Frame Relay Standards

Frame Relay is a standardized wide-area network (WAN) technology that operates at the data link layer of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model. The Frame Relay technology has been standardized by the International Telecommunications Union-Telecommunications Standardization Sector (ITU-T) and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).

The ITU-T standard is known as Q.933 and the ANSI standard is known as T1.617. These standards define the protocol, frame format, and the services provided by the Frame Relay network. They also define the physical and data link layer specifications for the Frame Relay network.

Frame Relay uses a virtual circuit (VC) concept to provide a connection-oriented service between two devices on the network. The VC provides a logical connection between the devices, and data is transmitted across the network in frames.

There are two types of virtual circuits used in Frame Relay:

Permanent Virtual Circuits (PVCs): These are pre-configured virtual circuits that are permanently established between two devices. PVCs are used for data transfer between devices that communicate regularly.

Switched Virtual Circuits (SVCs): These are temporary virtual circuits that are established on demand between two devices. SVCs are used for data transfer between devices that communicate infrequently.

Frame Relay networks are commonly used to connect local area networks (LANs) together over a wide geographic area. This allows organizations to connect multiple locations to form a wide-area network (WAN).