Verizon Lands $678 Million Project For Homeland Security

Over the course of the 10-year contract, Verizon Business is set to implement the Security Operations Center for the DHS.

Ultimately, the telecommunications company will combine each agency's separate network into one, integrated IP network, while managing and securing more than 5,000 agency sites worldwide.

In addition to providing IP and other security services, Verizon said that it will assist the federal government through manmade and natural disasters through Emergency Communications Services, a new service for government agencies under federal communications contract Networx Universal, to provide rapid and effective disaster response.

Networx, which enables federal agencies to purchase a common and comprehensive set of networking, professional and technical services, is the largest federal telecommunication contracts awarded by the GSA and the federal government.

Verizon Business said that it is contracted to consolidate multiple wide-area networks at the 22 agencies incorporated under the DHS, including major divisions such as Immigration and Naturalization Service, the Coast Guard, and the Secret Service.

"The Department of Homeland Security has entrusted Verizon Business to support its critical mission of protecting our country and its citizens," said John Killian, president of Verizon Business, in a written statement. "The advanced network that we deploy will serve as the vital springboard for the department's evolving requirements going forward."

Meanwhile, AT&T Government Solutions, a business unit of AT&T Inc., came as runner up, receiving the bid for the $292-million contract as the secondary network service provider in the Eastern and Western regions.

Verizon Business is the largest provider of communications services to the U.S. federal government as well as one of the largest providers of communications and information technology services around the world. The company was the primary recipient of the Homeland Security bid for a 10-year, $20-billion contract to provide a full spectrum of telecommunications and network services to the federal government.

Globally, Verizon is also partnering with 16 international companies to build a 9,000-mile undersea optical cable system connecting Europe, the Middle East and India.

The new system, called the Europe India Gateway, is the third major submarine cable project Verizon business has helped launch in the last four years, and is anticipated to be completed in 2010. The cable will connect three continents to the tune of more than $700 million, with a capacity of up to 3.84 terabits per second.