Frame relay over DSL gets one step closer
 
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A new class of products is emerging to combine the management benefits of frame relay with the low cost of DSL access.
We've written about the looming battle between frame relay and Internet-based VPNs, driven by the low price of DSL-based access services and, in particular, the competitive speeds of asymmetric DSL. But one of the problems with DSL-based access is that management information across the DSL link has been woefully lacking. The operational and diagnostic capabilities offered by managed DSU/CSU products for traditional frame relay services have thus provided a significant advantage to frame relay, usually offsetting the price advantages of DSL access. However, products like the integrated access device announced by Paradyne Networks last spring are giving the industry a stronger chance of combining the management benefits of frame with the price advantages of DSL. Paradyne's FrameSaver DSL product offers frame relay service providers a first step toward combining the benefits of a managed DSU/CSU with a DSL modem. In fact, the product goes beyond many traditional DSU/CSUs by offering some traffic shaping - or at least the foundation for such capabilities. Perhaps the most significant feature of Paradyne's combination managed DSU/CSU and DSL modem is that FRF.8 frame relay-to-ATM service interworking is supported within the device. The interface to the user is a standard frame relay interface. However, on the network side of the unit, ATM is used for transport to the service provider network. Thus, rather than converting to ATM for network transport somewhere within the network core, this conversion takes place at the customer premises, thereby enabling extensive traffic management characteristics in the FrameSaver itself. The use of ATM all the way to the premises provides the underlying capability for class of service (CoS). And since the FrameSaver terminates at an ATM-aware DSL access multiplexer at the edge of the ATM network, these CoS parameters can be maintained throughout the network.RELATED LINKS
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@jwexler.com.
Frame Relay archive
Past newsletters.
Network World, 05/08/00. Paradyne FrameSaver Archive of Network World on Frame Relay newsletters
