Sumitomo has a frame relay network from Concert Communications that connects its New York office to branches in London, Hong Kong and Tokyo. Someday that network will migrate to ATM, but not soon. There is no quality of service, you don't know what the response time and reliability is.
Big carriers have the services, but they are more like pilots.
Voice calls have become so inexpensive that it is not economical to put in an ATM network just so voice can be combined with data, he said. And the standards for handling voice over ATM are not set, he added. Cal Fed is migrating from SNA to frame relay to increase communication links to branch offices and to ease the acquisition of Glendale Federal Bank. The network upgrade will increase response time to branches, lay the infrastructure for handling more acquisitions, make it possible to roll out Internet services for customers, and create a foundation for an intranet. WAN connections will be through Cisco 2524 routers.