Continental will engineer, furnish and install your system based on these, or many other fine, products. Call Continental at (800)527-2000  and ask for Dave Heng or  email him for a free quotation on equipment, services, or a turnkey installation for your Broadband Wireless or Land Mobile project.

Resources - Glossary - Publications - Organizations - Wireless Standards - OSI Model

Wireless Networking Glossary

O to 9 - A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S -T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z

N

NACK

Negative ACK

Named Pipes

In computing, a named pipe (also FIFO for its behaviour) is an extension to the classical pipe concept on Unix and Unix-like systems, and is one of the methods of interprocess communication.

NAP

Network access point. One of several major Internet interconnection points that serve to tie all Internet access providers together.

Narrowband

Telecommunication that carries voice information in narrow band of frequencies. More specifically, the term has been used to describe a specific frequency range per FCC for mobile or radio services, incl. paging, from 50 cps to 64 Kbps.

NCS

National Communication System. Responsible for US Government communications, including WPS and GETS

NEC

National Electrical Code

NetBEUI

NetBEUI (pronounced net-booey) is an acronym for NetBIOS Extended User Interface. It is an enhanced version of the NetBIOS protocol used by network operating systems such as LAN Manager, LAN Server, Windows for Workgroups, Windows 95 and Windows NT

NetBIOS

Network Basic Input/Output System. Program that allows applications on different computers to communicate within a LAN. Created by IBM for its early PC Network, adopted by Microsoft, is now de facto industry standard.

NFS

Network File System (NFS) is a protocol originally developed by Sun Microsystems in 1984 and defined in RFCs 1094, 1813, (3010) and 3530, as a file system which allows a computer to access files over a network as easily as if they were on its local disks.

nibble

Four bits

NIIF

Network Interconnection Interoperability Forum

NIST

US National Insitute of Standards and Technology

NIU

Network Interface Unit. Device used as interface between various devices in network. Can be used to translate between different protocols and physical links. Network Interface Card (NIC) in a PC is a type of NIU.

NRZ

Non Return to Zero

NS

Authoritative Name Server for a Domain. Converts between a domain name and an IP address and related information

NSA

US National Security Agency. Keeps a tight grip on exports of US encryption technology

NTIA

U.S. Dept. of Commerce National Telecommunications and Information Administration

NTP

The Network Time Protocol (NTP) is a protocol for synchronising the clocks of computer systems over packet-switched, variable-latency data networks. NTP is a purely UDP/IP protocol, not TCP/IP. It is designed particularly to resist the effects of variable latency.

O

O&M

Operations and Maintenance

OA&M

Operations, Administration and Maintenance

OC-1

SONET service at 51.84 Mbps. Equivalent to one DS3 (672 DS0)

OC-12

SONET service at 622.08 Mbps. Equivalent to 12 DS3 or 8,064 DS0

OC-18

SONET service at 933.12 Mbps. Equivalent to 18 DS3 or 12,096 DS0

OC-192

SONET service at 9.95328 Gbps. Equivalent to 192 DS3 or 129,024 DS0

OC-24

SONET service at 1.24416 Gbps. Equivalent to 24 DS3 or 16,128 DS0

OC-3

SONET service at 155.52 Mbps. Equivalent to 3 DS3 or 2,016 DS0

OC-36

SONET service at 1.86624 Gbps. Equivalent to 36 DS3 or 24,192 DS0

OC-48

SONET service at 2.48832 Gbps. Equivalent to 48 DS3 or 32,256 DS0

OC-768

SONET service at 38.813 Gbps. Equivalent to 768 DS3

OC-9

SONET service at 466.56 Mbps. Equivalent to 9 DS3 or 6,048 DS0

OC-96

SONET service at 4.97664 Gbps. Equivalent to 96 DS3 or 64,512 DS0

OCDM

Optical Code Division Multiplexing

OCH

Optical Channel

OC-x

Optical Carrier Levels (OC-x) SONET includes a set of signal rate multiples for transmitting digital signals on optical fiber. The base rate (OC-1) is 51.84 Mbps.

OFDM

Orthogonal Freqimcu Division Multiplex

OG

Optical Gateway

OPEX

Operating Expenses.

