You say you want a revolution?

By David Rohde
Network World, 06/15/98

P icture this: You're a happy Sprint frame relay customer, but you use several carriers for voice service because your company's had some mergers.

Now word's out that you want to integrate all your voice and data contracts, and Sprint competitors are coming in with some aggressive proposals.

Even better, you have Sprint's cooperation to experiment with voice over frame relay to eliminate intracompany tolls entirely.

Suddenly, Sprint CEO Bill Esrey announces something called the Integrated On-Demand Network, or ION. He claims ION can put all your voice, data and video traffic on one converged network at a massive reduction in cost, apparently using technologies such as ATM and digital subscriber line (DSL). Unfortunately, details are sketchy, and your Sprint rep is clueless about ION.

Now what do you do? Keep negotiating and experimenting with what you thought was available or get this new ION baby installed, whatever it is?

This scenario, which happened to a user, shows what happens when the real world of enterprise networking meets the fantasyland of vendor jockeying, corporate image and Wall Street perception.

Sprint really does have a high-speed backbone theoretically capable of tremendous advances in voice and data transport efficiency. But at the moment, Sprint's not ready to announce any actual convergence services or reduce data networking prices. So why the ION announcement now? There are three main reasons:

Esrey seems annoyed at all the publicity Qwest and Level 3 are getting promoting a brave new IP world free of legacy carrier systems. In their hearts, all traditional carriers think voice over IP is a crock, and Sprint is pushing ATM as the convergence protocol of choice. But it would be no good to announce the Integrated ATM Network. To make the front page of The Wall Street Journal, Sprint had to come up with a gimmick that played into IP convergence hype without actually endorsing it.

After years of hesitation, Sprint basically has decided not to become a competitive local exchange carrier. Instead, it'll be leasing regional Bell operating company fiber for dedicated connections, and it claims it'll somehow lease DSL lines from RBOCs for dial-up connections, even though the rest of the telecom industry thinks that's next to impossible. Sprint's announcement made a defensive local strategy sound bold.

Sprint's had a bit of a tough time recently. Its venture with cable companies, which originally was supposed to create end-to-end services, is petering out. Its Global One international venture has suffered a management shake-up.

So what do you do with this new information? Here's a final tip: Esrey said ION is "revolutionary." Oh boy. Want to propose a revolution to management in your next budget?

So go ahead and try that voice over frame relay experiment, and keep negotiating down those long-distance rates. You'll have results back long before Sprint announces any real ION services - or their prices.

You say you want a revolution?

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