Sprint joins an initiative to promote 4G 100 Gbps networks

Sprint Nextel and NetLogic Microsystems today announced they will offer their guidance to a new nonprofit organization to aid the development and adoption of new networking platforms from 40 Gbps products up to 100 Gbps and beyond.

The Road to 100G Alliance, first introduced at NXTcomm 2007, continues its aim of developing a set of standards for interoperability in the still chaotic world of high capacity data networks.

The Alliance was founded by Bay Microsystems, Lattice Semiconductor, Enigma Semiconductor, IDTTM, and IP Infusion.

Even though Sprint has been losing customers in its mobile phone service division, the company has most recently been promoting its Xohm WiMAX network that is scheduled to beat Verizon Wireless and AT&T to 4G. The company still has a long way to go to reclaim a leadership position among customers in the wireless industry, and hopes its efforts in the Alliance will help it regain momentum.

Sprint's participation in the Alliance will hopefully involve upgrading its current networks to at least 40 Gbps. Verizon Wireless has already upgraded some of its 10 Gbps networks up to 40 Gbps, including the network operating between New York City and Washington, DC.

In 2006, there were more than 229 million broadband subscribers online, with 60 million new users over a 12-month period when the statistics were collected. Research published on the Alliance Web site indicates there will be at least 350 million broadband subscribers in 2009, with almost 300 million of those using fiberoptic connections in 2010.

To help companies deal with such explosive growth, the Alliance hopes to foster an ecosystem able to more quickly adopt and deploy new systems for managing increased traffic. Contributing companies also help provide education and application support to Network OEMs and service providers who are helping roll out these networks to businesses and home users.

There are several other groups pushing for future standards, though disagreements and poor organization have caused them to temporarily falter. For example, the IEEE Higher Speed Study Group last year proposed the 100 Gbps speed as a benchmark for the future, but several members of that group disagreed, saying 40 Gbps should be ideal for the immediate future. The disagreement caused a temporary stall that later led some industry experts to conclude a 40 Gbps network scalable up to 100 Gbps may be preferable.

To help draw attention to the organization, Alliance members will host a panel discussion during the NXTcomm 2008 conference in mid-June, along with Interop New York in September.