Holding court yesterday with reporters after a terrible week for his company, WorldCom CEO John Sidgmore made clear the company was too big to fail. Exhibit No. 1: its UUNet subsidiary, an Internet backbone provider that routes over half of the world's e-mail messages.
While admitting a WorldCom bankruptcy is a real possibility, Sidgmore vowed UUNet would remain steady.
"I honestly don't think that under any of the scenarios under discussion there'd be a blip in the level of the service," he said. "I don't see any chance of the UUNet network going dark, under any circumstances."
Founded in 1987, Fairfax, Va.-based UUNet holds the distinction of being the first commercial Internet service provider (ISP). Its Internet network currently spans more than 2,500 PoPs in North America, Europe and Asia, boasting over 1.6 million modem ports. As the largest backbone provider to ISPs of all sizes, including AOL and EarthLink, UUNet is key to the Internet's inner workings. However, with the telecom industry's long instability, ISPs have hedged their risks with multiple backbone providers, analysts said.
"It's fair to point out to that the big bandwidth providers have hedged their bets really well," said Seth Libby, an analyst with Yankee Group.
News source: Internet News
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