VERIZON TO BUILD GLOBAL VOICE AND DATA NETWORK
From ConvergeDigest
[FAC: This is really quite remarkable, IMO. What's also interesting, if I'm not mistaken, is that it was VZ (nee Bell Atlantic, nee NYNEX, nee NY Telephone Co.) that was an initial partner and sponsor of the FLAG initiative when Verizon was called NYNEX, back in the early Nineties. This was before they exited for whatever reason, probably regulatory. Anyone recall the details behind this and if it was indeed FLAG at the time?. Before they are even granted long distance outside of their own region, they plan to wire the globe. Also, their use of MFNX in the cities cited makes eminent sense. Recall that VZ, when it was Bell Atlantic, made a huge investment in MFNX.]
Verizon Communications will build and operate a global voice and data network linking the United States with major cities in Europe, Asia and Latin America. To deploy the network, Verizon will acquire and manage fiber-optic cable, switching and transmission equipment, transmission facilities, and related network management software. FLAG Telecom and Metromedia Fiber Network will provide key elements of the network. Connections between New York and Toronto and between Hawaii, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Sydney are already operating. By June, the network will connect New York to London, Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Frankfurt and Milan. Over the next two years, the network will expand to include Geneva, Zurich, Madrid, Singapore, Buenos Aires, Caracas and Mexico City. Technical details of the network architecture were not disclosed. Verizon plans to use the network for several purposes:
The company will market network telecommunications services to the large business market.
Verizon will route international calls over its new network rather than via other carriers, which could save the company more than $300 million in transport costs over five years. Verizon says that 40 percent of all international long-distance traffic in the United States originates in its service territory.
Network capacity will be offered on a wholesale basis to other carriers.
Under a joint marketing and resale agreement, Verizon will resell a variety of Genuity's Internet products such as Web hosting and Internet access.
newscenter.verizon.com
Verizon, February 7, 2001
FLAG Telecom’s FLAG Europe-Asia cable, which entered service in November 1997, stretches from the UK to Japan. FLAG Atlantic-1 (currently under construction and scheduled for completion this quarter) will offer a dual terabit capacity cable. FLAG North Asian Loop (scheduled to enter service in Q2 2001) will connect Hong Kong and Japan. FLAG Pacific-1 (expected to enter service in 2002) is a multi-terabit, dual cable system linking the US to Japan. FLAG Telecom is deploying Juniper Networks' M20 routers throughout its global IP backbone.
Metromedia Fiber Network owns fiber-optic infrastructures in 51 cities in North America, and is building networks in 16 cities throughout Europe. MFN has deployed more than 1.2 million miles of fiber. |
