WorldCom to launch integrated local, long-haul frame service

Washington, D.C.

WorldCom, Inc. this week will put acquisitions and mergers on the back burner and get back to the business of rolling out telecommunications services.

The carrier will use ComNet '98 to launch two frame relay services, one that integrates local and long-distance services and another for SNA traffic.

WorldCom's new Metro Frame Relay offering will provide customers with end-to-end frame relay service consisting of local and long-distance lines. The carrier will offer the service by coupling its nationwide frame relay network with the 37 metropolitan fiberoptic networks WorldCom acquired with its purchase of MFS Communications Co. just over one year ago. And WorldCom's local presence will nearly double by week's end if the carrier's acquisition of local carrier Brooks Fiber Properties, Inc. gets shareholder approval.

In areas where WorldCom does not have its own local network, the carrier will use leased lines from incumbent local exchange carriers (ILEC) to link Metro Frame Relay customers directly to WorldCom frame relay switches, said Bob Anderson, product manager for the service at WorldCom.

Typically, long-haul carriers use Network-to-Network Interfaces (NNI) to connect to LEC frame relay networks. The drawback with NNIs is that they do not allow long-distance carriers to peer into a LEC's frame relay network to view performance and other statistics, Anderson said.

Dealing with a single provider for frame relay service appeals to customers such as Stan Miller, manager of telecommunications at Pier One Imports, Inc., a Fort Worth, Texas-based retailer that currently uses AT&T's frame relay services.

"If we could use a single carrier for local and long-line frame relay service that was reliable and would save the company money, sure we'd be interested," said Miller, whose company supports about 50 frame relay local access ports.

While carriers such as US WEST Communications Group and Intermedia Communications, Inc. provide combined local and long-distance frame relay services, neither company can match WorldCom's geographic scope, said Tom Jenkins, broadband consultant at TeleChoice, Inc., a Verona, N.J., consulting firm. But if AT&T's acquisition of Teleport Communications Group is completed, Jenkins said real competition to WorldCom's frame relay offering will not be far behind.

Metro Frame Relay will be available beginning next week. Pricing information is not yet available.

Expanding SNA

WorldCom's other new offering, SNA over Frame Relay, is being expanded from a custom service to a generally available one.

The service targets customers looking to migrate SNA traffic from expensive and slow point-to-point lines to less expensive and higher speed frame relay lines.

The service includes provisioning of a WorldCom frame relay permanent virtual circuit (56K bit/sec to 1.544M bit/sec) and installation of a Cisco Systems, Inc. router or a Racal-Datacom, Inc. frame relay access device. Enhanced and premium versions of the service include added management capabilities.

WorldCom's SNA service is overdue, said TeleChoice's Jenkins. AT&T, MCI Communications Corp. and Sprint Corp. already offer such services.

The WorldCom service is available now (see graphic).

WorldCom: (800) 539-2000