Sprint Pledges to Cut Network Downtime

Sprint Tuesday pledged to cut customers’ network downtime to a minimum by raising the curtain on a new service level agreement (SLA) guaranteeing Frame Relay and Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) Network restoration within four hours of a reported problem.

“The data network is critical to the success of today’s e-business,” said Greg Gordon, director of marketing for Sprint. “It is what provides many enterprises with a competitive edge. Now, more than ever, downtime is not acceptable. Customers need network guarantees that ensure optimal performance and reliability for their mission-critical data applications. Sprint’s data network leadership is built upon its commitment to providing customers with unsurpassed reliability, backed by industry-leading SLAs, enabling customers to focus on managing their businesses.”

The SLA guarantees a mean time to repair (MTTR) of four hours or less, with a service credit based on customers’ monthly recurring charges if the MTTR extends beyond four hours.

The company Tuesday also unveiled voice over ATM, the latest enhancement to its ATM service. Voice over ATM utilizes Public Switched Telephone Network gateways to eliminate the need for separate voice and data services connections. Sprint said customers can now converge voice traffic onto an ATM network connection while continuing to utilize voice features like dedicated inboud, outbound and VPN services.

“Sprint’s ATM service enhancement is ideal for service providers, network resellers, financial institutions, healthcare organizations, educational institutions and other large organizations that require reduced network costs and increased network functionality,” Gordon said. “ATM is inherently flexible and efficient, making the networked communications simple and economical, yet sophisticated.