3 pm ET on Nov. 21: We are continuing to work to restore service levels back to 100 percent for customers with any interrupted telecommunications services due to the damage caused by the flooding in our facilities on West and Broad Streets in Lower Manhattan.
We have set up specific targeted communications to reach customers and are working diligently with affected communities.
Currently, our local network team is well into the process to restore services at our two facilities. We will provide updates to our web page as progress warrants.
News Releases
Verizon’s Steady Service Restoral Continues for New Jersey, New York City, Long Island Customers (Nov. 16)
Verizon’s Round-the-Clock Restoral Continues for Sandy-Stricken New Jersey, New York Customers (Nov. 9)
Verizon Post-Sandy Service Restoral Efforts Continue (Nov. 8)
Verizon Completes Wireline Network Preparations for Nor’easter, As Sandy Service Restoral Continues (Nov. 7)
Verizon’s Restoral Progress Continues (Nov. 2)
Verizon Making Substantial Progress in Reconnecting Customers Post-Sandy (Nov. 1)
Verizon Teams Launch Restoral Effort as Sandy Moves Inland (Oct. 30)
As Hurricane Sandy Nears East Coast Landfall, Verizon Finalizes Storm Preparations (Oct. 28)
Verizon Networks Ready to Serve Consumers, Businesses as Hurricane Sandy Threatens East Coast (Oct. 26)
3 pm ET on Nov. 16: Verizon has largely returned to normal operations throughout the Sandy impact area. In the two weeks since our facilities on West and Broad Streets in Lower Manhattan were flooded by Sandy’s storm surge, Verizon Enterprise Solutions customers serviced out of these locations have had many telecommunications services restored, but some services remain unavailable. We are working directly with these customers in order to restore service levels back to 100 percent, primarily by providing work-around or alternative solutions. Our local network team is available seven days a week to work on infrastructure and customer issues.
We are also reaching out directly to affected communities. For example, we have set up a dedicated 800 number for our real estate clients who own and manage properties in Lower Manhattan, where specially-trained reps can help find specialized information and answer questions relevant to this special group.
We will provide the next update at 3 pm ET Wednesday November 21.
2 pm ET on Nov. 14: The vast majority of Verizon and Verizon Enterprise Service customers in New York City have their communications services back up to pre-Sandy levels, but customers serviced out of our Broad Street facility are still not experiencing the reliability, speed and service they should expect during normal periods. We are doing everything we can to restore service levels back to 100 percent for these customers.
We will provide the next update at 3 pm ET Friday November 16.
3:00 p.m. on Nov. 12: Verizon Enterprise Solutions’ employees continued work over the weekend to reconnect voice and data services for businesses and government clients following Sandy’s landfall two weeks ago. We are focusing our restoration on Lower Manhattan, where our hardest hit facilities are located.
All critical facilities at Verizon’s communications hubs at 140 West St. and 104 Broad St. are fully operational. These facilities provide sophisticated data communications for financial services, other enterprise clients and government agencies. The 104 Broad St. location will continue to operate on backup power until commercial power can be restored to the facility.
We have restored services to most of our clients by re-routing or providing backup services, so they are back up and running and we are committed to working closely with customers who have remaining service needs.
We will provide our next update at 2 pm ET Wednesday Nov. 14.
3:00 p.m. on Nov. 9: Verizon Enterprise Solutions employees are making progress with restoration and are scheduled to continuing working through the weekend in the most severely impacted areas, including parts of the New York City metro area.
As the following video highlights, the Verizon mobile command center has allowed our local government and law enforcement customers in Sandy-impacted Hazlet, N.J., to conduct and coordinate their recovery activities. The video features comments from the New Jersey Attorney General and head of the State Police on our support.
We will provide our next update at 2 pm ET Monday Nov. 12. For more about Verizon Wireless’ restoration efforts, visit http://news.verizonwireless.com/Emergency/Overview.html.
