WorldCom details its ISP plans
By Denise Pappalardo
Network World, 5/6/98
nwfusion.com
Las Vegas - WorldCom, Inc. used its time at
NetWorld + Interop to lay out its plans for
integrating its four separate Internet service
provider companies.
WorldCom is dividing its four ISPs - UUNET
Technologies Inc., CompuServe Network
Services (CNS), ANS Communications,
GridNet International - into two organizations,
as John Sidgmore, chief operating officer at
WorldCom and CEO at UUNET revealed to
Network World earlier this year (NW, March
16, page 31).
The first group, deemed UUNET WorldCom is
handling basic IP infrastructure services from all
four companies such as Internet access and IP
fax and telephony offerings. Mark Spagnolo,
from the UUNET side of the house, is president
of this group.
The second group, deemed WorldCom
Advanced Networks, is handling value-added
services from all four companies such as
managed virtual private networks, managed
security and Web and application hosting
services. Peter Van Camp, from the CNS side
of the house, is president of this group.
In dividing the groups, Spagnola, Van Camp and
company, also looked at overlapping services.
"Overall we had 10 different VPN products,"
Spagnolo said. The VPN services, under the
WorldCom Advanced Networks group, will be
divided into two categories, dial-up and
dedicated.
The dial-up VPN umbrella will cover services
such as ANS' Sure Remote and UUNET's
ExtraLink Remote. The dedicated VPN
umbrella will cover services such as ANS'
Virtual Private Data Network (VPDN),
UUNET's ExtraLink and CNS' frame relay
based VPDN service.
And integration is planned on the network side
as well. By the end of the year, WorldCom
expects to have UUNET and ANS' IP
backbones completely integrated. Some of that
work has already begun by adding more
dedicated connections between UUNET and
ANS network hubs, Spagnola said.
WorldCom also plans on migrating most of
CNS' ATM network onto WorldCom's ATM
backbone by the end of the year. Today, AT&T
and MCI provide the majority of CNS's
backbone circuits, Van Camp said.
WorldCom plans on keeping its dial-up
networks separate for now, primarily because
ANS' network is predominately used by AOL,
Spagnola said.
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