William McCormick
Maggie Hallbach, senior vice president of Verizon Public Sector, spoke with ExecutiveBiz about her recent appointment to her new role after more than 25 years of service to the organization.
In addition, Hallbach also discussed the importance of 5G for the public sector as well as Verizon Frontline, recent EIS task orders and how Verizon Public Sector is able to leverage that contract vehicle to help its public sector clients during the latest Executive Spotlight interview.
“Already, Verizon Public Sector offers 5G Nationwide service to first responders in more than 2,700 cities, including 5G Ultra Wideband service in more than 1,700 of those cities. To put that in context, 5G UW delivers speeds up to 10 times faster than 4G LTE.”
You can read the full interview with Maggie Hallbach below:
ExecutiveBiz: Can you tell us a little bit about who you are and your role at Verizon Public Sector?
“I was appointed to senior vice president for Verizon Public Sector earlier this year, but I’ve been with the company for 25 years, serving in a variety of leadership roles. Before my current position, I was Verizon Public Sector’s vice president of business development and strategic sales, where I focused on developing, designing and capturing strategic opportunities.
Our team is focused on how we can best serve and support the missions of our federal, state, local, education and Verizon Frontline public safety customers, many of whom have proven to be the pace-setters for 5G adoption and implementation.”
ExecutiveBiz: We’re hearing a lot about the importance of 5G for the public sector. How is 5G trending in the sector?
Maggie Hallbach: “It’s an exciting time for 5G in the public sector, and we have a front row seat through our many 5G engagements and partnerships across diverse industries. We serve as a digital transformation partner with the federal government, the U.S. military, state agencies and local municipalities, educators and public safety organizations utilizing Verizon Frontline, the network trusted by more first responders than any other to deliver reliable and secure mission-critical communications capabilities.
There is also a lot of excitement about our C-Band launch, which already covers 95 million people, a figure that will grow to 175 million people in 2022, expanding to at least 250 million people by the end of 2024.
We expect our investment in C-band to yield tangible benefits for the public sector, particularly among our Verizon Frontline public safety customers.
We’re talking innovations like connected ambulances, where technicians can receive advanced on-the-scene data before arriving at a crisis, real-time video and other enhanced situational awareness tools first responders will depend on to do their jobs.
And as exciting as that is, Verizon 5G Ultra Wideband (UWB) is already delivering ultrafast speed, low latency, reliability, resiliency and redundancy for consumers and our public sector customers today.
Our work with the federal government is also blazing a trail when it comes to 5G and how the network is helping our customers achieve their most important missions. From the U.S. Department of Defense to the U.S. Department of Energy and beyond, the public sector is already thinking big about how 5G can help agencies better serve soldiers, employees, constituents and customers.
For example, Verizon supported the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, deploying Verizon 5G Ultra Wideband (UWB) on the VA’s Palo Alto campus. Verizon 5G UWB enables the VA to identify potential clinical uses for technologies that combine emerging health care innovations with 5G capabilities like Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR/VR).
And recently, we partnered with the Air Force Reserve Command to provide 5G UWB across seven of its installations throughout the United States, to support everything from flight line test equipment, animated simulation and training to telemedicine for aviators and ultra-fast artificial intelligence for biometric identification.”
ExecutiveBiz: How do you see 5G in the public sector evolving in 2022?
Maggie Hallbach: “Verizon Public Sector is uniquely positioned to work directly with our customers across the various components of their mission, including more 5G deployments, private networks, network-as-a-service and IT digitalization, to name a few.
In more specific terms, at the federal level Verizon has set the pace on Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) task order funding awarded by the federal government. We’ve secured contracts across the U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Defense, including task order awards with Naval District Washington, the Pentagon, Ft. Belvoir and the National Capital Region.
We are bringing the federal government into the future, helping agencies transition from legacy IT infrastructure to more internet-based systems which greatly enhance efficiency and critical customer service initiatives.
Verizon has been working for years laying the groundwork for the public sector’s 5G future. Back in 2019, for example, we began operations with the U.S. Air Force to implement 5G at bases across the Southeastern U.S.
We now provide 5G Nationwide at 17 U.S. Air Force bases, and we’ve activated 5G Ultra Wideband at Tyndall AFB, the first USAF installation to experience Verizon 5G UWB service.
These are exciting developments, but we’re just getting started.”
ExecutiveBiz: Speaking of Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) task orders, how have you been able to leverage that contract vehicle to help public sector customers?
Maggie Hallbach: “The Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) contract vehicle has been transformative in how it allows companies like Verizon to help the federal government modernize its technology infrastructure.
EIS enables federal agencies to take advantage of all the transformational technologies and services that Verizon Public Sector delivers, including project management and security and professional services.
Collectively, these partnerships help improve the experience that federal employees and citizens alike have with the government, and how they’re served when they call or have to interact with representatives.
Our work with the U.S. Department of Labor is a good example. We are integrating multiple methods of communication, including moving the agency to more IP-based voice and video services, enabling the DOL workforce of over 20,000 people to connect, collaborate and exchange information wirelessly and more seamlessly.
Just last year, we announced EIS awards with the Air National Guard, U.S. Department of Labor, Naval District Washington and U.S. Department of Energy. And in Marc, we announced our landmark EIS award worth nearly $1 billion to provide network modernization and technical support services to the Pentagon, the DOD National Capital Region (NCR) and Fort Belvoir.
And as we’ve talked about, many of these federal agencies have a strong desire to modernize their current legacy IT infrastructure, so I expect continued adoption and implementation in the federal government across the EIS contract vehicle, with teams like ours standing ready to support them.”
ExecutiveBiz: What can you tell us about Verizon Frontline? How is Verizon Frontline different from Verizon Public Sector?
Maggie Hallbach: “Verizon Frontline is an integral and essential offering within Verizon Public Sector, supporting our federal, state, and local public safety customers.
With nearly 14.5 million connections and close to 30,000 public safety agencies subscribed, Verizon Frontline is hands down the country’s most trusted public safety network. It was developed over three decades of partnership with public safety agencies on the front lines – to meet their unique and evolving needs.
Part of meeting those needs, and one of our big areas of focus right now, is delivering 5G to first responders today while also helping public safety agencies build for the future. We recently surveyed our Verizon Frontline customers and 80 percent think 5G will be either a “top” or “important” priority for their agencies in the future.
Already, we offer 5G Nationwide service to first responders in more than 2,700 cities – including 5G Ultra Wideband service in more than 1,700 of those cities. To put that in context, 5G UW delivers speeds up to 10 times faster than 4G LTE.
In addition to delivering the nation’s most reliable 5G service, we’re also excited about continuing our long-standing partnership with the public safety community while delivering the reliability, redundancy and security first responders need in ways no other provider can.”
