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A 'data link connection identifier' ('DLCI') is a channel number which is attached to frame relay data frames to tell the network how to route the data. A 10-bit field that defines the destination address of a packet. The address is local on a link-by-link basis.
Frame relay is ''statistically multiplexed'', which means that only one frame can be transmitted at a time but many logical connections can co-exist on a single physical line. The DLCI allows the data to be logically tied to one of the connections, so that once it gets to the network it knows where to send it.
The standard allows the existence of 2048 DLCIs. DLCI 0 - 256 and 2,025 - 2048 are used for management and control purpose and 257 - 2024 are reserved/used for data transportation.
Moreover, it is used by Permanent Virtual circuit (PVC) and Switched Virtual Circuit (SVC).