Yankee Group: A Special Year 2000 Predictions Edition
IP VPN Overturning the Base of Frame Relay?: It'll Never Happen in the United States
The much-ballyhooed mass exodus to IP virtual private network services from frame relay services never occurs. Working in frame relay's favor is sooner-than-expected implementation of the Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) protocol, which provides functionality that allows frame relay to hold on to customers with large mesh networks, and new Internet gateways that allow frame relay to compete effectively for dial-up business. In addition, Web and back-office hosting services turn out to be as big a boon for frame relay services as they are for IP services, as the first wave of hosted applications are more intranet- than extranet-centric.