OSI

Open System Interconnection. Layered set of protocols in which programming at both ends of communications exchange uses an identical set of layers. Defines networking as 7 layers, each with own protocols to be performed in order for program-to-program communication to take place between computers. See Layers 1-7.

OSPF

Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) is a link-state, hierarchical Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP) routing algorithm. The well known Dijkstra's algorithm is used to calculate the shortest path tree. It uses cost as its routing metric. A link state database is constructed of the network topology which is identical on all routers.

OSS

Operations Support Subsystem

OTA

Over-the-Air programming. Uploads internal mobile tables or software.

OXC

Optical Cross Connect

P

PABX

Private Automatic Branch Exchange. A privately owned switch providing wired and possibly also wireless service for an office, factory, campus, etc.

PAC

PPTP Access Concentrator. Concentrates PPP traffic on a dial access platform. See PNS

Packet

Unit of data that is routed between an origin and a destination on the Internet or any other packet-switched network.

PAD

Packet Assembly/Disassembly

PAN

Personal Area Network. Interconnection of information technology devices within the range of an individual, typically 30 feet/10 meters. For example, a person traveling with a laptop, a PDA and portable printer could interconnect them without having to plug anything in, using some form of wireless technology. Typically, this kind of personal area network could also be interconnected without wires to the Internet or other networks. A.k.a. Wireless PAN or WPAN.

PAP

Password Authentication Protocol. A simple authentication protocol that sends security information in the clear. Compare with CHAP

Passive reflector

Device that is a mirror to RF signals. In the shape of a dish, it serves to gather radio signal from transmitter and reflect it. Shape of the dish focuses the reflected signal into a tight beam.

PBX

Private Branch Exchange. A privately owned switch providing wired and possibly also wireless service for an office, factory, campus, etc.

PC

Personal Computer

PCM

Pulse Code Modulation

PCMCIA

Personal Computer Memory Card International Association

PCS

Personal Communications System. See DCS, PCS1900

PD

Packet data

PDA

Personal Digital Assistant

PDH

Plesiochhronous Digital Hierarchy

Penetration

The percentage of the population of a service area (POP) that have acquired a certain service

PIN

Personal Identification Number. Used to restrict access to personal services or capabilities

PING

Packet Internet or Inter-Network Groper. Basic Internet program used to verify that a particular IP address exists and can accept requests.

PMP

Serves customers who are scattered throughout an area (campuses, e.g.) System for moving data from single transmitter/receiver to multiple receivers/transmitters. Can be wired or wireless.

PNG

Portable Network Graphics. A graphics format using lossless compression and 48 bit color (unlike JPEG). Its proponents believe that it will replace GIF and TIFF.

PNP

Private Numbering Plan

POE

Power Over Ethernet. Technology for wired Ethernet LANs that allows electrical current to be carried by data cables rather than by power cords. Minimizes number of wires to be strung in network installation.

Point-to-multipoint

Serves customers who are scattered throughout an area (campuses, e.g.) System for moving data from single transmitter/receiver to multiple receivers/transmitters. Can be wired or wireless.

POP

Point Of Presence. An Internet access point from one place to rest of Internet.

POP3

Post Office Protocol Version 3. IETF RFC 1939

POTS

Plain Old Telephone Service. Voice transmission for ordinary phone communication.

PPP

Point-to-Point Protocol. For communication between two computers using serial interface, typically a personal computer connected by phone line to a server. Most commonly used for dial-up Internet access to transmit IP packets between workstation or PC and an ISP. Part of Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol; core part of Microsoft's secure remote access solution for Windows 2000 and beyond. Protocol that provides router-to-router and host-to-network connections over both synchronous and asynchronous circuits.

PPPoE

Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet. PPP form when used by some ISPs for DSL and cable modem authentication. Supported by bridging functions. Specification for connecting multiple computer users on an Ethernet LAN to a remote site through common CPEs or modems. Can be used to have an office or MTU users share a common DSL, cable modem or wireless connection to the Internet. Combines PPP with Ethernet, which supports multiple users in a LAN. PPP information is encapsulated within an Ethernet frame.

