WAN Connectivity Quandry

Firewall.cx routing gurus,

I'll be transitioning from military to civilian life within a year and need a tiny bit of advice: What WAN connectivity technology will I encounter the most? I have ATM experience from the Navy and two Alcatel Omniswitches that I use in my lab at home. I have no practical experience with Frame Relay except in my lab (5 17xx routers w/ WIC-2T in frame-relay switching mode). Played around with VPN. Where should I be focusing my lab time? ATM, Frame-Relay, VPN / Broadband, PPP, all of the above? Thanks for your help in advance!

~katze

In New Zealand ATM and Frame Relay are legacy. Is it being / has been replaced by Ethernet with MPLS. Ethernet being delivered either over optical links or copper SHDSL. MPLS being used to create VPNs (L3 & L2).

ADSL/2+ is the most common residential solution followed by Cable. Dial-up is legacy.

Similar story in the UK; loads of DSL and MPLS, ISDN is still here but is now becoming legacy. We just don't do Frame Relay over here at all; it's just one of those arcane subjects we Brits have to learn if we want to pass a Cisco exam and then forget immediately afterwards because we'll never see the thing. So if you're a Frame Relay guru you've got a great start for your certifications! Or you could even become an instructor.

Similar story in the UK; loads of DSL and MPLS, ISDN is still here but is now becoming legacy. We just don't do Frame Relay over here at all; it's just one of those arcane subjects we Brits have to learn if we want to pass a Cisco exam and then forget immediately afterwards because we'll never see the thing. So if you're a Frame Relay guru you've got a great start for your certifications! Or you could even become an instructor.

Funny you should mention that, I am an instructor. I teach the Information Systems Maintenance (NEC 1678) course for the US Navy. My course teaches basic Cisco router config, A+ and some security concepts, nothing too in depth as it's an apprentice-level course. I'll set my sights on MPLS and VPN for the time being and see what happens. Thanks for the advice!

I'll agree with everyone else. I'm in FL and ISDN, Frame Relay are out of style. Frame Relay is needed to pass ICND2 though..

CCNP level WAN technologies like MPLS and VPN's are swarming the industry right now.

funny seeing you data boys stating frame relay is legacy and not used now.

While it is no longer the main connectivity used I reckon over here in Telco land there are probably 300,000 - 500,000 frame relay circuits still used in the UK, mainly by Utilities & Railways.

To put this in perspective there are probably 25million plus Ethernet links in the UK

At a guess.