Sprint reveals two clients for new network

The Army National Guard and the FBI are the first two announced customers for a "government-grade" network unveiled last spring by Sprint as a secure alternative to the Internet.

The company has signed other customers that it is forbidden to identify, said spokesman Steve Lunceford.

The National Guard signed a contract worth about $36 million over five years for GuardNet, a network modernization project that includes migrating from asynchronous transfer mode network services to Sprint's Internet protocol-based network.

The FBI signed a three-year deal for secure virtual private network services for its Digital Collection System Network. The value of that deal was not disclosed.

Lt. Col. James Lord at the National Guard Bureau's Automated Information Systems/Enterprise Architecture group said Sprint offered a cost-effective upgrade path.

"Sprint presented us with a solid technical solution, a good price and the ability to make the transition without the layer of complexity that working through a systems integrator might have added," he said.

The National Guard will migrate networks at 58 sites.