PPTP

Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol. Allows corporations to extend their own corporate network through private "tunnels" over public Internet. Effectively, using a WAN as a single large LAN, company no longer needs to lease its own lines for wide-area communication but can securely use the public networks. See VPN.

PRBS

Pseudo-Random Binary Sequence

PSD

Power Spectral Density

PSK

Phase Shift Keying. Information bits are identified by changes in phase of the carrier. Usually, the signal is split into two parts. I is unchanged, and Q is phase shifted by 90 degrees. Phase can be controlled by the amount of each path that is remixed upon output

PSTN

Public Switched Telephone Network. The 'phone system'.

PTM

Point-to-Multipoint (Broadcast)

PTP

Point-to-Point

PTT

Push To Talk. Pressing a button on a phone initiates communications with a pre-defined group of other users. The system will usually give one radio the ability to transmit, and the remainder can only listen until the button is released or the phone exceeds the maximum time limit on the right to talk.

Q

QAM

Quadrature Amplitude Modulation. Method of combining two AM signals into a single channel, thereby doubling the effective bandwidth. QAM is used with pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) in digital systems, especially in wireless applications.

QoS

Quality of Service. Transmission rates, error rates and other characteristics can be measured, improved, and, to some extent, guaranteed in advance. Of particular concern for the continuous transmission of high-bandwidth video and multimedia. Transmitting this kind of content dependably is difficult in public networks using ordinary "best effort" protocols. See 802.1P and 802.1Q.

QPSK

Quadrature PSK used in CDMA. Phase can be in one of four states

R

Radio Frequency

Electro-magnetic radiation having a frequency in the range used for telecommunications, greater than that of the highest audio-frequency and less than that of the shortest infra-red waves.

Radio Interface

The interface between an MS and a BS

Radio, access point

Paired with radio, subscriber point; at network access point

Radio, subscriber point

Paired with radio, access point; at customer premises

RADIUS

Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service. An internet user authentication system. See IETF RFC 2138, 2139 and AAA

RAN

Radio Access Network

RAND

Random number used for authentication purposes

RBOC

Regional Bell operating company. 4 ILECs, created post-AT&T breakup in 1983: Verizon, Qwest, BellSouth and SBC. Compete with CLECs.

Reed-Solomon

A type of FEC

RF

Radio frequency. Refers to alternating current (AC) having characteristics such that, if the current is input to antenna, an EM field is generated suitable for wireless broadcasting and/or communications.

RFC

Request For Comment. A series of notes about the Internet issued by IETF and started in 1969. Anyone can submit an RFC and, if it gains enough interest, it may evolve into an Internet standard. An RFC number designates each RFC. Once published, an RFC never changes. Modifications to an original RFC are assigned a new RFC number. For example, 1212 MIB II and 1213 MIB II.

RFI

Radio Frequency Interference

RFID

Radio Frequency Identification. A small chip that is designed to allow the identification and tracking of an object (e.g.manufactured item, airline bag).

RFP

Request for Proposal

Riser

Area in a building, generally a vertical tunnel, that supports building services. These services may include air handling, plumbing, and wiring.

RIP

The Routing Information Protocol (RIP) is one of the most commonly used Interior Gateway Protocols on internal networks (and to a lesser extent, the internet), which helps routers dynamically adapt to changes of network connections by communicating information about which networks each router can reach and how far away those networks are.

RJ11

Registered Jack-11. Most common household and office telephone jack.

RJ21

Specification describing cable connector with 50 pins. Many forms: male and female, straight or 90 degree, right or left facing cable exit, shielded or unshielded.

RJ45

Registered Jack-45. Telephone jack. Single-line phone jack for digital transmission over ordinary phone wire, either untwisted or twisted.

RJ48c

8-pin modular connector, may come in different styles to accommodate various cable types. Originally designed for 1.544Mbps serial digital services (T1) but is now commonly used as connector for Ethernet, other LAN and WAN cabling.

RLEC

Rural LEC

RMON

Remote Monitoring of Network. Management protocol allowing network information to be gathered at single workstation.

Router

In packet-switched networks such as the Internet, a device or, in some cases, software in a computer that determines next network point to which packet should be forwarded toward destination. Forwards and filters traffic between networks based on network layer info and internal LAN address in the data, and on routing tables maintained by the router.

