Irvine, California-based Sync Research Inc has announced Release 2 of its FrameNode product family that is said to provide new capabilities for SNA and local network internetworking over Frame Relay. Specifically, the new options are said to include LANrelay and LINKrelay, for connecting client-server local network applications and non-SNA host applications respectively over a Frame Relay wide area network, and new Simple Network Management Protocol management modules. Using source-route and spanning tree algorithms, LANrelay and LINKrelay are said to provide protocol handling, filtering and destination determination for protocols including NetBIOS, Internet Protocol and Internet Package Exchange, and are aimed at users wanting to consolidate branch local nets and SNA nets over Frame Relay. The new SNMP support is said to provide a complete SNMP agent within the FrameNode. The company also announced enhancements to the FrameNode’s core software including priority-dependent queuing and transport over Frame Relay; FrameLink, said to provide a point-to-point link for dial back-up applications and Frame Relay concentration; and Frame Relay congestion control including FECN, BECN and DE-bit support. Release 2 is available for the company’s 100, 200, and 400 series boundary systems. Prices starts at $1,900 for the FN100 series, which is said to provide Frame Relay communications for a single SDLC/SNA or a 3270/BSC controller.
