Verizon Unveils Rivio^TM Web Services Suite for Small Business Customers

NEW YORK and SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Verizon is presenting on its Web site a suite of Web-based services, offered by Rivio, Inc., that will

help small businesses streamline and organize daily business operations. Verizon will market the Rivio Business Services suite to its more than three million small

business customers nationwide.

"Our overall goal is to support the success of our small business customers," said Bob Ingalls, president of Verizon's Business Solutions Group.

"Rivio has assembled an impressive suite of services from best-of-class suppliers that can help our customers run their operations more smoothly and

efficiently, and allow them to concentrate on their businesses."

Rivio Business Services are designed to streamline the flow of work, ideas and information throughout small businesses. By enabling employees to quickly

access, exchange and integrate information, small businesses are able to run more efficiently and produce better results. Features of the Rivio Business Services

that are offered by Verizon include:

• Employee Communications Management Services -- A central online location for organizational charts, announcements, policies and

  procedures, as well as internal job postings and electronic updates of employees' out of office locations or other contact information.

• Expense Report Management Services -- Features allow for efficient creation, tracking and approval of expense reports, including synchronization

  with Intuit, Inc.'s QuickBooks^® accounting software and project-based expense tracking.

• HR Management Services -- Services designed for human resource managers, allowing access to employee records and information from a single

  workstation, including flexible reporting for employment status, benefits and compensation information, as well as payroll integration features. These services

  also grant employees access to their respective personnel records, which include compensation history, benefits and other valuable information.

• Payroll Management Services --In partnership with InterPay, Rivio offers a simplified end-to-end approach to payroll processing via a seamless

  user interface. This functionality facilitates integration with human resource records and seamless XML payroll data feed to InterPay's payroll engine. Users can

  view payroll records, make adjustments and preview the final payroll reports before processing.

• Time and Attendance Management Services -- One centralized location where employees can manage time-off requests, time-sheet set-up and

  project-based time tracking.

• Access to Microsoft^® bCentral^TM applications -- Through a relationship between Rivio and Microsoft

  Corporation, Verizon small business customers will have access to bCentral Business Card, bCentral Commerce Manager, bCentral Customer Manager,

  bCentral Finance Manager and bCentral Traffic Builder.

"Offering Rivio Business Services is an excellent opportunity for Verizon to increase its value proposition for small business customers and extend our

product offering," Ingalls said. "Verizon selected Rivio because of the power of its Integrated Business Services Network (iBSN), which

aggregates an extensive selection of business services from more than 50 best-of-class suppliers", according to Ingalls.

The Rivio Business Services offered through the Verizon Web site are available at www.bizservices.rivio.com,

or by clicking through Verizon's business products and services Web pages at www.verizon.com.

The Web services will be available for a low monthly subscription fee, with pricing dependent on number of users and services selection. Various promotional

and introductory offers and rates also will be available, including "try before you buy" options.

"The alliance with Verizon allows Rivio to significantly increase the availability of our Web services, extending our reach to more than three million new

small businesses nationwide," said Navin Chaddha, Rivio chairman and chief executive officer. "By making Rivio's comprehensive services

accessible through Verizon -- a resource that small business customers already use and trust -- Rivio will enable Verizon's small business customers to more

efficiently run their businesses, giving owners and employees more time to focus on revenue-generating activities."

About Verizon Communications

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) is one of the world's leading providers of communications services. Verizon companies are the largest providers of

wireline and wireless communications in the United States, with 112 million access line equivalents and 27 million wireless customers. Verizon is also the largest

directory publisher in the world. A Fortune 10 company with approximately 260,000 employees and more than $65 billion in annual revenues, Verizon's global

presence extends to 40 countries in the Americas, Europe, Asia and the Pacific. For more information on Verizon, visit www.verizon.com.

About Rivio

Rivio Inc., (www.rivio.com), headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif., was founded in February 1999 to develop and deliver small business Web services. Rivio's

Integrated Business Services Network (iBSN) provides an infrastructure for industry-leading companies like Bank of America, BellSouth, Fleet Boston Financial

and Verizon Communications to operate and deliver customized business Web services to their small business customers. Through their access to the iBSN,

these partners offer Rivio Business Services, under their own brand, to more than 15 million small- and home-based businesses nationwide for a monthly

subscription fee. Rivio Business Services provides the integrated Web-based foundation for small businesses to streamline business operations, improve

efficiencies and produce better results. For more information, visit www.rivio.com or contact Rivio public relations at pr@rivio.com.

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