Sprint may be combining its XOHM network and operations and name and everything else with Clearwire, but that’s not going to happen until December and there’s a little matter of rolling out initial WiMAX deployments before that.
There’s also the boodle of last-minute bits and pieces needed to make everything work well together so the deployment goes as smoothly as possible. To that end, Sprint has added DragonWave to its pile of backhaul technology vendors for networks in Baltimore/Washington and Chicago.
“Sprint never built a wide scale nationwide network, they always leased one (so) when the reality hit the road they were faced with all the complexities of dealing with landlords and zoning committees and all that entails,” said Alan Solheim, vice president of product management for DragonWave. “We showed them how they could have a more resilient, scalable solution that was more robust not only against equipment failures but against the churn that happens when you’re trying to get stuff built in real live locations. It was more deployable, could get done faster and at a much lower total cost of ownership.”
One of the things that delayed XOHM’s rollout from earlier this year to September was the backhaul. Sprint will continue to use FireTower for backhaul transport but will add in DragonWave “equipment and engineering services” to make things work more smoothly, said a Sprint spokesman.
“We’re just picking up Ethernet pipes and transporting them back to the headend,” said Solheim. “There are network characteristics of our solution that make it more desirable and make it work.”
DragonWave is also probably more desirable since it’s already working with Clearwire, although Solheim steered clear of saying that the as-yet-unapproved merged company would be buying DragonWave gear.
“Clearwire is our largest U.S. customer (and) we’ve been shipping units to them for three years,” was about all he would commit.
Helping Sprint finally launch XOHM is a separate matter that “validates our position as the backhaul kings,” he said. “We look at it more than just at the boxes but at the total cost of ownership, the whole network cost and putting together a network that works seamlessly.”