(logo) Communications Industry 
Researchers



News Release

Communications Industry Researchers, Inc.
PO Box 5387
Charlottesville, VA 22905
Tel: (804) 984-0245 Fax: (804) 984-0247 Web Site: http://www.cir-inc.com/

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Lawrence Gasman
March 4, 1997 (804) 984 0245 x. 11
ldg@cir-inc.com

Frame Relay Market Outside of North America to Swell to $3.2 Billion Says New Report

Charlottesville, VA -- While much of the industry hype centers on ATM, ADSL, and other high-speed networking technologies, the worldwide market for networks operating at speeds below 2 Mbps will continue to grow rapidly. So says a new 300-page report from Communications Industry Researchers, Inc., (CIR), a market research company based here. The report, Narrowband International: Worldwide Opportunities at 2 Mbps and Under is particularly optimistic about the future of frame relay and the international opportunities that it presents for North American equipment vendors.

According to the new CIR report, revenues from frame relay services outside of North America will grow to $3.2 billion by the year 2005, compared to approximately $177 million at the present time. (See attached chart) "Frame relay may be the optimal wide- area networking technology in many countries," says Lawrence D. Gasman, who project managed Narrowband International. According to Gasman, frame relay offers three key advantages. First, it is available operating at narrowband rates -- which is all that is required in many countries outside of North America at the present time. Second, frame relay provides a platform for many different kinds of traffic, including voice, SNA and IP traffic from the Internet. Third, it provides both a link to the past and to the future -- frame relay has important similarities to the X.25 networks that have been the dominant form of datanetworking in most countries for many years, yet also offers an easy migration path to the high-speed ATM-based networks of the future.

According to Narrowband International,the international market for frame relay is wide open to U.S. and Canadian equipment vendors, who have been working with frame relay since its inception. "The Japanese believed that frame relay would not emerge as a station on the road to Broadband ISDN, and so tended to emphasize ATM rather than frame relay," says CIR's Gasman, "but their vision has proved too futuristic."

Narrowband International discusses the markets for ISDN, frame relay, X.25 and other narrowband equipment and services in the major countries of Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe (including Russia) and the Pacific Rim. The table of contents and executive summary of Narrowband International is available at CIR's Web site. The report is priced at $3,500 in hard copy and is also available in HTML and PDF formats. The report was written by Judith Hellerstein, who specializes in regulatory, industry and market analysis of telecommunicatios and technology. Further details of this study can be obtained from Robert Nolan at 617-484-2077 , or from the author herself at 202-333-6517 .

Communications Industry Researchers, Inc. has been in business since 1979. The company publishes market studies and newsletters, and carries out demanding custom market research assignments on the commercial aspects of new communications technologies.
_______________________________________________________________________________

Summary of Worldwide Frame Relay Service Markets

1997 1999 2002 2007
Latin America 15.3 180.3 337.8 550.3
Western Europe 106.1 328.4 516.0 830.8
Russia/ Eastern Europe 10.0 120.0 180.0 280.0
Total for Pacific Rim 45.4 113.3 512.9 1495.9

TOTAL 176.8 742.0 1546.7 3157.0

EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: An Executive Summary For This Report Can Be Obtained On Request To Lawrence Gasman At 804-984-0245 X.11 Or Ldg@Cir-inc.com, Or On The World Wide Web At http://www.cir-inc.com/reports/intlNarrowBand/exec.html