This flexibility and manageability have allowed corporations to build networks that meet their intersite connection requirements. The primary reasons for its widespread use are price, quality of service and its ability to bypass the telephone company's existing circuit-switched infrastructure. This is due to lower local tariffs because of the short distances involved. An even newer phenomena are VPNs, which allow secure network data to ride safely over the Internet and then go through your company's firewall onto your corporate network. What we have is a powerful convergence of two technologies.
Frame relay uses the underlying capabilities of existing networks.
However, since VPNs are brand new and missing much of their potential functionality, they need another three to five years until this new buying environment begins to exist. As such, it's easy for users to plan for its implementation. Today, frame relay is the only visible value-added network technology for carrying data. Since LANs are the source of all new demands for applications, and since LANs are data-oriented, frame relay is suitable for new applications, and will continue to play a role in their support. The evolution of frame relay, allowing it to support voice and video, relates directly to its price-based penetration of the marketplace.