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AT&T vs MCI on Network Outages

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the let's-all-play-the-blame-game dept.

James Ensor writes " Cnn.com is running an interesting article comparing MCI Worldlnet's recent frame relay outage to an outage that AT&T had last year, comparing their method's of handling the situation. Good Reading. " It's fun to watch major corporations blunder about. Unless it's your connection that's down.

1 of 62 comments (clear)

  1. I knew I'd read about my employeer here some day. by AtariDatacenter · · Score: 3

    It finally happened. I knew one day I'd browse on over to Slashdot and find a naughty story about the company I work for. Well, I can't say they weren't asking for it.

    Yeah, the point about all the companies within MCI Worldcom rings true. Like the MCI local network, MCI long distance network, Worldcom long distnace network, and the Worldcom local network (which is actually the MFS local network and the Brooks fiber local network). Then you've got a layer on top of that, like UUNet. Not all that straightforward. They are working on these issues, though.

    Responsibility issues? They are there. You should see the hoops I have to go through just to get someone in the same building to investigate a problem within our own LAN. MCI highly emphasises "the procedure".

    But the story that Slashdot should be covering isn't the frame network outage. It is MCI's agreement to sell off their IT department to EDS. Most everyone assumed it has gone through. Guess what? They made the announcement 6+ months ago, and the deal (along with IT) is hanging in limbo.

    Will we work for EDS? MCI? Do we get our current stock options? Benefits? Policies? Management is saying absolutely nothing. Rumors are flying that the negotiations are going bad and neither side wants to walk away because of a hefty $$ penalty. Even an arbitrator hasn't helped. (That's right, an arbitrator just to reach an agreement. Heaven help both sides over the next five years.)

    The entire IT department of a major corporation that can't even say what conditions they will be working under next month. How smart is that?

    The main problem is that EDS is a very bad fit for a company like MCI Worldcom. EDS is great for an organization that is low-growth, low-innovation, and reliability situations aren't critical. Say, a local government. But a phone company? Oh boy.

    I can't say I know an employee that is enthusiastic about the merger. The only management that claims to love the idea is from the VP level and up.