frame relay access device (FR) (FRAD)
A Frame Relay Access Device (FRAD), also referred to as a Frame Relay Assembler/Disassambler, is a unit in a Frame Relay router that provides an interface through which various network architectures and local area networks( LAN) can be connected to Frame Relay.
The Frame Relay Access Device divides the data stream into frames that are transmitted over Frame Relay networks. On the other hand, a FRAD device can also form a data stream again from the frames. Network architectures supported by a FRAD include the SNA architecture, DECnet, as well as the Internet Protocol( IP), User Datagram Protocol( UDP) or Internetwork Packet Exchange Protocol ( IPX).