Sprint inked a deal with Ciena Corp. to use the company's carrier Ethernet platform as one of the backhaul solutions for its 4G WiMAX network, Xohm. The company said that it's focused on Ciena's next-gen Ethernet-based architecture because it believes it will give Xohm the efficiency and cost advantage that it needs.
It's no secret that backhaul capacity is a big issue for the deployment of 4G networks. Without the right amount of backhaul, the speeds offered by 4G are negated. Earlier this year, Sprint Nextel said provisioning of backhaul was the primary hold-up to the operator's nationwide deployment of Xohm.
However, Ciena isn't the only backhaul solution that Sprint is using. In July, the company announced a deal with DragonWave for its Horizon Compact and Horizon Duo products. Those products were to be used (at least initially) in the Baltimore/Washington, D.C. and Chicago markets.
For more:
- see this press release
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