Sprint Moves to 40G with Cisco’s IPoDWDM Solution

Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) is upgrading its core network with modules that can support 40gbps across existing 10gbps systems, the company and its suppliers Ciena Corp. (NASDAQ: CIEN) and  Cisco Systems Inc.(NASDAQ: CSCO) have announced.

In addition to the 40gbps port addition on its IP over dense wavelength division multiplexing (IPoDWDM) solution, Cisco Tuesday unveiled enhancements to the Cisco XR 12000 and 12000 Series routers.

Sprint began deploying Cisco’s CRS-1 routers in its IP core network in 2006 and today uses the gear in more than 25 U.S. cities. What’s new is that Sprint recently finished testing the 40gbps IPoDWDM technology and has since enabled several production 40gbps circuits, which employ the CRS-1 Carrier Routing System and Ciena CoreStream Agility platform to transport the wavelength across the fiber-optic network. However, while the commercial use of this technology by Sprint only recently went live, Sprint and Cisco have been working toward this for several years, having in 2004 used CRS-1 routers for a 40gbps technology trial with live-production traffic.

“Sprint’s network capabilities support the growing use of the Internet, as well as the growth we are seeing with MPLS services – and our efforts to effectively migrate customers from legacy technologies to SprintLink IP and Global MPLS platforms,” said Kathy Walker, chief information and network officer for Sprint. “Deployment of 40gbps circuits throughout our IP core enables next-generation data, voice and video applications and allows Sprint to scale its IP network to address customer needs, as IP increasingly becomes the basis of communications services.”

Mike Capuano, Cisco’s senior director of marketing for service provider routing and switching marketing, said the new 40gpbs port on his company’s IPoDWDM gear enables companies like Sprint and Comcast, which last week made a similar announcement, to squeeze 40gpbs into a 10gbps system, gaining four times the bandwidth without having to invest in an entirely new solution. This same solution will allow carriers to move to 100gpbs in the future without overhauling the network infrastructure, according to Cisco.

In other news Tuesday, Cisco said it has doubled the reach of the CRS-1 40gbps IPoDWDM solution to 2,000 kilometers (about 1,250 miles) without regeneration. This helps enable scalable deployments especially in emerging markets, where dense urban centers are often separated by vast distances. Cisco also has enabled instant bandwidth up to 10gbps over 2,000 kilometers on the Cisco XR 12000/12000 Series Routers. It reduced provisioning on the Cisco ONS 15454 platform with an omnidirectional and colorless mesh ROADM, which it promises will decrease service provider truck rolls and lower their requirements for power, space and cooling by more than 50 percent. The company increased resiliency on its gear from 50ms to 15ms, and it introduced a new feature that allows carriers’ transport departments manage connections end-to-end.

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