The Paradyne products focus on off-loading frame relay management, compression and PVC aggregation duties from other equipment.

Don't count on frame relay network management getting any easier. As carriers introduce service options, you'll discover more complex performance measurement problems. PVC priority services, such as those offered by MCI and Sprint, introduce a new class of higher-performing PVCs--for an additional cost, of course. Switched virtual circuits (SVCs) will provide any-to-any connectivity, reducing network hops and providing a better fit for real-time services. But billin g for SVCs is likely to be based on usage, creating an urgent need for traffic accounting in frame relay networks. Expert analysis tools that can recommend introducing a PVC, reducing CIR, or moving to SVCs, for example, will be difficult to find but definitely needed.

David Willis can be reached at dwillis@nwc.com.

Writing The Perfect Contract With the heated competition among frame relay service providers, you can afford to take a hard line when shopping for services. After all, it's your applications that are at risk when the carrier falls down. · Establish common metrics for performance guarantees. This could be as simple as router-to-router pings taken every hour, Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) data collected every 15 minutes, or output from element managers running from sophisticated probes. · Push for performance guarantees, even if the provider doesn't advertise them. · Determine how carriers calculate Committed Information Rate (CIR). How frequently are burst measurements taken? · Consider remote probes when accurate performance measurement is vital. · Don't pay for monthly utilization reports. Most service providers don't provide you with fine-grained detail anyway. Insist on regular and ad hoc reports, in both hard copy and electronic form, as a standard part of your agreement. · Pay little attention to published fees, such as tariffs filed with the FCC. Use the RFP process to shop for services, and negotiate terms for your own network. · Bundle the frame relay contract w ith other services, such as long-distance and pr ivate-line service. · Think beyond performance. Mean time to repair, new circuit provisioning lead times and responsiveness at the helpdesk are critical, too.

Updated September 8, 1997