Sprint Frame Relay Product Details

Overview | Product Details | Applications | Business Advantages | Service Level Agreements

Product Details

Frame relay is a highly efficient network transport technology because it supports traffic to multiple destinations on a single access line. This reduces customer premises equipment (CPE) and line costs as well as simplifies network management.

How Frame Relay Works
Speed
Quality of Transmission
Hardware Requirements
Performance Reporting
Service Level Agreements

How Frame Relay Works

Data is transmitted via frame relay as follows:

Frame Relay Network

Data travels from your PC, terminal or local area network (LAN) to a router at the originating site, where it is encapsulated into smaller, more manageable units called frames. Each frame contains parts of the original data, in addition to address and error-correction information assigned by the router.
From the router, the data enters the frame relay network that is made of several different network nodes or switches. While in the network, the data travels along predetermined paths called permanent virtual circuits (PVCs).
As a frame reaches the destination site, it travels on the access line to the business' premises, where it enters another router. The router then reorders the frames in sequence, reassembles the original message and forwards it through the LAN to the appropriate destination.

Speed

Frame relay can deliver data transmission speeds of 56 kbps up to 45 Mbps, but service levels are provided through a variety of committed information rates (CIRs). CIRs enable you to specify and subscribe to a minimum rate of data transfer and ensure throughput will not drop below the minimum level you specify. A frame relay network can support a burst above the CIR up to the access line and/or frame relay port speed.

Multiple PVCs, each with different associated CIR values, may be configured for any frame relay access line, (FRAL). FRALs can be obtained at the following speeds:

56 kbps
64 kbps
128 kbps
256 kbps
384 kbps
512 kbps
1.544 Mbps

DS3 access can be provided on an individual case basis.

The number of PVCs defined on a FRAL is dependent on a number of factors:

Application(s)
Traffic profile
Speed of the access channel
User's delay requirements

Quality of Transmission

Frame relay streamlines the error-checking process. En route to its destination, a frame of data may go through several network nodes or switches. Each node checks for errors and drops flawed frames, but the nodes don't request corrections - correction requests come from the final router at the customer premises. This results in higher speeds across the network.

Hardware Requirements

To enable Sprint Frame Relay Service, you must have the following hardware in addition to one frame relay access line from each site to link your business to the Sprint Frame Relay Network:

Channel service unit/data service unit (CSU/DSU) to ensure your equipment and signals match network standards or a frame relay assembler/dissembler.
Router at each destination to send and receive data.

Sprint can provide internetworking equipment from world-class manufacturers for your frame relay network.

Performance Reporting

Sprint Frame Relay Performance Reporting service gives you timely and detailed information on key transport functions to help you evaluate and manage your frame relay network. Two types of reports are updated daily and made available to you on a dedicated password-restricted Website. Both reports can be viewed in daily, weekly or monthly views.

Frame Relay Logical Port (Lport) Utilization Reports provide inbound and outbound utilization statistics, packet discard and error information for logical ports.
Frame Relay PVC Utilization Reports provide inbound and outbound utilization information, CIR, burst and packet discard information for PVCs.

Performance reporting is simple to acquire and easy to use. Reports are accessible via either Microsoft^® Internet Explorer or Netscape^® browsers. Sprint Frame Relay Performance Reporting service can be activated, where available, for a minimal startup cost and a recurring monthly fee.

Service Level Agreements

Sprint offers service level agreements (SLAs) to ensure the quality of your frame relay service is well-defined for the following categories:

Frame delivery - Sustain commited frame delivery rate of 99.9 percent or greater for all committed information rate (CIR) permanent virtual circuits (PVCs).
PVC delay - Maintain 50 to 130 or less millisecond delay as an average, end-to-end, one-way PVC delay based on your class of service.
Port availability - Provide up to 100 percent service availability depending on your type of access.