Sprint to construct private Internet for gov't agencies

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2003/0401sprintoco.html

By Grant Gross
IDG News Service
04/01/03

WASHINGTON - Telecommunications giant Sprint announced plans Tuesday
to launch a private IP network aimed at security-conscious U.S.  
government agencies by late June.

The new network, which doesn't yet have a name, will mimic Sprint's
SprintLink enterprise-class, IP backbone network and offer most of the
same features, except that it won't be connected to the public
Internet. Sprint expects government agencies that want to be
especially protective of data to be the first customers, said Steve
Lunceford, a Sprint spokesman. The "government-grade" private Internet
should have one or two government agencies as its customers by its
launch in late June, he added.

The Sprint service is designed to ease customer worries that "someone
in an Internet cafe in Beijing could get into the network," Lunceford
said. Customers using the private network would have to use SprintLink
or another public backbone for outside e-mail or Web surfing, but
individual users won't be able to tell when they're switching back and
forth, he added.

Berge Ayvazian, senior research fellow with the Yankee Group, said
Sprint's timing is good, given that U.S. government agencies are
becoming increasingly aware of security issues. The Sprint project is
the first such private IP network aimed at government users, Ayvazian
believes, and he sees customers converting from other private network
services that don't use IP, such as frame-relay networks.

Lunceford talked up the efficiency and ease of use for IP-based
networks as opposed to frame-relay networks or ATM networks. "The
beauty is (IP) communicates with everything," Lunceford said. "A
concern with going to an IP network is the connection to a public IP
network. This is the best of both worlds."

Ayvazian isn't sure how big the market will be for such services, but
he noted that the cost to Sprint was minimal because the company is
using Cisco gear recycled from its ION (Integrated On-Demand Network)  
broadband service, aborted in late 2002. Sprint did not disclose the
cost of constructing the new network.

"We already have the expertise to put the network in place and keep it
maintained," Luceford said. "We were able to do this relatively
inexpensively."

Sprint announced the new network at the GSA/FTS Network Services
Conference in Orlando, Fla., Tuesday. "We think there's going to be a
lot of interest," Lunceford said. "In the future, it could go beyond
the government sector and into some big enterprises."

The private network will offer most services available on SprintLink,
such as virtual LAN, virtual private networks, and voice over IP,
except outside e-mail and Internet access, Lunceford said, and the
company expects customers to embrace those features over the private
network competition. Sprint will charge a 10% to 15% premium over the
cost of SprintLink.



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