briand." Rotten fish stinks even more now ":
( My comments in bold-italics ).
newsalert.com
August 16, 1999 17:21
MCI WorldCom moves to soothe network customer
rife
By Ilaina Jonas
NEW YORK, Aug 16 (Reuters) - The head of MCI WorldCom Inc. on Monday
moved to make amends with the thousands of customers left in cyberdarkness
by the service disruption along its high-speed data network and to placate
investor concerns that the problem -- now mostly fixed -- could cut its profit.
Chief Executive Bernard Ebbers said customers whose systems were left in
the lurch during the 10-day outage would get a service credit of two cost-free
days for each day they lost.
Ebbers also told reporters during a news conference that the disruption would
have little effect on third quarter revenue and would not hurt its profit.
listen to this b-zo: he is more interested in allaying WCOM investor fears than taking care of his customers.First words out.
"We will see a very, very slight down tick in revenue for the amount of time we
were not offering the network," Ebbers said. "The company is still very
comfortable with the consensus earnings expectation for the quarter and for
the year."
Analysts expect it to earn 54 cents per share in the third quarter and $1.97 for
the year, according to First Call/Thomson Financial. Its shares shed 1/4 to
close at 78-7/16 on Nasdaq, where it was Monday's eighth most active issue.
About 3,000 customers use the frame-relay network to send high-speed
information from their computers over dedicated private networks they lease
from the No. 2 U.S. long-distance phone company. Their monthly bills range
from $1,000 to "in the six-figures," Ebbers said.
The company did not know if all the customers on that particular network, one
of four it operates, experienced problems, he said.
MCI WorldCom detected problems with the network on Aug. 5 during routine
monitoring work, said Ron Beaumont, president of network services. About four
weeks ago, the company installed new software, made by Lucent
Technologies Inc. to allow the network to support additional customers and
services.
On Aug. 13, MCI WorldCom shut down the network, removed the upgraded
software and reinstalled the old software, also made by Lucent.
I guess the newly hired,defecting,engineers from NN must have screwed up!!! Did they defect from Nn briand or where they fired for incompetence?
Also, is this telling me that 3 years of R&D at LU for new software is now down the drain? Like Stratacom?
The process,
begun Saturday, was completed for domestic customers Sunday afternoon,
Beaumont said.
As of Monday, the company was working out minor problems with some
customers. Less than one-tenth of a percent of customers still have problems,
Beaumont said.
Customer anger continues, however. For some, two days of free service for
each they lost may not be enough.
"We're reviewing our legal recourses as well our relationship with them as our
provider," said Katherine Spring, spokeswoman for the Chicago Board of Trade.
"We're extremely frustrated and hugely inconvenienced."
The CBOT, where options and futures are traded on anything from rice to
Treasury bonds, said its electronic trading system, which runs on the network,
was down 60 percent over the past seven business days and did not return
until Sunday evening. About 5 percent of its volume comes from electronic
trading, and the outage cost it 200,000 contracts, she said.
Spring said the CBOT had told MCI WorldCom it was having network
slowdowns before the network failed Aug. 5.
briand: I guess even the old software is now passe'.This started way back when.So what's the plan now?
"The CBOT has been proactive in dealing with the MCI WorldCom network
problems, beginning with my meeting with top MCI WorldCom executives two
days before the first outage occurred and subsequent discussions with CEO
Bernard Ebbers," CBOT Chief Executive Thomas Donovan wrote members in a
letter dated Monday.
"There may in certain extenuating circumstances for a customer," Ebbers
said. "We'll handle that on a case-by-case basis."
I can't believe this b-zo: a customer " has extenuating circumstances" after you screwed up his phones? ".Get a life Benny
Meanwhile, engineers from Lucent and its research and development arm, Bell
Labs, have not yet identified the problem's source, Lucent spokesman Bill
Price said.
again brian: this is bad. If you don't know what killed the patient, you are in for a cartload of trouble buddy
Ebbers estimated the old network software can support the system for a least another 18 months.
Really. You mean just like the new system did?
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