Robert Sheldon, WSJournal, Aug 16, 1999 :
August 16, 1999
MCI WorldCom Shut Down
Key Network Over Weekend
By NICOLE HARRIS
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
interactive.wsj.com
NEW YORK -- MCI WorldCom Inc. shut down a key data network
over the weekend to "restore stability" to the beleaguered system, a move
that affected some 3,000 business customers including America Online
Inc.
The network outage, which lasted from about
noon on Saturday until Sunday afternoon,
gave MCI WorldCom engineers time to
remove a new version of software from
Lucent Technologies Inc. that is believed to
have contributed to problems in its
frame-relay network, which transmits data
between computers at very high speeds. MCI
WorldCom has experienced problems with
the network since Aug. 5.
"MCI WorldCom successfully completed
recovery of its frame-relay network platform and we've restored service to
the customers using this network," the company said in a statement.
Buoyed by the Internet, telephone companies increasingly are betting on
data networks to fuel growth. But MCI WorldCom's experience shows
that these networks also lack the reliability of voice networks -- even as
corporate customers become increasingly dependent on data networks for
day-to-day operations.
"People expect perfection and they're just not going to get it," said Ken
McGee, an analyst with the Gartner Group Inc. in Stamford, Conn. "This
outage was unusual in its size and scope."
While many of the largest companies have backup systems in the event of
such network problems, the MCI WorldCom shutdown nonetheless
caused a smattering of problems throughout the weekend. America Online,
which uses the data network to transmit some of its Internet traffic, said
about 10% of its customers had to use alternate access numbers used to
dial up Internet connections. For customers in some small towns, such as
Marysville, Ca., AOL said it set up toll-free access numbers for members
to receive Internet connections.
The ongoing network problems, however, have riled some big customers
such as the Chicago Board of Trade. The network problems have shut
down CBOT's electronic-trading system for more than 60% of its usual
operating hours since Aug. 5. In a letter to MCI WorldCom, Thomas R.
Donovan, president and chief executive officer of the exchange, deemed
the outages "unacceptable."
"CBOT members and market users demand and deserve world-class
technology and service, and we are receiving neither from MCI
WorldCom," he wrote. The CBOT network's latest failures began just
days after Mr. Donovan met with MCI WorldCom officials to discuss
previous stoppages lasting only a few minutes or hours.
CBOT lawyers are considering, among other options, severing the
exchange's ties with MCI WorldCom, said CBOT spokesman Bret
Gallaway.
An MCI WorldCom spokesman said engineers are continuing to
investigate "performance issues" associated with the software the company
removed over the weekend. The disruptions first occurred while the
company was in the process of conducting a software upgrade on Aug. 5.
The problem is reminiscent of a similar outage in AT&T Corp.'s
frame-relay network last April. That breakdown affected thousands of
corporate customers nationwide. AT&T blamed the outage on software
flaws that occurred when the carrier attempted to upgrade one of its
switches. But, the AT&T meltdown was over in about a day, while some
MCI WorldCom customers endured a roller-coaster experience of
on-again, off-again service for more than a week.
AT&T won kudos from observers for its quick handling of the breakdown
as its chief executive, C. Michael Armstrong, made personal calls to some
of its biggest customers. MCI WorldCom's President and CEO Bernard J.
Ebbers took the personal approach too, making calls to customers late
into Friday evening. Sunday afternoon, he released a public statement
apologizing for the outage. "MCI is very committed to the highest levels of
network reliability on all of its services to all of its customers," he said.
-- Peter McKay contributed to this article. |