RS232C interface

Long-established standard ("C" = current version) that describes physical interface and protocol for relatively low-speed serial data communication between computers and related devices.

RSS

Received Signal Strength. A measure of the strength of a radio signal

RSSI

Received Signal Strength Indication. Used to determine when a handoff should be attempted

RTU

Remote Terminal Unit

RTP

The Real-time Transport Protocol (or RTP) was developed by the Audio-Video Transport Working Group of the IETF and published in 1996 as RFC 1889

R-UIM

Removable UIM

RX

Abbreviation for receive or receiver

RZ

Return to Zero

S

S/N

Signal to noise ratio

SAAL

Signaling ATM Adapatation Layer. Equivalent of MTP layer 2 for ATM networks used to carry SS7 traffic. Includes SSCF, SSCOP and MAAL

SAP

The Session Announcement Protocol (SAP) is a protocol for broadcasting multicast session information.A SAP listening application can listen to the well-known SAP multicast address and construct a guide of all advertised multicast sessions. SAP was published by the IETF as RFC 2974

SAPI

Service Access Point Identifiers

SAR

Segmentation and Reassembly

Satellite

Wireless communications receiver/transmitter launched by rocket and placed in orbit. Used for such diverse purposes as weather forecasting, television broadcast amateur radio communications, Internet communications and GPS.

SDH

Synchronous Digital Hierarchy. Standard for synchronous data transfer over optical media.

SDR

Software-Defined Radio. A radio that can operate in different modes (e.g. frequency bands, modulation schemes) based on the software that is currently loaded and active in the device.

SDSL

Synchronous Digital Subscriber Line. Technology for transmitting digital information at high bandwidth on existing phone lines; continuously available, "always on" connection. Equal upstream and downstream speeds of up to 1.5M bits/second. See ADSL, DSL, VDSL.

segmentation

The process of breaking a long protocol message into pieces that are no longer than the maximum allowed by lower protocol layers. Oh, and reassembling them later!

Sensitivity

The ability to receive a radio signal very near to the thermal noise level. The more sensitive the receiver, the lower the required incident radio signal required for acceptable reception.

SF

Superframe

SF

SuperFrame. See ESF.

SHDSL

Single-pair high speed DSL

SID

System Identifier. A 15 bit identifier of an AMPS wireless license or system

SIG

Special Interest Group

Signaling

Messages used to control calls, assign resources, maintain and monitor telecommunications systems

SINAD

Signal + Noise + Distortion

SLA

Service Level Agreement. A carrier agrees to provide a certain level of service (e.g. availability, bit rate, voice quality) and provide significant discounts if the levels are not met

Slow Fading

Fade duration long relative to channel frame length

SMB

Server Message Block. Protocol for client applications in a computer to read and write to files on and to request services from server programs in a computer network.

SMDS

Switched Multimegabit Data Service

SME

Small to Medium Enterprise. Organizations sized between "small office-home office" (SOHO) and an enterprise.

SMTP

Simple Mail Transmission Protocol defined in IETF RFC 2821

SNMP

Simple Network Management Protocol. IETF protocol, defined in RFC 1157, by which networked devices can be periodically polled for information as part of a network management system. Version 3 see http://www.nwfusion.com/details/538.html. Standardized method of managing and monitoring network devices on TCP/IP-based internets.

SNR

Signal to noise ratio

SOHO

Small Office/Home Office

SONET

Synchronous Optical Network. Standard for synchronous data transmission on optical media. International equivalent is SDH. Network technology built around dual fiber-optic rings. Used from 'head-end' to customer premises.

SoR

Statement of Requirements.

Spectrum

Electromagnetic radiation spectrum is the complete range of wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation, beginning with the longest radio waves (including those in the audio range), extending through visible light (a very small part of the spectrum) all the way to the extremely short gamma rays produced by radioactive atoms.

Spectrum Licensing

Implementation of assignment methods by government regulating authorities to manage the spectrum efficiently and fairly. Growing demand for a limited resource requires licensing, due to liberalization of telecommunication sector worldwide, and technical developments that allow wireless operators to target mass consumer markets with new products and services.

