Asia PR News

READING, Aug. 31 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ –

Global Outdoor Clothing Leader Chooses Managed Private IP Network for
Mission-Critical Applications and Video Conferencing Services

Verizon Business today announced its selection by Helly Hansen, the global
manufacturer of high-performance clothing and survival products, to provide a
Managed Private IP network connecting its major offices around the world. The
MPLS network will provide secure and reliable connections between Helly
Hansen’s mission-critical headquarters in Oslo, Norway, and seven other major
sites in Canada, China, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, the U.K. and the U.S.

Helly Hansen employs more than 700 employees in 17 countries around the
world, all of whom rely on applications and communications tools hosted at its
headquarters in Norway to run daily business operations. The company selected
Verizon Business not only to manage the data network connecting its global
sites, but also to provide a secure gateway to ensure that vital business
applications from headquarters are always available. Verizon Business has
installed two routers and dual access lines, dramatically increasing Helly
Hansen’s network capacity to support current and projected voice and data
needs.

"We run a whole host of services and business tools out of our Norwegian
office, which all of our other offices around the world depend on day and
night," said Einar Lonnum, chief information officer, Helly Hansen. "The
managed IP network provided by Verizon Business gives us peace of mind in
terms of both service level agreements and a helpdesk service that actively
monitors the wide area network lines 24/7, helping us to keep our business
operational round-the-clock."

Making the offering even more attractive was Verizon Business’ complete
portfolio of communications tools, which enable efficient and real-time
interaction, Lonnum added.

Using the Verizon Business IP network, all of Helly Hansen’s offices can
access vital business applications such as Enterprise Resource Planning and
videoconferencing. Helly Hansen also is trialing a Verizon Business Voice-
over-IP service at its headquarters and intends to eventually deploy VoIP
globally.

Explained Lonnum: "We already had a MPLS network in place but decided to
re-tender. Verizon Business was able to offer us twice the bandwidth, the best
technical support and a dedicated account team, all at an extremely
competitive rate. It was no contest really."

John Irvine, vice president of international marketing for Verizon
Business, said: "Helly Hansen demands a lot from its network and needs a
secure and robust service to run its critical applications and programmes
across all of its sites around the world. Verizon Business was able to meet
its rigorous demands today, and also provide the extra flexibility and
scalability Helly Hansen needs to continue developing its global business in
the future."

About Helly Hansen
Between human will and nature’s forces - Norwegian Helly Hansen is a
global leader in action-utility wear for survival, work and sport. Innovation
has been a foundation of Helly Hansen since the company established in 1877,
and its technical outdoor products are designed to be an enabling layer
between human will and nature’s forces. Helly Hansen is distributed in more
than 40 countries, and the privately owned company had a turnover of 1.35
billion NOK in 2005. For more information visit www.hellyhansen.com

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
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

CONTACT: Clare Ward, Verizon Business,
+44-(0)118-905-3501,
Clare.ward@uk.verizonbusiness.com; or

Noor Kheir, Blanc & Otus,
+44-(0)207-973-5937,
nkheir@blancandotus.co.uk

Company News On-Call: http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/094251.html
Web site: http://www.verizonbusiness.com

http://www.verizon.com/news
http://www.hellyhansen.com
(VZ)