Emerging WAN Technologies

Frame Relay
Multiprotocol Label
Switching
(MPLS)

Frame relay is a telecommunication
service designed for cost-efficient
data transmission for intermittent
traffic between LANs and between
end-points in a WAN
Frame relay is based on the older
X.25 packet-switching technology,
but unlike X.25, frame relay is a fast
packet technology
It relays packets at the Data Link layer
of the OSI model rather than at the
Network layer.
Frame relay puts data in a frame and
leaves any necessary error correction
up to the end-points to speed up the
data transmission.
MPLS is a mechanism in high-
performance telecommunications
networks that directs data from one
network node to the next based on
short path labels rather than long
network addresses.
Data packets are assigned labels.

MPLS works by prefixing packets with
an MPLS header, containing one or
more labels.
Advantages

Frame Relay
Multiprotocol Label
Switching
(MPLS)

Frame Relay reduces network costs
by using less equipment, less
complexity, and an easier
implementation.
Virtual circuit provides considerable
flexibility in network design. In Frame
Relay, the end of each connection has
a number to identify it.
With MPLS, the carrier handles WAN
routing.

MPLS makes it easy to interconnect
sites with each other to handle traffic
patterns.
Disadvantages

Frame Relay
Multiprotocol Label
Switching
(MPLS)

Frame Relay does not support voice.


Frame relay wont work well unless it
is used in an environment where the
endpoints are intelligent and the
transmission facilities are of high
speed and qualities.
Consumer-grade Internet services
can be spotty, both in service quality,
where the service is working, but
poorly, or outright availability, where
there's an outage.
An MPLS network does not offer any
inherent data protection and
improper implementation can open
your network to vulnerabilities