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Frame Relay

Overview

Verizon Frame Relay Service can meet most any government organization's varied data transmission and bandwidth needs with a reliable, standards-based, state-of-the-art service. And it offers cost savings, too. You can expect high levels of availability, flexibility, and outstanding performance from Frame Relay Service.

Frame Relay Service is a good choice for data applications that have wide connectivity and bursty traffic characteristics. It can also be used for a variety of traditional private line applications. When combined with Verizon's innovative pricing structure, Frame Relay Service can offer economy and efficiency that is not possible using dedicated lines or slower speed packet services currently on the market. Verizon's Frame Relay Service provides access speeds from 28.8 Kbps to 12 Mbps.

Verizon's Frame Relay Service also offers the following features:

  • A high average throughput, a low average latency, and the ability to sustain bursts above the Committed Information Rate.
  • Verizon’s network design may allow you to preserve your investment in existing technology.
  • A full OC-3/OC-12 backbone architecture with the capacity to meet any government organization’s growing demands.

With its efficient use of bandwidth, industry leading technology, and innovative pricing structure, Frame Relay Service offers our customers important benefits in a number of key areas:

  • Great Traffic Handling. Frame Relay Service allows unlimited continuous burst capability up to port speed. Verizon's frame relay network is engineered to handle all of your traffic based on the aggregate of all your access port speeds. Under normal conditions, this ensures that all traffic will be passed by the network, even frames that are marked Discard Eligible (DE).
  • Seamless Migration. Verizon Business knows you need to embrace the latest technology when it becomes available. But you also want to protect your investment in existing equipment and environments. To this end, Verizon Business offers N x DS1 Frame Relay and Frame Relay to ATM Service Interworking. The goal is to provide a seamless migration path with compatibility.
  • Scalability. Verizon Business recognizes the importance of your ever-changing environment and has designed Frame Relay Service to support the growth within government organizations. Its robust architecture provides scalability for seamless migration to other broadband services and technologies such as ATM.

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Features

Verizon Business offers outstanding features in its Frame Relay Service to ensure that the service stays unsurpassed. For example, we offer a wide range of access options, a variety of types of Permanent Virtual Circuits, a comprehensive traffic handling capability, and standard packages for Disaster Recovery. Thanks to these features, government organizations may see faster response times, higher throughput for given port and CIR combinations, the ability to sustain bursts above the CIR, and smaller latency delays.

PVCs and CIRs
Verizon Business offers many types of Permanent Virtual Circuits (PVC) to meet your varied needs. Your Account Team will work closely with you to evaluate and define the optimal Committed Information Rates (CIRs) for your application. And if your requirements change, Verizon Business can normally make changes to the CIR within three working days.

A PVC is a duplex communications path defined between two access/egress ports. Access circuit numbers are used to differentiate between the two circuit ends of the PVC. A count of error-free megabytes delivered is associated with the access circuit number of the originating circuit end of the PVC. All PVC attributes are simplex and are typically discussed from the point of view of the source end of the circuit. The ability to assign PVC attributes on a simplex basis means that your organization can support asymmetrical bandwidth needs. A good example of a highly asymmetrical application is the typical client/server configuration. Client requests may be very small (e.g., 64 bytes), but the requested file from the server may be several megabytes. Frame Relay Service offers the ability to tailor your network to meet those differing needs with an accompanying economic benefit.

Verizon Business offers two types of PVCs: Fixed CIR, and Zero CIR. CIR PVCs have a fixed monthly charge associated with a fixed amount of bandwidth. Zero CIR is priced based on delivery of traffic designated as Discard Eligible.

  • Fixed-Rate PVCs. You pay a fixed monthly charge for a fixed amount of bandwidth, regardless of PVC traffic volume. This approach is of maximum benefit to applications requiring a fixed-cost structure.
  • Zero CIR PVCs. All frames carried over Zero CIR PVCs are marked Discard Eligible. This approach is best suited to low-volume transmission needs, or applications that perform well in a lower priority transmission environment.

