Verizon Business Helps Del Monte Foods Harvest the Benefits of IP Networking

BASKING RIDGE, N.J. (Map) - BASKING RIDGE, N.J., March 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Verizon Business has entered into a new three-year agreement with Del Monte Foods under which the food giant will reap the many benefits of an advanced, converged IP networking system.

By transitioning from a traditional voice and data system to an IP environment, Del Monte Foods will gain the greater capabilities and cost efficiencies that come with deploying a modern integrated communications platform. In addition to communicating more effectively in normal course-of- business operations, the company will be able to implement more effective business continuity plans.

Under the terms of the contract renewal, Verizon Business will provide Del Monte Foods with a Managed Private IP network integrated with both a managed wide area network and a managed local area network, linking 4,500 employees at 40 sites. Verizon Business will combine Verizon IP Trunking and Managed IP PBX to deliver an advanced voice-over-IP solution to Del Monte Foods' operations, providing end-to-end network management, PBX expertise and an advanced monitoring system.

Del Monte Foods also uses Verizon Audio Conferencing services to enhance collaboration and productivity among its employees, while benefiting from reduced business travel costs and associated carbon emissions.

"By running voice traffic over our wide area network, we're now able to leverage voice over IP for business continuity and disaster recovery purposes, and also control costs by eliminating the need for separate local phone lines in each of our locations," said David Glenn, director of IT enterprise operations with Del Monte Foods. "Making this move to IP is enabling more efficient, higher-performing communications both internally and with our customers."

Verizon Business' IP Trunking is ideally suited for large-business customers with a deployed IP PBX. Service is delivered via a standards-based SIP (Session Initiated Protocol) trunk directly to the customer's IP PBX, which eliminates the need for additional TDM enterprise gateways or TDM cards and the associated maintenance costs.

Verizon IP Trunking customers benefit from Inbound Failover, a feature that automatically forwards calls to another IP address to enable business continuity in the event of unforeseen circumstances. Unlike calls in the public switched telephone network that require costly and manual remote call- forwarding, IP Trunking enables IP calls to route to an alternate endpoint for completion. In addition, Verizon IP Trunking customers can take advantage of Burstable Enterprise Shared trunks (BEST), which allow customers to use idle trunk capacity in one location to accommodate an increase in traffic from another location. This helps customers better manage utilization of their local and long-distance traffic by sharing capacity on-demand.

"Del Monte Foods is among the trailblazing companies that are transitioning to IP networking," said Tony Recine, vice president of specialized services with Verizon Business. "With the extensive reach of our VoIP and MPLS footprints, our network infrastructure and Managed Services expertise, we're enabling customers to focus on their core business, while also transforming the way they do business, and allowing them to leverage world-class solutions to help enhance their operations and bottom line."

Glenn said, "Verizon Business offers the best solutions to fit our needs, and we work well together. We also benefit by combining into our contracts the services that Verizon Business offers and leading customer premises equipment, enabling us to realize additional cost savings."

The Managed Service Advantage

Many companies today are realizing that managed services offer the best of all worlds. Managed services can help enterprises overcome the inherent complexity associated with moving voice applications onto data networks, especially since problems on the local or wide area network can be misconstrued as issues with the IP PBX. Enterprises also are finding managed services offer a cost-effective and efficient method for streamlining management of the converged networks, including the integration of headquarters, branch and remote sites. In addition, Verizon Business provides ongoing support via its Managed Services Network Operations Center and IMPACT, its proprietary fault-management system that helps reduce requirements for enterprise-provided in-house technical support and 24 x 7 monitoring systems.

Verizon VoIP Portfolio

Verizon Business' comprehensive portfolio of VoIP services comprises five offerings that can be employed as stand-alone or in combination to create individual customer solutions. The VoIP services are: IP Flexible T1 (available only in the United States), IP Integrated Access, IP Trunking, Hosted IP Centrex and Managed IP PBX.

Verizon VoIP solutions enable high-quality voice communications in a converged network environment, leveraging Verizon Business' vast national and international footprint and a wide range of innovative features. Verizon Business is a leader in developing and delivering IP solutions helping large businesses and government agencies transition to VoIP on their own path and pace. The VoIP services also allow customers to use their existing infrastructure, enabling them to mix and match services, whether network or premises-based.

About Del Monte Foods

Del Monte Foods is one of the country's largest and most well known producers, distributors and marketers of premium quality, branded food and pet products for the U.S. retail market, generating more than $3.4 billion in net sales in fiscal 2007. With a powerful portfolio of brands including Del Monte(R), StarKist(R), S&W(R), Contadina(R), College Inn(R), Meow Mix(R), Kibbles 'n Bits(R), 9Lives(R), Milk-Bone(R), Pup-Peroni(R), Meaty Bone(R), Snausages(R) and Pounce(R), Del Monte products are found in nine out of ten U.S. households. The Company also produces, distributes and markets private label food and pet products. For more information on Del Monte Foods Company (NYSE: DLM) visit the Company's website at www.delmonte.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 communications, security 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.