Anybody for free pizza?

New Edge Networks employees had an unusual incentive to complete installation of a national network for the Sbarro restaurant chain. The restaurant had promised to provide 10 pizzas a week for a year to New Edge employees if they finished installation of an almost 400-site broadband network on time.

The company announced today that it is nearing completion of that network and that the pizzas have already started arriving.

The announcement is the latest in New Edge’s expansion into the retail world. Sbarro is the largest shopping-center based Italian restaurant chain. New Edge also announced, at the National Retail Federation expo in New York City, that more than a dozen companies have joined the Retail Broadband Alliance, a forum founded by New Edge to make it easier for retailers to migrate from dial-up to broadband by giving them access to key resources. There are currently 20 forum members, including companies involved in merchant payment systems and software, consultants, kiosk manufacturers and systems integrators.

New Edge has targeted retailers since last fall, conducting a national marketing campaign and seminars to show how broadband virtual private networks can replace dial-up networks and legacy frame relay or other data services for greater efficiency without increased cost.