next great thing online the opportunity to execute, using the platform of the future."

More information about the International Partner Port Program is available here.

In early 2009, Verizon Global Wholesale began offering direct links between content servers and Verizon's domestic U.S. network to provide faster, more responsive, low-latency connections. Those direct links, marketed as the Partner Port Program, have increased content traffic to more than 500 gigabytes per second of traffic on the Verizon network and have provided a top-quality experience for end-user customers. Verizon has now expanded this highly successful offering, under the name International Partner Port Program.

The program utilizes connections between content servers and the Verizon global IP network at content-delivery access nodes or Internet exchange points (IXPs) where traffic is normally handed off for distribution, traditionally over peering networks that traverse various carriers' backbone links. Verizon encourages direct connections between the content servers and the Verizon network at these sites to avoid long, multicarrier hops around the various networks from servers to customers.

The International Partner Port Program offers full IP connectivity around the globe, delivering content to various consumer bases regardless of the provider. By utilizing the connectivity of Verizon's global IP networks and relationships with other major network providers, Verizon can provide a truly global and efficient content transport solution.

"We'll offer our customers access to up to 3.4 million FiOS Internet customers who are among the 9.2 million broadband customers Verizon serves, and 91.2 million wireless customers, all at a time when quality has become the watchword and high-definition video streaming has mushroomed," Lew said. "Because we have Internet exchange sites widely distributed, international carriers that want content transported to or from other high-growth content-consuming and content-generating countries can use this service."
Verizon offers a single-provider solution global IP network that touches more than 150 countries on six continents, with network operations centers around the world monitoring the network 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

About Verizon
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 91 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 approximately 222,900 and last year generated consolidated revenues of more than $107 billion. For more information, visit www.verizon.com.