Verizon Business' Managed Network Services Help Casella Waste Systems Inc. Improve Operations

BASKING RIDGE, N.J. -- Verizon Business today announced that Casella Waste Systems Inc., a regional solid waste and environmental services company, is upgrading its network with Verizon Business' Premium Managed Private IP service. Verizon Business will provide complete network oversight, providing Casella with the capabilities and flexibility to help it improve its business operations.

With the transition of Casella's 88 nationwide locations from managed frame relay to a secure IP environment, Verizon Business will be responsible for Casella's network operations, including monitoring, management, security and remedying of any issues and will also resolve hardware and software problems.

"Verizon Business excels at helping customers such as Casella transition to IP at their own pace and in a manner that fits their business," said Steve Young, group president for Verizon Business commercial accounts. "With the depth and breadth of our managed services and Private IP offerings, we tailor innovative, customized solutions that can deliver a competitive advantage for our customers."

Christopher Hubbard, vice president of information systems at Casella Waste Systems, said, "By making the move to IP, we've put more flexibility into our network, enhanced connectivity capabilities for our employees and essentially taken our business operations to a new level. Since we have limited IT staff resources at our remote locations, Verizon Business delivers the full-service we require to manage and maintain our network, so we can focus on our core business."

As part of its fully managed Private IP solution, Casella Waste Systems benefits from Verizon Business' technical expertise in fault remediation, configuration management and industry-leading service level agreements. Verizon Business continually monitors the health of Casella's Private IP network across all access points, the transport layer and customer premises equipment. In the event of a potential fault condition, Verizon Business' award-winning IMPACT management platform with patent-pending Rapid Fault Isolation automatically troubleshoots the network, creates any necessary trouble tickets, and promptly notifies the customer of issues -- all within 15 minutes and without any human intervention.

In addition to the managed Private IP Service, Casella Waste Systems also uses Verizon Business' long-distance, Internet access and conferencing services.

Today, Verizon Business manages over 3,300 customer networks in 149 countries, including overseeing more than 25,000 non-Verizon connections from 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 has a legacy of service and innovation in network management, including industry-leading service-level commitments.

About Casella Waste Systems
Casella Waste Systems, headquartered in Rutland, Vermont, provides waste collection, transfer, disposal and recycling services throughout the eastern United States.

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.

####