Frame Relay Components, part 2 - Page 2
, and hub-and-spoke (N-1) Frame Relay network configurations.
Figure 15-9: Graph of Approximate VCs Required by Network Topology
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VCs often incur a financial obligation to the service provider. As Figure 15-9 illustrates, even relatively small networks can become quite costly very quickly based on the number of VCs alone. For this reason, hub-and-spoke network configurations are fairly common. As illustrated here, a 30-node network would require approximately 450 VCs in a fully meshed configuration, compared to the 29 VCs necessary to support a hub-and-spoke configuration.
To illustrate the potential cost savings of deploying a hub-and-spoke network over a fully meshed network environment, see Figure 15-10. As is reflected here, a difference of nearly 500 VCs exists between a fully meshed and a hub-and-spoke configuration. If it is not mandated that a fully meshed network be used, it is certainly more cost effective to design and implement a hub-and-spoke or partial-mesh configuration.
Figure 15-10: Difference Between Fully Meshed (N^2) and Hub-and-Spoke (N-1) Network Configuration
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