3:00 p.m. on Nov. 8: Verizon Enterprise Solutions reports yesterday’s nor’easter did not cause any additional damage to our facilities and our employees have been able to resume work in Lower Manhattan to restore services disrupted by Superstorm Sandy.
Identifying possible issues within our networks after they were submerged in salt water in the flood is a primary focus for our restoration crews. While our enterprise and government customers have nearly all services restored either due to restoration of service or workaround solutions, there are miles of damaged copper lines within our two facilities on West Street and Broad Street in Lower Manhattan. Here, damaged cables containing thousands of copper lines have been pulled out of the flooded area at our Broad Street facility. A single cable 3 1/2 inches in diameter can carry as many as 1200 copper lines.
We will provide our next update at 3 pm ET Friday Nov. 9.
3:00 p.m. on Nov. 7: As the metropolitan New York area and other cities along the East Coast prepare for today’s nor’easter, Verizon Enterprise Solutions employees are steadfast in their work to restore services caused by Sandy’s destruction nine days ago.
Commercial power has been restored to our primary facilities on West Street in Lower Manhattan, enabling us to begin to identify possible issues within our networks in need of repair or replacement. Our enterprise and government customers have nearly all services restored at this time either due to restoration of service or workaround solutions.
While working around the clock to restore service to our customers we have also been focused on preparing for today’s nor’easter, expected to bring high winds, flooding and snow to some of the same areas hardest hit by Sandy. We have not only activated our business continuity plans but are taking added precautions to protect the valuable work our employees have done over the past nine days to restore services to our business and enterprise clients.
Today, protecting the restoration work is of utmost importance. As a precaution, yesterday Verizon ordered 6,000 sandbags for its Broad Street facility in Lower Manhattan to help keep water from flooding the facility again if the water rises above the seawall.
Workers could be seen all along the sidewalks of the Verizon building on Broad Street in Lower Manhattan yesterday, laying out plastic sheeting and piling up sandbags to help protect the restoration work inside the building from flooding expected from today’s nor’easter.
We will continue to closely watch the storm and the impact it may have up and down the coastline today. We are doing all we can to ensure all of our employees, customers and others in the impact area remain safe.
We will provide our next update at 3 pm ET Thursday Nov. 8.
3:00 p.m. on Nov. 6: Now eight days into the restoration efforts from when Sandy hit landfall along the New Jersey shore, Verizon Enterprise Solutions employees have not let up. We are continuing to work around the clock to re-establish normal operations for our clients who have had disruptions primarily in Lower Manhattan.
Access to commercial power continues to be our primary challenge in Lower Manhattan, and we will not have a comprehensive view of the full extent of the damage until commercial power returns. For the past week, we have focused on providing work-around solutions for clients in order to keep their operations running seamlessly.
For example, yesterday, we were able to help a name-brand banking institution to get a handful of their ATMs up and running in Lower Manhattan by using our Verizon wireless 4G LTE network as a backup. Having working ATMs in this badly ravaged area is going a long way to helping local residents get cash and deposit paychecks in this tough time. One customer of this institution said that their bank had the only working ATMs in the immediate area. We helped another banking firm reopen more than 90 percent of their branch offices in the area . . . and the remaining branches were closed because of a lack of commercial power.
In addition, we helped a home health care stay in touch with its staff by setting up a new text messaging system, requiring the speedy activation of new handsets. We activated thousands of new mobile devices for one of the primary first-responder agencies in New York.
Outside of the immediate metro New York City area, virtually all of our customers are operating at pre-Sandy levels.
Business clients can access information and communicate directly with us through the Verizon Enterprise Center either on laptops, smartphones or tablets. For business clients who need their handheld devices, tablets or laptops re-charged, Verizon has opened charging stations at several locations. To view the list of the latest locations, visit Device Charging Stations Open in Areas Impacted by Hurricane Sandy. We will provide our next update at 3 pm ET Wednesday Nov. 7.
