Genuity customers seek backups

Computerworld - With analysts predicting that corporate network services provider Genuity Inc. could file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as soon as today, the company's customers are joining the growing list of IT services users who are scrambling to find alternatives.


Several IT executives last week praised Woburn, Mass.-based Genuity for its reliability and innovation and said the company has reassured them that they won't experience service disruptions. But they all added that they want to be prepared for the worst.


"I'm hopeful Genuity will survive, but from our perspective, we have to plan for the possibility of a shutdown," said Bill Packer, CIO at Irwin Home Equity Corp. in San Ramon, Calif. Irwin pays Genuity "tens of thousands of dollars" each month for managed Web services on several of its customer-facing Web sites, he said.


But when Irwin heard last month that Verizon Communications was dropping plans to buy back majority ownership in Genuity and would no longer provide it with loans (see story), IT workers at the lending firm dusted off their disaster plan.


Packer said that if Genuity loses its ability to host Irwin's sites, the company will support its Web presence from its own data center as a stopgap strategy while it considers longer-term options. "It's more cost-effective to be with a service provider like Genuity, but you do what's required," he said.


Bentley College in Waltham, Mass., would lose all of its critical Internet capabilities if the T3 Internet connection Genuity provides to the technology-focused school is disrupted, said Traci Logan, vice president for IT at Bentley.


Genuity, which has provided Bentley's T3 link for three years, is bidding against other vendors to continue the service, Logan said. But the school is contemplating the addition of a wireless Internet access plan as a backup, she noted.


Logan said the experience with Genuity and the general business decline of telecommunications firms and Web hosting providers has made her think twice about the financial stability of IT service providers. "Two years ago, you would look at a provider's technology," she said. "Now you look at their financial viability."


Service Concerns

Terry Rochford, senior vice president of development at MathSoft Engineering and Education Inc. in Cambridge, Mass., said he has been communicating with Genuity since its financial problems arose and feels confident that the company will continue to operate, even if it enters Chapter 11.


"The concern is not that they will disappear overnight, but will they provide the same high level of service?" Rochford said. Genuity hosts five MathSoft Web sites and provides the software developer with a T1 connection, he said.