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AT&T Completes Y2K Testing with the Y2K Financial Networks Readiness Consortium

BASKING RIDGE, N.J., July 8 /PRNewswire/ -- AT&T (NYSE: T - news) and the Y2K Financial Networks Readiness Consortium (FNRC) today announced they have successfully completed Year 2000 readiness testing.

The FNRC represents a cross-section of AT&T domestic and international business customers that have business related to the financial community. These companies joined together in 1998 to share key information between members as it pertains to Year 2000 and to leverage Y2K compliance with major telecommunications service providers and industry groups. The FNRC includes American Express, Bank of America, First Data Corporation, JP Morgan, MasterCard International, MBNA America, Total System Services, Visa International, and Wells Fargo & Company.

The FNRC members participated in vigorous interoperability testing of AT&T Frame Relay Service, Software Defined Network, MegaCom 800, Transfer Connect, Readyline, ISDN, and Service Assurance. International testing included network frame relay service interoperability testing with Singapore Telecom. In each interoperability area, the AT&T services and applications tested were representative of those deployed by many of the FNRC members.

The testing revealed no Year 2000 anomalies. Detailed results of the AT&T and FNRC testing can be found on the AT&T web site at http://www.att.com/year2000 and the FNRC web site at http://www.FNRC.org .

AT&T and the FNRC's Year 2000 testing culminates a five-month effort to plan, build the test environment, execute, and document the tests. Testing was conducted at 10 laboratories in: Arizona, California, Delaware, Illinois, Nebraska, New Jersey, Ohio, Texas, and Singapore.

AT&T's tests with the FNRC demonstrated that FNRC members could successfully validate credit card transactions, initiate and receive data transactions, and maintain customer service center communications in a robust test environment. In addition, key elements of the participant's Year 2000 contingency plans using AT&T services were successfully executed.

``AT&T customers expect their voice calls to go through the first time and their data to transmit flawlessly,'' said John Pasqua, vice president, AT&T Y2K program office. ``The FNRC tests provide additional confidence that AT&T business will flow as usual, regardless of the date.''

By the end of this year, AT&T will have invested $650 million in preparation for Year 2000. As a part of its aggressive program, AT&T has checked more than 3,000 applications and more than 380 million lines of computer code.

This year, AT&T is conducting Year 2000 interoperability tests with selected local exchange companies, other long distance carriers, telephone companies in other countries, and certain customer segments such as government agencies and electrical power utilities. The FNRC testing effort was part of this campaign.

AT&T is the world's premier provider of voice and data communications, with more than 80 million customers, including businesses, government and consumers. AT&T runs the world's largest, most sophisticated communications network and the largest wireless network in North America. The company is a leading supplier of data and Internet services for businesses and the nation's largest direct Internet service provider to consumers. AT&T also provides local telephone service to a growing number of businesses.

SOURCE: AT&T; Financial Networks Readiness Consortium

-- Sista In 'Da Hood (Sista@Da.Hood), July 09, 1999

Answers

Are they affiliated with "The Church of Inner Wisdom?"

-- KoFE (your@town.USA), July 09, 1999.

Sista,

Thanks for the post. As an AT&T customer I am glad to see the good news. I guess we will know for sure after the "real" test.

-- Kristi (securx@succeed.net), July 09, 1999.

O.Kay, so we've got ten supposedly "y2k-ready" banks, whatever "ready" may mean (ready to face y2k problems? ready to crash?)

And I say "supposedly" because this self-proclaimed status (FRB/SEC/FFIEC/FDIC where are you?) arises from the following facts:

(1) This 'sui generis' testing only involved "representative" services and applications not carried out in real-life scenarios but rather in ten US labs.

(2) If this sort of testing has been so "successfull", why have these institutions included contingency plannning?

(3) Does the "additional confidence" they've gained mean anything worthwhile to Joe Q. Public?

(4) What about the other banks of the international banking system (200,000 strong). Does anybody on this forum ignore how the international banking system works and how that affects YOUR deposits in US banks? What about SWIFT and the FRB itself?

(5) AT&T openly admits that it still requires a lot more testing.

CONCLUSIONS:

(A) Labs are not real life. (B) 199.990 banks still not "Tested" (C) "Ready" is not "Compliant" (D) SWIFT not tested, the Fed itself not tested. (E) The International Settlements Bank (Basle), the bank of the central banks of this world, and BankBoston Corp. have unequivocally stated that serious THREATS and UNCERTAINTIES await the international banking system come Jan. 2000 whatever "readiness" may be achieved. (F) What about bank runs?

-- George (jvilches@sminter.com.ar), July 09, 1999.

Sista,

Can you PREDICT when ATT will perform end to end LIVE testing with all its vendors and other telecommunication companies? Please tell us will ya.

-- y2k dave (xsdaa111@hotmail.com), July 09, 1999.

It begins to look like everyone will begin to report y2k ready. As mentioned that does not mean compliant. And the spin goes on...

-- Mike Lang (webflier@erols.com), July 09, 1999.

For those of you who aren't quite media savvy, this was not an "article" but a press release, as are any documents provided by PR Newswire...

Regards,
Scott

-- Scott Johnson (scojo@yahoo.com), July 09, 1999.

AT&T and the FNRC's Year 2000 testing culminates a five-month effort to plan, build the test environment, execute, and document the tests.

5 months to do all that? Whoah.

At least the TEST environment TESTING seems pretty thorough.

A job well done to AT&T, I hope all goes well when they actually test the real equipment and not a TEST ENVIRONMENT.

Regards, Simon Richards

-- Simon Richards (simon@wair.com.au), July 09, 1999.

AT&T and Chevron came out in Feb and said they would NOT be ready for the year 2000. Gawd...wake up!

-- -- (Tic@toc.boom), July 09, 1999.

Why is it that all this week when Ive tryed to make a long distance call from work 7 out of 10 times all I get is a recording? Thats with ATT thru Gist line. is it Y2K or just lousey service? Smokey@the.woods

-- Smokey (Smokey@the.woods), July 09, 1999.