The MEF Service Provider of the Year Awards recognise excellence and leadership in the development, marketing and delivery of carrier Ethernet business services. The Service Innovation Award is granted to the service provider that, in the opinion of the judges, has introduced the most innovative offering to the European market, with demonstrable market success across an extensive geography.

Verizon Business’ award recognises, among other areas, the ongoing increase in geographic availability of the company’s Ethernet services including Verizon Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS), Ethernet Virtual Private Line (EVPL) and Ethernet Private Line (EPL). In addition, Verizon Business has significantly expanded its Ethernet Access network capabilities in EMEA, as part of an ongoing global network expansion programme, and also launched support for 10 gigabit Ethernet speeds in London and Paris with its Storage Private Line product – a variation on the company’s Ethernet Private Line product.

The company has enhanced its off-net Ethernet capabilities by continuing to expand partnerships with third-party carriers to support its global customers. Verizon Business has now established partnerships with more than 100 carriers, with multiple certified third-party carrier options available in each country.

In addition, the company has introduced a new provisioning architecture, which helps speed the delivery of new services to customers. Verizon Business’ continuous development of new Ethernet products ensures a broad Ethernet product portfolio to fit specific customer needs.

Verizon Business accepted its 2009 European Service Innovation Award on Sept. 22 at the 4th Annual Carrier Ethernet World Congress conference event in Berlin. The award is the latest in a string of accolades for the company’s Ethernet portfolio. Verizon Business received the MEF’s 2008 European Service Provider of the Year award, and Verizon was named the MEF’s 2008 Best in Business Provider for North America - both of which give testament to the company’s growing leadership in the global Ethernet space.

Mike Volgende, Verizon director of global Ethernet services, commented: “This award is important to us because it recognizes our ongoing commitment to innovation and the investments we are making in international markets including EMEA. Our multinational customers are increasingly choosing Ethernet as the solution for their global networking requirements. Ethernet enables business applications to be quickly and simply delivered and managed across a wide area network, and is therefore a great solution for companies wanting to enhance application availability across global office locations. We’re delighted to be recognized by the Metro Ethernet Forum as the European Service Innovator of the Year, and look forward to maintaining our leadership position over the coming years.”

In commenting on the awards, Nan Chen, president of the MEF, stated: “Congratulations to Verizon Business for winning the MEF’s European service innovation award. This is true testament to how important Carrier Ethernet service offerings have become to the world’s leading service providers, and the ongoing strengths of the company’s solutions.”

Verizon's award-winning portfolio of Ethernet services includes:

• Ethernet Virtual Private Line (EVPL) in the U.S., six Asia-Pacific countries and 16 European countries (with plans to expand coverage to Canada and additional countries in Asia and Europe this year).
• Ethernet Private Line (EPL) in the U.S. and 20 European countries, with metro, national and international connections to and from the U.S.
• Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS) in the U.S. (with plans to expand coverage to Europe and Asia-Pacific this year).
• Ethernet Access to Private IP in the U.S., 21 European countries, 13 Asia-Pacific countries, nine Latin American countries and Canada.
• Ethernet Access to the public Internet in the U.S., Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Canada.

The Metro Ethernet Forum’s award winners were selected by a judging panel chosen from key industry analysts covering this sector in Europe. Submitted entries are evaluated anonymously, and the names of the winning providers are not revealed to the MEF until the judging process has been completed.