Standard unswitched IP solutions, although economical, would not satisfy the bandwidth demands of high quality video. Fractional T1 lines were ruled out because of cost. ISDN was considered, but its low bandwidth and unreliability were of concern and ISDN service is not universally available in this region. These solutions would also require additional infrastructure for Internet connectivity. Frame Relay was identified as the only economical, comprehensive solution.
Frame relay is a flat rate service so there are no long distance charges within the cloud.
By creating logical circuits in the frame relay cloud dedicated to video applications and other circuits dedicated to data, the AAN guarantees the necessary bandwidth for high quality video. Sites receive Internet connectivity and high quality video connections for about the price of Internet connectivity by other means. Multipoint video calls are supported in this environment. Both BRI and PRI ISDN lines are supported. In the case of BRI there are two methods to use the Radvision gateways, connect an IMUX to the V.35 port of the gateway or use the BRI cards in the gateways.