Transparent LAN service as an alternative to frame relay
 
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If you don't want to deal with installing frame relay equipment or becoming educated about ports, PVCs, CIR and the like, then transparent (or native) LAN services may be the ticket. Transparent LAN services (TLS) are gaining ground as a popular alternative to frame relay services. TLSs are more commonly available within metropolitan areas, but you may be able to find some long-haul providers offering TLSs, as well. TLS is not available everywhere, yet an increasing number of providers are rolling out services every month.
Transparent LAN services are high-speed, LAN interconnection services that hide the complexity associated with WAN technology, design and management. With TLSs, a service provider interconnects your corporation's LANs in such a way that they appear to be interconnected by a LAN segment (This is what a good service does; not necessarily all services make TLSs this "transparent"). Employees who are geographically separated can then communicate with one another and access remote servers as easily as if all the employees and servers were located in the same building.
TLS is basically a mixture of two other services we have written about in the past month: managed frame relay services and application-based services. The main differences between TLS and managed frame relay services is TLS can be based on any technology (such as frame relay, ATM or private lines) and TLS does not use frame relay terminology to describe the service. TLS is also an application-based service as it is meant to specifically address the needs of customers who want to transmit LAN traffic across the WAN.
In the next issue, we'll tell you when TLS may be a better fit for your organization than traditional frame relay services.
TeleChoice, Inc. would like to thank Katherine Demacopoulos of Larscom for her assistance with this weeks article. You can find out more about Larscom at www.larscom.com.
RELATED LINKS
Native LAN Services White Paper
This TeleChoice white paper explains the technology in more detail and includes cost comparisons with ATM and frame relay services.
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