The value of this object is the forward delay, in milliseconds. This time value controls how fast a virtual port changes its spanning state when moving towards the Forwarding state. The value determines how long the port stays in each of the Listening and Learning states, which precede the Forwarding state. This value is also used, when a topology change has been detected and is underway, to age all dynamic entries in the Forwarding Database. This value is the value that this bridge and all others would start using if/when this bridge were to become the root. The Forward Delay value corresponds to the time during which the bridge that has just been started does not provide its service; it waits until the STP has established its topology. During this period, only the Configuration bridge PDUs are bridged, the user frames are not processed and this time delay is also used as minimum duration of a bridge state. This is a decimal integer in the range 400 to 3000. The default value is '1500'.