Conclusion

As most of us know Verizon has set themselves at a high standards in which they seek to be the largest service provider in existence. They have managed to set themselves among the largest wireless providers out in the market today. Their overall coverage ranges almost the entire nation, but also is beginning to expand globally. What we found interesting is how Verizon wireless has managed to adopt and evolve along side with the new developments of technology. They are always adapting to new changes, and should they do so if they want to keep their customers satisfied. The methods they choose to manage data both from employees and customers, as well as how they customize their strategy for their business. Of course they need to update their equipment with the latest hardware and software that exist today for their computers. Overall we think Verizon wireless has done the most they could until now not only to satisfy themselves and put place themselves on the map as the largest wireless provider in existence, but keeping in mind that their customers is what really drives their business.

Technology

At the moment Verizon Wireless uses a WAN service which is powered by Evolution Data Optimized, and it is a 3g network. In 2007 Verizon released E-VPLS, which stands for Virtual Private LAN Service. This type of service gives customers the flexibility to adjust their networks ' bandwidth from 1M bps per second to 1G bps. E-VPLS allowed customers to set priorities for applications through four classes of service: real time, priority, business and basic data. This year Verizon introduced its souped up its voice over IP handset. Verizon offers three sets of devices for networks Broad band access, USB bus, WAN high speed interface cards, which are found in some of the new Windows and MAC notebooks. Verizonwireless uses a wireless card network. They can can run speedds up to 512 K bps or higher. Their domain name is real simple which is www.verizonwireless.com.

Hardware & Software

As technology advances we try to keep up to speed with today's world. Verizon has managed to find a way to stay current with the advancements of technology, and to provide its customers the benfits of voice, video, and data convergence. In the world of technology, one must consider the possibility the types of hardware, software, system software, application software, and computers being used.

As far as hardware categories is concerned, Verizon uses speed, price, allowable data, and quality of service. As advanced as computers are in today's world netbooks and notebooks are more commonly used. Of course there are several different brands such as Dell, Sony, HP, Lenero, and Panasonic.

In recent years Verizon itself has been changing the software it uses. To be more specific system software have been in change. According to a Verizon executive, George Hughes, "The company cut costs by replacing programmers' Unix and Windows workstations with Linux systems that run Openoffice instead of Microsoft office. By doing so the average cost for desktops had dropped from $20,000 to $3,000. The advantage of using Linux not only is it less expensive and I mean FREE, but it allows you to make multiple copies on any number of computers legally unlike Windows. According to Hughes, Linux which is a clone to Unix is similar to the software Verizon programmers are creating that they won't need the more expensive Unix workstations.

Verizon has used Microsoft office software and openoffice. The new Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) enables customers to efficiently monitor both application and network traffic. Microsoft Corp. and Verizon announced in 2005 that Verizon will use the Microsoft software to add advanced applications for future FIOS TV service placing Verizon on a different plateau.

Managing Data

Verizon is currently the nation's largest phone, mobile phone, and network service provider today. Certain types of media files that Verizon decides to use are like photos ( .jpg, .bmp, .png, .gif) music ( .mp3, .wma, .wav) videos ( .avi, .wmv, .mpg, .mp4, .mpeg, .mpv, .vob, .mov, .flv). "By moving from Sybase to IDS, we dramatically reduced DBA support costs and realized an equally dramatic increase in reliability of one of our major systems supporting our national address and phone number directory." - –Geoff Poole, Lead Informix Database Administrator, Verizon.

As the company has upgraded to new versions of IDS, the process has been seamless, helping staff maintain the high level of service availability.

Business need:
Maintain high availability of critical business data to help ensure provisioning and troubleshooting services are delivered to customers without delay

Solution:
A flexible, resilient high-performance information infrastructure that effortlessly scales to meet growing business requirements

Benefits:
High service availability; fast time to market for new services; able to manage 16 times the number of applications without adding database administrators (DBAs); enables support of one new application per month; helped avoid tenfold increase in number of DBAs.

Verizon Communications Inc. was formed in 2000 with the merger of Bell Atlantic Corp. and GTE Corp., and the company continued to grow through acquisitions. Verizon had difficulty unifying the diverse markets and product lines of the former companies and reconciling data across markets and regions. Verizon recognized the need for universal access to a central data repository to expedite data queries and provide valuable customer insight.

