Sprint Positioned as Challenger in Global Network Services Magic Quadrant

Gartner has upgraded Sprint to the position of Challenger within the most recent Gartner Magic Quadrant for Global Network Service Providers. In the previous Magic Quadrant report, Sprint had been ranked as a Niche Player, but it has since grown its global MPLS, Ethernet and SIP trunking coverage for business and wholesale customers.

Earlier this month, the third-largest wireless operator in the U.S. entered into a funding agreement with Clearwire Corporation, providing the latter with $80 million to build out its network.

“Our sharp focus and investment on domestic and global MPLS footprint expansion and growing product portfolio has delighted both business and wholesale customers, and this, we believe, led to Gartner advancing Sprint from a Niche Player in last year’s report to a Challenger position in this year’s,” said Mike Fitz, vice president of wireline and solutions engineering at Sprint, in a statement.

This particular magic quadrant report is meant to assess suppliers that deliver fixed enterprise networking services worldwide, including WAN services, voice services and dedicated Internet services. As a Challenger in this market, Sprint is in a position to deliver its business-critical applications and workforces with an account team that boasts a full understanding of converged, cloud and mobility solutions.

Added Fitz, “The Challenger position aligns with our mission to combine our unique insights into customer needs with a robust portfolio of managed network solutions to help companies leverage their network as a strategic differentiator. And with the increasing adoption of cloud services, the network is the most important investment a company can make to accelerate transformation and the speed of business.”

Furthermore, as the Gartner report points out, the demand for global networking services is showing no signs of slowing, as organizations' need for greater bandwidth is driven largely by video and big data, along with IT centralization.

As long as Sprint is able to provide the reliability and performance control companies desire, it may go on to become a Magic Quadrant Leader.