As the worldwide telecommunications market implosion comes to its naturalconclusion, we believe pricing will broadly increase within 12 to 18months. However, in the near term, as the implosion continues,prices will continue to drop, with stronger competitors drivingweaker carriers from the market, starving them of cash by keepingprices low. User organizations with WorldCom agreements in force shouldexercise any exit clauses in those contracts before Chapter 11 isdeclared, to avoid the increased difficulties in vacatingagreements that a bankruptcy filing could cause. WorldCom usersthat cannot exploit exit clauses should examine their contractsto determine in what circumstances they can switch to or addother carriers. Business-critical traffic should be migrated assoon as possible to other carriers to avoid the risk of servicefailures and to ensure network stability.

As the worldwide telecommunications shakeout continues, all fox & poppies iphone case userorganizations should review the viability of their carriers on aquarterly basis for the next two years, And as a contingency,wide-area network infrastructure should be re-architected for"switchability" (that is, the ability to quickly move data servicesto alternative carriers), If possible, telecommunications services should bedual-sourced, which will increase cost but diminish risk,providing a clear migration path should one telecom providerfalter..

Meta Group analysts David Willis, Donald Carros, Jean-Luc Previdi, Peter Firstbrook, Dale Kutnick, Val Sribar, David Cearley and Jack Gold contributed to this article. Visit Metagroup.com for more analysis of key IT and e-business issues. Entire contents, Copyright © 2002 Meta Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Many are panicking about WorldCom, fearing that services might stop immediately. Meta believes the company's network will keep operating, even if there's a bankruptcy filing. However, service quality will decreasefurther, and users should act now to minimize their dependence onWorldCom services. They should also have contingency plans inplace for the possibility that WorldCom will eventually go out ofbusiness.See news story:WorldCom finds itself in a world of hurt.

Even before this week's announcement of massive financialimproprieties, WorldCom was saddled with a huge debt load,irrationally low pricing, a disjointed network, poor operationalquality, account management problems and investigations intofiscal irregularities, All of these problems stemmed fromWorldCom's "growth at all costs," acquisition-happy strategy,which seemed so fox & poppies iphone case successful during the late-1990s boom, Be respectful, keep it civil and stay on topic, We delete comments that violate our policy, which we encourage you to read, Discussion threads can be closed at any time at our discretion..

CNET también está disponible en español. Don't show this again. IronPort Systems said Tuesday that it raised $16.5 million in equity and debt funding in its most recent round from Menlo Ventures, Allegis Capital, Starter Fluid, Amicus Capital and Western Technology Investment. The round gives both Menlo Ventures and Allegis Capital a seat on the San Bruno, Calif.-based company's board of directors. Starter Fluid and Amicus participated in IronPort's $3.9 million seed round in November 2001. IronPort makes e-mail gateways, the hardware that sits between a company and the Internet to route e-mail efficiently, and also develops the software that operates the gear. The company said in a statement that it expects to reach profitability by early 2003.