MCI WorldCom Works To Finish Data Network Repairs

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MCI WorldCom Works To Finish Data Network Repairs

Updated 11:57 AM ET August 15, 1999

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - MCI WorldCom sought Sunday to complete repairs to a high speed data network that has experienced problems for 10 days, idling the Chicago Board of Trade's electronic trading system and disrupting service to thousands of businesses.

The long distance phone company said it took a frame relay network platform out of service Saturday for 24 hours in an effort to restore stability to the system. Work on the platform, which disrupted service for some Internet customers, was due to be completed Sunday.

MCI WorldCom's network problem began 10 days ago due to a glitch in software provided by Lucent Technologies Inc.

The outages affected about 15 percent of MCI WorldCom's network and 30 percent of its customers who rely on high-speed frame relay networks to exchange large amounts of computer information in short and frequent bursts.

MCI WorldCom was believed to have some 12,000 customers that rely on high-speed frame relay networks, including the CBOT, Internet service providers, banks and other businesses.

The CBOT, the largest U.S. derivatives exchange, said Friday its electronic trading system, Project A, would remain shut until Sunday night when the exchange moves to its backup system indefinitely.

"Market users worldwide depend on Project A around the clock and MCI WorldCom has let them down for one full week. As a result of MCI WorldCom's failure to deliver on their promises to me early last week, the CBOT is pursuing all available remedies," CBOT President Tom Donovan said in a statement.

Another customer, a major U.S. retailer, said MCI WorldCom's network service began to come back during the middle of last week only to grind to a halt again Friday morning.

"Things started to get better, but there was some failure overnight and now we are in worse shape than ever," said one MCI WorldCom customer who declined to be named.

The customer said the network problems prevented him from communicating with distributors, other company locations and his clients.

"I've never seen a network outage last a week. If they had been more clear in the beginning about the extent of the problem or their ability to handle it, we could have made other contingency plans. But now we're just going with day-by-day information and that's not helping," the customer said.

The Clinton, Miss.-based MCI WorldCom's outage followed a similar problem at AT&T Corp. last year. AT&T and other companies such as Qwest Communications International Inc. said last week they gained customers as some disgruntled MCI WorldCom clients searched for new service providers.

=========================================== End

Ray

-- Ray (ray@tottacc.com), August 15, 1999

Answers

I was going to switch back to MCIW to take advantage of a pretty good offer to get me back. I'll wait until they've ironed out this little glitch. They might make the deal even sweeter then ;-)

-- Chris (%$^&^@pond.com), August 15, 1999.

Maybe Maria (the MCIWorldCom frame relay network specialist)could answer your questions. Ooops! Forgot she was busy explaining Russian submarine nuclear warheads...silly me.

-- Cult. memeber (Offal@BrooM.cultist)), August 15, 1999.

Oh, no -- it's not that Maria is only explaining the situation -- it's much more important than that. She said, "I am a missile strategist and have studied missile basing for some time."

So, you see, along with being a fulltime MCI y2k repairperson, she also has to keep track of all those missiles out there, the strategies behind their use, and how they are based. That's a whole other fulltime job!

Between her important missile work, and her important MCI work, and all those riots she's had to endure in Philadelphia, she probably doesn't have much time to comment on the inconsistencies in what she says.

That doesn't make her a liar or anything. Does it?

-- Anita Evangelista (ale@townsqr.com), August 15, 1999.


Yea, but on the bright side, MCI is now offering 5 cents 24 by 7 for the low price of $4.95/month.

-- y2k dave (xsdaa111@hotmail.com), August 15, 1999.

Y2k Dave,

That sounds like a good price, but it reminds me of an old story. Seems that a little old lady was shopping for pork chops in downtown Philadelphia. She went into some butcher shops to check prices. The second store she entered had a price of $2.90 a pound. She told the butcher that a shop down the street had them for $2.00 a pound. The butcher said, why don't you buy them there then? She said, because they are out right now. The butcher said, Oh well, when we are out we sell them for $1.90 per pound. :-) So, keep that in mind with MCI.

-- Gordon (gpconnolly@aol.com), August 15, 1999.



Anita, I thought Maria's full-time job was to post here and on the "Debunk" forum. You mean she has all those other side jobs too? How does she find time for them?

-- Chris (%$^&^@pond.com), August 15, 1999.

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