Verizon’s initiative began with an Active Enterprise Data Warehouse (aEDW), which served to aggregate metrics across hierarchies. Verizon sought insight through customer and product data to successfully promote its offerings.

Well the latest update information of Verizon using data mining was in August 2007. It was related about an anti-terrorism data mining program. In this case it was considered that it was violating federal privacy laws by allegedly providing phone records of Americans abroad. This case was followed for months in the higher courts of California because a similar case was brought forward to At&t.

Business Strategy

Verizon Wireless' 'Colt' Steps Up to the Plate As Phillie Fans Celebrate Red October

With the season of baseball coming to an end it sounds like playoffs in Philadelphia. The defending world champs the Philadelphia Phillies are back in the race to defend there title. With this in mind it is speculated that many fans will attend the games as long as the team advances deeper into the playoffs. Keeping this in mind Verizon Wireless expects at least a 40% increase in social network usage during the month of October. So, they have decided to establish a temporary mobile cell site near Citizens Bank Park which will increase its network capacity. The month of October in Philadelphia is known best as Red October is bringing more excitement to the ball park as well as more cell phone usage. In just the first two games of the playoffs in Citizens Bank Park Verizon Wireless users generated a 40% increase, more than 800,000 messages and 300,000 more calls than normal game day. Verizon Wireless will launch its cell site, COLT ( cell on light truck) for this month to enhance wireless capacity. This would allow the customers to make calls, receive or send messages, download games or ringtones, and allowing them to access their favorite media sites. According to, Ed Chan, executive director of Verizon Wireless' Philadelphia Tri-State Region, " When we anticipate a significant surge in wireless activity, we bring in additional mobile cell sites that work along with out existing area networkto compensate". The purpose of COLT is to handle the temporary increase in cell phone usage for example, COLT will able to handle 25,000 vocie calls per hour as 100,000 data sessions per hour. Verizon Wireless is in this because they want to ensure that they keep providing its customers with the quality service from the nation's most reliable service.

E-Commerce

In the E-Administrator case the old system, had its flaws. The old system consisted of a Access database with some input and output screens. However, the system provided poor interface and did not provide for ad-hoc reporting. The program needed the ability to monitor student progress. Sometimes the students that are admitted into these courses are missing prerequisite courses, and to be followed up on this matter. Coordinators also need to follow up on students who might be failing academic requirements. Student advisements requires all the student information to be ready for the coordinators upon request. With many more needs all this wasn't available using the old system. Indeed all the demands were met. A campus network was installed and is maintained by the Office of Computer Information Services (OCLS). The primary objective pf the network is to connect very PC to the internet and to support a set of standard applications. A new system had to able to meet the needs of the new program. The coordiantors need to keep track of its student as well as a scheduling course. They need to update the course times, days, and instructors several months before the next semester. of course with so many demands the old system wasn't able to handle so many users at once. With the new modifications to the old system, the new system can now be accessed remotely from any part of the world. It allows the staff to access or modify student information at the same time. It has really reduced the idea of relying on paper based filing systems. The E-Administrator is indeed an intranet because only those with a need to know can have access to the students information. For example, those in the faculty are the ones who really have access to the database and can update any students information at any given time. Part reason could be because they are protecting any information of the student that can be altered in such bring problems to the student. It oculd become an extra net in the sense that if access is given to the students themsleves then the student can basically change any information on their file they choose to.

