Cabletron buys into frame relay market

Frame relay is a technology used primarily to connect LANs to other LANs. The buyout is part of Cabletron's attempt to move into the WAN market, as it bids to become a soup-to-nuts internetworking supplier. Cabletron currently offers products from Netlink's rival, Sync Research.

Rivals including 3Com, Bay Networks and Cisco Systems are ploughing the same furrow. Newcomers to the internetworking sector such as Compaq and US Robotics, meanwhile, are also hungry for a share of the pie.