Service will let smaller companies that need only fractional T-1 bandwidth subscribe to frame relay.
New Edge Networks last week announced a national Frame Relay over DSL service that the company says will deliver big cost savings.
The little-known service provider is teaming with Covad Communications to provide the service.
New Edge’s Frame Relay over DSL service offers the benefit of a reliable data service at a lower rate than traditional frame, the company says.
“Frame Relay over DSL is about half the price of standard frame service,” says Dan Moffat, president and CEO of New Edge. “It lowers the average cost per location as much as 50% to 75%.”
Frame relay might be mature “but there are new ways of delivering the service with significant cost savings,” he says.
The service will let smaller companies that need only fractional T-1 bandwidth subscribe to frame relay. As sub-T-1 frame relay rates have increased over the past 12 to 24 months, Frame over DSL also might be attractive to large businesses that have offices with low bandwidth requirements.
“There haven’t been as many reliable [data] solutions for small and medium-size businesses,” says Rod Woodward, an analyst at Frost & Sullivan. “New Edge is expanding its footprint and offering small businesses a proven technology that’s affordable.”
The service provider is not the first to offer frame relay over DSL, and it supports some of the largest carriers’ frame over DSL offerings, including those of AT&T, MCI and SBC. But until now, New Edge has not offered this service to business users.
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New Edge has built its network through acquisitions since it launched in 1999.
Last year the service provider acquired business customers from @Work Networks, the business services division of @Home, and in October acquired more than 1,000 Cable & Wireless data customers. New Edge made the deal after C&W announced it would serve only U.S. customers that have multinational service needs. Now that the international carrier is leaving the U.S. market completely, New Edge says it is in talks to acquire additional customers.
Although New Edge has acquired a large number of users from national providers, it focuses on offering data services to business users and other carriers in second-tier and third-tier markets. This is why the carrier is teaming with Covad to support its Frame Relay over DSL offer, which provides DSL services mainly in large U.S. cities.
New Edge calls this a national service, although it reaches about 75% of the U.S. But New Edge also offers traditional frame relay services and can reach most areas where DSL is not available.
