WORLD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION

Current State and Termination Issues of Frame Relay Services  

(Submitted by Tatsuya NOYORI (Japan))

1. Current state of circuits at RTH Tokyo 

Currently, one IP-VPN network and two Frame Relay networks are connected with RTH Tokyo. The IP-VPN network is RMDCN that is served by Orange Business Services. And, one Frame Relay network is served by British Telecom, another Frame Relay network is served by KDDI.      

2. Detailed configuration of the GTS circuits connected with KDDI Frame Relay network 

The detailed configuration of the GTS circuits connected with KDDI Frame Relay network is as follows:    

As can be seen in the figure above, the network is complicated. Centres are connected with their own Frame Relay network and have a contract with their own carriers. 

3. Trend of Frame Relay services 

JMA was advised by KDDI, that it planed to discontinue its Frame Relay Network Service.  As shown in the previous section, the network is very complex, thus it is not simple to migrate to a good alternate. JMA has investigated any possibilities to find a good solution.  It is essential that the GTS connections will not be interrupted at all.  

Such termination of frame relay services is not a problem unique to Japan.  According to Informal information, a number of other telecommunication companies are also planning to close their frame relay services partly because the decrease of users of frame relay services and partly because difficulties in maintenance of equipment for frame relay services. Some telecommunication companies do not accept new customers any more at present, even if they have not formally announced termination of frame relay services.  As an alternate to frame relay services, IP-VPN services are recommended.

ET-CTS 2008/Doc. 6.2　p.