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January 24, 2000

MCI WorldCom Preps Full-Service E-Commerce Plan
Carrier will combine consulting, hosting, and software, but details are missing

By Bob Wallace

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InternetWeek MCI Adds To E-Commerce Portfolio

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CI WorldCom this week will detail plans to become a full-service E-commerce provider, offering consulting, hosting, and applications packages to businesses.

The carrier says it's building an organization of in-house E-commerce consultants, already numbering 120, to help customers develop E-business strategies. It will package its consulting and hosting services with application expertise from vendor partners in sales, marketing, supply-chain management, and customer-relationship management. MCI WorldCom will be the single point of contact for the multivendor effort. "We see huge growth in business-to-business E-commerce and believe we can provide real value to users by taking costs out of their supply chains," says chief technology officer Fred Briggs.

But MCI WorldCom still must identify vendor partners, detail the services, address pricing and packaging options, and explain how its offerings will be different from competitors.

"MCI's concept is fine, but we'll take a wait-and-see approach until we get more specifics," says Virgil Palmer, director of global telecommunications and networking services at Air Products & Chemicals Inc., a chemical and gas provider in Allentown, Pa. "Although there are established E-commerce companies with more credibility and a track record, that doesn't mean MCI and a team of vendors with the right mix of expertise couldn't be a viable alternative. It's just going to take time."

But whether carriers can coordinate such packages remains to be seen. "Telecom companies have great strengths in areas like infrastructure, but project management is not one of them," says Andrew Bartels, senior

E-commerce research analyst at Giga Information Group. "The notion that they can be a prime contractor for large companies' E-commerce projects is probably an aspiration they'll find difficult to execute."

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