Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions -- ATIS -- Reports No Call Failures During Y2K International Gateway Testing.

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 15, 1999--

An exhaustive series of industry testing of key telecommunications gateways used to route international call traffic to and from the U.S. identified no Y2K- related failures, according to a report issued today by the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS).

The report was delivered to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) today in preparation for its next meeting with the Network Reliability and Interoperability Council (NRIC-IV), a telecommunications sector group that advises the FCC on efforts made to prepare telecommunications networks for Y2K.

U.S.-based carriers GTE, MCI Worldcom and Winstar Communications participated in the globally cooperative Y2K testing effort, which examined the interoperability and reliability of the internetwork connections between U.S. networks and those operated by non-U.S. carriers CANTV (based in Venezuela), Telecom Italia, and Telkom South Africa.

Participants also included the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), as well as the U.S. Government Emergency Telecommunications Service (GETS). GETS is the federal emergency network that is activated in times of natural disasters, such as earthquakes or flooding.

The international gateway testing consisted of test calls placed before, during, and after five significant Y2K-related date changes: December 31, 1999 to January 1, 2000; February 28, 2000 to February 29, 2000; February 29, 2000 to March 1, 2000; December 31, 2000 to January 1, 2001; and February 28, 2001 to March 1, 2001.

Each test call traversed, at a minimum, three carriers' networks, and system clocks within each network were staggered to simulate the occurrence of each date change across various time zones. Types of calls placed included International Direct Distance Dialing (IDDD) calls, International Switched Voice-Band Data (SVBD) calls, and those utilizing the GETS system.

In all test calls, no failures occurred as a result of the five Y2K date and time transitions of the test network system clocks. End-to-end voice and data communications were maintained and verified before, during, and after the midnight timeframe of the three time zones for each test.

The international gateway testing was conducted by the ATIS-sponsored Internetwork Interoperability Test Coordination (IITC) Committee, a U.S.-based industry forum comprised of telecommunications carriers and equipment manufacturers that carefully evaluate network interconnection and reliability.

The IITC Committee conducted two additional phases of Y2K internetwork testing earlier this year, which focused on the impact of Y2K on the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) as well as on frame relay networks used in the transmission of financial data.

"While we've known for sometime through earlier IITC Committee testing efforts and other industry studies that the internetworking between U.S.-based networks is `Y2K Sound,' the impact of key date rollovers on international calls has been less clear, until now," said ATIS President and CEO George Edwards. "The recent results of the IITC Committee's test activities demonstrate that, during critical Y2K rollover dates, calls reaching key international gateways can be successfully routed through U.S.-based carrier networks, and from there to different gateways around the world," Edwards said.

The Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) is a member company organization that defines standards and operating procedures for the telecommunications industry.

Nearly 3,000 experts from 300 telecommunications companies participate in ATIS committees, whose work focus includes network interconnection standards, number portability, improved data transmission, wireless communications, Internet telephony, toll-free access, and ordering and billing issues.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) frequently refers operations issues to ATIS committees for recommended solutions. Members of ATIS and committee participants include, but are not limited to, telecommunications service providers, manufacturers, software developers, resellers, enhanced service providers, and providers of operations support.

Information on ATIS is available on the World Wide Web at www.atis.org, or by contacting the ATIS headquarters at 202/628-6380, or by writing to: ATIS, 1200 G Street, N.W., Suite 500, Washington, DC 20005.