3:00 p.m. on Nov. 5: One week after Sandy made landfall on the New Jersey coastline, Verizon Enterprise Solutions employees continue to work around the clock to re-establish normal operations for our clients in the most severely impacted areas.
Access to commercial power continues to be a challenge in areas such as Lower Manhattan, and we will not have a comprehensive view of the full extent of the damage until commercial power returns. For the past week, we have been focused on providing work-around solutions for clients with service interruptions. For example, we recently configured alternate network arrangements and capacity to ensure voters in a major city were able to obtain up-to-date information on where and when they could cast their ballot during tomorrow’s election.
Most of our business and government customers outside of the immediate New York City area have seen services restored.
Business clients can access information and communicate directly with us through the
Verizon Enterprise Center either on laptops, smartphones or tablets. For business clients who need their handheld devices, tablets or laptops re-charged, Verizon has opened charging stations at several locations. To view the list of the latest locations, visit Device Charging Stations Open in Areas Impacted by Hurricane Sandy.
We will provide our next update at 3 pm ET Tuesday Nov. 6.
3:00 p.m. on Nov. 4: Verizon Enterprise Solutions employees are working tirelessly over the weekend to re-establish normal operations for our clients in the most severely impacted areas, including parts of the New York City metro area, following Sandy’s devastating destruction. Our employees continue to make significant progress, focusing on providing work-around solutions for clients with service interruptions and re-establishing pre-Sandy service levels.
The latest information from the local power company suggests that restoration of commercial power will not be until Nov. 9 (see the restoration map – click on a location and zoom in for specifics.) This will impact our ability to fully-restore services for some customers.
We pumped approximately 1 million gallons of floodwater out of our headquarters building in Lower Manhattan, and we expect to begin working to get the remaining New York City facilities up and running once power is restored. Because of the corrosive nature of salt water, we expect complications with copper and fiber within these facilities. In addition last night, we restored a key New York City facility to generator power, re-establishing services for our large multinational clients.
Business clients can access information and communicate directly with us through the Verizon Enterprise Center. A new option to access account info is via VEC Mobile (with or without an account login to the VEC) using a smartphone and/or a tablet. Use of VEC Mobile is up significantly over the past week, which attests to its usefulness.
For business clients who need their handheld devices, tablets or laptops re-charged, Verizon has opened charging stations at several locations. To view the list of the latest locations, visit Device Charging Stations Open in Areas Impacted by Hurricane Sandy.
We will provide our next update at 3 pm ET Monday Nov. 5.
2:00 p.m. ET on Nov. 2: Verizon Enterprise Solutions continues to be focused on our restoration efforts for business and government clients in the Mid-Atlantic and along the Eastern Seaboard. We are working around-the-clock to re-establish normal operations for our clients as quickly as possible.
We have made significant headway with a number of clients in the private and public sectors. This includes:
- Setting up mobile hotspots and providing additional redundancy for a major weather broadcasting company;
- Delivering additional technical experts on the ground to help ensure networks are up for a first responder agency in Virginia; and,
- Providing additional network equipment to a local county government agency that delivered vital emergency services throughout the duration of the storm.
In some areas, we continue to experience restoration challenges of our wireline network issues due to lack of commercial power – especially in Lower Manhattan. Because of public statements from power companies who serve Lower Manhattan, we now believe it may be next week before we will be able to fully restore services. Our commitment to our clients is unwavering and we continue to work together to get through this difficult and challenging time.
On the positive side, we continue to see a return to normalcy for enterprise and government clients in Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Virginia.
We will provide our next update at 3 pm ET Saturday Nov. 3.
4:00 p.m. on Nov. 1: In the aftermath of Sandy, Verizon remains focused on restoring services as quickly as possible.
While our buildings and facilities depend on commercial power and we are working closely with the local power companies to prioritize our needs, it will be difficult to have every system up to pre-Sandy performance until commercial power is restored.
