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Routers and DSU/CSUs, that is.
If you have physical space limitations at a site or just happen to enjoy the savings associated with integrating the functionality of multiple devices into one product, you might be considering the purchase of a router or frame relay access device (FRAD) with an integrated DSU/CSU. After all, you must have a DSU/CSU to terminate your frame relay circuit. And you must have data terminating equipment, usually in the form of a router or FRAD. Why not just kill two birds with one stone and save some money?
Not so fast. DSU/CSUs have become strategic pieces of network equipment because of the added performance monitoring/reporting capabilities that have been built into them. Now, they are poised to get even smarter with proactive bandwidth management functions (NW Fusion, Feb. 8). If you opt for the integrated router (or FRAD)-with-DSU/CSU, you are likely to be giving up these important management capabilities that enable you to make important network design decisions and, soon, to proactively control your traffic.
Having a standalone DSU/CSU sitting between the router and the service can be invaluable when trying to pinpoint a problem. If the router is not communicating with the service, you have no reliable way of telling whether it's the router or the service that is the communication culprit when the functions are integrated.
It is possible that the enhanced DSU/CSU functions may eventually be available in routers, but such integration flies in the face of the primary reason for integration - cost reduction.
Steven Taylor, consultant and broadband packet evangelist, and Joanie Wexler, an independent networking technology editor and writer, team up to bring you this analysis and commentary. Taylor specializes in education and market analysis, and Wexler adds incisive reporting and research. For more detailed information on most of the topics discussed in this newsletter, connect to www.webtorials.com, the first Web site dedicated exclusively to market studies and technology tutorials in the Broadband Packet areas of Frame Relay, ATM, and IP. Feedback and additional topic ideas are welcome. Please contact taylor@webtorials.com or joanie_wexler@mindspring.com.
Can you afford not to manage your circuits?
Network World Fusion, 8/14/98
Save more money, thanks to managed CSU/DSUs
Network World, 8/2/98
Archive of Network World on Frame Relay newsletters
