U.S. Network Reliability Issues and Major Outage Performance

In the past decade the United States telecommunications industry has been under much scrutiny as a result of a number of major network outages. These outages, which affected millions of customers, ranged from power and fire related problems to a software error affecting the common channel signaling network. The industry reacted promptly and positively. This paper discusses the actions of the FCC's Network Reliability Council (NRC), including the technical papers produced by this group and its newly re-chartered objectives, as well as the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) Network Reliability Steering Committee (NRSC) to address this challenge. The NRSC's findings are discussed in detail, including the results of its quarterly and annual reports, which identify trends, areas of concern, and recommended steps to prevent or mitigate outages in the future.