Network Equipment Technologies Inc has finally made its entrance into the Frame Relay arena, with the announcement that it has produced Frame Relay options for its IDNX PX family of integrated packet-switching modules, and its SPX multiplexers. The Redwood City, California company’s strategy is to offer existing customers – which it says will be the main targets for the new facility – the option to upgrade to Frame Relay while protecting their investment in existing equipment. The IDNX Frame Relay Exchange product is aimed at users wanting enterprise Frame Relay networking, while the SPX FrameLink product is designed to provide access into a public or private Frame Relay network from remote company sites. FRX software is downloaded into Network Equipment’s IDNX PX family of packet switching modules, with each PX module offering eight ports for either Data Terminal Equipment, Data Circuit-terminating Equipment or trunk links. Port speeds have a range of 16Kbps to 3Mbps, with a capacity of up to 16 FRX modules on each IDNX, bringing up to 128 Frame Relay ports. This, the firm claims, gives it one of the industry’s highest capacity Frame Relay networking offerings. The company is also claiming that its system provides a higher level of congestion avoidance than competing systems: FRX is claimed to conform to the CCITT/ANSI Frame Relay BECN/FECN standard to provide a high level of resistance, and responds to FECN/BECN congestion notification unlike, the company says, some other products. When this notification is received, it ceases to transmit frames until it gets the all-clear. Also making a strong pitch to IBM Corp SNA users, Network Equipment says that it has been testing FRX interoperability with IBM’s 3745 Communications Controller and 6611 Network Processor. In addition to making sure that the systems can work together, Network Equipment says that the FRX supports IBM’s optional use of the Discard Eligibility-bit for priority of critical SNA network control information. Frame size is another aspect Network Equipment is pushing in its bid for SNA customers: it says that the FRX’s ability to handle very large frames – characteristic of IBM 3745-to-3745 communications – means that fragmentation and reassembly overheads are reduced, optimising performance. With the FrameLink software, Frame Relay capability is brought to the company’s range of SPX statistical multiplexers. It is being pitched particularly at branch offices that do not have the communications volume to justify a full 2Mbps transmission line between remote and central office, and provides 64Kbps or 128Kbps wide area links, with up to 128 Frame Relay virtual circuits and one-to-four Frame Relay trunks per SPX system. It also offers 72 channels for asynchronous and synchronous devices plus an optional Ethernet local net interface. List price for the FRX ranges from UKP4,265 to UKP5,470 depending on configuration, while the SPX base unit with FrameLink software starts at UKP1,681. The FRX is available now, with the SPX base unit following later in the autumn.
