At 08:28 PM 2/13/96 -0500, you wrote:

>I've also been discussing frame relays vs. dedicated lines, and am having
>trouble both understanding, and explaining to my fellow team members what it
>is I am being told.
>
>Is there anyone who can crunch the necessary information into readily
>understandable form that I can forward to my people. It will also help me
>understand the ins and outs of taking on this enormous task.
>
>Thanks
>Arik Hesseldahl
>The Idaho State Journal

Here are a few things I can think of real quick:

1.   Speed

     A.  Your provider

     You will only get a fast connection to the Internet if your ISP has the
bandwidth
     to adequately provide it.  For instance, my French facility has an ISP,
Olean,
     who has 384Kbs CIR line to the US Internet.  Olean is selling everybody
leased lines and
     ISDN access.  Their circuit is so overloaded that a 64kbs ISDN link is
slower than a modem
     line.

     In contrast, I run a T1 to a private T3 that then connects to the CoREN
NAPs at Palo Alto, 
     Chicago and Boston.  I used to have a Frame Relay connection but when I
needed a bigger pipe 
     we opted for the dedicated T1 into Chicago based on cost and
performance issues.

     B.   Your applications

     Apps do run faster - to a point.  I have found that I rarely see one
app come close to utilizing over
     256kbs due to inherent inefficiencies in the Internet itself and the
protocols used.  What I do find is
     that I can support MORE of the same apps running simultaneously without
any one app/client/server
     suffering speed degradation due to bandwidth limitations.   In my case,
I have two web servers, an FTP 
     server, an SMTP e-mail gateway, newsgroup feeds, around 40 netscape
clients, etc.

2.   Frame Relay, 56Kbs and T1's

     A.     56Kbs and T1's (1.54Mbs)

     These are leased lines with point-to-point connections.  You have a
fixed charge and there isn't much
     of an upgrade path.  If you start with a 56kbs line, try to buy
equipment that can scale to T1 speeds.
     If you buy a CSU/DSU for a 56kbs line only, it will not support the
larger T1.  The biggest thing I'd
     point out is that these are fixed costs.  You pay to run the line from
the ISP to your demark point,
     which is your network closet.

     Someone may ask you about running a T3 (45mbs), but do these things to
counter this:
          1.   Ask your ISP what their connection is.
          2.   Ask your ISP what the majority of the Internet is?
          3.   Ask your ISP what most of the backbones are (they're mostly
T3's right now)
          4.   Ask any ISP if they can support a T3 feed and what the cost
would be.
          5.   Ask your telco how much a T3 to the ISP would be.
          6.   Ask how much will the hardware cost.
     It gets very expensive very fast.  There are groups out there with
fractional T3, microwave,
     and other high-speed connections, but there aren't a lot of them
relatively speaking.  My point
     isn't to rule out T3's just to warn you that they get very expensive.

     B.     Frame Relay

     Does your ISP have a Frame Relay connection?  If so, all you may need
to buy is a leased line to the
     same telco's closest POP (point of presence) and then the port and
PVC's.  You see, with Frame Relay
     you pay for a local access loop (in my case a T1 to my Telco (this
isn't my Internet feed by the way),
     a port (which is the maximum speed you can burst up to) and a PVC (a
permanent virtual circuit which
     sets your path between sites and the comitted information rate (CIR)
for your link.  Since I am running
     Frame Relay to my other sites, I must also then pay to run a T1 from
the telco's closest POP to them
     to their site.  I have found Frame Relay to be cheap and effective.
You can get a lot of worthwhile
     info on Frame Relay from MCI and LDDS WorldCom.  There's also info to
be had on the Internet.  Go to
     http://techweb.cmp.com/techweb/cw/current/
     At the bottom of the page is a menu option to do searches and search
the Communications Week Archives 
     for the 1/16/96 edition where there is are several good articles on
Frame Relay.

     In the case of Frame Relay, you have fixed costs on the leased line(s)
and port(s), depending on the
     telco they may have a price range of a minimum charge when you stay
at/below CIR and then a additonal 
     charges up to a maximum when you burst past the CIR to the port (MCI is
this way).

     As far as I remember, all of the telcos can/should provide you with
management reports to let you
     see your network utilization.  Based on this info, you can scale your
PVC's either up or down and
     thus reduce your costs.

     By the way, Frame can scale to T1 speeds right now and I here they are
working on maybe extending that 
     spec.  However, telcos, such as MCI, are working on moving migration
paths from Frame to ATM 
     (Asynchronous Transfer Mode).  With ATM you could go up to 100Mbs.
     

3.   How do you choose?

     Talk to your ISP and find what they support and/or recommend.  If they
are too small to help, consider
     moving to a big national ISP, like BBN Planet, MCI, etc.  What kind of
connection does the ISP have to
     the Internet and can they realistically support your size of
connection?  What will they guarantee in
     writing?  I'd talk to some groups like MCI, BBN Planet, UU Net, Sprint,
etc. to get cost comparisons.  
     They will all dicker on the costs and do things like waiving some
charges, etc.

     Decide the on the level of performance you need and then compare the
different methods in terms of
     cost per megabyte and the rate at which a megabyte can move (which
should be determined in your 
     performance needs).  Do you need scalability (Frame Relay)? What are
the startup costs? What are the
     monthly charges?  Will the telco/provider guarantee a service level?
Who provides what hardware?

     Brainstorm and come up with a list of questions to ask all of the
vendors you talk to.  Get references
     and call them.  Try and find out who those people talked to and call
them (in other words try and
     develop some leads in addition to the ones the vendors give you).


I don't want to post a huge message to on-line news, but I hope this helps some.

- --G--
     
George Spafford
Interlink Publishing
501 Colonial Drive
Saint Joseph, MI 49085
USA

http://www.execpc.com/~il

(The views expressed probably aren't my own and certainly aren't my employer's)


------------------------------

End of online-news-digest V1 #518
*********************************


From owner-online-news-digest@marketplace.com Thu Feb 15 10:24:32 1996
Received: from marketplace.com (majordom@marketplace.com [199.45.128.10]) by cnj.digex.net (8.6.12/8.6.12) with ESMTP id KAA26667 ; for ; Thu, 15 Feb 1996 10:24:29 -0500