Before the FCC opened up band width to the public resulting in the cellular boom, the top long distance providers were AT&T, MCI and Sprint, with AT&T owning over 90% of the market share. MCI was ranked second with about 5%, then Sprint with 2% followed by all the others sharing the remaining 3%.

MCI (Microwave Communications Incorporated) is a multiple project client, the first being at the Richardson, Texas campus as part of a Circuit Management System design to track fiber optics circuits through digital equipment as opposed to the deprecated means of copper wire with analog devices. This project used CASE (Computer Aided System Engineering) tools ADW on IBM networked workstations running IBMs OS/2 “Warp” operating systems, IBMs answer to Windows.

By the end of the summer, MCI was staffing their National Lead Systems center in Colorado Springs and I was given a stellar recommendation to transfer there. Being that I was in the throes of a terrible divorce, it was a perfect solution for me especially with my uncle Mike living in a suburb of Denver, within commute distance to the work site.