4 - Sprint



Internet Protocol Internetworking Service Interoperability Plan (L.38.1.3.4) (C.2.1.11)

L.38.1.3.4 Internet Protocol Internetworking Service Interoperability Plan

The offeror shall provide with its proposal a plan for implementing IPS interoperability as specified in Section C.2.1.11. This plan shall address interoperability in sufficient detail to permit the Government to gain a thorough understanding of the offeror’s interoperability approach and to verify the soundness of the approach.

C.2.1.11 Interoperability

The contractor shall support interoperability for a given service offering so that a user of that service from one FTS2001 contractor shall be able to communicate with another user of that service from a different FTS2001 contractor with performance equivalent to that commercially available. The Government recognizes that different levels of interoperability (i.e., partial or full) exist commercially. Interoperability shall be made available for any service that is currently commercially offered by the contractor and is interoperable with another FTS2001 contractor’s network. The contractor shall notify the Government of the details of the level of interoperability available for the service. In addition, the contractor shall make available any future FTS2001 service interoperability at no additional cost to the Government when the contractor offers commercially the interoperability for that service.

The contractor shall provide interoperability of SVS, Toll Free Service, and 900 Service with the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). The contractor shall also provide interoperability of IPS with Internet and the Federal Government IP networks by establishing connectivity with every Network Access Point (NAP) for Internet and with every Federal Internet Exchange (FIX) point for the Federal Government IP networks. These FIXes are located at Moffit Field, CA and College Park, MD. After contract award the contractor shall coordinate with the Federal Networking Council for interconnection standards. If a user wants interoperability for any other FTS2001 service(s), the contractor shall provide such interoperability on an individual case basis.

In addition, the contractor shall also support interconnection with other Government networks/acquisitions (e.g., city specific MAA) at the contractor’s POP. The interconnection interface shall be the LANI as specified in the individual service description. The interfacing Government networks/acquisitions will be responsible for implementing the LANI for any gateway function required including address translations required to make the Government network’s/acquisition’s addressing and/or numbering plan compatible with the FTS2001 addressing and/or numbering plan.

Full interoperability between FTS2001 contractors for Internet Protocol Internetworking Service exists both commercially and in our proposed Sprint IP Services.

Interoperability between telecommunications carriers will be accomplished in the Internet’s Network Access Points (NAPs). It is the routers in the NAPs that provide the peering between carriers that makes the Internet an internetworking system.

The Transmission Control Protocol/ Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) was developed as a packet protocol that would allow connections across a variety of physical mediums including satellite connections, wireless packet radio, and telephone links. This protocol provides interoperability among operating systems and different types of hardware on the Internet.

Sprint is the world’s premier Internet Service Provider and was the first major communication carrier to provide public commercial Internet service. Sprint experience in providing interoperability on the Internet dates back to before Commercial Internet services were available. Sprint was awarded a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation (NSF) in January 1991 to act as NSF International Connections Manager (ICM), responsible for implementing and operating a TCP/IP-based router network service connecting the domestic NSF network (NSFnet) with research and education networks overseas.

Initially, Sprint provided connectivity to research networks in Stockholm, Sweden, and Sophia Antipolles, France. Today, this network extends to London, Paris, Tokyo, China, Bonn, Malaysia, South Africa and the Middle East. Sprint remains the ICM in the aftermath of the NSFnet decommissioning in April 1995. Sprint also provides high-speed connections to the Internet in 28 countries worldwide - more international connections than any other carrier.

To a large degree, the ICM provides the interoperability of the domestic Internet with the rest of the world. This interoperability with the rest of the world includes literally scores of other carriers and international PTTs.

The Internet is essentially multiple networks interconnected to form one unified network. These interconnect points are gateways connecting different Internet Service Providers’ (ISPs) networks together. This network of internetworked ISPs communicates through high-speed Network Access Point (NAPs), the backbone of the Internet. Sprint supports both public NAP and private peering connections, and currently provides the public New York NAP service in Sprint’s Pennsauken, NJ office. Sprint IP Service currently far exceeds the Government’s stated interoperability requirements.

Currently, the heart of the Internet remains the four “official” network access points or NAPs in San Francisco, Chicago, Washington, DC, and Pennsauken, NJ. The NAPs provide a place of interconnection; anyone at a NAP can choose to interconnect with anyone else there. This relationship, called a basic agreement to allow the agreeing ISP traffic to transit the backbone. Sprint has a presence at all of the NAPs and other major connection points. Our peering relationships with the NAPs and the peering relationships with the other possible FTS2001 contractors ensures the Government that a user of IPS service from one FTS2001 contractor will be able to communicate through SprintIP service. This relationship also ensures the Government that E-mail and other TCP/IP messages sent across town will be delivered by way of the nearest connection rather than transmitting it across country on SprintIP services and then delivering it.

There are currently eight major interconnection points – including four official NAPs. Any national backbone operator has a peering connection at these interconnects.Table 1 identifies the eight (8) major Internet interconnection points.

|Table 1: Sprint’s Internet Access |

|Interconnect Points |State |Speed |

|Commercial Internet Exchange (CIX) |CA |X |

|Federal Internet Exchange (FIX)-East (through ICMNet) |MD |X |

|Federal Internet Exchange (FIX)-West (through ICMNet) |CA |X |

|MAE – East |DC |X |

|MAE – West |CA |X |

|Pennsauken NAP |NY |X |

|Chicago NAP |IL |X |

|San Francisco NAP |CA |X |

This series of NAPs could be considered the heart of the Internet. Currently, most backbone operators are cross-connecting with other backbones at virtually any location of convenience where they both have equipment rooms. There are several hundred of these “private” exchanges in operation at this point and all operate under a common peering arrangement.

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XXWith Sprint’s global implementation of IP service the Government will receive internetworked interoperability throughout the world. Sprint’s Internet infrastructure, as mentioned earlier, connects to all Internet interconnection points providing the Government global internetworked interoperability.

To achieve a complete internetworking interoperable service, Sprint has engineered gateways between every data service network and the Sprint Internet backbone. In this manner, no matter what service the Government uses, interconnectivity to the Internet, and thus the world, can be achieved seamlessly. The following data services support gateway functionality to the Internet:

• Frame Relay Service

• Asynchronous Transfer Mode Service (ATM).

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