1 May 2003 Overland Park, KS Lightwave -- Sprint recently completed three large metropolitan area network (MAN) rings in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. The rings connect the Sprint network to several local telecom exchange facilities--a point of presence and several end offices--as well as a Sprint mobile switching center (MSC) in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area. The MSC routes wireless calls for local PCS customers of Sprint.
The Sprint MAN initiative is establishing local transport infrastructure in metropolitan areas across the United States, enabling Sprint to bypass the incumbent local exchange carriers in several areas of the country. By building these metro rings, Sprint is driving the full capabilities of its all-digital, fiber-optic network deeper into the metro areas of 30 U.S. cities before mid- 2004. The company has deployed 20 markets, including Minneapolis/St. Paul, with MAN rings in its service footprint, enhancing network monitoring capabilities and improving network reliability to customers in those markets.
"The closer that Sprint brings its own network infrastructure to customers, the more benefits that it can deliver," explains Jim Patterson, vice president of Access Management. "With the three large rings deployed in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, Sprint anticipates enhanced network monitoring and restoration capabilities to a larger base of customers."
The Sprint ring architecture being deployed in dozens of metro markets is designed to provide self-healing capabilities during two major causes of telecom route failure--fiber cuts and electronic outages. Since 1996, Sprint has led its two major rivals in reporting the fewest numbers of FCC- reportable long-distance network outages every year, say company representatives. The FCC requires that carriers report all outages that block at least 90,000 calls during an event that lasts at least 30 minutes.
"Sprint has long been known as a leader in deploying technologies that increase reliability and benefit its customers," added Patterson. "As we move quickly to expand the Sprint network into more U.S. metro markets, the advantages of using it to deliver communications solutions will become even more important to current and future customers."