$25-Billion State-of-Art Network : Federal Phone System to Debut Next Month
After five years on the drawing board and some time in the woodshed, the General Services Administration’s $25-billion dream to give federal workers the most technologically advanced communications system in the world is about to become a reality.
Transition to the new system, known as FTS 2000, short for Federal Telecommunications System 2000, is to begin Oct. 6. Providing there are no delays, 90 agencies within the federal government are scheduled to be using the new FTS system by mid-1990.
The first cutover to the new system represents a milestone for the GSA, which has seen the project through despite numerous delays due to scandals, political infighting and battles with Congress over how the mammoth contract should be structured.
Now comes the tough part: getting agencies accustomed to using it.
For many agencies, FTS 2000 represents a “radically different way of doing business,” said Michael Corrigan, deputy commissioner for telecommunications services at GSA. “It will require the government to rethink its approach to communications.”
That is because, under the new FTS 2000 communications scheme, there is so much more to consider.
Under the existing FTS system, for example, agencies had few decisions to make because the network only had one offering: direct-dial phone service.
Customized Applications
The old FTS network, installed in 1963 by American Telephone & Telegraph Co. when it was part of the monopoly Bell System, was designed well before some of the newer communications technologies and services were even thought of. It had the capability to transmit data but only at very low speeds.
FTS 2000, by comparison, is a state-of-the-art system that offers a full plate of new and emerging technologies in the voice, data and video arenas for agencies to select. Depending on the agency’s needs, customized applications can be developed.
“It’s kind of like driving around in an old propeller plane when all these sleek new jets are available,” offered Philip Freedenberg, executive vice president of Federal Engineering Inc., a telecommunications consulting firm in Fairfax, Va.
As the Concorde jet of networks, FTS 2000 services include:
- Conference calling, which allows up to 48 government employees in different locations to “meet” on the telephone for discussions.
- Electronic mail, which allows users to send, receive and file messages from any data terminal, personal computer or word processor.
- Video transmissions for general meetings, training sessions or educational seminars. Transmissions require at least two stations--one for sending and another for receiving.
- High-speed facsimile services that can transmit letter-quality documents to different locations simultaneously in a fraction of the time it takes to send regular faxes.
That is in addition to a range of data services that will make it easier, faster and more economical to transmit the enormous amounts of data that the government generates daily, according to the GSA.
Agencies can sign up for protocol conversion, a service that allows computer systems based on different computer languages to “talk” to each other.
Another offering, packet switching, allows agencies to send data quickly and efficiently to computers in different locations. Under packet switching, data is broken down into components, or packets, for transmission, then reassembled at the receiving end.
To ensure that FTS 2000 doesn’t become outmoded, the network will be upgraded and expanded periodically by the two vendors responsible for it, AT&T; and US Sprint, as new technologies become available.
“Now the government will always have the most advanced, most forward-looking technology that’s available,” said David Gergacz, chief operating officer of network systems-FTS 2000 for US Sprint.
AT&T; and Sprint won the coveted FTS 2000 contract in a 60-40 split last year in competitive bidding. The 10-year contract, worth an estimated $25 billion, is the largest communications contract ever awarded by the federal government.
Gary Forsee, AT&T;’s deputy program manager, described the FTS 2000 concept as a “stroke of genius” by the GSA because it ensures that the federal government will be a leader, not a follower, in the industry for at least the next decade.