Verizon builds redundancy into our facilities so that if things go wrong we can continue to service our clients. Back-up power at our facilities is key to redundancy planning. Generators are a viable temporary solution, but they are not designed for lengthy commercial power outages caused by major catastrophes. In some locations, we have not received adequate fuel due to power generators. When generators run out of fuel, our facilities switch to battery power, which provides limited relief. We are aggressively working to obtain commercial power.
Beyond power challenges, we see some network and service interruptions for clients based in areas that were most heavily impacted by the storm, including New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Our business clients in surrounding states (Delaware, Connecticut and Massachusetts) report significant improvements and we expect things to return to normal in these areas over the coming days.
One final piece of good news: today, Verizon brought back up a key facility in lower Manhattan, which will help service our business clients as they return to work in the area.
We will provide our next update at 2 pm ET Friday Nov. 2.
8:00 a.m. ET on Nov. 1: Three days after Sandy made landfall on the New Jersey coast, Verizon is continuing to deploy its assets to help our enterprise and government agency clients with their communications. While systems and networks are functioning well, in the impact zone where Sandy’s destruction was greatest there is still much work to do.
Today, the company is deploying mobile communications centers, including an Emergency Mobile Communications Center, VSAT trailer, and large shelter tents to help the Nassau County Office of Emergency Management and various New York Police Department precincts that lost power with their critical communications. These Verizon assets are expected to be used as command centers later today in some of the hardest hit areas around New York City, such as Lower Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island.
(Photo: Verizon has deployed this 53-foot Emergency Mobile Communications Center for use by the Nassau County Office of Emergency Management that provides Internet and phone service.)
Verizon continues to provide critical support to clients in and around the affected storm areas and we are making some progress on multiple fronts. In other areas, we are dependent on utility companies to provide commercial power to restore services. Current estimates for power restoration vary and will affect our ability to turn up services.
In addition to continuing to deploy assets throughout the Northeast today to help safeguard the citizens of the area, we report in other news that our Managed Security Services – which help our clients protect their IT infrastructure and data – performed very well during the storm. Services are provided through our own data centers or in the cloud and remain unaffected. Verizon is a recognized leader of managed security services and just yesterday received a ‘Strong Positive’ rating in Gartner’s Managed Security Services in Asia/Pacific MarketScope Report.
We will provide our next update at 4 pm ET today.
5:00 pm ET on Oct. 31: With restoration efforts ongoing, there are positive signs that New Yorkers are beginning to resume normal life. Today, the financial services sector led the day with the re-opening of the U.S. stock markets . . . and Mayor Bloomberg rang the opening bell at the NYSE.
Both the NYSE and NASDAQ successfully resumed trading with many financial and investment firms reopened for business, as well. A significant percentage of the major financial institutions on Wall Street are customers of Verizon Enterprise Solutions, and we’re proud to be powering their recovery.
This afternoon we erected a temporary wireless antenna in Jersey City, across the Hudson River from the World Trade Center, in support of major financial organizations based in Northern New Jersey. Verizon’s wireless network is a terrific backup to wireline networks, and many financial service customers are using wireless as a major component of their business continuity planning.
We’re making progress at Verizon network technical sites in Lower Manhattan, Queens and Long Island. In these locations, Verizon has been able to reroute and restore critical services at several key facilities that were affected by the historic flooding and subsequent power outages on Monday night (Oct. 29). Company engineers and technicians have returned several of these facilities to normal operations, and efforts continue to restore the remaining facilities.
Record storm surge and extensive flooding in the area forced water into some lobbies and basements of Verizon facilities. Verizon has been able to quickly secure pumping equipment and began the process of removing water from our sites. Because critical communications equipment (such as voice switches, data equipment and routers) are located on high floors in our buildings, they were not damaged by floodwater. But the water did damage some of backup power equipment such as switch gear, generators and fuel pumps, causing some repair delays.