Traffic Handling
Under normal conditions, all traffic will pass through the Verizon network, including frames marked DE. Most other competitive frame relay services in the United States do not have this capability. Instead, frames exceeding the CIR get stored in buffers and do not get transmitted until time slots on the PVC permit. Moreover, many other frame relay services drop any further bursting until the buffers have the capability to accept more information. Because Verizon's network does not suffer from this "flattening out" of bursts, it can provide faster response times and higher network throughput.

An important feature of our frame network is its ability to burst to full port speed at all times. Bursting is limited only by the smaller of the access circuit or the port speed. Frames presented to the network at speeds above the CIR (up to the access port speed) during a measurements period are marked Discard Eligible. DE frames may be discarded under conditions of severe congestion (such as that caused by outages on the network, unusually heavy traffic conditions, or incorrectly engineered access and egress ports); otherwise, DE frames are treated the same as CIR frames.

Frame Relay Service supports a maximum information field size of 4096 octets. This size maintains the balance between accurate error detection and large user frame support (to minimize UNI/AAF (CPE) overhead processing for segmentation and re-assembly).
 
Multiple Access Options
Verizon Business offers a variety of dedicated- and dial-access options, enabling government organizations to create a single enterprise network.

Dedicated Access Options. Verizon Business offers general commercial availability for high-speed access (NxDS1) at speeds higher than T1 for frame relay service. Available access speeds range from 3 Mbps to 12 Mbps. Combined with the ability to burst up to the full port speed and an OC-3 Frame Relay Service backbone, Verizon Business assures our customers of consistently high throughput for their data traffic.

In addition to NxDS1, Verizon Business' dedicated access options include 56 Kbps, fractional T1, and T1. To help gain maximum efficiency, Frame Relay Service supports Verizon's Digital Gateway options. T1 Digital Gateway allows you to allocate any part of the access T1 bandwidth in DS0 increments to different Verizon Business services. The DS0s may be configured in a channelized (56 Kbps) or clear channel (64 Kbps) formats. Government organizations may access Frame Relay Service at port speeds ranging from 56 Kbps to 12.288 Mbps.

Within the limits of the access circuits ordered and provisioned for each PVC, Frame Relay Service provides bandwidth on demand for each transmission. This approach supports the bursty nature of the traffic generated by your organization's data network environment.

Dial Access Options. Dial access services provide government organizations with cost-effective high-speed dial-up for fixed location sites with less frequent connectivity needs. Verizon Business offers a full line of dial access options under our Remote Access family of products, including SW56 and 64 Kbps/ISDN BRI for remote sites or mobile workers.

Verizon Remote Access Services. Remote Access Services extends the reach of Frame Relay Service by bringing private network capability to remote sites through the public network. This product family includes:

  • Switched Digital Services (SDS): Digital dial-up for the government branch office router

Inherent Security

Frame Relay Service is inherently secure. Data will not be routed to a location that is not defined as being on your organization's network. Verizon Business will work with you to ensure the integrity and security of all data traversing the Verizon network. Frame Relay Service has the following security components:

  • Frame Relay Service Security
  • Physical Network Security
  • Proactive Monitoring

Frame Relay Service Security
Frame Relay Service provides the same level of network security as private lines. Verizon Business enters the connectivity information (i.e., PVCs) into your Network Management System (NMS). The NMS makes the appropriate entries in the routing tables in our network switches. The data is then routed across the network via a primary route. In the event that a route is unavailable, the network automatically establishes alternate routes.

Data can transmit only between pre-established PVCs identified by Data Link Connection Identifier (DLCI) markers that appear in the frame headers. Each customer may specify the DLCIs to use for each direction of a PVC, or request that Verizon Business assign the DLCIs. Once the DLCI is assigned to an access port, the Verizon Business switch sends a response message to your UNI/AAF (CPE), indicating its existence.

The customer's UNI/AAF (CPE) will pull the assigned DLCI for the new PVC into its routing table; go through the remote address discovery protocol; and set up a relationship in the UNI/AAF (CPE) tables between the DLCI and your internal address. This process ensures proper end-to-end data routing. Network Management Systems will allow you to monitor and control access across your network.

