Ciena upgrades Sprint's network

Ciena, the network specialist strikes a deal with Sprint. Sprint is upgrading its optical backbone network with Ciena's 6500 Packet-Optical Platform.

The deployment of Ciena's 6500 packet optical platform with WaveLogic coherent technology enables Sprint to enhance network capacity - ensuring the ability to add 100G wavelengths, 400G wavelengths and beyond - without the need for a major network redesign. Additionally, the 6500 supports multiple chassis sizes to cost-effectively address transport requirements from the edge to the core across a single converged infrastructure.

"Sprint and Ciena are planning a 400G field trial for early 2013. The trial will enable Sprint to check the feasibility of using 400 Gbps channels on systems already carrying live customer traffic, and to demonstrate that the network will be able to support very high-speed traffic needs in the future on the existing fiber plant," said a press release.

Ciena has been a strategic supplier to Sprint since 1998. This upgrade builds on Sprint's existing deployments of Ciena's CoreStream Agility Optical Transport Systems. Sprint is also using Ciena's OneControl Unified Management System for centralized network management, and Ciena Specialist Services to help minimize implementation costs and ensure that the network is turned up efficiently and effectively.