Sprint Offering Frame Relay Over DSL Services

Customer demand for cost-efficient primary and alternate transport services led the carrier to develop a frame relay over DSL solution, said Larry Denayer, manager of frame relay and ATM product management at Sprint, Overland Park, Kan.

"DSL has also finally gotten to the point that it can provide business-class services, but primarily it's a cost-efficient solution for businesses' main service needs and remote sites," Denayer said.

Unlike other DSL services, Sprint's FroDSL service never touches the Internet, he said. FRoDSL is an end-to-end Layer 2 solution that uses DSL to gain access from a customer's premise location to Sprint's frame relay network.

Sprint is offering both an IDSL symmetric service and an SDSL symmetric service. The company is targeting about 40 percent to 60 percent of its customer base--those that are seeking speeds higher than 56 Kbps for IP-based applications, Denayer said.

The services are expected to be available via the channel by the third quarter of this year. Sprint is currently rolling out the solution via retail outlets.