Sprint lights MAN in Boston

Sprint has begun running voice and data traffic over the first of several optical rings in Boston and plans in the next year to light a series of optical rings in the Boston Metro area totaling 320 miles. The self-healing rings add redundancy to Sprint’s long-distance and data networks in case of failure and connect Sprint to multiple exchanges. Sprint eventually plans to hook the metropolitan area network into its PCS division’s mobile switching centers, using the MAN to route local PCS calls between customers. Boston is one of 30 cities where Sprint is deploying MAN architectures. Last week, Sprint also announced two customer wins: a $3.5 million multiyear agreement with IntelliRisk Management Corp for voice services at nine customer care locations and a wireline and wireless service agreement with Finlay Enterprises. For Finlay, Sprint will provide frame relay and IP as well as wireless data services to the company’s more than 1000 department store jewelry retail locations.