"A Lucent spokeswoman said the software in question has been deployed successfully on other networks and suggested that the problem was caused by the installation process rather than the software itself."
Brian ---
When was that statement given? If you look at the outage chronologically, you'll notice there was confusion at the start and that by today it's clear MCI/WCOM is blaming Lucent entirely.
August 11:
computerworld.com
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 didn't know whether the purpose of the upgrade was related to MCI WorldCom's migration plans.
August 11 (WSJ)
interactive.wsj.com
Lucent spokesman John Callahan said the company has identified the problem with its software and has a team working with MCI WorldCom around the clock.
August 13:
computerworld.com
Lucent spokesman John Callahan confirmed that a bug plagued the software MCI WorldCom purchased from Lucent. But reports surfacing from users had analysts speculating that the problem may have multiple causes.
August 13 (WSJ)
interactive.wsj.com
MCI WorldCom and Lucent said they do not yet have details on what caused the problem. The companies have been working around the clock to solve it, said Lucent spokeswoman Lucia Graziano
August 16
computerworld.com
Acknowledging that MCI WorldCom has not one, but several, frame-relay networks, Ebbers said that over the weekend MCI WorldCom went back to an older software load on the affected Lucent frame-relay switches. He added that there's "not a significant financial benefit" to integrating the networks.
That's something that the new, flawed software was apparently meant to help. The software was designed to scale up the Lucent switches to accept new customers. MCI WorldCom has been planning to center a global frame-relay network around Lucent fast-packet switches, previously known as Ascend Communications equipment.
Ebbers and MCI WorldCom network-services President Ron Beaumont didn't detail the exact makeup of the customer set affected by the congestion problems that began Thursday evening, Aug. 5. Beyond saying that the problem originated in Lucent switches, the pair gave contradictory answers as to which customers' services are based on the Lucent platform -- at one point saying the problem affected only international customers, at another point saying it affected international and domestic connections equally.
Network World previously reported that the problem appeared to affect legacy WorldCom customers rather than those on the original MCI network based on Nortel Networks' BayStream switches, known within MCI as the HyperStream network. Affected users also included customers with other carriers using network-to-network interconnections with WorldCom, plus customers of many Internet service providers that use frame-relay links to MCI WorldCom's backbone provider UUnet Technologies Inc.
Ebbers also laid the blame for the problem -- which resulted in excess network congestion, followed by the loss of some frame-relay network addresses -- squarely at Lucent's feet. "Lucent has accepted the responsibility" for the problem, Ebbers said. "Because we do not write software for this kind of switch . . . it is not within our power" to repair the software, he added.
August 16 (WSJ)
interactive.wsj.com;
The new software, intended to add capacity and service features, has been removed, and no upgrade will be attempted until the source of the problem is pinpointed, said Bernard J. Ebbers, MCI WorldCom's president and chief executive.
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