Subject: E-bone collapse

From: "Bill Cunningham" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 11 Jul 2002 22:40:07 -0400

Dear Loyd Wood,
    That E-bone collapse you spoke of a few days ago, at Worldcom. Vinton
Cerf said there was a backup in place there at KPN. I'm not quite sure what
KPN is but I guess it's Worldcom Europe.

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From: vint cerf <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 12 Jul 2002 00:46:08 -0400

no KPN is the dutch company that held a joint venture with QWEST and this JV owned EBONE.
Users were transitioned to a network owned by KPN if my information is correct.

vint

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From: Dominic Pinto <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 12 Jul 2002 08:07:56 +0100

> KPN is but I guess it's Worldcom Europe.

No - KPN is not Worldcom. 

There's plenty of excess capacity - both lit and unlit fiber - in
Europe, North America, and Asia. 

KPN is the incumbent telco in the Netherlands, and part owner of the JV
KPN/Quest, who operated ebone.

From Telephony:

WORLDCOM COMPETITORS READY TO INHERIT GLOBAL DATA MARKET

Tim McElligott

Telephony, Jul 8, 2002 

WorldCom CEO John Sidgmore's assertion last week that the U.S. has a
vested interest in keeping the company afloat because it handles so much
Internet traffic sounded to some analysts like a veiled threat to a
country undeniably hooked on the Web. However, neither the U.S. nor
WorldCom has a monopoly on the Internet, and plenty of carriers across
the pond are capable of handling all that traffic.

Carriers such as BT Ignite, Cable & Wireless, Equant and Telia, some of
which have already seen an increase in business from the collapse of
KPNQwest, are positioned across Europe to take advantage of the
situation.

“What is happening to WorldCom is not good news for business in general,
and confidence for investors has become a big issue,” said Daniel
Caclin, chief operating officer at Equant.

<snip>

The double hit has forced business customers to start asking new
questions. “Customers are now asking us if the fiber on [long-haul
routes] is really ours, if it is our right of way. They never asked that
before,” said Thomas Zedendahl, business information director at Telia.

Because most foreign carriers use some of WorldCom's facilities to
connect with the U.S., the company's rumored bankruptcy has sent them
scrambling for diversity to ease the concerns of their customers.

Carriers also are beginning to rethink their own strategies. “For years
the U.S. has been held up as the best way to run a competitive
capitalist economy,” Hewett said. “I think there are some aspects of
that that are being questioned by Europeans now.”
-----------------------------------

Other operators are scaling back - Fibernet for example, who had
recently completed roll out of network (leased and owned) in France and
Germany. 

Interoute is promoting heavily that they are safe, backed by the Sandoz
Foundation.

-- 
Dominic Pinto
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Senior Associate Telesphere Limited	| Somerton Road, 
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From: Dominic Pinto <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 12 Jul 2002 08:12:11 +0100

JANET doesn't seem to have any problems:
http://www.ukerna.ac.uk/awareness/teleglobe.html

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From: Lloyd Wood <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 12 Jul 2002 13:38:41 +0100 (BST)

> http://www.ukerna.ac.uk/awareness/teleglobe.html

Transitioning from the doomed Teleglobe and KPNQwest to the doomed
Worldcom has to be something of a masterstroke.

L.

<http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/Personal/L.Wood/><[email-masked]>

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From: Dominic Pinto <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 12 Jul 2002 16:31:55 +0100

> Worldcom has to be something of a masterstroke.
Yes - but they do say that they've installed a back-up transit service
through MFN. .......

Should Worldcom go into administration (almost a certainty, unless the
banks' confidence can be regained, which seems remote, at least in the
time available - 2-3 weeks), I'd expect (assuming he doesn't exit
quickly) that John Sidgemore would try and secure UUnet, and dispose of
everything else that can be sold. 

It's not clear but I doubt that the residential customer base, or the
long distance business, call centres, MCI brand would be kept - but are
there buyers? It's low margin, no growth, but generates a lot of cash
(or is that a mirage?).

Others want the network assets only.

Worldcom International - not sure, but is that mainly UUnet outside the
U.S? I believe that Worldcom was integrating UUnet into 'mainstream'
operations in the UK, based now at their spiffy business park west of
London, in Reading

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From: Rob Evans <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 14 Jul 2002 01:45:48 +0100

> Worldcom has to be something of a masterstroke.

This is decidedly off-topic for this list, but the current Worldcom
transit is both backed up by another provider and only temporary whilst
a full procurement is done.

Functioning crystal balls are always welcome.

Regards,
Rob

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From: vint cerf <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 14 Jul 2002 06:04:51 -0400

even if WorldCom enters chapter 11, I am confident that UUNET and the MAE Systems will continue to operate
normally.

vint