Sprint Nextel’s 40 Gb fiber-optic network is now out of its testing phase and is live, the company announced this week.

“This applies to the fiber-optic and Internet backbone,” which includes all of Sprint’s Internet Protocol services such as push-to-talk, EV-DO, Xohm WiMAX, MPLS, enterprise networking and IP interconnections for other companies, said Iyad Tarazi, vice president of network development.  Also, Sprint already moved “a significant portion” of its CDMA voice traffic onto the IP network, he noted.

“The purpose for doing this is a couple of things.  One is to say we’re not going to fall behind,” compared to other carriers, Tarazi said.  “We chose to wait and do a technology that is more IP-friendly than launch with a more optic-centric technology from the old long-distance paradigm.  We weren’t out there chasing technological bragging rights.”

The 40 Gb aspect itself is only to catch up to other carriers, but Sprint started planning it as early as 2004 and now is in good position to upgrade to 100 Gb, he said.  Testing for that can begin later this year, he said.

Cisco Systems and Ciena are the biggest product contributors to the upgraded network.  Both companies provided custom technology: Cisco with new data rate options that it first developed for Comcast and Ciena supplying flexible rate technology just for Sprint.

Final testing was performed in the last 6 months, he said.  But, “Just in the last couple of weeks, we’ve gotten to point we’re comfortable declaring success.”