[W8MWA] FW: ARLB029 FCC Now Says ULS, Other Systems, Will Not Return Until September 10

[Bob West]

Cheers,
...Bob West WA8YCD
Think outside of the box? Dude! I've been outside so long I have forgotten what was actually IN the box in the first place!


> Subject: ARLB029 FCC Now Says ULS, Other Systems, Will Not Return Until September 10
> From: memberlist at www.arrl.org
> To: wa8ycd at hotmail.com
> Date: Tue, 8 Sep 2015 12:29:28 -0400
> 
> SB QST @ ARL $ARLB029
> ARLB029 FCC Now Says ULS, Other Systems, Will Not Return Until
> September 10
> 
> ZCZC AG29
> QST de W1AW  
> ARRL Bulletin 29  ARLB029
> From ARRL Headquarters  
> Newington CT  September 8, 2015
> To all radio amateurs 
> 
> SB QST ARL ARLB029
> ARLB029 FCC Now Says ULS, Other Systems, Will Not Return Until
> September 10
> 
> The FCC has announced that its Universal Licensing System (ULS) and
> some other website applications remain offline for maintenance, but
> the Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS) is now back in service
> and the Electronic Document Management System (EDOCS) should be
> available in a short time. The remaining computer system upgrades
> scheduled to have been completed by today, September 8, now are not
> expected to be done until September 10, the FCC said in a Public
> Notice. As the ULS outage continues, it will not be possible to file
> any Amateur Radio applications, including examination session
> documents, or conduct any license or application searches.
> 
> "Over Labor Day weekend, a dedicated FCC team worked day and night
> to complete major IT upgrades," the FCC's Chief Information Officer
> David A. Bray, said in a statement. "This work included physically
> moving more than 200 different legacy servers out of FCC's
> headquarters to a commercial service provider." This move - a
> cost-saving measure, Bray explained - ran into trouble when it was
> determined that additional cabling was needed to complete the
> transition. "Unfortunately, this delayed completion of all of the
> system upgrades - even with the FCC team working around the clock
> throughout the holiday weekend," Bray explained.
> 
> While the requirement to pay a regulatory fee for Amateur Radio
> vanity call sign applications officially ended on September 3,
> prospective vanity applicants now will have to wait until the ULS is
> up and running again to file an application for an available call
> sign. The FCC has told ARRL that the approximately 18-day vanity
> call sign waiting period will remain in place "for now."
> 
> ARRL VEC Manager Maria Somma, AB1FM, said a lot of candidates and
> volunteer examiners have begun asking why new call signs or license
> upgrades have not yet been issued.
> 
> "We have a huge back log in our filing system that continues to
> grow!" she said. "We already have approximately 75 examination
> sessions and over 500 applications waiting to be released to FCC."
> 
> Bray said it took seven moving vans to contain the servers being
> relocated. "With a massive server move of this scale - even with
> detailed planning, independent verification, and backup plans - the
> opportunity always exists for surprises, especially with legacy IT
> systems, nearly 400 program applications, and hundreds of servers,"
> he pointed out.
> 
> The project will relocate the FCC's "legacy" computer systems to a
> commercial service provider, helping to reduce maintenance costs,
> improve "resiliency," and allow the FCC to shift many of its legacy
> applications to the cloud, as it has done with its Consumer Help
> Desk.
> 
> The FCC said in its Public Notice that it anticipates all systems
> and databases to be back online by 1200 UTC on September 10. By that
> time, it said, the Commission's website "will have returned to
> normal operations, with full content and search capabilities
> available." FCC voicemail and e-mail also should be back by then
> too.
> 
> "We will continue to work diligently and provide updates on these IT
> upgrades," Bray said. "The entire FCC team and I truly appreciate
> your patience and understanding as we work to complete all of the
> upgrades."
> NNNN
> /EX
 		 	   		  
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