Verizon Adds Hong Kong Site, Consulting Services

Besides news of a 30,000 square foot data center in Lubbock, Texas, Verizon (VZ) has had a number of announcements recently for data centers, services and consulting.

Second Hong Kong Facility
On Tuesday Verizon announced that it is strengthening its Asia-Pacific network infrastructure by opening a second data center in Hong Kong. This investment is part of the approximately $17 billion that Verizon Communications plans to spend in 2010.  The new facility will be located in the iTech Tower in Tsuen Wan and will be 3,000 square meters (32,292 square feet).

"Our latest Hong Kong center is strategically located at the gateway to mainland China and is especially important to our clients who want to expand business into greater China and the rest of the Asia-Pacific region," said Yali Liu, director of network planning for Verizon in Asia-Pacific.  The new data center will pave the way for Verizon to offer next-generation computing services to enterprise clients in Asia as well as colocation, networking or other consulting services.

Data Center Consulting Services
Verizon Business announced a new suite of consulting services designed to help enterprise customers around the globe plan and implement effective data center strategies.  Able to address any phase of a project the services include facility and infrastructure design, facility and infrastructure implementation, facility, infrastructure and application migration, and facility, infrastructure and application consolidation.

"The launch of Verizon Data Center Consulting Services is a logical extension of our capabilities and will help large-business and government clients better align their data center strategies to support business and sustainability objectives," said Bart Vansevenant, director-enterprise solutions development at Verizon Business. The company supports more than 200 data centers, including managed hosting and colocation centers, around the world.

New IT Consulting Services Target Physical Security
Verizon Business also announced plans to offer IT security consulting services that integrate physical security with information security and compliance programs.  Dr. Peter Tippett, vice president of technology and innovation at Verizon Business, said “our research shows that simple security measures, done well, can make a big difference to an organization’s ability to prevent data breaches. These new services help companies address both their information and physical security requirements in a holistic manner, helping to more effectively protect the organization – and its own customers – from security breaches."  The new security services address three primary weakness areas: Access, safety and environment.

Additionally, Verizon Physical Security Services help to maintain compliance with regulations that include specific physical security procedures, such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, PCI-DSS and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation.

Verizon Business Adds Riverbed Technology
Finally, Verizon Business said it is adding the Riverbed Technology WAN optimization solution to its Managed WAN Optimization Services portfolio and introducing new professional services to help companies tailor application acceleration solutions to boost their business performance.

"These new capabilities can enhance how companies use their wide area networks by accelerating how large files and popular applications like SAP and ERP are delivered in identical fashion across business locations without the need for additional network resources," said Anthony Recine, vice president for network and communications solutions for Verizon Business.