DOD begins FTS 2001 switch

The Defense Department last month made the government's first significant transition to FTS 2001 when it moved 8,500 users in the Washington, D.C., area off AT&T's FTS 2000 network. MCI WorldCom will handle all of DOD's FTS 2001 voice traffic, and Sprint will carry the department's FTS 2001 frame-relay data service.

John Johnson, the department's FTS 2001 transition manager, said last week's FTS 2001 cutover was the first of 24 such actions that will move all DOD FTS 2000 users in the nation's capital off the old network by the end of August. The Pentagon is scheduled for transition the evening of July 9.

"[The] switchover was a success; users didn't even know it happened," Johnson said. "We cut over in the evening, so it is fairly transparent to users."

Johnson said the 8,500 users now on FTS 2001 represent about 11 percent of the DOD employees in the Washington area who eventually will be moved onto the FTS 2001 network. He added that the department has begun cutting over users in other parts of the country and will cover 18 percent of all users by the end of this month.