Verizon follows the Business to Consumer (B2C) e-commerce. Here Verizon sells it products in this case cell phones or packages for your home or business to people who will use their service. These offers can be offering you the latest phone, home packages that offer TV service, phone service, and home phone service all in one. Also they offer service for people who run their own business. Verizon has installed a new digital cell site in Polk County Florida with the aim of enhancing service to customers. As a result, high speed access will be provided to advanced services such as V Cast and VZ navigator. It will allow user to play 3D games and downlaod full song tracks, and is a location based on service that offers maps, driving directions, traffice updates, gas locations and pricing. Verizon and Time Warner Cable have joined Comcast by launching trials to serve up programming over the internet to their subscribers. Verizon's trial will include programming from networks including TNT and TBS. The product on demand is something Verizon is testing right now. It's a service that promotes tv everywhere and is been given a trial here in the U.S. Basically the idea is to give Verizon customers a first hand look of what is offered on tv.Verizon tries to reach out the world by many different means. They have commercials running on the most commonly watched TV stations especially on Sunday's when football games are running. They have several billboards placed on heavy traffic areas where people will notice it. They run there ads and promote their services along with cable services making cable look unreliable. They also place Ads in the newspaper more commonly in the Sunday's paper because this is when coupons are issued. Of course they use the most reliable source of interacting and that would be the internet. With the way people social network today using sites such as Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter, etc., they have launched some ads using the web knowing that people will come across them. Verizon has made it easy for its customers to make payment. With the way technology has changed the world it is easy to choose a way to make payments. Right now the Services offered are pay online with credit card, using pay pal, electronic checks, enroll in a automatic monthly payment plan which automatically deducts the chargers from your bank account, by phone, or simply by mail.

We believe that Verizon has a certain goal in mind. Yes it is true that Verizon charges are a little more expensive then other companies out there, but you can't deny there reliable service. We feel like Verizon's main generic business strategy has to be focus. They are one of the largest wireless provider in the country. By accomplishing that, they maintain a clear objective to keep their customers pleased. In doing that they provide a respectful, well trained customer service, and they are always trying to seek feedback from their clients. They could also use differentiation at times for certain products. For example, when they introduced the first Blackberry touch screen phone. That is something that no other phone company had released to the market until now.

(a)The buyer power that is used by Verizon Wireless is relatively high due to competition.

(b)Verizon supplier power is low due to the fact that there are many choices to choose from. For example, Samsung, blackberry, and Motorola.

(c) The power of threats of substitute is high due to many possible threats like Nextel Technology, that uses walkie talkie devices popular in commercial companies. Also, a new internet bases communication software could possibly threatnen the revenues of the wireless communication industry.

(d)The threat of new entrants is low in the wireless network industry. However, companies have learned the advantages of the joint ventures to benefit from all the advantages. Companies must adjust their strategies to keep their competitive advantage.

Verizon is trying to reduce buyer power by creating a competitive advantage that will attract more customers. The supplier power is already low and they intend to keep it that way. There are no switching costs for Verizon. Barrier entries have made it hard for small enterprises to compete. This has allowed or given the opportunity for an enormous growth.

Verizon uses several business initiatives in its company. As to mention Verizon uses Customer Relationship Management system (CRM). This company ties all three departments that involve marketing, sales, and customer service. When one request their services they are able to resolve most of your questions because they incorporate the e-collaboration. The company is able to share information based on sales, marketing products, or anything else. So it really doesn't create a problem when retrieving information based on the customer's request. One must keep in mind that using the supply chain management is the most efficient way to run the business because it is all computerized. In this case all information is computerized and easily retrieving information of the company when desired. These initiatives range from both top line and bottom line initiatives.

The IT organization that is being used by Verizon is the fully integrated approach. Verizon has fully integrated its departments to allow them to easily share information. When one department has information that the other needs it has made it possible to retrieve that information. All information concerning the company is being shared throughout the company.

Introduction

Verizon Communications Inc., became known to the market in june of 2000. With the merger of Bell Atlantic Corp. and GTE Corp. Veriozn began trading in the New York Stock Exchange using the symbol of VZ which represented speed. Verizon can be viewes as a true 21st century company, the companies that helped form its entity can be traced back to the telephone business era of the 19th century. Verizon continues to have a huge presence in today's markets with more than 100 million Americans connecting to it network daily. Later in 2006 MCI Inc., later joined the team of Verizon making it one of the most recognizable entities on a gloabl scale serving nearly 140 countries.
Lowell McAdam is the CEO of the American Mobile phone company, Verizon Wireless. Prior to obtaining this position in 2007 he served as CEO for Primeco , a wireless venture of Air touch and Bell Atlantic. He served vice president-international operations of Airtouch communications and was lead technical partner for cellular ventures with countries that included Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Italy, Korea, and Japan.