Verizon Expands Presence in Former GTE Territory
TheStandard.com
Thursday July 12, 4:05 pm Eastern Time
By Network World Fusion
Verizon Communications Inc.'s Enterprise Solutions Group this week revealed that it has expanded its network coverage in the Dallas/Fort Worth metropolitan area and by the end of the fourth quarter this year will complete similar expansions in Seattle and Los Angeles.
All three expansions involve Verizon extending the coverage area of its existing GTE Corp. networks to better compete with the incumbent carriers, such as SBC Communications Inc. and Qwest Communications International Inc. GTE merged with Bell Atlantic Corp. in 2000 to form Verizon.
With the network additions, Verizon will be able to offer long-distance data and voice services over a dense wavelength division multiplexing and SONET backbone.
The expansions are expected to help customers who want to consolidate their telecom services with one carrier, says Joe Cassio, vice president of strategic planning for Verizon Enterprise Solutions.
In the Dallas/Fort Worth area, for example, an enterprise could have a building on one side of the street serviced by Verizon/GTE with a building on the other side serviced by SBC. Now that customer could go to Verizon for all its networking needs and avoid having to deal with separate bills, Cassio says.
The Dallas/Fort Worth expansion, which consists of six fiber rings laid by Multimedia Fiber Network Inc. (MFN), will allow Verizon to serve enterprise customers in the region's Metroplex area, which has a high density of business headquarters. Cassio says Verizon didn't need to deploy any new switches to serve the Metroplex.
"There was no equipment required," Cassio says, "so we were able to move quickly on this."
He also said Seattle and Los Angeles will require no major equipment deployments.
Cassio said Verizon will continue to look for opportunities in other territories where it can expand its coverage with little investment in new gear. The company will continue to use MFN, in which Verizon holds a minority stake, to add the expanded fiber routes.
Copyright 2001 Network World Fusion (US), International Data Group Inc. All rights reserved.
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