Verizon Physical Network Security
Verizon Business' experience in protected services and in interfacing multiple technologies allows us to respond quickly to our customer's need for reliable, survivable, protected telecommunications services. Verizon Business supports Frame Relay Service with a fiber-optic backbone, which provides you with a high level of physical network security because fiber-optic cable is virtually impossible to tap.

Verizon Business employs digital bulk encryption modems on 100 percent of our digital microwave links traversing wide areas surrounding New York City, Washington, D.C., Salt Lake City, and San Francisco. Within these zones, fiber-optic cable and wire transmission media also offer protected services. Outside these areas, non-microwave facilities provide protected services. This mix of protected technologies enhances the robustness and survivability of the Verizon network and helps provide you with protected services during normal and emergency situations.
 
Proactive Monitoring
Verizon Business constantly monitors the health of our network. Anytime your Frame Relay Service port appears to be down (i.e. LMI is not received) for ten consecutive minutes, Verizon Business will proactively:

  • Open a trouble ticket
  • Non-invasively attempt to isolate and resolve the problem
  • Notify you within 60 minutes of the loss of service by calling the customer operational contact and provide the trouble ticket information
  • Follow the standard trouble management procedures established in Network Services Trouble Handling Standards (NSTHS) used by Verizon Business Customer Service

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Access

Dedicated Access
Verizon Business offers general commercial availability of high-speed access (NxDS1) at speeds higher than T1 for frame relay service. Available access speeds range from 3 Mbps to 12 Mbps. Combined with the ability to burst up to the full port speed and an OC-3 Frame Relay Service backbone, Verizon Business ensures consistently high throughput of your data traffic.

In addition to NxDS1, Verizon's dedicated access options include 56 Kbps, fractional T1, and T1. To help gain maximum efficiency, Frame Relay Service supports Verizon's Digital Gateway options. T1 Digital Gateway allows you to allocate any part of the access T1 bandwidth in DS0 increments to different Verizon Business services. The DS0s may be configured in a channelized (56 Kbps) or clear channel format (64 Kbps). Frame Relay Service may be accessed at the following port speeds:

  • 56/64 Kbps
  • 112/128 Kb
  • 224/256 Kbps
  • 336/384 Kbps
  • 448/512 Kbps
  • 672/768 Kbps
  • 896/1024 Kbps
  • 1.344/1.536 Mbps
  • 3.072 Mbps
  • 4.608 Mbps
  • 6.144 Mbps
  • 7.68 Mbps
  • 9.216 Mbps
  • 10.752 Mbps
  • 12.288 Mbps

Within the limits of the access circuits ordered and provisioned for each PVC, Frame Relay Service provides bandwidth on demand for each transmission. This approach supports the bursty nature of the traffic generated by your data network environment.
 
Dial Access
Dial access services provide government organizations with cost-effective, high-speed dial-up for fixed location sites with less frequent connectivity needs. Verizon Business offers a full line of dial-access options under our Remote Access family of products, including SW56 and 64 Kbps/ISDN BRI for remote sites or mobile workers.
 
Remote Access Services.
Remote Access Services extends the reach of Frame Relay Service by bringing private network capability to remote sites through the public network. This product family includes:

  • Switched Digital Services (SDS): Digital dial-up for the branch office router

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Network and Technical Specifications

Architecture: Frame Relay Service has a three-tiered, network architecture. The first tier consists of Customer Gateways (CGs), which are edge switches with large numbers of ports providing direct frame relay access to your organization. The second tier is composed of frame relay Backbone switches (BBs), chosen for their high speed performance that are strategically located at major Verizon Business fiber junctions. The third tier handles Verizon's internal bulk transport requirements utilizing ATM and SONET networking to interconnect frame relay backbone switches with the highest level of reliability possible.

All edge Customer Gateways are connected to the Backbone Nodes through 12.0 Mbps and higher circuits or via dual FDDI rings (Fiber Distributed Data Interface rings, each operating at 100 Mbps). Also, to prevent switch isolation, every CG and each BB switch is connected to at least two other switches via dual and diverse routes. The use of 100 Mbps FDDI rings, along with its hot swapping capabilities in the Customer Gateways, allows us to add new switches without disrupting existing switches or customer traffic.

