OVERLAND PARK, Kan.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sprint (NYSE: S) today announced an exclusive relationship with CSC to deliver cloud computing, cloud-based email, managed hosting and colocation services within the United States to potential commercial customers. Sprint's ability to deliver CSC's Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) solutions joins Sprint Complete Collaboration, a Unified-Communications-as-a-Service (UCaaS) solution launched earlier this year, in an expanding portfolio of Sprint cloud-based solutions that are planned for launch in the second half of 2012.
Sprint’s comprehensive approach to the cloud includes teaming with leaders in software and cloud computing while enhancing the services with seamless integration of mobility for anytime, anywhere access from any device. With reliable, secure connectivity over Sprint’s 3G, 4G, and all-IP Global MPLS networks, businesses of all sizes can confidently embrace a variety of hosted services to improve their productivity and cost structures. Expansion of Sprint’s Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) portfolio will be announced later.
“As a leader in the mobility revolution, Sprint will help to better position organizations to solve the unique challenges associated with simply and securely implementing new shifts in IT technology, strategy and culture,” said John Dupree, senior vice president - Business Sales, Sprint. “The promise of the cloud is unfulfilled without a superior network, and Sprint is focused on providing a dependable and continually improving network experience that enterprises can trust not just today but as their mobile data demands and operational complexity evolves. Our strategic relationship with CSC is another step in our plan to offer a comprehensive set of solutions that leverage Sprint’s Tier 1 backbone. Sprint’s announced and pending cloud solutions will help our clients take advantage of the agility and scale the cloud enables.”
Teaming to deliver IaaS
Working with CSC, Sprint’s reliable network will become the communications backbone to enable secure, high speed connectivity to CSC’s Trusted Cloud and to bring CSC’s cloud service catalog to Sprint customers. As part of this new service, Sprint also will offer compute, storage, hosting and backup capabilities to midsized and large businesses by late 2012.
“This exclusive relationship with Sprint to deliver public, private and hybrid cloud services is a win for CSC, Sprint and our mutual customers,” said Siki Giunta, vice president - Global Cloud Computing and Hosting Services, CSC. “Businesses will instantly benefit when Sprint combines its all-IP network and holistic account approach with the largest global network of cloud data centers featuring CSC’s CloudCompute infrastructure as a service. Together, Sprint and CSC will be able to support the most demanding customer-facing, back-office, or mission-critical applications of any business.”
According to IDC Chief Analyst Frank Gens, “The relationship between Sprint and CSC offers great potential for businesses to simplify, and speed up, their increasingly strategic deployments of mobile and cloud services.” According to industry analyst firm IDC, worldwide public IT cloud services revenue is projected to hit $45.5 billion by 2013[i].
Building upon SaaS portfolio of hosted business and productivity solutions
More information about Sprint’s SaaS solutions will be shared later this year and will build on the broad portfolio of IT support, office and field productivity services Sprint offers today. Working with market-leading software providers, Sprint will deliver new applications via the ”as a service” model to round out its portfolio. As businesses take advantage of the benefits of cloud-based services, Sprint plans to bundle services to create solutions that are accessed by users via the Web just about anywhere and on nearly any device. Sprint’s growing portfolio will include communication, collaboration, and IT and security services.
Continued focus on UCaaS
Also critical to Sprint’s cloud strategy is UCaaS, demonstrated by the launch of Sprint Complete Collaboration in March. As the industry’s most comprehensive hosted and fully managed UC bundle available today for businesses, Sprint Complete Collaboration is built upon a fully integrated Cisco Hosted Collaboration Solution platform and delivered over an all-IP network – helping to ensure the reliability and security demanded by real-time UC and collaboration applications.
“Powered by the Cisco Hosted Collaboration Solution, Sprint Complete Collaboration is able to quickly and easily deliver innovative collaboration capabilities such as Cisco desktop video experiences and Cisco Jabber on mobile phones and tablets to wherever employees are – both in and out of the office,” said Eric Schoch, general manager - Cisco Hosted Collaboration business unit. “We look forward to seeing the customer benefits of the Sprint and CSC relationship as we continue to work together to bring Sprint’s customers the option to choose the collaboration capabilities that best suit their needs – whether they be cloud-based, on premise or hybrid.”
Wholesale customers also benefit from cloud-based services
Sprint is delivering an innovative private-label cloud services platform to wholesale customers today, enabling them to quickly deliver simple and affordable brand-name software services to small and midsized businesses (SMBs). Sprint Wholesale Cloud Services provides SMB-focused resellers an innovative approach by offering a unique combination of platform services, a full suite of brand-name enablement applications and one-on-one support from experienced and dedicated experts to help them launch more quickly and with less capital outlay than if they were to create the service themselves.
Sprint Network Leadership
To ensure that demand for wireless and all-IP connectivity for converged and cloud-based solutions will be met, Sprint has embarked on a multiyear network initiative to provide faster data speeds and improved voice quality. The program, Network Vision – which will create network flexibility, reduce operating costs, and improve environmental sustainability – involves the deployment of multimode base stations across many of Sprint’s cell sites throughout the country. When deployed, Network Vision is expected to improve coverage outside and inside buildings.
About Sprint Nextel
Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications services bringing the freedom of mobility to consumers, businesses and government users. Sprint Nextel served more than 56 million customers at the end of the first quarter of 2012 and is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including the first wireless 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; offering industry-leading mobile data services, leading prepaid brands including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, and Assurance Wireless; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. The American Customer Satisfaction Index rated Sprint No. 1 among all national carriers and most improved in customer satisfaction across all industries during the last four years. Newsweek ranked Sprint No. 3 in its 2011 Green Rankings, listing it as one of the nation’s greenest companies, the highest of any telecommunications company. You can learn more and visit Sprint at www.sprint.com or www.facebook.com/sprint and www.twitter.com/sprint.
"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995
This news release includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the securities laws. The statements in this news release regarding network performance, coverage and capabilities, business and network efficiencies, migration of services new technologies, timing of deployment, and products and services, as well as other statements that are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements. The words “estimate,” “project,” “forecast,” intend,” “expect,” “believe,” “target,” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are estimates and projections reflecting management’s judgment based on currently available information and involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those suggested by the forward-looking statements. With respect to these forward-looking statements, management has made assumptions regarding, among other things, development and deployment of new technologies; efficiencies and cost savings of multimode technologies; customer and network usage; customer growth and retention; service, coverage and quality; availability of devices; the timing of various events and the economic environment. Sprint Nextel believes these forward-looking statements are reasonable; however, you should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which are based on current expectations and speak only as of the date of this release. Sprint Nextel is not obligated to publicly release any revisions to forward-looking statements to reflect events after the date of this release. Sprint Nextel provides a detailed discussion of risk factors in periodic SEC filings, including in its annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2011.
[i] IDC, Worldwide and Regional Public IT Cloud Services 2011–2015 Forecast, Doc #228485, Jun 2011