Cisco, Verizon Ride Souped-Up Black Rocket

Genuity , of Woburn, Mass., said Cisco Systems
and Verizon Communications have signed on as the first customers
for its new Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service.

The offering, Black Rocket Voice, integrates voice and data traffic onto a single, IP network delivering 50 times the capacity of a frame relay system. It’s the latest
addition to Genuity’s flaghship Black Rocket platform, which also provides Internet access, managed hosting and security.

Financial terms of the deals were not announced.

“From Genuity’s experience, having our VoIP capabilities integrated into our business proved to be invaluable during the events of September 11,” said James
Freeze, a Genuity vice president. “When the traditional telecom services were flooded with traffic, we were able to use our VoIP network to maintain contact with
customers and employees in New York, Washington, D.C., and around the world.”

In addition to improving reliability, networking giant Cisco and telecom carrier Verizon, believe the service will save money in service fees, as well as networking and
administration costs.

“By deploying Black Rocket Voice to 41 domestic sites, Cisco expects to streamline internal communications, using the 35,000 IP phones we’ve currently
deployed,” said John Bruno, Cisco’s vice president of information technology.

Shares of GENU rose 0.06, or 3 percent to 1.84 at midday. In the last 52 weeks, the issue has ranged from 1.2 to 5.875.