The Backbone infrastructure is highly diverse and redundant. BBs are interconnected to each other via FDDI rings and connected, via dual OC-3 (155 Mbps) circuits, to both the collocated ATM Newbridge® Switches. The Newbridge® MainStreet Xpress 36170 multi-services switch offers interfaces ranging from speeds lower than T1 up to OC-12. It can scale up to 50 Gbps and provide more than 6,000 ports and up to 15 OC-12 interfaces.

Switch Capabilities: The BNX has a number of features, which enable Verizon Business to offer one of the industry's premier frame relay services. The BNX uses a highly efficient software architecture that distributes forwarding, filtering, accounting, and management functions to multiple processors. This architecture allows frames to pass directly from inbound to outbound interfaces without passing through a Central Processing Unit (CPU) switching module. Performance is significantly improved by using this method. The BNX also features extensive hot-swap capabilities — even while the switch is operational for maximum system availability. In addition, a software process could fail independently without affecting the operation of other processes. The switch operating system will automatically isolate the failed software process without disrupting other functions.

Routing: Routing is accomplished through the network via IP and using OSPF. When a frame comes into the network, it is encapsulated into an IP datagram. Once a packet enters the network, all route functions are done at the IP layer. Unlike proprietary routing (switching) solutions that most other FR switch vendors use, OSPF (Open Shortest Path First) is an international standard routing scheme that is proven to be effective, efficient, and scaleable.

OSPF is a link state-based protocol that allows fast re-routing and network convergence in the event of a circuit outage. The Verizon frame network can reroute around failures automatically in sub-second time frames via OSPF.

Because of the high-speed trunking used in the Verizon frame relay network, there is virtually no performance drop when using an alternate trunk. Having numerous "paths" through the network provides little value if those paths are all low bandwidth links that cause a significant performance drop while in recovery mode. Many of our competitors utilize T1 links in their networks and are faced with the challenge of recovering these low-speed links via multiple diverse paths, a task that becomes increasingly difficult as the network scales. The way we do this is due to our IP Backbone and using OSPF. When a frame comes into the network, it is encapsulated into an IP datagram. Once a packet enters the network, all route functions are done at the IP layer. Because there is a many-to-one relationship between PVCs and IP routes, this allows hundreds of PVCs to be redirected dynamically upon physical failure. We do not have to go back to the source and reroute on a data link connection by connection basis.

The Frame Relay Service infrastructure allows us to offer a service that can pass frame-relay data with all the expected attributes, but also provide for enhanced performance and reliability. The use of IP in conjunction with OSPF enables us to offer extremely high performance levels, network resiliency, and routing efficiencies for your frame relay traffic.

Performance Characteristics: The Verizon frame relay network architecture and its capabilities are important for a number of reasons. Users typically evaluate a carrier's frame relay network performance based upon a few key indicators such as latency (delay) encountered and maximum throughput obtained. Latency is important since protocols are susceptible to variations in latency and because delay becomes noticeable to end-users. Throughput is important because it is a measure of overall network congestion. Verizon Business customers are offered a frame network that sustains bursting above CIR and has a low latency average.

Sophisticated Remote Management and Diagnostics: Frame Relay Service also has very sophisticated remote management and diagnostic capabilities. Verizon's Data Network Operations Center (DNOC) staff can remotely access various equipment within the node and perform any necessary management functions. The DNOC can even change configuration parameters by issuing SNMP commands while the switch is online.

Strategy to Combat Congestion: The number of nodes a frame will pass through, including entry and egress nodes, is minimally three and no more than five. The maximum delay in each node is two milliseconds. Verizon Business' strategy for minimizing delays and congestion on the network is two-pronged:

  • Use of OSPF routing algorithms to ensure datagrams always use the most efficient available path through the network
  • A conservative and proactive approach to capacity planning, provisioning, and management

The primary congestion control mechanism for the end-user is the DE marker in the transported data frames. In the unlikely event that data in a network buffer exceeds a pre-established threshold, the data-marked DE will begin to be discarded to avoid congestion.

