AT&T outage disrupts phones and air travel

Article Abstract:

AT&T suggests that the failure of its New York City telecommunication switching system on Tuesday, Jul 17, 1991, may result from a power surge occurring during a return to the Consolidate Edison Corp electrical system from AT&T's own generators. The equipment failure spread until it affected more than 200 high capacity telephone and data communication lines. Air traffic control, financial transactions and regular telephone service were all inhibited or shut down. The sophisticated automatic routing and disaster recovery systems AT&T uses could not compensate for the problem. Banks that are members of the Federal Reserve system experienced considerable delays in fund transfers. Airline traffic in the Northeast and to Europe slowed or stopped, as the lines air traffic control centers use to communicate with each other failed. The US Federal Communications Commission expresses concern about this second major failure of service in 1991. It is scheduling special industry meetings in Geneva, Switzerland in Oct 1991.

Design and construction, Power supplies (Computers), Long-Distance Telephone Service, Power Supply

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Blame, explanation for AT&T's power failure remain on hold; utility blames technicians but lawmakers demand probe of latest outage

Article Abstract:

A US House committee, the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the New York Public Service Commission investigate AT&T's Sep 17, 1991 network shutdown, which disrupted such communications services as regional air traffic control in and around New York City. The network crashed after AT&T switched from Consolidated Edison Corp's power grid to its own power supply. AT&T employs its own power when Con Ed experiences power problems, as specified in an agreement with the local utility. Technicians who might have responded to alarms reportedly were attending a class about power alarms. AT&T has had similar problems before, in spite of previous promises to provide users with a reliable network. AT&T's competitor, MCI Communications Corp, took out a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal Sep 19, 1991 listing a number to call 'the next time AT&T's system goes down.'

Steam and air-conditioning supply, Regulation, admin. of utilities, Electric and other services combined, Analysis, United States. Federal Communications Commission, Investigations, Reliability (Trustworthiness), MCIC, System failures (Engineering), Consolidated Edison Inc., Government Agency, Reliability, Power Systems, Telecommunications Service, Investigation

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Software glitch at AT&T cuts off phone service for millions

Article Abstract:

American Telephone & Telegraph Co.'s long-distance phone network was shut down at around 2:30 P.M. EST, on Mon, Jan 15, 1990, because of a software problem in the company's common-channel Signaling System 7. Service to tens of millions of customers nationwide was disrupted. Sources at AT&T say that one of the company's signal nodes malfunctioned, telling AT&T's switches that the node could not take calls; the consequence was an electronic chain reaction. Asked if sabotage could have caused the outage, an AT&T spokesman would not rule the possibility out. Long-distance calling and toll-free 800 lines were affected, but private lines were not. The shutdown will probably harm AT&T's efforts to sell customers on the quality of the company's services, but things could have been worse: as it happened, many businesses were closed in honor of Martin Luther King's birthday.

Prepackaged software, Communications Equipment, Product defects and recalls, Network Management Software, Out-of-band signaling, Signaling System 7 (Computer network protocol)

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