MCI unit pursues LNP bonanza: Dual-module package give carriers number porting capabilities

MCI Systemhouse announced its foray into local number portability solutions last week, joining a crowd of vendors chasing what looks to be a highly lucrative opportunity as carriers work to meet federal LNP deadlines.

The MCI division's Telecom Management Services unit said that its LNPS package, which includes service order administration and interface broadcast agent modules, is generally available now.

The number portability package is designed to fit into the complex operations environments of long-standing carriers, where the two modules will be integrated with existing order entry, customer care, billing and network management functions. Together, the modules give carriers access to regional number portability administration centers, allowing them to carry out comprehensive number porting between themselves and their competitors.

"Number portability is a reality today, and LNP solutions can't be made to operate in a vacuum. They must work with what is already there," said Peter Toohey, director of business support systems at MCI Systemhouse's TMS unit.

Equally important, however, are the needs of many new competitive carriers lacking the operational expertise needed to administer LNP. MCI Systemhouse took this into consideration, designing LNPS to be available as a service bureau solution that it can manage for its carrier customers. "This is the quickest way for many of these carriers to begin porting numbers," said Toohey.

Though post-telecom act Federal Communications Commission mandates do not require portability in the top 100 metropolitan statistical areas until the end of 1998, MCI Systemhouse is entering the market in full swing.

Other vendors in the sector include Tekelec, DSC, Evolving Systems, Tandem and Stratus. Many carriers have already tested one or more LNP solutions.

John Jacquay, vice president of MCI Systemhouse's TMS unit, acknowledged the competition but said his company's advantage lies in its combination of expertise in systems integration and network operation-the latter from its carrier parent. He claims that other companies' solutions seem to come strictly from one of these worlds but do not bring the value of both.

Also enhancing the company's chances of winning critical LNP contracts is a partnership with Northern Telecom, under which the companies will integrate the LNPS offering with Nortel's ServiceBuilder service control point (SCP) architecture.

This partnership will be key to the acceptance of MCI Systemhouse's package by the wide range of existing and new carriers that have deployed Nortel's SCPs and other network equipment, said Jacquay.

LNP access solutions must ride on an SCP to work.

"This will present a comprehensive LNP package to carriers," said Annette Gieseman, assistant vice president for intelligent networks at Nortel Broadband Networks.

The integrated solution is already being tested by MCI Metro, MCI's competitive local exchange carrier unit, as part of the Illinois Commerce Commission's LNP trial. It also has been shopped to several other carriers, said Toohey.