Frame Relay Breaking News

VPNs: Six burning questions
VPNs are well established as essential tools for corporate communications, but they are not all created equal. Here are six questions and their answers that can help you make decisions about which VPN technology to use.  More..

50 Greatest Network Arguments: What readers are saying
Readers debate the 50 Greatest Arguments in Networking and suggest a few more of their own involving Microsoft and other technologies. More..

Frame relay vs. ATM
Frame relay won in the WAN over ATM, which proved too expensive despite its good points, such as five levels of QoS. Now MPLS is pushing aside both. More..

Frame relay vs. VPNs
Frame relay had a good run, but the rise of MPLS VPNs has spelled the beginning of the end for the old WAN technology. More..

Use of IP VPNs, carrier Ethernet to rise, survey says
While many enterprises are still using legacy technologies such as ATM and frame relay, most of them plan on switching at least some of their locations to next-generation WAN within the next two years, according to a Current Analysis survey. More..

Sprint Nextel getting ready to pull plug on legacy nets
Sprint’s legacy data networks are on life support. Frame relay and ATM customers need to make migration plans now. More..

AT&T expands business services into Vietnam
AT&T announced on Wednesday that it is expanding its service reach into Vietnam.  More..

Qwest offers frame-relay-to-MPLS migration service
Qwest this week announced a network migration service for customers looking to replace frame relay and legacy data services with MPLS-based offerings. More..

Regulatory relief for Verizon could mean price hikes
Regulatory relief for Verizon could mean price hikes More..

Verizon Business launches with new wireless services
Verizon on Monday launched a new division that markets telecommunication services to large businesses across the U.S., including a new integrated wireline and wireless package available to large organizations. More..

Sprint sets 4-year deadline for frame net; MCI, AT&T talk up alternatives
Frame relay customers take note: The clock is ticking. Sprint says it will turn off its legacy data networks in four years. At that point any stragglers will be forced to migrate to one of the carrier's IP network services and backbone - and away from tried-and-true frame and ATM. More..

Users laud IP services that 'stretch' frame
Frame relay to IP services let users keep the frame relay networks they trust, while increasing connectivity between sites, typically without increasing spending. These offerings also let users take baby steps toward IP, which is important for customers that are not comfortable with a complete technology swap. More..

In brief: Nortel unleashes GSM/UMTS base station
Plus: MPLS/Frame group announces news members. More..

Group tackles interoperability to give MPLS needed boost
Industry groups MPLS & Frame Relay Alliance and the ATM Forum have agreed to become one, a move leaders of the groups say will hasten much-needed Multi-protocol Label Switching services work by focusing more attention on solving specific interoperability More..

Two industry forums plan to merge
Two industry forums plan to merge in hopes of speeding the creation of multi-service, multi-vendor carrier networks that blend frame relay, ATM and MPLS into their offerings to customers. More..

Tumbling telecom rates give customers leverage
While prices for voice, IP and traditional data services such as frame relay have been in free-fall for three years now, the largest service providers continue to slash rates. More..

Start-up looks to undercut frame, IP VPN prices
Start-up StraitShot Communications this week is expected to launch its first service, which the company says will give business users a less expensive alternative to traditional frame relay and IP VPN offerings. More..

MCI offers an easier path to IP service
VPN Network Gateway lets customers move to IP while protecting legacy services. More..

Juniper fortifies edge
Juniper Networks this week unveiled an edge router designed to meld Layer 2 services, such as frame relay and ATM, with an IP/MPLS backbone. More..

RBOCs eye data opportunities
As the regional Bell operating companies continue to win broader permission to offer long-distance services, they are assembling strategies to attack an enterprise business market that represents billions of dollars in untapped revenue for the carriers. More..

As a buyer, retailer goes leading edge
When it came time for CompUSA to upgrade the network supporting its 230 U.S. stores, the No. 2 consumer electronics retailer reached for some leading-edge technologies for its own use: voice over IP (VoIP), Wi-Fi and a converged IP VPN/frame relay WAN. More..

Qwest extends long-distance data service availability
Qwest this week said it now can offer long-distance data and IP services, in addition to voice, to businesses and government agencies in most of its 14-state region. More..

Lucent/Juniper alliance bears fruit
Lucent and Juniper last week unveiled the first fruits of their six-month union: product combinations designed to let service providers better integrate legacy services and infrastructures with newer IP offerings. More..

C&W ditching ATM, frame customers
Cable & Wireless America is getting ready to pull the plug on its U.S. ATM and frame relay backbones, a move that has customers scrambling to find replacement providers and wondering about the future of the carrier's Web hosting and IP services. More..

Sprint beefs up SLAs on data services
Sprint is streamlining service-level agreements for its global IP, ATM and frame relay data services to offer users more choices and stronger guarantees. More..