Forward Explicit Congestion Notification (FECN): The setting of the FECN bit by the Verizon network is an indication that the network will begin to drop frames at the network egress interface if congestion is not alleviated. The FECN bit is set to "1" in the direction of the congestion to notify the receiver that the network is congested (i.e., congestion was experienced in the path from originator to destination). The Verizon network will continue to set the FECN bit to "1" until the congestion situation is eliminated. Once the network congestion is cleared, the FECN bit will no longer be flagged ("0").

Backward Explicit Congestion Notification (BECN): The setting of the BECN bit by the Verizon network is an indication that the network will begin to drop frames at the network egress point if congestion is not alleviated. The BECN bit is set to "1" in the opposite direction of the congestion, to notify the originator that the path toward the intended destination is congested. The Verizon network will continue to set the BECN bit to "1" until the congestion situation is eliminated. Once the network congestion is cleared, the BECN bit will no longer be flagged ("0").

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Invoicing

Verizon's Frame Relay Service is one of the industry's most flexible, highest quality, and cost-effective frame relay service. Verizon Business' pricing structure is appropriate to virtually any frame relay environment, whether deploying a star, mesh, or hybrid network design, and has no limitation on bandwidth requirements.

Pricing Components

  • Ports provide the physical interface into the network and the logical termination of Permanent Virtual Circuits (PVCs) assigned to that port. One port per access facility is required. The port speed must be equal to or greater than the PVC speed for each PVC connected to the port.
  • Permanent Virtual Circuits (PVCs) are logical customer-dedicated communication paths defined between two port connections. Each PVC has a Committed Information Rate (CIR). PVCs are simplex (one-directional). Duplex (two-way) traffic requires the use of two PVCs; however, it is not required that they be of equal CIR speeds. Both usage-based (pending modification) and fixed-pricing options are available for the Permanent Virtual Circuits. Zero CIR PVCs may not be mixed with either Usage or Fixed PVCs to create a duplex PVC. The full range of PVC speeds may be used with High Speed Ports. (Some restrictions may apply.)
  • Committed Information Rate (CIR): The average minimum data rate the network will allocate to the PVC under normal operating conditions.
  • Discard Eligible (DE): Data sent across a PVC in excess of that connecting CIR.
  • Local Access Facilities: For domestic Frame Relay Service, these may be provided by the Local Exchange Carrier and may consist of the following access types.
    • 56/64 Kbps Hubless Digital Access
    • 56 Kbps DDS Access
    • T1 Digital Access (including Fractional T1 Access options)
    • Switched Data (56/64 Kbps and ISDN Basic Rate Interface 64 Kbps only)
    • Digital Private Line Inner-Office Service at speeds of multiples of 56 Kbps or 64 Kbps
    • ISDN PRI

Summary of Charges

Access:
Local Loop

Ports:
A monthly charge based on the port speed
Port Installation Charge
Port Reconfiguration Charge
 
PVC Rates:
Based on choice of PVC: Usage-Based PVC, Fixed Rate PVC and Zero CIR PVC.

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Hardware

You can use a variety of hardware choices and configurations for Frame Relay Service. The key requirement is that your equipment must place your data into frames for transport over the public network. Typical equipment for primary frame relay termination includes CSU/DSU, and router, or FRAD.

Specialized equipment may be needed for support of back-up connectivity based on disaster recovery needs. Switched Digital Services using ISDN, for example, require ISDN termination equipment and/or dial back-up equipment in addition to routers.

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Customer Support

Verizon Business works hard to provide outstanding customer service. Our customer service representatives are available to you 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. So no matter when you need us, we are here. Just call our toll-free number, 1-888-FTS-SVC1 (1-888-387-7821), and we will provide the help you need. We provide support for billing inquiries, invoicing issues and other service-related issues, including centralized trouble-reporting and system administration to efficiently respond to your government organization's needs.

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