Telecommunications Problems
Keywords : Telecommunications, Network Elements, Element Management Systems, Operations Support Systems, Interfaces, Date Standards, Critical Dates, Protocols, Interoperability Testing, Compliance Testing, Automatic Call Distribution (ACD), Voice Messaging Systems, Interactive Voice Response Systems (IVR), PBX, Billing Systems, Switches, Routers, Management Systems, Exchange, Add-On Software,
Hekimian Laboratories List of Telecom Web Resources
University of Manitoba Telecom Index
Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions
GCK's Sites List - Telecomm & Computers Good List of Telecom Sites!
Fast Facts About Bellcore Bellcore: White Paper - Year 2000 Approaches - by Paul Minkin "Some network operators may believe that this issue only affects mainframe business and operations systems, and that real-time call processing networks will be unaffected. In fact, this is not the case. The Gartner Group recently surveyed a number of enterprise network equipment suppliers such as the makers of automatic call distributors, voice messaging systems, interactive voice response systems, and PBXs, and found that these systems are equally at risk. What about the real-time call processing systems found in public networks? Is there any exposure to year 2000 impacts in local digital switches, toll digital switches, digital cross connect systems, digital loop carrier systems, add-drop multiplexers, service switching points, signaling transfer points, service control points, intelligent peripherals, etc.? What have your suppliers done to analyze the impact of the year 2000 and develop corrective action where necessary? How will you ensure the interoperability of your equipment once these changes have been made? You are probably aware that date-related problems are not unheard of in digital switches...." Bellcore: Year 2000 Testing Bellcore Year 2000 Solutions: Network Services
Hekimian Laboratories Web Site "Welcome to Hekimian Laboratories, Inc.'s Web site. Hekimian is the industry's leading independent supplier of automated test systems for telecommunications networks and is committed to providing ongoing quality and innovation in telecommunications network maintenance solutions. " PIR1148: Hekimian Products and Year 2000 Compliance. Hekimian : Related Sites
GSA Telecommunications Subgroup Home Page
Gary North's Y2K Links and Forums - Telecommunications - Category: Telecommunications
Big Telcos Subsidize Smaller Rivals In Y2K Problem "Big Telcos Subsidize Smaller Rivals In Y2K Problem (12/11/97; 1:15 p.m. EST) By Andrew Craig, TechWeb. LONDON -- Major telecommunications carriers are paying a disproportionate amount of the bill for solving the year 2000 problem, effectively giving their smaller rivals a cost advantage, according to British Telecom's chief millennium bug buster. The major telecom carriers have solved many of their smaller rivals' year 2000 problems, by demanding that telecom equipment and software developers deliver year 2000-compliant systems, according to Milli Lewis, millennium coordinator at BT."
DMR TRECOM to see AT&T through the next millennium "Our goal is to be Year 2000 compliant by year-end 1998," said George Brucia, Year 2000 Program Vice President for AT&T. "Working with DMR TRECOM and other vendors will give us the quality, expertise and cost controls we need to reach compliance with minimal disruptions to existing AT&T software development efforts."
@ComputerWeekly - news - 16/10/97 Citicorp attacks telecoms firms for millennium mess US banking giant Citicorp has slammed telecommunications suppliers for holding up its drive to be year 2000-compliant by the end of 1998. In a withering critique at a US General Services Administration conference, Citicorp said suppliers had failed to give accurate information on whether their products would be year 2000 ready.
@ComputerWeekly - news - 23/10/97 US bank calls a year 2000 time-out David Bicknell reports on US bank Citicorp's bold statement urging IT suppliers to be more accountable for their products' millennium readiness. Many users may ultimately be grateful to US bank Citicorp for making public its worries about suppliers' year 2000 compliance plans. Speaking with remarkable frankness in a General Services Administration telecommunications conference in Washington earlier this month, Citicorp executives identified what was described as a laundry list of issues regarding compliance of products and services.
TechWeb Is Network Gear Y2K Vulnerable? You Bet --Devices built before 1996 pose greatest threat; integrator aims to help users quantify problem - Tim Wilson "If your shiny new wiring closets are starting to look like old wiring attics, the Year 2000 problem may just bring your network house down. Many network devices made before 1996-including bridges, routers, gateways, multiplexers, DNS and E-mail servers-are in serious danger of stumbling over the Year 2000 date glitch that is affecting mainframes and other legacy systems, experts last week said. In fact, one vendor-Bell Atlantic Network Integration (www.bani.com)-last week launched a Year 2000 assessment service specifically for networks. BANI, a subsidiary of Bell Atlantic, has compiled a database of more than 800 network devices that are vulnerable to performance problems or failures due to the Year 2000 bug."
ftp://ftp.isi.edu/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-2000-issue-01.txt "The Year 2000 Working Group(WG) has conducted an investigation into the millenium problem as it regards Internet related protocols. This investigation only targeted the protocols as documented in the Request For Comments Series (RFCs). This investigation discovered little reason for concern with regards to the functionality of the protocols. A few minor cases of older implementations still using two digit years (ala RFC 850) were discovered, but almost all Internet protocols were given a clean bill of health. Several cases of "period" problems were discussed where a time field would "roll over" as the size of field was reached. In particular, there are several protocols, which have 32 bit, signed integer representations of the number of seconds since January 1, 1970 which will turn negative at Tue Jan 19 03:14:07 GMT 2038. Areas whose protocols will be effected by such problems have been notified so that new revisions will remove this limitation."
