22 May 2003 London Lightwave -- FLAG Telecom Group Ltd. will enhance its European network through an agreement with Verizon Global Solutions. The agreement is a key element in FLAG's global network plan, as it will improve FLAG's ability to meet customers' growing connectivity needs between Europe, the US, and Asia.
FLAG will also be opening new Points-of-Presence (POPs) in Amsterdam and Frankfurt that will support FLAG's full range of bandwidth and Internet-Protocol (IP) services and will provide seamless connectivity to FLAG Telecom's submarine cable systems--FLAG Atlantic-1 (FA-1), FLAG Europe Asia (FEA), and FLAG North Asia Loop (FNAL)-- thereby increasing FLAG Telecom's global reach.
Supplementing its existing POPs in London and Paris will enable FLAG to offer direct connectivity into and out of Europe's four largest international traffic hubs. The network is expected to be fully in service at the beginning of Q1 2004 with Verizon providing capacity, project management services, and the provisioning of SDH equipment.
"We are very excited about the potential of this agreement with Verizon which strengthens FLAG Telecom's position in Europe," contends Patrick Gallagher, FLAG Telecom chief executive officer. "We are seeing growing demand for IP services out of Amsterdam and Frankfurt and with this expansion we will be able to meet these needs directly over our own network. Much of the international capacity required by customers in Amsterdam and Frankfurt is for the United States, so we also see these new POPs as a great way of further leveraging the FLAG Atlantic cable system that links our European network to New York."