Verizon Business Identifies Top Technology Trends That Will Support Business Expansion as Economy Recovers

Verizon Business Identifies Top Technology Trends That Will Support Business
Expansion as Economy Recovers
Global IT Solutions Leader Ready to Help Customers Worldwide Take Advantage of
Pent-Up Growth Opportunities in 2010

BASKING RIDGE, N.J. , Nov. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- As companies around the globe
position themselves for economic recovery, Verizon Business has identified 10
business technology trends that will help companies grow their business in
2010.

"As economic conditions continue to improve, we are ready to help our client
partners take advantage of pent-up growth opportunities," said Kerry Bailey,
chief marketing officer for Verizon Business. "Whether it's enabling digital
medical records, supporting smart grid energy-conservation initiatives,
helping retailers secure transactions, or creating new opportunities for
global financial trading, our global solutions can provide a solid foundation
for business innovation and success in the coming year."

(NOTE: To access a social media release containing video and audio podcasts
and other related online resources, visit
www.verizonbusiness.com/go/2010_trends.)

Here's Verizon Business' list of 10 hot trends that will help move business
forward in 2010:

Enterprise Social Networking
Social networks will spread further in the workplace, taking collaboration to
a new level. As the lines between professional and personal communications
become increasingly blurred, IT leaders will need to incorporate enterprise
social networking into their overall unified communications and collaboration
strategy. Enterprise-grade versions of Facebook, Twitter and Wikis in the
workplace will begin to be as common as e-mail and will change the way
business is conducted. As a result, the decision-making process will be
accelerated, customers will receive immediate answers, and workers will be
more empowered than ever.

Aiming for the 'Clouds'
Cloud computing -whether public or private -- is enabling businesses to move
to a new and more efficient IT model. It is allowing enterprises to use
computing resources (network, server, storage) on-demand and to serve
applications centrally. With security and performance enterprise-ready, the
'cloud' is enabling businesses to be more agile, more productive and more
flexible. Businesses also benefit from lower IT, energy and real estate costs
through data center virtualization.

360 Security
"360 Security" will become a well-known term as businesses and government
agencies apply security across the cloud, the edges of their networks, and for
specific devices whether over the Internet or via a private network. A
360-degree focus on security requires more than just securing applications or
corporate networks. It's a continual process that involves doing lots of
little things well to protect information from being compromised. Also
essential is the need for enterprises to factor in risk management and to
understand where data resides, whether in motion or at rest, inside or outside
of the corporate network. In short, IT leaders must have the answer to this
question: "Do you know where your data is?"

Mobilizing the Workforce: From Telework to Telepresence
From telework to telepresence, the ability to collaborate via wired and
wireless technology embodies the modern workplace. According to a Forrester
Research report, "Enterprise Mobile User Forecast: Mobile Wannabes Are the
Fastest-Growing Segment," 397.1 million workers will be enterprise mobile
users by 2012. More companies will deploy mobile applications in a
structured, secure environment to help spur productivity and innovation.

Borderless Business
The extended enterprise - which consists of a business and its employees,
customers, suppliers and partners - is a growing trend requiring an IT
architecture that enables companies to deliver services and applications to
anyone, anywhere, on any device, at any time, and to do it seamlessly,
reliably and securely. Borderless businesses are embracing the use of video,
collaborative applications and other networked services and delivering them
across the enterprise, using technology that can more easily be managed and
scaled.

High IQ Networks Fueling a Smart Economy
As Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg recently observed, "The key to a smart economy
is smart technology that can change business models and society." Smart
networks - featuring classes of service and application-aware capabilities -
will be a platform for business growth in 2010. Businesses will adopt more
cloud-based technologies, enabling them to provide functions ranging from
automated supply chains that speed purchase-to-pay cycles while reducing the
environmental impact of paper bills, to Web-based contact centers that allow
customers to "tweet" in real-time with online service agents. Businesses will
employ smart networks to their competitive advantage by utilizing on-demand
bandwidth as a way to allocate resources where and when needed to operate more
nimbly and cost-effectively.

The Focus Will Be on Green
Businesses and consumers will continue to embrace energy efficiency in the
workplace and at home. Green supply chains will be enabled by supply chain
automation -- eliminating the need to produce and transfer paper bills, and
businesses will choose their partners more selectively as more companies set
carbon reduction goals. As businesses and consumers become more conservation
conscious, home-energy management will become an important area of opportunity
for utility companies to employ smart-grid technology. Advanced
communications and information technology will provide the underlying
foundation for a more eco-friendly society by contributing to smarter grids,
enabling telework to reduce traffic and decreasing the need for energy-hungry
facilities while helping local, state and federal government agencies to
better manage scarce resources.

Seeing Is Believing
The advent of more video communications in the workplace will drive greater
return on collaboration investment, higher productivity and improved overall
business performance. With more companies conducting IP-based video meetings
via telepresence and on the desktop, organizations will be able to enhance
decision-making to improve their results. This technology will fuel a culture
of collaboration as workers increasingly meet face-to-face with their
executive leadership, peers, customers and business partners. Video will
continue to gain popularity as a vehicle for two-way communications as
companies continue to embrace the cost-savings, productivity and environmental
benefits of virtual meetings. In addition, video will also play an important
role delivering on-demand content that can be viewed anywhere, anytime.

More Wireless Apps, Especially Machine to Machine
As organizations continue to embrace wireless, businesses will be empowered by
the wireless technology that offers higher and higher speeds. Using wireless,
companies can develop innovative new applications that get them closer to
their customers, their employees and their partners. Machines will be better
able to communicate with each other and make "smart" decisions - such as
redistributing energy resources or alerting a bottling company warehouse to
refill a soda machine as specific brands become depleted. Other examples: a
waiter taking a diner's order and simultaneously sending it to the kitchen, a
physician electronically sending a patient's prescription to the pharmacy, or
a store clerk who instantly checks the inventory for a customer.

20/20 Vision
In addition to planning for short-term expansion, businesses will make
decisions in 2010 that will fuel their future growth. IP-based investments --
such as unified communications, cloud computing and software as a service --
will continue to provide the platform to enable successful business practices.
In 2009, businesses learned how to do more with less. Applying 20/20
hindsight and lessons learned will inspire the 2010 technology decisions that
will help businesses work harder and more efficiently for the next decade. In
the process, businesses will work better and more effectively to create a
positive impact on the global economy and society.

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 one of the world's most connected IP networks 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.

SOURCE Verizon Business

Debbie Lewis, +1-610-257-7974, debbie.lewis@verizon.com; or Janet Brumfield,
+1-614-723-1060, janet.brumfield@verizon.com, both of Verizon Business