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Sprint's New ION products

  • From: kbrown
  • Date: Wed Jun 03 11:58:50 1998

I'm pretty sure I'm not the first to read about this in our local paper,
but Sprint announced their new strategy for integrating voice, data, video
over "standard phone lines."  They are calling this the Integrated
On-Demand Network or ION for short. It sounds an awful lot like ISDN
services from perhaps an ESS switch (8 viable bonded channels max) versus
the DMS100 (2 bonded channels max).

Our local Sprint outlet, to whom I am contracted to administer several
pieces of their local dial in access project has just about finished
installed the DMS100 switch (yep...we don't have ISDN yet around here).
According to the Sprint Internal press release "Sprint today"  they intend
to completely change their local technologies (scrap the old, in with the
new) instead of upgrading their existing network like other carriers.

Announced also was the fact that Cisco Systems has been
designing/testing/developing the hardware to make this project work, with
BellCore doing the software for the project.  Rollout to major business is
expected to happen in large markets sometime yet this year with residential
offerings happening sometime in 1999.

Has anyone heard any additional information or have any more insight into
this announcement?  I am curious how this might affect the remainder of the
industry.

Kevin Brown
Huber & Associates, Inc.
Networking Technologies
[email protected]
http://www.primelink.com/haa/lanwan