Motorola Inc’s Codex Corp, as reported briefly (CI No 1,538), has announced a new corporate data networking strategy, emphasising the use of frame relay – a high-speed network access protocol standard for data communications, developed using ISDN standards to provide simple, high performance, bandwidth-efficient, switched data services. Codex says fast packet and frame relay are complementary – the fast packet network provides the routing functions facilitating recovery and support for networks, while the multiplexing operation of frame relay supports a single line interface, reducing hardware port and access line costs. The company has launched frame relay interfaces on its 6290 Fast Packet T1/E1 Multiplexer, and on the 6525 Packet Switch, and has introduced a 6507 Multiprotocol PAD packet assembler-dissembler. It has also committed itself to providing all these and future frame relay products worldwide under the umbrella of the Codex 9800 OSI-based Series Network Management System – designed to manage multiple elements of the wide area network. Codex’s frame relay interface for the 6290 T1/E1 switch enables customers to gain access to high-speed digital networks while providing the benefits of fast packet switching on the network backbone. Codex’s frame relay interface on its 6525 X25 Packet Switch enables packet switching data streams to be fed by the Codex 6500 series of packet switches and packet assembler-dissemblers onto the 6290 fast packet backbone network. This means that customers can build high-performance networks with throughput greater than 30,000 packets-per-second. The 6290 frame relay interface is standards-based – compatible with ANSI and CCITT standards. It also supports the all non-standard enhancements developed by StrataCom to link with third-party local area network bridges, routers and X25 equipment. The 6290, which has just been launched throughout Europe, is offered by Codex through a partnership with Stratacom Inc, Campbell, California, in which Motorola has a 20% equity interest. Since 1987, the T1 version of the 6290 has been sold, installed and maintained by Codex throughout the US. The E1 6290 is now also a de facto standard in a number of European countries including the UK, and will become standardised throughout the rest of the world in 1991. The 6290 interface card set consists of the Frame Relay PAD and a four-port Frame Relay Software Licence per node. These will all be available in the first quarter of 1991 in the US and the third quarter in Europe. Codex says that traditional feeders to E1 networks have required that multiple links be provided between each packet feeder product and the E1 backbone – the number of links being a function of the number of packet feeders used in the hub. By using 6500 series frame relay products in conjunction with the 6290 fast packet backbone, Codex says, the requirement can be reduced to one link per high-speed connection, reducing the number of hardware ports and lines required. The 6525 Frame Relay software can be configured on any high-speed port, and up to 32 logical links can be supported over one physical link. The new 6507 provides multiprotocol data networking conversion onto statistical time division multiplexers, X25, or frame relay-based data networks. As a frame relay PAD, the 6507 can be used to interface asynchronous terminals, SDLC data streams, or X25 data streams to frame relay networks. It is available immediately worldwide, in 6-, 12-, 18-, and 24-port configurations, in Motorola Codex’s Modulus mix-and-match enclosures. The frame relay capability will begin shipping in the first quarter of 1991 as a standard feature. The 6500 series was designed to allow for frame relay capabilities so customers will need only a software upgrade existing 6525 subscribers will get this free of charge. The 6525 and the new 6507 are fully compatible. Commenting on Codex’s interest in frame relay John Thibault, senior vice president of Codex’s product division, said that Codex views frame relay as a technology with great potential benefit to end
users as part of a comprehensive network strategy. Thibault added that banking customers in particular are interested in the 6525 and the &507 products as part of their electronic point-of-sale systems.
