Enterprise WAN strategists are seriously considering ATM over frame relay and leased-line service. Public ATM WAN service pricing is competitive, availability is good, and circuits are available over a wider range of bandwidths than with frame relay. For those wishing to consolidate all of their voice, data, and video service onto a single infrastructure, ATM's ability to handle multiple traffic types is unparalleled. The historical problem with ATM is that access equipment has been difficult to manage, costly, and inefficient.

Our winner in this category, Mariposa Technology's ATM Turbo Exchange ATX 100, shatters the myths about ATM access equipment. It's as easy to use as any FRAD (frame relay access device), handles voice traffic efficiently, and has a reasonable price tag. The built-in HTTP server allows for device management from a browser, providing excellent diagnostic capabilities and fine-grained security controls. The device shines in SVC-based ATM networks, where its voice networking services capabilities eliminate excessive WAN traffic due to PBX tandem switching, a capability rarely found elsewhere.

We also liked 3Com Corp.'s PathBuilder S310 and S330 devices, for their wide range of interfaces, bandwidth efficiency, interoperability with frame relay devices, and affordability. These devices feature very deep buffers, and dropped very little traffic-- even if it was at low priority--during our tests. The S310 provides a T1 ATM UNI (User-to-Network Interface), an Ethernet port, and a serial frame data interface supporting frame relay network and service interworking, ATM DXI, and SDLC/HDLC pass-through capabilities. It can be easily upgraded in software to the S330 model, with a four-port T1 IMA UNI interface and a wide range of physical interface options for its remaining three slots.

--David Willis

Enterprise Remote Access

Winner

MAX TNT, Ascend, (800) 621-9578, (510) 769-6001 www.ascend.com

Finalists

3Com Total Control Multiservice Access Platform with HiPer Access System, 3Com Corp., (800) NET-3COM, (408) 326-5000 www.3com.com Cisco AS5300 Universal Access Server, Cisco Systems, (800) 553-6387, (408) 526-4000 www.cisco.com

Award: Enterprise Remote Access

Remote-access servers keep getting bigger and bigger, but few get better. This year, our pick for enterprise remote access goes to the Ascend MAX TNT. Ascend's offering excels at providing robust, versatile remote access. Supporting up to 720 modems along with RDSL, ADSL, IDSL, VOIP, ATM, and DS3, the MAX TNT fills some serious WAN connectivity needs. The MAX is able to make VPN connections over a wide array or protocols such as L2TP, IPSec, GRE, ATMP and MobileIP. And all this comes with redundant power supplies and hot swappable cards.

But it takes more than big capacity to make it to the top. NavisAccess, Ascend's management package, offers you complete control over the MAX. And it's more than just RAS management. NavisConnect uses a hierarchical, distributed management model, capable of follow-the-sun management. Like many enterprise management platforms, NavisAccess clients connect to a central database containing all of the managed MAXes. Administrators can create, modify, delete, and compare configurations centrally; it can even centrally manage software updates. NavisAccess installs with canned reports designed for the line technician, ranging from daily usage and error reports to long-term trend reports used in capacity planning.

--Mike Fratto

Frame Relay Multimedia Solution

Winner

CX-900e Access Switch, Memotec Communications, (800) 570-MEMO, (514) 738-4781 www.memotec.com

Finalists

NetPerformer SDM-9300 Multi-Service Integrated Device, ACT Networks, (800) 367-2281, (805) 388-2474 www.acti.com Cisco MC3810 Multiservice Access Concentrator, Cisco Systems, (800) 553-6387, (408) 526-4000 www.cisco.com

Award: Frame Relay Multimedia Solution

The consistent reliability provided by the best frame relay services makes real-time traffic support possible, and the flat-rate structure offered by most providers makes it attractive. Taking advantage of low-latency networks and priority services available from some carriers, enterprise WAN managers can control the high and often variable cost of transmitting voice between locations. And as we discovered in our test of videoconferencing systems running over frame relay (www.networkcomputing.com/917/917f1.html), it's entirely possible to move real-time interactive video across the frame relay backbone too.

At first, we were skeptical of migrating video services to frame relay, but after seeing Memotec Communications' CX-900e Frame Relay Access Switch in action, we were converted. If your network has the CIR to spare and your carrier offers consistent, low-latency service, there are substantial savings to be found. Just a single three-hour ISDN videoconference can exceed the cost of using your existing frame relay network to transport the traffic.

Working in combination with the CX-900e, Memotec's Video Framer supports full-duplex transmission of continuous bit-stream traffic running up to 1.92 Mbps. Your H.320-based videoconferencing systems won't require any custom interface cards and will be unaware they're running over a packet-based network. The CX-900e can multiplex all traffic streams onto a single PVC. Alternatively, you could use a dedicated PVC for video traffic, building on the Priority PVC services available from many carriers today.

