Verizon Business Adds 'Dashboard' to Customer Center Portal to Help Customers Manage and Trouble-Shoot Their Networks More Efficiently

Verizon Business Adds 'Dashboard' to Customer Center Portal to Help Customers Manage and Trouble-Shoot Their Networks More Efficiently

April 20, 2006

Customers to Gain Single, Real-Time View of Network Operations, Including Availability, Alarms and Trouble-Ticket Status

    BASKING RIDGE, N.J., April 20 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ --
Verizon Business, a premier provider of advanced global
communications and information technology (IT) solutions,
today announced the launch of Dashboard, a powerful new
interface for the Verizon Business Customer Center online
trouble-ticket management system.  Dashboard enables
eligible Verizon Business voice, IP and data customers to
more efficiently manage their network resources through a
single, real-time view of network alarms, trouble ticket
status, network availability and service locations.

    The Verizon Business Customer Center Dashboard
eliminates the need to use multiple tools to track network
activity.  Instead, the Dashboard provides a bird's-eye
view of the network, problems and associated trouble
tickets -- all within a single application.  It will be
offered free of charge to eligible Verizon Business
customers in the United States, Europe, Middle East,
Africa, Asia Pacific and Latin America, starting next
month.

    "Dashboard is yet another example of how Verizon
Business is getting closer to our customers by putting
valuable tools in their hands that enhance our business
relationship," said Nancy Gofus, vice president of
product management, Verizon Business.  "Through this
dynamic window to their Verizon Business world, our
customers have more power to make the products we offer
work even harder to boost their business."

    With the introduction of Dashboard, Verizon Business
Online Trouble Management customers can benefit from
network alarm and trouble-ticket correlation capabilities
available through the award-winning, patent pending Verizon
Business IMPACT network management platform.  IMPACT
provides Verizon Business customers with one of the most
advanced, automated network fault management systems
available.  

    "The new global Dashboard capabilities help reduce
customer time spent correlating alarms, trouble tickets and
associated circuit IDs, and enable faster assessment and
coordination for event resolution," said Rona Shuchat,
research director, Web hosting/telecom transformation
strategies for IDC, a leading industry analysis firm. 
"This Dashboard release is a major step forward for
Verizon Business in aggregating data from multiple back-end
systems to provide customers around the globe with a
consolidated network-management view for monitoring,
problem identification and resolution."

    Dashboard extends the workflow process to customers as
well.  Through a seamless single sign-on integration with
Verizon Business Online Trouble Management application,
customers can proactively manage incidents by updating
ticket details and referring them back to the company for
resolution.
  
    The Verizon Business Dashboard also provides key
performance indicators regarding the categorization and
history of trouble tickets.  Tickets -- such as
deferred-time tickets requiring customer action -- are
grouped for quick identification and tracking.   Dashboard
also provides a history of key performance indicators for
trouble tickets that includes a rolling 13-month trend
highlighting repeat and chronic issues.

    Additionally, Dashboard keeps track of network
availability by access type.  Each time a user logs in, the
user can immediately determine if the network is performing
above the minimum acceptable quality level or if it is in a
degraded or critical state.  The overall network
availability metrics can be viewed as a rolling "30
day" and "last 24 hours" window to pinpoint
when incidents occur. 
 
    In the future, Verizon Business plans to enhance the
Dashboard capabilities to include the introduction of
network traffic utilization key performance indicators,
configuration management tools to monitor order
provisioning and inventory, as well as application
management visibility into Web hosting and network security
threats.

    About Verizon Business

    Verizon Business, a unit of Verizon Communications
(NYSE:  VZ), is a leading provider of advanced
communications and information technology (IT) solutions to
large business and government customers worldwide. 
Combining unsurpassed global network reach with advanced
technology and professional service capabilities, Verizon
Business delivers innovative and seamless business
solutions to customers around the world.   For more
information, visit  http://www.verizonbusiness.com .

    VERIZON'S ONLINE NEWS CENTER: Verizon news releases,
executive speeches and biographies, media contacts, high
quality video and images, and other information are
available at Verizon's News Center on the World Wide Web at
http://www.verizon.com/news .  To receive news releases by
e-mail, visit the News Center and register for customized
automatic delivery of Verizon news releases.

    For more information, please contact:

     Carolyn Tyler,
     Verizon Business
     Tel:    [phone]
     Email:  [e-mail]

SOURCE  Verizon Business