Merging WCOM & MCI NWs, part VI
But one advantage MCI WorldCom would have over another
provider trying to unite two huge data nets is that they both
already employ User-to-Network Interfaces and
Network-to-Network Interfaces for linking frame relay
networks.
Still, Malone said ''they have a tremendous technical challenge
ahead of them, and the only way to ease that process is to reduce
the number of platforms in the network.''
The carriers' ATM data networks also are based on different
vendors' products. MCI is using General DataComm, Inc.'s
(GDC) Apex and Newbridge Networks, Inc.'s MainStreet ATM
switches. WorldCom is using StrataCom's BPX domestically and
GDC Apex switches internationally.
Even though frame relay and ATM are standard-based data
network technologies, many of the switches that carriers have in
their networks are first-generation devices, Malone said. This
makes it difficult to support pricing, billing, ordering and
provisioning systems on all switches, he added.
In the end, MCI WorldCom raises the prospect of combining
high-capacity Internet access services with other data services
plus voice on a single contract and setting telecom giants against
one another.
''That's why the MCI/WorldCom merger is of interest,'' said
Ronald West, president of the Communications Managers
Association, a group of several hundred corporate users based
largely in the Northeast. ''It really is a different merger.'' |