Splitter

Device that divides telephone signal into >2 signals, each carrying a selected frequency range. Can also reassemble signals from multiple signal sources into a single signal. Users getting connected to Internet with ADSL service may have a splitter installed at their access point. A.k.a. POTS splitter.

SS7

Signaling System Number 7 (common channel telecommunications packet switching)

SSCF

Service-Specific Coordination Function. Maps between SAAL and higher layer protocols (e.g. SS7 MTP Layer 3). This includes responsibility for link changeover and flow control See ATIS T1.645

SSCOP

Service Specific Connection-Oriented Protocol. Part of SAAL that provides reliable point-to-point communications with sequencing, retransmission on error, flow control, keep-alive, connection control. See ATIS T1.637.

SSL

Secure Sockets Layer. Commonly used protocol for managing security of message transmission on the Internet. Succeeded by TLS.

STM

Synchronous transport mode

Subnet

Short for "subnetwork"; identifiably separate part of an organization's network. May represent all machines at one geographic location, in one building, or on same LAN. On TCP/IP networks, subnets defined as 'all devices whose IP addresses have the same prefix'. e.g., all devices with IP addresses that start with ‘100.100.100.’ would be part of same subnet. Dividing a network into subnets is useful for both security and performance reasons.

Subscriber interface

Port that is normally intended for use by client or subscriber.

Surge suppressor

Device inserted in AC utility line and/or telephone line to prevent damage to electronic equipment from voltage "spikes" called transients. A.k.a. transient suppressor.

surveillance

Lawfully authorized monitoring of communications

SVC

Switched Virtual Circuit. In a frame relay or ATM network, set up for one-time link between two hosts. Once data is transmitted, circuit is torn down. User-defined, allowing end-user to establish on-demand data connections between two end points on an ATM, Frame Relay, or X.25 network. See PVC.

SVP

Switched Virtual Path

SYNC

Synchronization

Synchronous

Data that is transmitted as a regular, precisely clocked, stream of bits. A pattern of bits is used as a filler for times when there is no data to transmit. Compare with Asynchronous

Systemic Interference

RF interference within a channel used in a wireless system that emanates from other elements of the system itself, and thus has predictable characteristics. For example, transmissions on the same channel form other base stations (intended for other mobiles). Contrast with Non-Systemic Interference and Intermodulation Interference

T

T1

Most commonly used digital line in United States, Canada and Japan. Uses copper wire and spans major metro areas. Internet access providers connect to Internet as a POP on T1 lines owned by major telephone company networks. North American equivalent of E1 in Europe.

Tandem

Any switch that is used to receive and route traffic (e.g. phone calls), but neither originates nor terminates them

TCP/IP

Suite of many protocols that allow computers and networking devices to communicate.

TDM

Time-Division Multiplexing. Wide-area networking technology in which data is split, or multiplexed, into time-specific segments for transmission over a single path. The segments are then put back together, or "de-multiplexed" at other end of path. Circuit-switched network, vs. packet-switched VoIP networks. See FDM.

TDMA

Time Division Multiple Access. Technology used in digital cellular telephone communication; divides each cellular channel into three time slots in order to increase amount of data that can be carried. Basis for GSM. See also CDMA, Mobile Wireless.

Telco

Any telephone company.

Telnet

User command and underlying TCP/IP protocol for accessing remote/host computers.

Tera

Prefix to indicate one trillion (e.g. Tera-bit). Abbreviated T

TETRA

Terrestrial Trunked Radio.

Thermal Noise

Radio frequency noise associated with thermal activity. At a typical temperature of 300 degrees Kelvin (26.84 degrees Celsius), thermal noise is -174 dBm per hertz, or 114 dBm in a 1 MHz channel.

throughput

The actual traffic supported, as opposed to the raw bandwidth. Bandwidth that does not result in throughput may be due to packets containing errors, retransmissions, errorneous routing and many other causes. See goodput and badput

TIA

Telecommunications Industry Association. A trade association that, among other things, defines standards for cellular and PCS, specifically AMPS, NAMPS, CDMA and TDMA

TIA/EIA

A prefix for a standard produced by the TIA in association with the EIA

TIFF

Tagged Image File Format. Supports up to 24 bit color. Files tend to be large, but high quality. Perhaps because of the file size, it is not supported by many browsers. cf GIF, JPEG, PNG

Token Ring

LAN in which all computers are connected in ring or star topology. A bit or token-passing scheme is used in order to prevent collision of data between two computers that want to send messages at same time. Second most widely used protocol on local area networks after Ethernet.

