Credit union rumblings shake up US West service

Communications News, Jan, 1990 by John Jesitus

CREDIT UNION RUMBLINGS SHAKE UP US WEST SERVICE

In person, Janice Hansen of Alaska USA Federal Credit Union hardly seems the type to jump up and down on her desk yelling at local telco representatives. But that's just what the otherwise genteel telecomm director did to convince Seattle's USWest to supply specially priced leased lines for Alaska USA's disaster backup system.

"I put a lot of pressure on them," she says. "I was standing on my desk screaming." Perhaps not so ironically, Hansen's tantrums helped her win TCA's Great Communicator Award in 1989.

More importantly, her employer now has a way to back up crucial data operations in the event of a natural disaster.

With $100 billion in assets, the Anchorage-based credit union must support 42 critical terminal sites throughout the sprawling state of Alaska in the event of an earthquake or othe catastrophe. Seismologists routinely predict quakes measuring over 8 on the Richter scale for the southcentral part of the state, where Anchorage is located, says Hansen. A 1964 quake leveled downtown Anchorage.

In addition, since few members live within driving distance of a branch, a telephone service center in Oak Harbor, Washington, 90 miles northwest of Seattle, handles heavy customer traffic.

Service-center traffic may easily be switched to a Seattle node if Alaskan lines fail, but backing up the data system which supports all Alaskan branches is another matter.

"Most companies our size plan for processing backup, but not communications backup," says Stephen Punch, vice president of U.S. operations.

In the past, Hansen adds, smaller companies needing protection could look only to local telcos for "some terribly expensive packet-switching package." Third-party disaster recovery services also cost too much for small and medium companies, she says.

Hansen moreover insisted on regular full-scale testing of the network. "You don't want to leave the smallest stone unturned," she says.

Since outbound trunks are prone to "just die on you for some reason," the ability to dial out and test local loops was integral to AlaskaUSA's plan.

"It doesn't matter that your trunk's fine if you can't get out on a local loop," she says.

Hansen's initial queries fell on deaf ears, she says. USWest Sales Director Therese Hornus admits, "initially we were not as responsive as we would have liked to be."

Cold Shoulder

At first, USWest development teams wouldn't touch Hansen's proposal. "They told me the service I requested was not a tariffed offering," Hansen says. In addition, the product-development people she initially contacted lacked the authority to push such a project through and get it tariffed on their own.

Hansen's histrionics eventually caught the ear of USWest Digital Centrex Product Manager Carolyn Dion. Once USWest became aware of the proposal's profit potential, the telco moved with lightning speed. Hansen first contacted Dion in May 1989, and contract negotiations began August 1.

Dion, a product manager believes every problem has a solution if you know where to look for it. She and Hansen's account team used existing products to create a custom offering which gives the credit union near-immediate response without the cost of measured business lines.

USWest now provides AlaskaUSA with 42 separate dial-up lines at a reduced or "inactive" rate 30% cheaper than that of normal business lines. The credit union pays $900 a month for the lines.

USWest also tests the system twice a year for free, saving AlaskaUSA an additional $4200.

A DEC VAX 6300 in Seattle relieves the processing burden on Anchorage's VAX 8550. The 42 trunks, only one active under normal conditions, terminate in a Seattle office two miles from the Seattle computer. The intermediate location acts as a PBX between the Alaska sites and the Seattle VAX 6300; 42 Centrex lines with Codex modems on either end connect the two Seattle locations.

Secure Solution

If there's a disaster, one call does it all. AlaskaUSA must dial an 800 number to Grand Island, Nebraska, headquarters of USWest's Unistar service group. Unistar coordinators then instruct USWest personnel in Seattle to open a software choke, giving all 42 lines access to the outside world. The Seattle VAX then automatically dials the 42 modems in Alaska, an approach which greatly increases network security.

The credit union insisted its Seattle location dial out to the Alaska modems, rather than vice versa.

"I don't care what anybody says," Hansen explains, "passwords are not secure. Most tellers just pick some permutation of their name, or their boyfriend's name, or their aunt's name," access codes easily guessed by unauthorized operators.

Hansen believes her demands exposed a gap in USWest's highly touted disaster-recovery offerings. Called Reserve Centron service, the new dial-tone-based product is now available on a case-by-case basis from selected Washington area COs.

No slacker herself, Hansen also credits the persistence of her account team in helping set up the new service.