7/18/2005 -- Cisco Systems Inc. last week announced that telco giant Sprint -- which it says is the first global provider to deploy an IP next-generation network (NGN) based entirely on Cisco gear -- has also become the first to achieve Cisco’s IP VPN Multiservice QoS Certified status.

The announcement was, it turns out, a you-wax-my-car, I’ll-wax-yours bonanza for the two companies, which announced a renewal of their partnership to help foster adoption of IP communications technologies. To that end, Cisco pledged to assist Sprint with a “product simplification initiative,” and said it will help Sprint develop and market integrated wireline and wireless products.

According to Glen Hunt, a senior analyst for carrier infrastructure with consultancy Current Analysis Inc., the new agreement is the latest in a history of fruitful partnerships between the two companies. “The certification by Sprint is important for Cisco since it leverages the investment that Cisco has made in collaboration over the past years with Sprint on various IP services and its NGN initiatives,” Hunt writes. “The selection by Sprint to deploy Cisco’s NGN products on an end-to-end basis, nearly exclusively, shows the service provider’s buy in as well as its commitment to meeting rigorous certifications and to eek out every advantage offered by the solution set.”

Equally important, Hunt notes, is that Cisco’s NGN solution set includes the company’s Carrier Routing System (CRS-1) next-gen router (for the core), along with the company’s 12000 series, 10000 series and the 7600 series products at the multiservice provider edge.

In the long run, Hunt concludes, the Cisco-Sprint pact could encourage other networking players to notch similar iron-clad accords with service providers. “The strategic partnership shows that when vendors and service providers commit for the long-term, significant rewards can come to both parities,” he says. -Stephen Swoyer