telecom@bu-cs.BU.EDU (TELECOM Moderator) (12/09/88)
AT&T and U.S. Sprint were picked Wednesday to replace the U.S. government's aging telephone system, winning a mammoth ten year contract worth between four billion and fifteen billion dollars, with the actual amount being detirmined by the extent the service is used by the government over the life of the contract. The contract -- and the new phone system -- are called FTS-2000. It is the largest non-military contract ever awarded by the federal government. FTS-2000 will be a combination voice, data and video transmission service available to all U.S. government offices worldwide. The federal government already has the largest private telephone network in the world. AT&T, and its partner the Boeing Company will receive sixty percent of the contract proceeds. U.S. Sprint, which bid alone, will receive forty percent of the action. The third bidder, a consortium which included Chicago-based Ameritech, Martin Marietta and MCI Communications were the losers. FTS-2000 will be phased in over three years, with the first users to go online in the final quarter of 1989. All federal agencies will be online by 1991. During the interim between phase in and completion, FTS-2000 will be compatible with the existing, but obsolete and antiquated network. The winning bidders were selected by the General Services Administration, and were required to include in their package provisions for high-speed data transfer, video transmission, electronic mail, teleconferencing and integrated services digital network (ISDN) capabilities. The GSA took over three years to study the bids before making a final decision early this week. Watching the new federal telephone system -- if such an 'old fashioned' term can be used -- take shape should provide much discussion material in the Digest. As I receive more press releases and information about FTS-2000, I will of course post it here, and I hope readers will do the same. Patrick Townson