OVERLAND PARK, KS – August 26, 2013 — Sprint (NYSE: S) has expanded its Ethernet Solutions portfolio to meet the high-speed and heavy bandwidth transport needs of business customers with Sprint Ethernet Wave Service. While offering simplicity through familiar Ethernet technology, the new service offers secure, always-on wireless and wireline connectivity with maximum data security and privacy.
Developed as part of Sprint’s innovative Network Vision initiative, Sprint Ethernet Wave Service delivers lightning-fast speeds and high-capacity bandwidth for the most challenging of business applications over a state-of-the-art, next-generation optical network.
Businesses can depend on Sprint Ethernet Wave Service to deliver the flexibility, scalability and reliability their robust business applications need, including support for storage area networks, data center connectivity, and existing and emerging hosted and cloud services, as well as transmitting heavy-bandwidth data files like financial data and medical images. It also is well-suited to meet such common operational needs as business continuity, record archiving, and database sharing and replication.
“While Carrier Ethernet is becoming a ubiquitous service provided locally and globally, Sprint’s Ethernet Wave Service offers businesses the flexibility, higher speeds and scalability needed for emerging applications,” said Mike Sapien, principal analyst with Ovum Research. “It is just as important that these services are backed by service level agreements that will deliver end-to-end performance requirements with the high-speed, high-bandwidth transport service. Sprint already has a strong market reputation in service management from our survey data, and the addition of new Ethernet transport options and additional coverage will complement their solutions portfolio.”
Mike Fitz, vice president of wireline for Sprint, added, “We’re deploying new network technologies designed to meet the speed and capacity demands of today’s business-critical applications and to allow businesses to simplify network operations through familiar Ethernet technology. Leveraging the investment in state-of-the-art converged packet-optical transport technology as part of our Network Vision, we are enhancing our industry-recognized wireline network to carry a suite of powerful, higher speed bandwidth Ethernet services. Our customized approach to solving business challenges and proven success in offering managed network solutions makes us uniquely positioned to successfully support high-performance Ethernet services.”
Sprint Ethernet Wave Service is now available in 88 U.S. markets and expansion will continue through 2014. As a fixed, point-to-point 100 percent dedicated high-speed connection, it offers 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GigE), 40GigE and 100GigE speeds. The secure, always-on connectivity with 24×7 network monitoring helps to ensure the service is available when needed and is performing optimally. Flat-rate pricing makes planning and cost control easier.
Sprint and Ciena team to enable Ethernet and network speed milestones
As a part of its Network Vision initiative, Sprint is using a Ciena 6500-based architecture to address customer service requirements, including delivery of 10GigE, 40GigE and 100GigE for the Sprint Ethernet Wave Service. Sprint is leveraging Ciena’s WaveLogic 3 coherent optical processors to scale its existing infrastructure to speeds of 100 Gigabit-per-second (Gbps) today, with the ability to scale to 400Gbps links in future, as demonstrated in a recent field trial. With this technology, Sprint has deployed one of the longest 100 Gbps circuits in the U.S. with a live transmission that required no signal regeneration over a distance of 2,100 km (1,304 miles). The longer distance between regeneration points provides reduced latency and hardware benefits, and improves reliability, flexibility and performance for customers. This milestone also paved the way for Sprint to deploy the 100Gbps technology across its wireline network where the demand dictates.
”By selecting Ciena’s reliable and proven converged packet optical solutions, Sprint has ensured that its customers can subscribe to the high-performance Ethernet services that today’s bandwidth intensive business applications require. Our portfolio is designed to help quickly scale networks to meet increasing demand and help deliver unique service offerings like Sprint’s Ethernet Wave Service,” added Chad Whalen, vice president, North American Field Operations, Ciena.
Sprint’s Ethernet Solutions portfolio also includes Ethernet access, which is available today in 149 U.S. markets and 81 countries around the globe.
