Primus Business Services Attains Microsoft® Gold Partner Status

December 12, 2006; 06:48 AM
Primus Telecommunications Canada Inc. (Primus Canada), a leader in facilities-based voice, data, e-commerce, web hosting, VoIP and Internet services utilizing ADSL2+ technology, today announced that its Business Services division has achieved Gold Certified Partner status for the Microsoft Partner Program in the competencies of Networking Infrastructure Solutions and Advanced Infrastructure Solutions. To achieve this distinction, Primus Business Services met rigorous standards for technical expertise, knowledge, skills and customer endorsements.

“Microsoft Gold Certified Partner Status is a distinction that represents Primus Canada’s commitment to providing clients the highest level of service, support and technical expertise,” said A.J. Byers, Primus Canada, senior vice president, Business Services. “This certification gives Primus increased access to updates, training and support from Microsoft and consequently enables us to give our clients – that rely on Microsoft applications on a daily basis – a competitive advantage.”

Primus Business Services is committed to providing its growing list of small and medium-sized customers with the highest level of customer satisfaction in the industry. Primus takes a holistic approach when dealing with its business customers and their managed IT requirements, offering them customized managed service solutions unique to their individual business needs.

“This certification is very important to our medium sized business as we run exclusively on Microsoft-based platforms,” said Ross Carruba, systems administrator, The Employment Solution. “We can continue to be confident that the Primus Business Services Microsoft Certified Professionals have access to up-to-the-minute knowledge about Microsoft programs and applications to ensure that our systems are running 100 per cent of the time.”

As a Certified Gold partner in Networking Infrastructure Solutions and Advanced Infrastructure Solutions, Primus Business Services has demonstrated expertise with Microsoft technologies and consistent, high-quality services with the support of Microsoft applications. Primus Business Services was awarded this status after passing the highest level of requirements from Microsoft and having demonstrated the most robust, efficient and scalable implementations of Microsoft technologies in demonstrated enterprise customer deployments.

“Primus Business Services’ Microsoft Certified Professionals have the highest level of knowledge about Microsoft based applications so this designation is a natural fit,” said Chris Ashton, IT Manager, Geo Holiday. “It is essential to our business that we have access to resources and information that guarantees our business is running at all times.”

About Primus Business Services

Primus Business Services is a leading provider of advanced voice communications, data centre infrastructure and managed information technology (IT) solutions to Canadian businesses of all sizes. Its dedicated group of certified technicians, system administrators and network engineers deliver and support innovative solutions for over 55,000 businesses. As a division of Primus Canada, Primus Business Services leverages a national network for voice and data services, and a world-class telecom infrastructure.

About Primus Canada

PRIMUS Telecommunications Canada Inc. is the largest alternative communications carrier in Canada with over 1,000,000 customers. The Company offers facilities-based voice, data, e-commerce, Web hosting, VoIP and broadband Internet services utilizing ADSL2+ technology. As a leading Internet service provider in Canada, PRIMUS Canada has over 80,000 Internet subscribers served by a national network of Internet points-of-presence (POPs) for dedicated and dial-up access. PRIMUS Canada also offers local services to businesses, bundling them with its long distance and Internet services. The Company has a fully redundant and diverse SONET network across Canada, extending from Quebec City to Victoria. PRIMUS Canada's national network consists of nationwide switches with international connectivity through its parent company's global network, ATM and IP nodes, and colocation facilities at major cities across the country. These network elements provide an integrated and converged backbone for all of PRIMUS Canada's voice, data, VoIP, Internet private line and bundled services. The local colocation network covers over three million households and businesses in Canada utilizing next generation ADSL2+ technology, delivering download speeds of up to 22 Mbps. PRIMUS Canada is also one of Canada’s largest MVNO’s (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) offering PRIMUS Wireless service over the Rogers Wireless network. PRIMUS Canada is a wholly-owned subsidiary of McLean, Virginia-based PRIMUS Telecommunications Group, Incorporated (OTCBB:PRTL). PRIMUS Canada news and information are available at the Company's Web site at www.primustel.ca.