WorldCom sorts out its Internet
assets
By Denise Pappalardo
Network World Fusion, 3/6/98
Looking to get all of its Internet service ducks in a row,
WorldCom, Inc. last week revealed a plan to reorganize its
four Internet subsidiaries into two business groups.
Reorganizing the subsidiaries is the first of two steps being
taken by WorldCom to integrate its recently acquired
CompuServe Network Services and ANS
Communications businesses with its existing UUNET
Technologies and GridNet International subsidiaries.
WorldCom's next step will be to integrate its subsidiaries'
physical networks.
The reorganization's goal is to gather similar services
under one management team, according to John
Sidgmore, UUNET's CEO and WorldCom's chief
operating officer. WorldCom may have three or four
different versions of certain offerings under the plan, but
the company has no immediate plans to eliminate redundant services.
One new business unit will include basic Internet services, while the other will
include value-added net services. The basic Internet services group will be led by
Mark Spagnolo, UUNET's president and COO.
"This group will concentrate on UUNET's traditional services coupled with
telephony services," Sidgmore said. Wholesale services, dedicated Internet access as
well as IP fax and voice services will be included in the basic Internet services group.
The value-added services group will be run by CompuServe Network Services
President Peter Van Camp.
"Value-added Internet services, like remote dial access, extranets, intranets, Web
hosting and anything that requires customer network integration, will be handled by
this group," Sidgmore said.
Most of CompuServe and GridNet's services will fall into the value-added division,
while UUNET and ANS Communications' service offerings will be divided between
the two groups, he said.
WorldCom doesn't expect to start integrating its Internet subsidiaries' disparate
physical networks until year-end. Challenges include finding net equipment that can
scale up far enough to support massive traffic growth as well as blending four
networks based on different net gear.
"We have concerns about the basic Internet routers and switches scaling to [support]
the 100% [network capacity] growth we've been seeing each year," Sidgmore said.
He's hopeful WorldCom will get the hardware it needs by working closely with
Cisco Systems, Inc. and investing in high-profile start-up Juniper Networks, Inc.
The other big network integration challenge involves melding a hodgepodge of
different network equipment. ANS Communications, CompuServe and GridNet are
all running 45M bit/sec backbone networks, but each net is based on equipment
from a different vendor - Bay Networks, Inc., Cisco and Cascade Communications
Corp., respectively.
UUNET, on the other hand, is operating a much faster 622M bit/sec network based
on Cascade and Cisco gear. This network will most likely form the core of
WorldCom's Internet backbone. |
