AT&T Pinpoints Cause Of Network Outage
Excerpt: "AT&T said its frame relay service has grown more
than 100 percent in the first quarter."
[Looks good for ASND frame relay sales]
(04/20/98; 6:18 p.m. ET)
By Kate Gerwig, InternetWeek
techweb.com
AT&T Chairman and CEO Michael Armstrong today
told financial analysts that the company had pinpointed
a software problem as the cause of the 24-hour
outage of its InterSpan frame relay network that
started last Monday at 3 p.m. Eastern time.
The bad news of the massive outage came along with
the good news that AT&T's frame relay service has
grown more than 100 percent in the first quarter of the
year.
AT&T is monitoring its network closely, Armstrong
said, so the software problem cannot affect the
network again. He added the company is working
with Cisco Systems on a complete fix to the software
problem. AT&T uses Cisco's StrataCom BPX 8600
switches in its 145-node frame relay network.
Industry analysts speculated last week that only a
software problem could have caused a complete
network shutdown. The problem started in
communications between two StrataCom switches in
Cambridge, Mass., and Albany, N.Y.
AT&T is completing the systems and testing to
conclude the diagnostic phase, and will communicate
with its customers tomorrow, Armstrong said. AT&T
is working with Cisco on a fix for the problem and
hopes to know "in a matter of days, an estimate on
completion."
Armstrong did not say when AT&T would discuss the
cause publicly. An industry analyst conference,
scheduled for this afternoon to discuss the outage
situation, was rescheduled this morning, and will take
place in the next few days, sources said.
Armstrong last week said AT&T's estimated 6,600
frame relay customers would not be charged for
service until the problem was fixed and AT&T could
be reasonably sure it would not happen again.
Armstrong said he personally called several customers
Friday to discuss the outage. "Almost all of them
understood the situation and were appreciative of
AT&T's responsiveness, and concluded that an even
closer working relationship would be beneficial," he
said.
Several customers told InternetWeek that they had not
heard from AT&T about the cause of the problem by
late Friday.
AT&T said its frame relay service has grown more
than 100 percent in the first quarter. |
