VZ Verizon Communications Inc

BALTIMORE, April 23, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Maryland's consumers, businesses and government agencies continued to benefit from Verizon's 2014 investment of more than $382 million in its industry-leading fiber-optic and wireline networks. 

In addition, Verizon Wireless invested $537 million in 2014 on network upgrades and expansions in the Maryland/Virginia/Washington, D.C., region. 

"Technology transforms lives," said Christopher D. Childs, president of wireline network operations for Verizon's Mid-Atlantic South region. "That's why at Verizon, we continue to build the networks of the future, investing in the most advanced technologies to ensure our customers have the best service experience possible every day.

"Whether it's voice, broadband or TV service, Verizon's best-in-class services enable commerce to thrive, businesses to open new markets, students to learn, and all of us to connect and do business however, whenever and wherever we want without the traditional technological boundaries," Childs added.

Fiber-optic networks strengthen communities, and last year Verizon continued deployment of its 100 percent fiber-optic network, with its FiOS TV and FiOS Internet services. At year's end, FiOS services were available to more than 1.3 million Maryland homes and businesses in parts of Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Charles, Harford, Howard, Montgomery and Prince George's counties. Verizon also placed over 96.3 million feet (or 18,245 miles) of fiber optics in Maryland. That's the distance of nearly four round-trip flights from Baltimore to the sunny beaches of Hawaii.

Verizon's major wireline infrastructure programs in 2014 included:

The Fastest, Most Reliable Internet Service Got Even Better in 2014

• Significantly raising the bandwidth bar with FiOS Quantum Internet.
  • SpeedMatch, offering upload speeds that match download speeds at no additional cost, was one way Verizon said thank you to many of its FiOS customers. FiOS Quantum Internet upload speeds rival or exceed most download speeds offered by competitors. The ultrafast speed delivers technology that gives people the best way to upload photos and videos, send or back up files, conduct video chats and use multiple Internet devices simultaneously, among other bandwidth-intensive applications.
  • FiOS Quantum Gateway Router, which provides small businesses and consumers the fastest Wi-Fi available from any provider, with guest Wi-Fi and enhanced parental controls.

No More DVR Battles, and TV Went Everywhere

• FiOS Custom TV allows customers to choose the types of channels they want without paying for those they don't – an industry first.
• FiOS Quantum TV gives customers more choices and control than ever before, including the ability to record up to 12 shows at once; pause and rewind live TV on any TV in the home; and store up to 200 hours of HD programs.
• The FiOS Mobile App offers 168 in-home channels, 88 out-of-home channels and 70,000 on-demand content features over select broadband-connected tablets or smartphones.
• FiOS TV Everywhere offers 89 channels over a broadband-connected PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone.
• FiOS TV's advanced, interactive search and navigation was upgraded to make it even easier for customers to find and enjoy what they want to watch.
• FiOS TV features the most video on demand, with 100,000-plus FiOS On Demand video titles to rent or own, plus premium on-demand content packages with sports, movie and international programming.

Investing in Superior Customer Experiences

• Verizon has improved phone service reliability for more than 800,000 customers nationally by moving their service from copper to the company's advanced, all-fiber infrastructure. Fiber is less susceptible than copper to moisture and water damage and offers a better overall service experience. Nationwide, Verizon now serves more landline customers on its all-fiber infrastructure than on its legacy copper network.
• The company has launched a number of customer-experience management tools to provide an even better experience for its residential and small-business customers, ranging from a tech notification tool, which keeps customers updated on when a Verizon technician will arrive prior to the scheduled appointment; to mobile coach, which enables supervisors to work with reps in real time to better serve customers. These tools were developed with direct input from employees who use them daily.
• Customers can take advantage of Verizon's In-Home Agent application for automated self-service.

Thank You for Making Us No. 1 (Again)

Customers ranked Verizon Highest in Customer Satisfaction with Very Small Business Wireline Service in the "J.D. Power 2014 U.S. Business Wireline Satisfaction Study." And for the second straight year, FiOS Internet was rated No. 1 in the 2014 American Customer Satisfaction Index. In addition, customers made Verizon FiOS Internet the recipient of PC Magazine's Readers' Choice Award for the ninth consecutive year.

