March 8, 1999

Analysis: AT&T's recently announced goal to stop buying traditional telephone switches for core of its network by end of 1999 is seminal moment for communications industry, even for everyone who uses a phone; AT&T is retooling its network around new generation of technologies inspired partly by Internet; Sprint and MCI Worldcom are doing likewise, but AT&T wields proportionately larger influence in market and with technology suppliers; for consumers, evolution to younger, more efficient technologies could lead to lower prices; it might also lead to new sorts of features and services, as new technologies expand from core of network to homes and businesses (M)

Makers and sellers of consumer electronics products hope 1999 will be industry's best year ever; they say array of new and enhanced products are stimulating sales; sales of consumer electronics have grown at average of 3 to 5 percent a year since 1991; Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Assn expects sales to reach almost $80 billion this year, increase of more than 6 percent; in discretionary-spending terms, Americans spend more on consumer electronics than on furniture, jewelry, household appliances or sporting goods; rise in sales is attributed in part to stay-at-home habits of Americans; question is whether Americans will agree to pay high prices for new products, or wait until prices come down; photo; chart (M)

Peter Marks reviews play Band in Berlin, written by Susan Feldman and directed by Patricia Birch and Feldman, at Helen Hayes Theater; photo (M)

New York City Police Department, after a decade of record expansion, remains among least racially diverse of forces in nation's 10 largest cities, with lack of black and Hispanic representation most pronounced in higher ranks; department does not come close to reflecting diversity of city it serves; whites are 67.4 percent of force but only 43.4 percent of population; disparity is even worse among brass; of 449 captains, 94 percent, all but 26, are white; among 237 inspectors and chiefs, only 9 are black and 10 Hispanic; experts say that despite its liberal political history and rich civil rights tradition, New York has never had sustained political will or aggressive legal action that forced other cities to change racial makeup of their departments; graph (M)

China Denies Nuclear Spying The Foreign Ministry said accusations that its spies had stolen nuclear weapons designs from the United States were ''unfounded.'' Page A6. Salvadoran Declares Victory Francisco Flores said he won the presidency and hailed his party's founder, often cited as an organizer of civil-war death squads. Page A8. A Basketball Frenzy Begins Connecticut's men and women received No. 1 seedings as the fields were named for the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournaments. SportsMonday, page D1.