Some Verizon services are being restored as our technical sites come back online, while other services are being restored through alternate routing – routing voice and data traffic around the impacted areas. Not all traffic impacted by Sandy can be restored via alternate routing, but the Verizon engineering and network planning teams are using all available network options to reroute traffic when possible.
While we saw some bright spots today, there is still much devastation in Sandy’s wake. Technical restoral efforts are complicated in many areas by hundreds of closed roads, persistently high water, mandatory evacuations that limit access, continued snow, downed trees and other debris. In many cases, Verizon must wait for power companies to restore their facilities and declare the area safe before the company’s technicians can move in to restore services.
Business clients can access information and communicate directly with us through the Verizon Enterprise Center. Another option to access account info is via VEC Mobile (with or without an account login to the VEC) using a smartphone and/or a tablet. Clients can view update, create repair tickets and login to view a ticket summary. Users also have the option of simple and expanded views on their smartphone and can set their preference to save entries for next time.
We will provide the next update at 8 a.m. ET on Thursday, Nov 1.
12:00 noon ET on Oct. 31: Restoration efforts across the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions continue today and into the foreseeable future following Sandy’s historic landfall in New Jersey on Monday evening. Given the extensive damage from the flooding and the high winds, relief agencies are just now calculating how long it will be until transportation, power and other necessities of daily living are operational. Many experts are predicting days, if not weeks, for this to happen.
The hardest hit area is Lower Manhattan, where Verizon continues to focus significant efforts on restoring services below 39th Street, where conditions are bleak. Good progress is being made at Verizon’s network technical facilities there. Due to the record flooding in the area, some faculties had water in basements areas which damaged some of the backup power equipment including generators and fuel pumps. Verizon has spent the past 24 hours pumping water out of the buildings while at the same time the company brought in large portable generators to power the buildings and begin restoring services to customers. Technical teams will continue this process until all buildings are fully operational. Verizon’s communications equipment – voice switches, data equipment, routers – in these faculties are located on higher floors as designed and have not been damaged.
Verizon’s Satellite Solutions Group, which has several emergency mobile communications vehicles will arrive in New Jersey and New York this evening to provide communications services to the impacted region. The disaster recovery fleet is completely self-contained and does not require any commercial power to operate. The mobile vehicles offer voice, data and Internet connectivity as well as charging capabilities for mobile devices.
In addition, Verizon is working around-the-clock to assist clients in maintaining continuity of operations. For example, in many areas in the impact zone, Verizon Enterprise Solutions is enabling clients’ business continuity plans, operating with wireless backup and additional equipment to those in the government and financial sectors. Verizon continues to deploy technical teams and other experts to assist in storm-ravaged areas, and are on premise as soon as we are cleared by the local authorities to go in and begin restoration.
Business clients can access information and communicate directly with us through the Verizon Enterprise Center. Another option to access account info is via VEC Mobile (with or without an account login to the VEC) using a smartphone and/or a tablet. Clients can view update, create repair tickets and login to view a ticket summary. Users also have the option of simple and expanded views on their smartphone and can set their preference to save entries for next time.
NOTE: Supported devices include smartphones with Droid, iOS, Windows operating systems; tablets with Droid, iOS, Windows operating systems and Blackberry supported with v7 and above.
We will provide the next update at 5 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Oct. 31.
8:00 am ET on Oct. 31: Verizon restoration efforts are well underway in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions, as Sandy moves further north. The company’s networks are functioning relatively well, despite intensive efforts to clean up after massive flooding and the continued lack of commercial power in many locations up and down the Eastern seaboard.
We continue to have significant issues in Lower Manhattan. Con Edison reports that it may take a week to restore power to parts of Manhattan, and removing contaminated floodwaters requires monitoring from environmental agencies, both contributing to restoration timeframes. This photo was taken the night of the flood in the lobby of one of our primary Lower Manhattan facilities.
In New York and beyond, Verizon Enterprise Solutions remains fully focused on ensuring that our clients that provide critical services have the communications, data and information services they need to get the job done. We are working with government agencies, first responders and power companies to ensure this.
