Verizon Business Positioned in Leaders Quadrant for North American Help Desk Outsourcing Services Magic Quadrant

BASKING RIDGE, N.J., March 11 -- Verizon Business has been positioned by Gartner in the Leaders quadrant of the industry analyst firm's 2009 "Magic Quadrant for Help Desk Outsourcing Services, North America."(1)

"Top notch help-desk outsourcing services are critical in today's always-on business environment so that employees can be productive and efficient whether in the office or on the go," said Mike Marcellin, vice president of managed solutions, Verizon. "We believe this placement in the Leaders quadrant validates our help-desk outsourcing expertise and our world-class services and tools, as well as our understanding of how to deliver critical support to enterprise users.

"Verizon's Help Desk Services are especially beneficial for businesses moving to a single-source provider for both their IT and networking solutions," Marcellin added.

According to Gartner, providers placed in the Leaders quadrant "are performing well, have a clear vision of market direction and are actively building competencies to sustain their leadership positions in the market."

In the report, Gartner analyzed 23 providers of help-desk outsourcing services with more than $15 million in help-desk revenue from North American clients - which provide end-user support for all IT services - based on each provider's completeness of vision and ability to execute.

Gartner criteria for completeness of vision include market understanding, offering strategy, business model, innovation and geographic strategy. Criteria for ability to execute include product/service capabilities, customer experience, market responsiveness and track record, and overall viability.

Verizon Business handles an average of 325,000 monthly help-desk contacts, supporting more than 375,000 users. In 2008, its business continued to expand with help-desk service contracts increasing 20 percent over 2007.

Verizon Business offers complete and cost-effective Help Desk Services that can be customized to meet an organization's specific IT support goals and objectives, helping to facilitate enhanced end-user satisfaction. The company's Help Desk Services are a key element of Verizon's portfolio of IT and hosting solutions, which includes a full range of hosted, premises-based and in-the-cloud offerings.

About the Magic Quadrant

The Magic Quadrant is copyrighted 2009 by Gartner Inc. and is reused with permission. The Magic Quadrant is a graphical representation of a marketplace at and for a specific time period. It depicts Gartner's analysis of how certain vendors measure against criteria for that marketplace, as defined by Gartner. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in the Magic Quadrant and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors placed in the Leaders quadrant. The Magic Quadrant is intended solely as a research tool and is not meant to be a specific guide to action. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

About Verizon Business

Verizon Business, a unit of Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) , is a global leader in communications and IT solutions. We combine professional expertise with the world's most connected IP network to deliver award-winning communications, IT, information security and network solutions. We securely connect today's extended enterprises of widespread and mobile customers, partners, suppliers and employees -- enabling them to increase productivity and efficiency and help preserve the environment. Many of the world's largest businesses and governments -- including 96 percent of the Fortune 1000 and thousands of government agencies and educational institutions -- rely on our professional and managed services and network technologies to accelerate their business. Find out more at 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 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.

(1) Gartner Research: "Magic Quadrant for North American Help Desk Outsourcing, North America." Richard T. Matlus and William Maurer, March 4, 2009.