Update: Migration issues
implicated in MCI WorldCom frame
woes
By David Rohde
Network World Fusion, 08/10/99
MCI WorldCom's plan to move
frame relay customers - who
originally signed up with then
independent MCI - to a newer network based on
Lucent's Ascend switches may be at the heart of its
current frame relay congestion problems, sources say.
One original MCI customer today told Network
World that congestion problems appeared after the
migration of that customer's frame ports began.
Another confirmed in an e-mail that problems began in
the original WorldCom network based on Ascend
switches.
Several days ago so much congestion appeared on the
Ascend-based network that spot outages began
occurring, this customer says. "MCI Worldcom has
reduced the congestion on the network, so permanent
virtual circuits now come up. However, they aren't
meeting their minimum CIR [committed information
rate] on many PVCs."
MCI WorldCom did not confirm the speculation that
the additional traffic on the Ascend switches from the
original MCI customers was causing the congestion.
Actually, MCI WorldCom was due to add many
additional Ascend switches to the network in
preparation for this move (Network World, Nov. 9,
1998, page 1).
The original MCI network is based on a type of Bay
Networks router that is being phased out by Bay's
current owner, Nortel. Nevertheless, many MCI
customers are still using that platform and there are no
reports of problems there so far.
Another customer reported that his company has been
suffering spot outages on a frame relay network
outsourced to EDS, which uses MCI WorldCom
connections. "We have been down in various parts of
the world since Thursday," he says in a posting to
Network World Fusion. "The last two to three weeks
have also been very unstable." EDS, which has
long-standing ties to WorldCom, is in the process of
taking over a large part of the combined MCI
WorldCom's IT and network operations under a deal
announced earlier this year.
MCI WorldCom so far has not revealed the cause of
the network slowdown, nor put forth executives to
talk about it. In contrast, AT&T's more complete
frame relay outage in April 1998 provoked public
updates from CEO C. Michael Armstrong. Customers
say detailed information from MCI WorldCom has
also been lacking.
A Lucent spokesman confirmed the company's
engineers are working with MCI WorldCom to solve
the problem. "Lucent was involved in a software
upgrade that is related to the congestion problems that
have been experienced," said the spokesman. But he
said he did not know if the purpose of the upgrade
was related to MCI WorldCom's migration plans. |
