At 05:35 PM 11/10/97 -0500, you wrote:

===== Wayne Bouchard previously wrote: ====

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Pessimist Nathan? I seems to me that it would be out of character for Worldcom to integrate MCI. They didn't with MFS, ANS or UUNet. Different market targets?

Maybe. Well Chrysler has Dodge Caravan, Plymouth Voyage and yet Chrysler Town and Country... :-)

Jun

Given WorldCom's past integration history with the UUNet, along with their earlier offshoots like Gridnet; I would tend to agree that they will keep these companies functionaly disparate at least for the near future. It would consume far too much time, and far too many resources to attempt to merge these different networks. Plus, as noted by other posts, to what end would merging serve? Simple issues such as IGP scaling, different legacy platforms, and other existing operations would provide too much resistance to a seamless, immediate merger. I don't think WorldCom will risk fixing something that ain't broke. I would look for each company to compete in their own way, and work to fill a market niche just like the Mopar example above. If and when UUNet, ANS, and InternetMCI becomes UUMCIANet, it yet may not be a bad thing, as this may open the door for more competitive 'regional' backbone providers to crop back up to fill the void that WorldCom and its children will vacate as they move up the food chain. Who knows....we'll see I suppose. Al