Being a Responsible Environmental Steward

In addition to its network investment, Verizon is committed to improving the quality of life in the communities it serves. As part of that commitment, the company is focused on reducing its carbon footprint by adopting sustainable business practices.

• Verizon installed solar energy systems at its facilities in Silver Spring and Aberdeen, totaling 4.1 megawatts. In total, the Maryland projects are estimated to save over 5,750 megawatt hours and offset 4,000 metric tons of CO2 annually.
• Installation of a chemical-free water treatment system in the company's data center in Fairland was completed in 2014 to treat the cooling tower water. The new process should reduce water consumption by 30 percent, or a projected savings of over 4.5 million gallons of water annually.
• Many large Verizon facilities in Maryland have single stream and complete recycling (paper, cardboard, plastic aluminum, fluorescent lamps, ballasts and metal), including battery and toner recycling. The company has recycled about 12,900 pounds of toner and ink cartridges since 2010 in Maryland offices.
• Verizon's e-waste recycling events included an America Recycles Day event in Laurel and a recycling rally in Silver Spring, where more than 7,300 pounds of e-waste was collected from the community. Verizon also collected over 6,900 pounds of company-owned electronics to be recycled. These events contribute to a corporate-wide goal of recycling 2 million pounds of e-waste by the end of 2015. Since 2010, we have recycled 1.9 million pounds and are on track to meet our goal.

Providing End-to-End Solutions for Video Customers

Verizon has combined powerful assets to further the company's delivery of media and entertainment services through its Verizon Digital Media Services business unit.

With its next-generation platform and global content delivery network, Verizon Digital Media Services delivers end-to-end video solutions for best-in-class TV Everywhere and superior experiences to any device, anywhere, at any time. The interplay of assets seamlessly orchestrated among a secure media cloud, an agile video backbone and responsive intelligent edges delivers flexible and robust video solutions.

Enterprise Business Solutions Tailored to Meet Client Needs

Verizon Enterprise Solutions oversees all of Verizon's solutions for large-business, wholesale and government customers in Maryland and globally, including a portfolio of cloud and IT, enterprise mobility, security and advanced communications offerings. Its key client segments include healthcare, manufacturing and automotive, financial services and large government agencies. In 2014, Verizon:

• Unveiled the Verizon Cyber Intelligence Center, which offers global client organizations advanced detection and response capabilities to better manage and mitigate cyberthreats.
• Expanded its Verizon Financial Network to more than 50 new markets, services and data centers in Europe and North America to give trading firms and other financial institutions secure and on-demand access to markets and applications, in addition to increased flexibility and scalability.
• Converted five Verizon data centers that provide enterprise-class colocation services to carrier-neutral facilities, including locations in Boston; Denver; Elmsford, New York.; Manassas, Virginia.; and Seattle.
• Invested heavily in its cloud and networking services:
  • Released a new service model and a set of features and functionality for the company's cloud infrastructure and storage platform. Verizon Cloud now includes a variety of services tiers, onboarding and workload migration services, and several deployment options ranging from public cloud to private, on-premises cloud. Additionally, Verizon Cloud opened a Marketplace where enterprises can buy software-based IT services to run on top of Verizon's cloud infrastructure.
  • Launched Secure Cloud Interconnect service so that enterprises can use multiple clouds at once via Verizon's Private IP networking, including the Verizon Cloud, Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, HP Helion Managed Cloud Service,  the Salesforce Customer Success Platform and Google Cloud Interconnect.
  • Received an Authority to Operate from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, under the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP), paving the way for U.S. government agencies to easily and securely migrate mission-critical workloads to the cloud.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE, Nasdaq: VZ), headquartered in New York, is a global leader in delivering broadband and other wireless and wireline communications services to consumer, business, government and wholesale customers. Verizon Wireless operates America's most reliable wireless network, with 108.6 million retail connections nationwide. Verizon also provides converged communications, information and entertainment services over America's most advanced fiber-optic network, and delivers integrated business solutions to customers worldwide. A Dow 30 company with more than $127 billion in 2014 revenues, Verizon employs a diverse workforce of 176,200. For more information, visit www.verizon.com/news/.

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SOURCE Verizon