[10624] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
"Fed **deal** may speed MCI's ATM rollout"
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Gordon Cook)
Wed Mar 2 07:13:16 1994
From: cook@path.net (Gordon Cook)
Date: Tue, 1 Mar 1994 17:55:48 GMT
To: com-priv@psi.com
I have only today seen Ellen Messmer's Feb 21 Network World article titled
very appropriately "Fed deal may speed MCI's ATM rollout" because gremlins
caused my copy never to reach me."
We see here a really unusual series of events:
1. Sources tell me that CoREN is in danger of foundering because MCI is
unable to sign contract with coren members for 45 megabit t-3 service.
2. According to Network World on Feb 21 MCI had not yet even announced an ATM
service. Only one of the major IXCs that had not I believe.
3. On Feb 11 NSF indicates its intention to give MCI $50 million over 5 years
to operate an ATM network connecting the supercomputer centers. So why then
did MCI get the award? When I questioned this in a different context, all
Steve Wolff could say in a memo to his boss released to me under FOIA today
was that the "merit review panel" found MCI "technically competent." Not
exceptioanlly competent, or outstanding, or by far the best of the three.
Rather just "competent."
4. Network world article says MCI "can also run other customers traffic over
the network, as long as it does not interfere." And a few sentences later
Steve Wolff is quoted as saying: "there will be no prohibition of commercial
traffic on the VBNS. . . . MCI will get valuable experience selling this type
of service to their clientele."
Now this is quite ironic in view of the solicitation's insistence that a very
strict AUP will apply to the VBNS. Strict for everybody else, but MCI is
given $50 million of taxpayer money to start is own commercial high speed
service. Strange.....
5. Now the network world article says that low and behold Coren "hopes to
finalize an agreement with MCI in the next few weeks that will allow the eight
regionals . . . to set up interregional links among themselves."
Gosh. MCI gets a 50 million dollar check from NSF to start an ATM service and
now all of a sudden it is willing to talk seriously about receiving more money
for an ATM service to interconnect the most critical of the NSF's educational
clients. Indeed Henry Shaffer is quoted as saying the CoREN contract with MCI
could be worth 200 million over the next 5 years not only for internet
services but for VPNs, 800 numbers, and voice lines. Looks like MCI is
leveraging its 1987 position into establishing what could become a CAP service
for the academic community as well.
Pays to have one's foot in the door first, since Schaffer also said "CoREN
members doubted that fierce competitors like AT&T, Sprint Corp and MCI can
work together to interconnect their data nets and resolve trouble shooting
questions." The implication was that since MCI was involved in running the
current backbone and is the provider at the transport level for some regionals
such as Suranet (one of the very largest) it would be safer for CoREN to stick
with MCI.
I think that the NSF has tried to give the impression that it is building a
new and level playing field. Yet by handing the pork to MCI, and funding MCI
a second time via CoREN it delivers possible the lions share of R&E traffic to
the supposedly neutral NAP interconnect points to one carrier. Again Network
World writes referring to Schaffer: "by using MCI services, CoREN members
will probably have less need for the Network Access points being funded by
NSF." "If the regionals have CoREN the NAPs take on less importance," he
added. Of course this is true because, since the vBNS connects to every NAP,
by going with the vBNS winner, regionals certainly appear to get NAP
connectivity by default.
There is also an excellent chance that PSI and UUnet will not interconnect at
the NSF sponsored NAPs. If so it could have interesting implications for
network connectivity.
Gee maybe it say's something about the value MCI places on ATM when it seems
to need $50 million plus in gov't handouts to get started, while it has yet
another cool $1.3 billon to by a 20% share in Nextel.
Fed **DEAL** may speed MCI ATM rollout ....... indeed.
I wonder what the legal departments at Sprint and AT&T are up to?