To help with relief efforts, the Verizon Foundation late yesterday awarded a $100,000 grant to American Red Cross to assist victims and their families. Verizon is matching employee donations to the American Red Cross and Salvation Army up to $1,000 per employee. More information is available here.
Business clients can access information and communicate directly with us through the Verizon Enterprise Center.
We will provide the next update at 12 noon ET on Wednesday, Oct. 31.
4:00 p.m. ET Oct. 30: Verizon restoral efforts are well underway as Sandy moves inland. The company also continues to work closely with public safety officials to ensure emergency communications remain operational as well as assisting power companies, first responders and other clients in performing their mission-critical recovery work.
Key updates at this time include:
- Verizon’s networks are operating well, despite record-setting flooding and damages to its NYC facilities, and delivering a significant amount of calls and Internet connectivity to businesses and individuals.
- While primary stress to our facilities in lower Manhattan and the greater New York metro area are causing some service disruptions, the company is working aggressively to restore services as quickly as possible.
- Callers to non-emergency 311 service in New York City may experience difficulty completing their calls, due to damage to some Verizon facilities in Lower Manhattan. However, users can also access 311 services online and by text. Improving service here is a priority.
- The company continues to re-route data and voice calls from impacted facilities to non-impacted facilities or those outside of the storm impact zone.
In addition, some of the same conditions reported at our noon update are impacting customers because significant enterprise and international traffic moves through the greater New York area, some clients outside of the impacted zones may experience issues with their service. Due to high call volumes, we remind our clients that Verizon Enterprise Center is a great resource. Business clients can visit the Verizon Enterprise Center on smartphones and tablets to view updates, create repair tickets, and view a ticket summary.
We will provide the next update at 8 p.m. ET Tuesday, Oct. 30.
12:00 noon ET on Oct. 30: Verizon is continuing to assess the situation, working with appropriate government agencies, power companies and first responders and collaborating with clients on restoration efforts. Key updates at this time include:
- Verizon is continuing our assessment of the damage to Verizon assets caused by Sandy. Throughout the Eastern Seaboard and into the Midwest, we are teaming up with local power utilities, governments and public safety officials to assist in the prioritization of critical service restoration.
- Lower Manhattan has been severely impacted by Sandy. While many of our facilities are running on backup power, the catastrophic flooding and loss of commercial power combined are major factors in service disruption.
- Significant efforts are being made to assess and address the situation in Lower Manhattan and the greater New York metro area.
- The safety of our employees and field teams is of critical importance. We are working with public safety officials to ensure that our technology crews can enter facilities as quickly as possible, in a safe manner. Restoration efforts are underway in many locations.
- Whenever possible, we are re-routing data and voice calls from impacted facilities to non-impacted facilities or those outside of the storm impact zone.
- Because significant enterprise and international traffic moves through the Greater New York area, some clients outside of the impacted zones may experience issues with their service.
- Business customers can visit the Verizon Enterprise Center on smartphones and tablets to view updates, create repair tickets, and view a ticket summary. Clients may contact their regular customer service centers or account teams as needed.
We will provide the next update at 4 p.m. ET Tuesday, Oct. 30.
8:00 a.m. ET on Oct. 30: Sandy made landfall along the New Jersey coastline Monday night and combined with the cold weather system in the area to form “Superstorm Sandy.” Currently, news reports indicate more than 5 million people are without power in the impacted region from Virginia to Massachusetts.
As early morning breaks and conditions allow, Verizon field crews are beginning to further assess the situation and are working with appropriate government agencies, power companies and other first responders, as well as collaborating with clients on restoration efforts. We are working closely with our clients in the health care, energy, utilities and fleet management sectors to identify critical issues to ensure their continuous operation. In addition, Verizon’s hazmat team called MERIT (Major Emergency Response Incident Team) has been activated and is heading toward the impact zone to provide emergency communication services to first responders.
