Verizon Business to Build New Global Network for The McGraw-Hill Companies in Multi-Year Deal

BASKING RIDGE, N.J., Sept. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Verizon Business today announced a multi-year deal with The McGraw-Hill Companies, a leading global information services provider, to build and manage a new global Private IP network. The new network will allow The McGraw-Hill Companies to link its business operations in 37 countries in Europe, Latin America and the Asia- Pacific region as well as electronically distribute products to customers worldwide.

Under the contract, the global provider will deploy a new MPLS-based Private IP network to meet The McGraw Hill Companies' requirements for network diversity, lifecycle management and reporting of network incidents. Previously, The McGraw-Hill Companies utilized a blend of legacy networking technologies, including frame relay and ATM, from several different providers.

The contract with Verizon Business is part of The McGraw-Hill Companies' broader strategic initiative, Global Resource Management, which stretches across the corporation's business units and is aimed at achieving new efficiencies through the use of technology. The McGraw-Hill Companies expects to achieve greatly increased network performance while lowering its total cost of ownership for its communications infrastructure.

"As our customers' needs evolve in today's ever-changing global marketplace, so must our approach to doing business," said Bruce Marcus, executive vice president and chief information officer of The McGraw-Hill Companies. "Through our agreement with Verizon Business, we are able to adapt our business model to realize new operational synergies that improve our bottom line and strengthen our shared-service capabilities, helping us to better serve customers around the globe."

Blair Crump, group president for Verizon Business global accounts, said, "Our Managed Network Services enable business customers like The McGraw-Hill Companies to benefit from consistent network performance and reliability whether their offices are located in India, Chile, Hong Kong or Singapore. With Verizon Business, customers also gain increased visibility into their networks so they can better support their business processes and operations around the globe, which is a huge plus for multinationals."

With Verizon Business' managed Private IP service, The McGraw-Hill Companies can also take advantage of traffic prioritization and future deployment of advanced services, like voice over IP (VoIP) and video. The company will also use Verizon Business' advanced conferencing, local, long- distance and international voice services for its locations outside of North America.

Today, Verizon Business manages over 3,500 customer networks in 142 countries, overseeing more than 25,000 non-Verizon connections from more than 60 network providers around the world. As the former MCI, the company received the 2005 Frost & Sullivan Customer Service Leadership Award and the 2005 InfoWorld 100 Award. Verizon Business' industry-leading service-level commitments and award-winning IMPACT management platform underscore a legacy of service and innovation. Verizon Business has also been listed by Gartner Inc. in the leaders quadrant of a report entitled "Magic Quadrant for U.S. Managed and Professional Network Service Providers, 1H06(1)."

About Verizon Business

Verizon Business, a unit of Verizon Communications , 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 http://www.verizonbusiness.com/.

About McGraw-Hill Companies

Founded in 1888, The McGraw-Hill Companies is a leading global information services provider meeting worldwide needs in the financial services, education and business information markets through leading brands such as Standard & Poor's, McGraw-Hill Education, BusinessWeek and J.D. Power and Associates. The Corporation has more than 290 offices in 38 countries. Sales in 2005 were $6.0 billion. Additional information is available at http://www.mcgraw-hill.com/.

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(1) Gartner Research "Magic Quadrant for U.S. Managed and Professional Network Service Providers, 1H06" by E. Goodness, D. Neil and D. Willis. July 11, 2006 * The Magic Quadrant is copyrighted July 11, 2006 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, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.