Still just a replacement for leased lines?

Enterprise networks continue to be more like slaves to pricing structures than benefactors of technology breakthroughs. Half a decade after frame relay services hit the big time, for example, the services remain largely a one-for-one swap for private lines. In fact, Distributed Network Associates' 1998 Frame Relay Market Study (www.webtorials.com) shows that a whopping 63% of public-service frame relay customers are still configuring star, or hub, networks that force distributed sites to communicate with each other through a central location rather than directly.

Unfortunately for users, star configurations are often suboptimal compared with meshed networks. A hub setup can introduce network delay because the traffic must pass through the hub site router and traverse the User-to-Network Interface twice. The star configuration is also less reliable since a failure at the hub site or on the access facilities to the hub site can knock out communications among all sites.

The reason these configurations persist is the same reason star-shaped T-1 networks were popular: It is too expensive to purchase separate circuits - virtual or physical - among many sites. Because there has been spare capacity on most frame nets, this hasn't been of drastic user concern - until now.

If there is voice or video over frame in your future, though, you might want to team with your service provider on creative solutions for preventing a multimedia-laden hub from becoming a big bottleneck. Options to explore include usage-based or other creative pricing, as well as switched virtual circuit availability (priced right, of course).

---

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 http://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 @mindspring.com . Larscom uses FRADs to get into frame relay fray: Network World, 5/21/98.

Users find reporting tools indispensible: Data on network utilization, capacity, throughput and response time is key for holding providers to obligations. Network World, 3/16/98.

Demands for speed and quality of service drive evolution of frame relay services. Network World, 2/9/98.

Tips and tales from the frame relay trenches: Network World, 9/1/97.