Newsgroups: comp.dcom.sys.cisco
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!uunet!math.fu-berlin.de!fauern!faui43.informatik.uni-erlangen.de!eckert
From: eckert@immd4.informatik.uni-erlangen.de (Toerless Eckert)
Subject: Re: Frame Relay?
Message-ID: <1991Jun7.161935.11735@informatik.uni-erlangen.de>
Organization: CSD., University of Erlangen, Germany
References: <35723@boulder.Colorado.EDU>
Date: Fri, 7 Jun 1991 16:19:35 GMT
Lines: 34

From article <35724@boulder.Colorado.EDU>, by forster@cisco.com (Jim Forster):
> 
>>> This all depends heavily on how much frame relay costs.  So this benefit,
>>> plus the use of a single outbound interface to interconnect multiple routers
>>> (as suggested by Beach) are the major pluses.
> 
> Greg, Linda, and others,
> 
[...]
> The advantages that I seen in FR are that it allows completely flexible
> addresses, because it does level-2 switching.

The other advantage (or disadvantage) is that the frame relay network
will most probably be run by a commercial provider for the whole
frame relay net, whereas in the case of leased lines you'll have
to control all active parts in your net. So it's mostly a different
way of splitting the administrative responsibilities. It is not very
different from an X.25 net in this respect - you can build up
you're own X.25 net by only leased lines, but you really don't want
to, you'll only use a PDN if you can't afford the leased lines, or the
traffic characteristic does not make leased lines necessary - I think
this will compare very well with frame relay, because if you build up
your own frame relay net, it will be more expensive due to the
frame relay switches that you have to buy (or cisco implements
frame relay switching - how about it ?)

P.S.: (X.25 has useless overhead for the LAN interconnect purpose,
       that's why they invented frame relay)

---

             Toerless.Eckert@informatik.uni-erlangen.de
    /C=de/A=dbp/P=uni-erlangen/OU=informatik/S=Eckert/G=Toerless
             bandwidth - the final frontier.