BELL ATLANTIC NETWORK INTEGRATION INTRODUCES BREAKTHROUGH NETWORK ASSESSMENT PROGRAM FOR YEAR 2000 PROBLEM "BANI’s Network Assessment 2000 program offers companies a reliable, comprehensive solution to this serious problem. Using its expertise in network integration, BANI has compiled a database of nearly 1,000 networking products that are in danger of being affected by the millennium date change. BANI uses that data to determine the extent of a company’s problem and what products need to be upgraded or replaced to make the network entirely Year 2000 compliant." "Pricing of the Network 2000 Assessment Program is based on the number of network infrastucture devices in the network. The program includes a compliance assessment on every item in the network (based on either an internal network inventory or an optional BANI-performed inventory) and a detailed plan for bringing the entire network up to compliance without disrupting current service. For a network with up to 150 devices, the cost is $25,000. For a network of 151 to 500 devices, the cost is $35,000, and for a network with 501 to 1,000 devices the cost is $45,000. Larger networks are priced on an individual basis." Bell Atlantic Network Integration Solutions
http://www.ncs.gov/Tele...ws/Issue-3/article4.htm "Y2K problems could affect the public network's (PN) thousands of computers, switches, and associated information systems. At the March 18, 1997, National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee (NSTAC) executive session, Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin raised the Y2K issue as an important problem that should be tackled as quickly as possible. "The equipment manufacturers, software developers, service providers, and carriers have Y2K program offices working diligently to assess and correct potential Y2K problems," said Brush. "The Public Network is an enormous system to assess and to correct because of the rapidly growing number of competitors in the telecommunications industry. Close coordination must take place to ensure interoperability remains at the high level that it is today once we enter the Y2K." "
Year 2000 problem also threatens E-mail
FCW Daily Coverage from AFCEA's Virtual Government '98 conference in College Park, Md. " Treasury, Cabletron plan Y2K pilot, BY ELANA VARON (e.varon@erols.com), February 11, 1998 COLLEGE PARK, Md., -- Beginning next month, the Treasury Department and Cabletron Inc. plan a telecommunications management pilot that would identify bridges and routers that are not Year 2000-compliant, Treasury deputy assistant secretary for information systems James Flyzik announced at the Virtual Government '98 conference here. The 60-day test, expected to run on networks operated by the Financial Management Service, could eventually be expanded to other bureaus and the entire Treasury Communications System, which is the department's backbone telecommunications network. Scottie Banks, the Treasury telecommunications specialist who is heading the project, said the department wants to do the pilot at FMS because the agency uses Cabletron equipment; the software, called Spectrum, is designed to work with any vendor's hardware."
Feds worry telcos won't fix every bug "Feds worry telcos won't fix every bug Matt Hamblen. WASHINGTON - The federal government has a $3.8 billion year 2000 program under way but has no guarantee that the global voice and data networks it uses will be ready. Neither does any private company. Federal officials made some private-industry network managers at ComNet '98 uneasy recently when they confessed to a nagging uncertainty that the global telecommunications companies on which the federal government's wide-area networks depend won't come through on year 2000-compliance promises. Representatives of the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said that in general, the carriers they deal with work hard and have been honest about any problems. But there is no way to completely test WANs -- which might be linked by dozens of cooperating carriers -- and no way to directly check the telephone companies, said Mike Tercy, a consultant at Global Management Systems, Inc. in Bethesda, Md., who works in network management at the DOD. Anne Reed, chief information officer at the USDA in Washington, said her agency is doing its part -- checking network devices and sharing information to get ready. In a review of the USDA's 3,700 network routers, the agency found about 900 that weren't year 2000-compliant and 87% required software upgrades. The remainder will be replaced. And both Sprint Corp. in Kansas City, Mo., and AT&T Corp. in Basking Ridge, N.J., provide voice and data networks and services used by USDA, and both are "working hard" to get their networks ready, Reed said."
TechSearch - IBM, Bellcore Forge Y2K Alliance " March 26, 1997, TechInvestor, IBM , Bellcore Forge Y2K Alliance - David Braun, SOMERS, N.Y. IBM Global Services and Bellcore announced Wednesday they have formed a strategic alliance to offer Year 2000 services to telecommunications carriers. The companies said they would be able to combine expertise which telecommunications carriers require in data conversion and end-to-end telecommunications networks."
Yahoo! Full Coverage - Year 2000 Problem tele.com home page
Telstra Corporation: {Tele}Communications Information Sources
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