UPDATED: DISA to extend Verizon contract

Editor's note: This story was updated at 11:10 a.m. July 18, 2006, to correct that MCI, not Verizon, originally won the Defense Information Systems Agency contract in 1996.

The Defense Information Systems Agency has agreed to extend a contract for about $7.4 million with Verizon Business by one year, according to a Verizon announcement. The contract requires the company to provide bandwidth management to the agency’s Defense Information System Network.

Verizon will provide the bandwidth management portion of the network under the DISN Switched/Bandwidth Management Continental United States contract. The company will provide management to direct data communications and network security and management.

“We have watched the government’s network demands evolve over the years as the government moves more and more to network-centric communications with the power to distribute information instantly and globally,” said Jerry Edgerton, group president at Verizon Federal, in a statement. “Verizon Business continues to make investments in our networks to keep up with that demand. We look forward to continuing our relationship with the Department of Defense.’’

Verizon Federal is a division of Verizon Business. The organizational structure was created after the company’s merger with MCI.

MCI originally won the DISA contract in 1996.