Re: MPTN/Anynet... on V4R1

[Jim Langston <jlangston@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

That would probably do it, and is probably on par with
the Perle equipment, but from some rag I was reading,
IBM is selling all their networking hardware to Cisco.

If you go the IBM route not only will you be paying way
more than you should, but a few years from now you are
going to have to get support from Cisco instead of IBM.

Basically, there are myriad ways you can do this.  IBM,
Perle, Motorola, Cisco, Micom are the ones I know off
the top of my head that all basically do the same thing.

Some better than others, some more flexible than others,
some cheaper than others.

What I had done was I got quotes for equipment to do
SNA over frame relay from Perle, Cisco, Motorola and
Micom and compared features .vs. price.

Believe it or not, you can buy a solution for all your sites
for $5000 that does everything, and then some (Motorola)
or pay $10000+ for one site that does only what you need
it to and is not expandable at all.  When Micom got over
$12,000 for the box for my corporate headquarters that only
did SNA and IP over frame relay I thanked them and hung
up, I didn't even bother to find out how much it would cost for
the equipment for my remote sites.

This is a huge disparity between prices.  I don't know why.
But it exists.

What you need to do is find out from IBM how much this
2218 Nways® FRAD is, and what it can do.  Does it do
IP?  IPX? (not that you would probably want to do IPX,
only if you currently use it on your network).  Does it do
SNA emulation on client and server sides to reduce
bandwidth usage (such as Motorola does) or does it send
all the SNA traffic over the network?  Will it do Dedicated
(such as T1) instead of Frame Relay?  DSL?  If you have
electronic phone systems, will it do voice over IP?

You need to find out:
1. Everything thing you need to send over the Frame Relay
    Wire and whether the equipment handles it.
2. Everything you may wish to send over the wire tomorrow.
    Is the equipment going to be able to handle it, or are you
    going to have to get a new device to upgrade, or replace
    it a year from now?
3. Are you firm set on Frame Relay, or is it possible that a
    few years from now when the next cheaper, faster and
    better thing comes along are you going to want to switch?
    If you do have the possibility of switching, will this equipment
    be able to handle it?  Such as Motorlla, you swap a card
    and it can Frame Relay, DSL, dedicated, or whatever the
    latest and greatest is.  At a lot cheaper price than buying
    new equipment.
4. How difficult is this thing to set up?  And how much is it going
    to cost you to get it setup and installed?  And how hard is it
    going to be to make any needed changes in the future?
5. How much does this thing cost, and is it worth it?

I hope I gave you some good food for thought.

Regards,

Jim Langston

Chuck Lewis wrote:

> Thanks Jim,
>
> The more we talk here, the more things change :-)
>
> Hey, I was just on IBM's web site TRYING to find an ethernet nic for our 620
> (still trying... grrrrr...) but did run across the "The IBM 2218 Nways® Frame
> Relay Access Device (FRAD)" that " interconnects devices and hosts across a 
>Frame
> Relay or local area network (LAN). It channels SNA, SSC, asynchronous and
> multiprotocol LAN traffic into a single Frame Relay PVC. The 2218 eliminates 
>the
> need for separate wide are network (WAN) links for legacy LAN traffic.
>
> Where would this fit in ? Any idea ?
>
> Thanks !
>
> Chuck

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