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Frame Relay, the Forum, and the future… - page 1

Frame Relay, the Forum, and the future…


What is the Frame Relay Forum?

Our Mission:

The Frame Relay Forum is an association of vendors, carriers, users and consultants

committed to the education, promotion, and implementation of Frame Relay in

accordance with international standards.

Our Membership

50 member companies across 15 countries

Our Leadership (Board of Directors)

– Edwin Chikhani, VP of Industry Implementation (Bell Nexxia)

– Larry Denayer, VP of Marketing (Sprint)

– Rob Downing, VP of Marketing (Larscom)

– Tim Halpin, Treasurer (AT&T)

– Fred Kaudel, VP of Technology (Fluke)

– Frits van Dissel, VP of International Frame Relay (Infonet)

– Mike Walsh, President, Chairman of the Board of Directors (Nortel)


FR Forum: Our Objectives

Getting the message out: We continue to educate the consumer on the advantages and

applications of frame relay through Web education, white papers, press articles, business

cases and presentations at trade shows and conferences.

Closing the feedback loop: We have increased the participation of service providers in the

Forum and are actively soliciting their field experiences to refine and improve our

Implementation Agreements. Additionally, we have reintroduced interop testing to help users in

real-world implementations.

Strengthening relationships with other bodies: Effective networks today mean interworking

different technologies. To this end, we have strengthened relationships with the ITU, MPLS

Forum, ATM Forum, IETF, and T1S1 on standards work.

Going abroad: The international marketplace brings both new opportunities and new

requirements. Through active work throughout the world, we will address both.


Is Frame Relay still relevant? Absolutely..

Newer, “replacement” technologies are losing their shine and hype as reality sets in:

• IP-VPNs: QOS, scalability, and security are still outstanding concerns, and IP-VPN

market size is only a fraction of FR’s.

Overheard at VPNcon: “I’ve spent two days in sessions covering all the stuff I

need to worry about when using IP-VPNs, and in the end it still doesn’t do what

my frame relay network does for me today!”

• Gig Ethernet: Maybe compelling, but still in the super-hype stage.

– Ethernet is cheap today because it is simple. Will it still be cheap after they

build in all the carrier grade features needed to be a real-world solution?

– Fiber access? Interactive week says “Even a decade from now, about 60

percent of the mostly suburban enterprise customers in the US won’t have Gig-

E as an option, …”

Both have their application, but do they replace FR? Not for now


Is Frame Relay still relevant? Absolutely..

FR today and in the future:

• Frame relay as a service – reasserting itself today

– $12B market today and continuing to grow with a CAGR in the range of 20% - strong

continuing revenues for at least next 3-5 years with MPLS-backbone L2 VPNs probably

extending this.

– Latest research and experience indicates that Layer 2 VPNs are still the best solution

for all but the smallest enterprises due to scalability, security and reliability reasons.

• Frame relay as an access technology

– Frame relay as the UNI into new backbone technologies (ie. ATM today, MPLS

tomorrow)

– Frame relay access to the Internet

– #1 choice for access technology to network-based IP-VPNs

In both cases, we are well specified for bandwidths from DS0 through NxDS1 (MFR) to optical,

meeting the customers’ need for speed in today’s growing networks!


Frame Relay Challenges Going Forward

Continue evolution as an access method: Speed increases, and the desire to

reduce costs will be two dominant themes. MFR (FRF.15, 16) for cost effective

NxDS1service, and FRF.1.2 which provides for automatic router configuration are

previous examples of this type of our standards work.

Interface with new backbone technologies: Just as interworking with ATM drove

much of the FR growth of the 90s, interworking with MPLS and other backbones

will be the base for FR’s future.

Continue to help end users make the right decision: In the world of hype we work

in, it’s often difficult for a customer to know what is best for him. We’ll continue

our tradition of giving pragmatic, frank advice to help customers understand if

and when frame is a good solution for their needs.


Frame Relay Forum and the ITU

FRF and ITU SG 17 are kicking off off a series of new initiatives

We believe there is great strength in bringing together the experience, talents and insights of our

respective organizations.

Planned work items:

• Question 2/17 (Network Performance and quality of service in data communication networks)

• X.14FRMM: on Frame Relay Measurement Methods (links closely with FRF.19 on OA&M)

• X.14FRIP: performance of IP on FR and FR interworked with IP

• Question 5/17 (Interfaces and signalling for DTEs and public networks using or providing

frame relay services), this includes X.36, X.76 and Q.933 enhancements

• Potential revisions to I.620

• Interest in harmonization of Frame Relay Forum IAs and ITU-T Recommendations


The Future of the Frame Relay Forum Key message: Continuing strong commitment to the industry and its customers

Three main thrusts:

• Major future development needs will be between technologies, not within

technologies. With this in mind, we will continue to strengthen our relationship

with other forums and standards bodies to insure effective interoperation

between protocols and technologies.

• Our members and industry values the educational and marketing mission of the

Forum, and we will enhance these efforts through work with industry-leading

experts and writers.

• We will enhance the strategic value of membership in the FRF through not only

our formal technical and marketing committees, but also through more

opportunities for company networking and visibility. For More Information Contact:

Frame Relay Forum39355 California Street, Ste 307Fremont, CA 94538+1.510.608.5920http://www.frforum.com

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