MCI WorldCom Puts Spin On Its Online Tech Support
Investor's Business Daily -- 10/19/98
Author: Michael Tarsala
MCI WorldCom Inc. wants to help more of its customers help
themselves, so the carrier is expanding an online tech support
program to include its data network users.
This time, though, the company is taking a different tack.
After rolling out a similar program for business phone customers in March, MCI WorldCom has decided to offer the service to corporations that use its private networks for transmitting data. In doing so, the company is adapting internal computer programs so they can be run over the Web. MCI WorldCom used to rewrite them using the Java programming language.
Once the project is complete, MCI WorldCom customers will be able to order and price data services online, Fletcher says. Customers can see how their existing network is configured. Perhaps most important, they can see the nature of network problems as they occur.
''We're now providing customers a way to manage their network without having to purchase a network management system'' said Bruce Fletcher, an MCI WorldCom engineer overseeing the program.
Data network service is one of MCI's fastest- growing businesses. It makes up 19% of the company's total U.S. revenue.
Sales from domestic data networks increased 41% in the company's most recent quarter ended June 30 to $381.5 million, from $270.5 million in the year-ago period. By comparison, domestic phone revenue, which represents half the company's total sales, increased 23% in the June quarter.
Moving applications to the Web was undertaken by MCI 18 months ago, before its merger with WorldCom. The overall movement is intended to boost MCI WorldCom sales and cut costs.
MCI WorldCom hopes online tech support for data networks will save even more. Similar projects completed recently - including its changeover of phone customers earlier this year to online aid - meant using Java, heralded as a universal programming language.
But MCI WorldCom discovered Java projects can be slow, says Rob Enderle, analyst with Cambridge, Mass.-based Giga Information Group.
''When they started, they thought they could do a lot more without rewriting applications,'' Enderle said. ''But their experience is like many others. You have to rewrite. The user experience isn't on par with expectations otherwise.''
MCI WorldCom wanted the service for its business customers right away. So they used software from The Santa Cruz Operation Inc. that can run its older internal applications over the Web.
Called Tarantella, the software acts as a translator, says Doug Michaels, chief executive of Santa Cruz, Calif.-based SCO. Tarantella intercepts the original application, then explains its instructions so it can run through a Web browser.
Tarantella works with security software from other firms, Michaels says. There's no need to download software each time customers want to use it. The software stays on a corporate server. And that server can be from any company - not just those running SCO's server operating system. MCI WorldCom chose Sun's Solaris operating system.
Translation software in general is known for slowing down networks. But MCI WorldCom's Fletcher says Tarantella runs applications without sacrificing too much speed.
''It's not the same as if you were running it on your PC,'' Fletcher said. ''It's a little slower. But that's kind of accepted.''
Among Tarantella's advantages is its fast setup time, Fletcher says. It took an afternoon to get the programs up and running. The translation software shortened a job that could have taken months of rewriting with Java.
MCI WorldCom looked at several types of software that would let older applications run as software plug-ins in a Web browser. But those technologies required too much customer training, Fletcher says.
''The customer first has to know to go get the plug-in,'' Fletcher said. ''They have to download it, then reboot their machine. Once they do have it and use it for a month or so, there could be revisions of the software.''
There are a handful of technologies similar to Tarantella that allow internal company programs to run on the Web, says Amy Wohl, an analyst with Narberth, Pa.-based Wohl Associates Inc. One of the better-known alternatives, WinFrame, comes from Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Citrix Systems Inc.
But there can be still another problem with most translator software, says Giga's Enderle. There's increased security risk, compared with rewriting applications in Java.
Both MCI WorldCom and SCO claim this system isn't prone to hackers, though.
MCI WorldCom reports it saved money with Tarantella. It would have cost $60 million in software development to rewrite all the necessary applications in Java. The Tarantella project cost less than $10 million, Fletcher says, including servers, software and networking equipment.
Initially, the company plans to use Tarantella to serve up applications to about 200 MCI WorldCom customers. Fletcher anticipates that could grow to as many as 1,000 customers over the next few years.
Regardless of how many customers use the software, Tarantella will be a part of MCI's network for years, Fletcher expects. Even when programs eventually are rewritten in Java or another programming language, Tarantella likely will be used to offer a familiar look on the Web to customers.
''I don't want to go back and teach them (anything else),'' Fletcher said. |
