Sprint execs open the doors to its Overland Park headquarters, giving a glimpse inside what makes its Network Vision tick

Sarah Thomas, Director, Women in Comms

April 13, 2012

OVERLAND PARK, Kans. -- Sprint Corp. (NYSE: S)'s world headquarters in a suburb of Kansas City is where the carrier is laying the groundwork for Network Vision, its plan to shut down an old network, improve a nationwide one and launch a brand new 4G one.

Plus, it wants all three -- its CDMA, WiMax and soon-to-be-deployed Long Term Evolution (LTE) network -- to integrate with each other in one multi-modal form.

It's no simple task, which is why Sprint felt it warranted a closer look. So, the carrier invited Light Reading Mobile, along with a handful of other reporters, to the campus to take a deep dive into the processes and progress behind Network Vision. (See Dear Sprint, Here's What We Want to Know....)

We also got a few pictures in the process. Click on the image below to launch a short slide show around the sprawling campus and in the Executive Briefing Room on our first day at Sprint.



For more

  • Sprint Sets Due Date for iDEN's LTE Rebirth

  • Sprint Must Spend Big to Go Big With 4G

  • Sprint Bites Into LTE Phones Ahead of Network

  • Sprint's LTE Evo Has HD Talk, No WiMax

  • Sprint's First 10 LTE Markets Coming by Mid-Year

— Sarah Reedy, Senior Reporter, Light Reading Mobile

Sprint World HeadquartersWhere Network Vision gets envisioned.

Great Wall of Sprint

Seconds earlier CEO Dan Hesse's face adorned the small screen, but it was gone faster than his black-and-white commercials.

Proof Is in the Points

Sprint VP of Engineering and Operations John Harrison walks through Sprint's network upgrade process, point by point.

Testing Times

Sprint VP of Development & Engineering Iyad Tarazi explains the five phases of development and testing that gets Sprint to launch-ready.

A Major Award

Sprint Cup Series cars are unique in NASCAR, capable of speeds over 200 mph. Sprint's clearly hoping they're a metaphor for the network.

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

HD Voice improves voice quality by "this much," explains SVP of Networks Bob Azzi.

Plug & Play

Harrison takes in the presentation in Sprint's not-entirely-wireless boardroom.

Almost 20/20

Sprint ticks off its Network Vision accomplishments, including the fact that it's decommissioned 9,600 Nextel sites this year.

A Country Divided

Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent and Samsung are splitting the U.S., but coordinate via an independent packet core.

Vendor Panel

Execs from Sprint's Network Vision partners, Alcatel-Lucent, Samsung and Ericsson, fielded questions on market build-outs.

Campus Tour

The tree-lined streets make for a beautiful ride through Sprint-land.

Ericsson Dorms

Sprint partner Ericsson finds a home on campus.

Busted!

Does Tweeting count?

About the Author(s)

Sarah Thomas

Director, Women in Comms

Sarah Thomas's love affair with communications began in 2003 when she bought her first cellphone, a pink RAZR, which she duly "bedazzled" with the help of superglue and her dad.

She joined the editorial staff at Light Reading in 2010 and has been covering mobile technologies ever since. Sarah got her start covering telecom in 2007 at Telephony, later Connected Planet, may it rest in peace. Her non-telecom work experience includes a brief foray into public relations at Fleishman-Hillard (her cussin' upset the clients) and a hodge-podge of internships, including spells at Ingram's (Kansas City's business magazine), American Spa magazine (where she was Chief Hot-Tub Correspondent), and the tweens' quiz bible, QuizFest, in NYC.

As Editorial Operations Director, a role she took on in January 2015, Sarah is responsible for the day-to-day management of the non-news content elements on Light Reading.

Sarah received her Bachelor's in Journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia. She lives in Chicago with her 3DTV, her iPad and a drawer full of smartphone cords.

Away from the world of telecom journalism, Sarah likes to dabble in monster truck racing, becoming part of Team Bigfoot in 2009.

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