Verizon is discovering that many poles and power lines/Verizon cables are down throughout the region due to heavy winds and falling trees. Record flooding in the area and no commercial power in lower Manhattan has created network issues in Manhattan. Technical and power teams are already working several sites there.
These efforts are part of Verizon’s around-the-clock efforts to keep our wireless and wireline networks and systems working. Verizon Enterprise Solutions customers have several ways to monitor their accounts, get updates and be directly in touch with customer-facing teams. In addition to contacting their regular customer service centers or account teams as needed, we encourage clients to take advantage of the Verizon Enterprise Center (VEC) where they can manage their information and find updates on Sandy.
Also, a new recent addition is VEC Mobile (with or without an account login to the VEC) accessible by smartphones and tablets. Clients can view updates, create repair tickets, and view a ticket summary. Users also have the option of simple and expanded views on their smartphone and can set their preference to save entries for next time.
Business customers may also contact their regular customer service centers or account teams as needed. We will provide the next update at 12 noon ET Tuesday, Oct. 30.
11:30 p.m. ET on Oct. 29: Verizon network teams are continuing to closely monitor the storm. In some impacted areas, weather conditions continue to deteriorate infrastructure. Verizon is continuing around-the-clock efforts to keep our wireless and wireline networks and systems working and we expect to have more information in the morning.
In addition and as a reminder, clients of Verizon Enterprise Solutions have several ways to monitor their accounts, get updates and be directly in touch with customer-facing teams. In addition to contacting their regular customer service centers or account teams as needed, we encourage clients to take advantage of the Verizon Enterprise Center (VEC), where they can manage their information and find updates on Hurricane Sandy.
Also, a new recent addition is VEC Mobile (with or without an account login to the VEC) accessible by smartphones and tablets. Clients can view updates, create repair tickets, and view a ticket summary. Users also have the option of simple and expanded views on their smartphone and can set their preference to save entries for next time.
Business customers may also contact their regular customer service centers or account teams as needed. We will provide the next update at 8:00 a.m. ET Tuesday, Oct. 30.
8:00 p.m. ET on Oct. 29: Sandy is about to make landfall with high winds, and Verizon network teams are assessing the situation for our operations and clients who are in the storm’s path. As the winds pick up and conditions worsen, we are in constant communications with state, local and federal authorities and preparing to deploy recovery crews where and when required and authorized.
We are also keenly aware of the critical support we provide to law enforcement and first responders as they assess the damage and deploy disaster recovery crews; hospitals and emergency services who care for the injured; state, local and federal agencies as they communicate about storm-related issues; as well as our role in helping to keep our clients’ businesses connected. Verizon continues to work around the clock to keep services and networks connected.
Business customers are advised to contact their regular customer service centers or account teams as needed – as a reminder, additional options on how to contact us are listed in today’s 12 noon update (below). We will provide the next update at 12:00 a.m. ET tomorrow.
4:00 p.m. ET on Oct. 29: As Hurricane Sandy approaches landfall, Verizon network teams are continuing to closely monitor the storm. We are in constant communications with state, local and federal authorities and preparing to deploy recovery crews where and when required and authorized. We have implemented additional preparations, including:
- Activated Northeast Area Control Center (ACC) and the Potomac South ACC,
- Activated Northeast Local Emergency Coordinating Center,
- Increased FiOS network capacity in the Washington, D.C./Culpeper area to prepare for FiOS customers who need to work from home over the next several days,
- Moved more portable generators to technical sites by the network teams for backup power during storm, and
- Moved technical sites in storm region from commercial power to generators.
Currently, all wireline and wireless operations are operating normally, as are Verizon’s Terremark data and cloud centers which are built to the highest standards. Our infrastructure is supported by redundant systems for power and cooling and is architected to keep systems running during and after a major weather event. Our operations team began enacting our hurricane plan last week to secure facilities, protect the safety of Verizon Terremark personnel and maximize operational preparedness. Given the level of reliability built into the architecture of our data centers and cloud platforms, we do not anticipate moving customer workloads, but our customers are able to do that if they wish. For more information, see GigaOm’s story which highlights Verizon’s Terremark cloud centers.
