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MCI upgrade glitch disrupts ATM service
August 10, 1999
A glitch during a system upgrade by MCI WorldCom caused ATMs nationwide to experience problems dispensing money to customers on Monday, according to published reports. MCI, the number-two U.S. long-distance carrier, encountered disruption in its data transmission network while trying to upgrade software from Lucent Technologies. Large cities, such as Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles began feeling the effects of the glitch. Fallout from the network problems began to filter to ATM networks throughout the U.S. and in some areas outside of the states. Customers had difficulty retrieving money because the units were unable to communicate with each other and, therefore, unable to determine account balances, according to reports. This prevented customers who tried to withdraw cash from another bank's ATM from obtaining their money. Individuals who used their own bank's ATM apparently had no problems. The disruptions were reported to be sporadic, which made it difficult to gauge how many ATMs were actually affected. Linda Laughlin, an MCI spokeswoman, told reporters that technicians were still investigating the cause of the problem and were making efforts to identify all the service interruptions. She couldn't say when normal service would resume. Some stock market trading was restricted when network disruptions impacted electronic trading terminals around the world, which prompted Chicago Board of Trade President Thomas Donovan to admonish MCI. This came days after Donovan had already complained to MCI executives about the lack of quality service. Exchange terminals inside the Board of Trade's building continued to run through a local network. Trading on the Project A electronic platform was restored late in the day, according to reports. Project A allows customers to trade futures contracts linked to U.S. Treasuries, the Dow Jones Industrial average, grains, and other commodities.
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