ToS

In a QoS scheme, an eight-bit field that lets values from 0 to 15 be assigned to request special handling of traffic (for example, minimize delay, maximize throughput). Succeeded by DSCP.

Transceiver

Combination transmitter/receiver device. Electronic switch allows transmitter and receiver to be connected to same antenna, while preventing signal reception during transmission. Transmission and reception usually occur on same frequency. See Full Duplex, Half Duplex.

Transcoding

Conversion from one voice (or other media format) coder to another. Multiple transcoding operations can seriously reduce the end-to-end quality.

Transparent

Data that is, to lower protocol layers, simply a sequenced collection of bits. Good protocol design tries to make all protocol layers transparent to all others, although often violations of this principal are necessary

Transparent LAN

Transparent LAN Service. Used for data communication between remote sites. Data connection between sites appears as a LAN connection, even though sites may be widely separated. Usually implemented by tunneling egress LAN traffic at each site. Traffic will be reconstituted to its original form when it arrives at respective remote site.

Transparent learning bridge

Data communication device that uses Layer 2 information in its forwarding decisions. Learns location of local data devices (PCs, etc.) and subsequently only forwards traffic to port where destination device resides.

Transponder

Communications, monitoring, or control device that picks up and automatically responds to an incoming signal. Term is contraction of the words transmitter and responder. Can be either passive or active.

TTY

A device used by the deaf or hearing-impaired to communicate text messages over telephone systems. It runs at 45.45 bps. See TDD

Tunnel

An extra protocol addressing layer used to carry data where the inner addressing layer will not take it. Often used in IP, e.g. as part of Mobile IP or VPN

Tunneling

Transmission of data intended for use only within a private, usually corporate network through public network in such a way that the public network’s routing nodes are unaware that transmission is part of a private network. Allows service provider network to act as a VLAN trunk port; eliminates need for additional routers. See VLAN.

Twisted pair

Ordinary copper wire that connects home and business computers to telephone company. To reduce crosstalk or electromagnetic induction between pairs of wires, two insulated copper wires are twisted around each other. Alternatives are coaxial cable and fiber optic.

TX

Abbrevation for transmission or transmitter

U

UDH

Universal Data Header

UDP

User Datagram Protocol. Communications protocol that offers fewer features than TCP (for example, no handshaking, flow control or reliability mechanisms), in exchange for speedier delivery of data. Sometimes referred to as UDP/IP. DNS, SIP and SNMP rely on UDP.

UHF

Ultra High Frequency. Range of radio spectrum wherein band extends from 300 MHz to 3 GHz. Wavelengths corresponding to these limit frequencies are 1 meter and 10 centimeters. Extensively used for satellite communication and broadcasting, cellular telephone and paging systems, and by third-generation (3G)

Ultra Wideband

Technology for transmitting large amounts of digital data over a wide spectrum of frequency bands using less than 0.5 milliwatts of power across a distance of up to 230 feet. Carries signals through doors and other obstacles that tend to reflect signals at more limited bandwidths and higher power. Compared with Bluetooth.

UMTS

Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (a 3G initiative). See http://www.umts-forum.org/. It operates in 5 MHz channels at 3.84 Mcps with 200 kHz between channels.

UNI

User-Network Interface

U-NII Spectrum

Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure Spectrum.

Universal DSL

ADSL variant that does not require splitter at customer premises. Line is split at telco office, which cuts down installation costs. A.k.a. G.Lite. See ADSL.

Unlicensed Band Radio

Wireless communication device using one of several frequency bands reserved by local or global regulating authority for public use. Unlicensed band usage is free, allowing lower cost wireless services. Because it is free, it will likely become heavily used, resulting in interference and reduced performance.