Business customers are advised to contact their regular customer service centers or account teams as needed – additional options on how to contact us are listed in the update below. We will provide the next update at 8:00 pm ET today.
12 noon ET on Oct. 29: Hurricane Sandy is expected to make landfall later today along the Eastern Seaboard. At this time, Verizon reports all systems and networks are functioning normally.
Clients of Verizon Enterprise Solutions have several ways to monitor their accounts, get updates and be directly in touch with customer-facing teams. In addition to contacting their regular customer service centers or account teams as needed, we encourage clients to take advantage of the Verizon Enterprise Center (VEC), where they can manage their information and find updates on Hurricane Sandy.
A new addition is VEC Mobile (with or without an account login to the VEC) on their smartphones and tablets in order to:
- View update, create repair tickets
- Login to view a Ticket Summary
Users also have the option of simple and expanded views on their smartphone and can set their preference to save entries for next time. NOTE: Supported devices include smartphones with Droid, iOS, Windows operating systems; tablets with Droid, iOS, Windows operating systems and Blackberry supported with v7 and above.
VEC registered clients also are reminded that they can use Network Manager for toll-free services which gives customers — at a moment’s notice – the ability to change and implement up to 99 back-up routing plans for immediate disaster recovery or to re-route incoming calls based on inbound traffic patterns.
Ongoing Verizon Enterprise Solution Preparations Continue
In preparation for possible large scale power outages and customer maintenance events, Verizon business units have activated national and regional command and control centers, enabling Verizon operations teams to monitor the storm’s progress and company operations, including network performance. Verizon has established communications with power and other service providers to ensure proper coordination in the event of storm damage. The company also has contacted vendors and other outside partners so that critical communications equipment and supplies can be prioritized, stocked and shipped expeditiously.
Company equipment — including poles, fiber-optic and copper cable, portable cell sites that can replace a damaged cell tower and mobile emergency generators that can be used when local electrical power fails — is being staged in and around the mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions.
In addition, Verizon managers are communicating the company’s storm preparation efforts and coordinating pre-planned response activities with the public-safety community, as well as state, county and municipal agencies along the East Coast and the Midwest.
Verizon Enterprise Solutions will provide another update at 4:00 pm ET today.
8:00 a.m. ET on Oct. 29: Hurricane Sandy is expected to make landfall later today along the Eastern Seaboard. At this time, Verizon reports all systems and networks are functioning normally.
Business customers are advised to contact their regular customer service centers or account teams as needed. Verizon Enterprise Solutions will provide another update at 12:00 noon ET today.
10:00 p.m. ET on Oct. 28: With Hurricane Sandy’s landfall imminent along the Eastern Seaboard, Verizon reports all systems and networks are functioning normally at this time.
Business customers should contact their regular customer service centers or account teams as needed. Verizon Enterprise Solutions will provide another update at 8:00 a.m. ET on Monday, Oct. 29.
4:00 p.m. ET on Oct. 28: With Hurricane Sandy’s landfall imminent along the Eastern Seaboard, Verizon continues to finalize its emergency plans to businesses and government agencies and keep them connected.
John Stratton, president of Verizon Enterprise Solutions, said: “We appreciate being a trusted adviser to many of the businesses and government agencies that are now preparing to protect citizens and ensure speedy recovery in the storm’s aftermath. Our government clients at the state, local and federal levels are already playing crucial pre-storm roles, and we will provide ongoing support for the many businesses and government agencies that are now deploying. Our clients depend on us to support their global technology and communications needs 24/7, and we are ready.”
Business customers should contact their regular customer service centers or account teams as needed. Verizon Enterprise Solutions expects to provide another update at 10 p.m. ET today.
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