READING, England, May 14 /PRNewswire/ --

- Leaders Have Best Overall Combination of Current Offering and Strategy

Verizon Business has been recognised as a leading provider of
European-wide-area-network (WAN) services in an April 2008 Forrester Research
report.

The report, "Forrester Wave(TM): European WAN Services, Q2 2008,"
recognised Verizon Business as "a great all-round performer. Verizon Business
has coverage in 30 countries, a strong product portfolio, leading SLAs
(service-level agreements), the best e-portal, and top customer satisfaction
scores."

The report also cited Verizon Business as "the leading non-European
provider of European WAN services," "a leading proponent of Ethernet services
and integrated access," and "a leader in the provision of network-based IT
services." The company also "gained a top score for fixed access options, and
it has top tier operations and management capabilities to support
multinational corporations' European WAN requirements."

"This recognition reflects the strength of the Verizon Business offer,"
said Mike Marcellin, Verizon Business vice president of product marketing.
"The product offerings highlighted in this report -- Ethernet, managed
services, security, VoIP solutions as well as our flagship WAN service,
Verizon Private IP -- are used extensively by many of our global customers as
secure and scalable communications solutions for their business-critical
needs."

"Ease of access to the corporate network is absolutely business-critical
for our customers, particularly as they transition to an all-IP environment
to streamline their global business communications," Marcellin said. "We are
continuing to invest in our network, solutions and services to ensure we
support our customers' evolving business needs, and this recognition
demonstrates the success of our approach."

Using 62 criteria, Forrester surveyed 12 European MPLS (multiprotocol
label switching)-based, WAN-service providers. Companies chosen by Forrester
for evaluation all have European market stature, market momentum and
commitment to MPLS as a foundation technology.

Verizon Private IP, Verizon Business' flagship WAN service, is a
network-based, virtual private network (VPN) that enables customers to
effectively communicate over a secure network. The service also provides the
foundation for automating business processes between companies, including
e-commerce, and shared intranets and extranets. Based on MPLS technology,
Verizon Private IP offers customers scalable and flexible network connections
with integrated performance and traffic-management capabilities.

About Verizon Business

Verizon Business, a unit of Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ), is a
global IP leader and network-based partner for delivering integrated
communications and information technology (IT) solutions to large-business
and government customers worldwide. Combining unsurpassed reach with managed
services, security, mobility, collaboration and professional services
capabilities, Verizon Business delivers global solutions that power
innovation and enable its customers to do business better. For more
information, visit www.verizonbusiness.com.

Web site: http://www.verizonbusiness.com