--David Willis

SOHO Router

Winner

FlowPoint 123 ISDN Router, FlowPoint Corp., (888) 867-4736, (408) 364-8300 www.flowpoint.com

Finalists

Cisco 776, Cisco Systems, (800) 553-6387, (408) 526-4000 www.cisco.com WebRamp Entre (to be replaced by WebRamp 410i), Ramp Networks, (888) 726-7638, (408) 988-5353 www.rampnet.com

Award: SOHO Router

Our choice for best SOHO Router this year is FlowPoint Corp.'s FlowPoint 123 ISDN Router. The FlowPoint 123 ISDN Router offers flexible remote connectivity at an attractive price point. Add to this advanced features, such as Auto SPID detection and intuitive GUI management, and you've got a winner. Additionally, the unit offers standard features such as good performance and support for POTS.

All device management is implemented in the GUI--there's never a need for users to use the command-line interface. Every configuration, from basic connection options to advanced link optimizations, are easily accessible. Network Address Translation (NAT) lets multiple desktops share a single Internet IP address, an option still not widely implemented in SOHO routers. The FlowPoint 123 can server up DHCP addresses for local machines easing desktop configuration. And unit implements STAC LZS compression, which speeds data transfers by as much as four times.

--Mike Fratto

WAN Management Tool

Winner

NetScout Manager Plus, NetScout Systems, (978) 614-4000 www.netscout.com

Finalists

WiseWan 2.0 (now shipping 3.0), NetReality, (408) 988-8100 www.net-reality.com Visual UpTime, Visual Networks, (800) 240-4010, (301) 296-2300 www.visualnetworks.com

Award: Voice Over IP Solution

Voice over IP is coming on strong, among both carriers and enterprise customers alike. IP is the single protocol upon which both data and real-time voice and video services are converging, slowly displacing the conventional approach of running separate networks. By running voice traffic over an existing data network, companies can substantially reduce their ongoing service costs while simultaneously making the network easier to manage.

Yet potential adopters of voice over IP technologies are advised to move carefully, as most IP networks were not designed with the consistent reliability that voice service requires. Of the many areas in which voice over IP may fit--the desktop, the workgroup, the campus and the WAN--VoIP in the WAN offers a clear ROI (return on investment) without excessive risk.

PSINet's PSIVoice is our winner and one of the pioneering carrier-based VoIP managed services. PSIVoice is perfect for the organization wanting to reduce ongoing costs without the expense of building out its own IP WAN. PSINet offers PBX trunking capabilities over its IP backbone, appearing to the PBX as a T1 or PRI line. PSINet also manages the VoIP gateways and access equipment and assures the WAN-service level meet the needs of your voice traffic.

Current estimates show that PSIVoice customers will enjoy a 40 percent to 60 percent reduction in PBX tie line costs, assuming that they'll be mixing data traffic along with the voice service. In the future, PSINet plans to offer gateways to the PSTN and private extranet connections for companies wishing to tie directly to business partners.

--David Willis

Voice Over IP Solution

Winner

PSIVoice, PSINet, (800) 799-0675, (703) 904-4100 www.psinet.com

Finalists

Cisco IP PBX, Cisco Systems, (800) 553-6387, (408) 526-4000 www.cisco.com VIPswitch 360, VIPswitch, (800) 638-2677, (450) 923-4040 www.vipswitch.com

Award: WAN Management Tool

While carriers are backing up their services with performance guarantees, more traffic than ever is being moved onto frame relay. Properly managing these WAN backbones requires an understanding of both the service levels provided by the carrier and the traffic that is being pushed across it. A good network management system requires a considerable investment in capital, personnel and time. It should provide immediately useful information, but be flexible enough to adapt to changes in WAN strategy that may occur down the road.

NetScout System's NetScout Manager Plus meets our criteria for a truly strategic WAN management system. NetScout has taken the lead on standards-based, multiplatform monitoring and analysis, melding the attributes of a service-level-management system with a distributed protocol analysis engine. Its wide range of interface options beat anything on the market, providing a single platform for managing the LAN, the campus, the data center and the WAN.

If full instrumentation of your network is out of your reach, NetScout offers affordable probe options, like the Paradyne FrameSaver SLV. The Paradyne products provide all information up to Layer 3-- including top conversations-- at a modest price point. Data collected from these, or any other RMON agent, can then be used for baselining and trend reporting by NetScout Manager Plus.

Unlike many service-level-management systems, the NetScout approach shines in analyzing traffic. From a wide range of data sources, probes perform traffic discovery, analysis, and fault management functions, and can even generate traffic for troubleshooting and performance analysis.

--David Willis