Content area
Full Text
Tekelec and Illuminet, formerly ITN and US Intelco Networks, have developed an improved method for transmitting signaling system 7 (SS7) information via frame relay. The companies' frame relay access device (FRAD) can reduce recurring transmission costs for SS7 facilities by as much as 30 percent, reported the product's developers at last month's SuperComm show....Significant Cost Savings The FRAD uses a patented algorithm that eliminates redundant data, including as much as 96 percent of the "stay alive" packets used by SS7 to maintain link reliability. SS7 circuits inherently use 100 percent of available bandwidth, topping off data messages with "stay alive" filler packets. Because frame relay circuits bill by committed information rate (CIR), independent of distance, the elimination of stay alive packets introduces significant cost savings. A standard SS7 link is 56 Kilobits per second (Kbps). The use of frame relay allows carriers to maintain CIRs as low as 4.8 Kbps, reported Bruce Johnson, vice president, operation and engineering at Illuminet.