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To: Tunica Albuginea who wrote (12704)	8/13/1999 6:32:00 PM
From: Tunica Albuginea	Respond to of 18016

Hagar, don't leave yet,<vbg>:Dow Jones:MCI WorldCom Data System Crisis Continues ( notice how DLJ ( an investor in MCI? gg ) tries to downplay the problem; but will the customers buy it? ) TA ------------------------------------------------ interactive.wsj.com August 13, 1999 Dow Jones Newswires MCI WorldCom Data System Crisis Continues By SHAWN YOUNG NEW YORK -- A network crisis that began at MCI WorldCom Inc. (WCOM) more than a week ago continues to stymie critical high-speed transmissions among some business computers. The Chicago Board of Trade said Friday its electronic trading system, which first failed last Thursday, will be out of commission until Sunday evening because of problems with MCI WorldCom's frame-relay system. Frame relay is a data-transmission technology that handles a host of business functions, including many airline reservations, cash-machine transactions, electronic trading and Internet transmissions. The system is recovering, but service was set back again Thursday when some customers whose service had been restored were knocked back out, said MCI WorldCom spokeswoman Linda Laughlin. Thursday's difficulties followed maintenance work that revealed instabilities, she said. The company won't say what percentage of the system remains in trouble, and Laughlin said the Clinton, Miss., carrier can't yet say when service will be back to normal. MCI WorldCom is the nation's second-largest long-distance company and a major provider of data services to business. The service problem has affected an estimated 3,500 customers, which have been plagued with sporadic outages and slow service. The meltdowns were triggered by an upgrade to Lucent Technologies Inc. (LU) software that somehow flooded the system with extraneous messages that clogged it. 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 The problems have affected a variety of companies and institutions, including airlines, banks and public libraries either directly or through their suppliers. The severity and duration of the difficulties has varied. America Online Inc. (AOL) said some of its 18 million customers have experienced "minor performance issues," mostly waits for Web sites to load. The Internet company said it uses various networks so the problems haven't been widespread. Other companies that reported at least minor effects include Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMY) and Continental Airlines Inc. (CALA). The hard-hit Chicago Board of Trade has had to contend with a power failure in Chicago as well as with problems with its Project A electronic trading system. The commodities exchange will switch to a backup system if MCI WorldCom's problem isn't solved by Sunday evening, its officials said Friday. Telecommunications companies are sticklers for reliability, but outages occur despite efforts to make networks failure-proof. "This stuff happens," said Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette Securities Inc. analyst Richard Klugman. "It's certainly not a disaster." "Time will tell if this is a blemish on their reputation," he said. Cautioning that he was guessing, Klugman said the outage will probably cost MCI WorldCom no more than $10 million to $20 million. A software upgrade triggered a frame-relay outage for AT&T Corp. (T) last year. The company didn't reveal the cost of the incident, in which it swore off charging customers until it had fixed the problem, determined the cause and identified preventive measures. AT&T's meltdown was more extensive than the one plaguing MCI WorldCom, but it was over in about a day. AT&T won high praise for its proactive and very public handling of the situation. MCI WorldCom is taking a more low-profile approach and has been working with customers on a case-by-case basis about refunds and credits for lost service. It has been working around the clock with customers to restore service, Laughlin said. "They certainly haven't been as proactive as AT&T was," Klugman said. "It's just a different style." - By Shawn Young; 201-938-5248 shawn.young@dowjones.com - Peter Loftus, Melanie Trottman and Nancy Fonti contributed to this story

To: Tunica Albuginea who wrote (12704)	8/13/1999 6:43:00 PM
From: Tunica Albuginea	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 18016

Hagar, $100 Million in damage in Chicago, Crisis of confidence in Chicago . Was the black out in Chicago related to poor MCI/WCOM telco function? Lost computer data? Stay tuned, :-)) TA ------------------------------------------- interactive.wsj.com August 13, 1999 Dow Jones Newswires Chicago Power Outage Ends, But $100M Question Remains By ANN KEETON CHICAGO -- Power was fully restored to Chicago Friday morning, but the 17-hour outage that shuttered downtown businesses most of Thursday resulted in losses that could reach $100 million and caused a crisis of confidence around the city. Led by a fuming Mayor Richard Daley, who has threatened to sue Unicom Corp. (UCM) unit Commonwealth Edison, business and community leaders are demanding to know why the city's electric power provider hasn't been able to keep the lights on in Chicago this summer. For the past two weeks, the city has experienced a number of power outages, including a serious blackout during the July heat wave. Both transformers and transmission cables have been blamed for the problems. Pat Clark, associate director of the Citizens' Utility Board, said the Chicago watchdog group, will file a complaint with the Illinois Commerce Commission and request that an independent organization review of ComEd's management and business practices. "In Chicago, we've gotten used to power outages every year," she said. "The Cubs lose, and the power goes off. This doesn't happen in other cities, and it shouldn't be happening here." Paul Colgan, spokesman for the Building Owners and Managers Association of Chicago, a group of office building owners, assessed the $100 million loss to businesses based on the area's $1 billion annual economic output. Colgan said that ballpark figure could change in the final accounting. Overall, ComEd said in a press release, the outage affected 2,300 customers. Company officials weren't immediately available for comment. Trading resumed normally at the Chicago Board Options Exchange and the Chicago Board of Trade Friday morning. Thursday, the CBOT closed down its trading pits, evacuating the building at 2 p.m. EDT. It was one of 670 businesses in downtown Chicago that was asked to reduce power consumption. CBOE, located next door to the CBOT, shut down for less than an hour early Thursday afternoon, then resumed trading. In an unrelated glitch, the CBOT was unable to get its Project A electronic system for trading financial futures up and running Friday. Troubles with MCI WorldCom Inc.'s (WCOM) network will keep Project A offline until Sunday evening, the exchange said. Commonwealth Edison Senior Vice President Paul McCoy Thursday said that the power grid debacle "is as baffling to us as it is to the businesses and the customers that are out." Richard Ciccarone, co-director of Municipal Investments at Van Kampen Funds, said the repeated equipment failures at ComEd raise questions about the health of infrastructure at utility companies across the country. "This is really a bellwether event because the emphasis in the financial market in the last 10 years has been on bottom-line growth," he said. "I think this will cause analysts to reassess the importance of information on plants and equipment when they're evaluating the strength of a company." - Ann Keeton; 312-750-4120