Uplink

Path from terminal to base-station

URI

Uniform Resource Identifier. A superset of URL and URN. If an object is on the internet and does not have one of these it really doesn't exist.

URL

Uniform Resource Locator. Form of internet address usable by a browser. Of the format ":". http, ftp and mailto are examples of schemes. The remainder of the URL is defined by the scheme, with some restrictions on the characters that can be used. Illegal ASCII characters can be included with the %XX notation, where XX is the two digit hexadecimal value of the character.

URN

Uniform Resource Name

UTC

Universal Coordinated Time

V

VAR

Value-added Reseller

VAS

Value Added Service

VBR

Variable Burst Rate. Adds ability to statistically oversubscribe user traffic. Classified by network according to a guaranteed sustained cell rate (SCR) or a peak cell rate (PCR), and a maximum burst size. Managed at "guaranteed" and "if available" rate. ‘VBR-rt’ commonly used to deliver time-sensitive applications real time, such as voice and real-time video. Provides better congestion control and latency guarantees than non-real time ‘VBR-nrt’. See ABR and CBR.

VCI

Virtual Channel Indentifier. ID number used to label ATM cells; indicates to which virtual circuit the cell belongs.

VDSL

Very high speed DSL, providing about 58 Mbit/sec in both directions. Available as asymetric (see ADSL) or symmetric (see SDSL). See VDSL Alliance

VHF

Very High Frequency. 30-300 MHz (used in the US and Canada as television channels 2-13)

VID

VLAN Identification. Identification number applied to VLAN-tagged Ethernet frame indicating to which VLAN frame it belongs.

Virtual Channel

Point-to-point or point-to-multipoint connection between ATM end stations. A virtual channel can be either switched or permanent. It is identified by the combination of VCI and VPI.

VLAN

Virtual LAN. LAN with devices that aren’t physically connected to same segment. Maps workstations on some other basis than geographic location (for example, by department, type of user, or primary application). Switches that are VLAN-compliant recognize VLAN-enabled packets, route only to authorized recipients.

VLAN Tunneling

See Tunneling.

VoIP

Voice Over IP. Voice information delivered using Internet Protocol. Packet-switched network vs. TDM, which is circuit-switched via PSTN. Derives from VoIP Forum, an effort by major equipment providers to promote use of ITU-T H.323 standard for sending voice (audio) and video using IP on public Internet and within Intranets. Using VoIP, end-user positions VoIP device at gateway to receive packetized voice transmissions from users within company. Device then routes transmissions to other parts of Intranet (LAN or WAN) or, over PSTN, while avoiding tolls.

VP

Virtual Path

VPI

Virtual Path Identifier. See Virtual Channel.

VPN

Virtual Private Network. Umbrella term that refers to all technologies enabling secure communications over public Internet. VPN-related technologies include tunneling, authentication and encryption. See Tunneling.

VSAT

Very Small Aperture Terminal. Satellite system for home and business users. Equipment at end user site that interfaces with outside antenna with transceiver. Transceiver receives or sends signal to satellite transponder.

W

W3C

World Wide Web Consortium

WAN

Wide Area Network. Geographically dispersed telecommunications network. Includes public or shared-user networks. Broader telecommunications structure than LAN.

WAP

Wireless Application Protocol. Standardized communications protocols for using wireless devices (phones, radios) for Internet access. See Wireless.

WAR

WLAN Access Router. Manages traffic into and out of a wireless LAN.

WASP

Wireless Application Service Provider

WASU

Wireless Access Subscriber Unit

WATM

Wireless ATM

WATS

Wide Area Telephone Service

WDM

Optical Wavelength Division Multiplexing

WEP

Wired Equivalent Privacy. First security system for 802.11 WLAN. Has known security weaknesses in the algorithm and the use of fixed keys. WEP derives a 64 bit RC4 key from a 40 bit AP-specific key and a 24-bit IV that is unique to the session. Compare with WPA

Wideband

Broadband.

WiFi

Wireless Fidelity. See 802.11b.

WiMAX

Wireless industry coalition for advancement of 802.16 standards for broadband wireless access (BWA) networks. Range of up to 30 miles, mostly deployed in 10-mile cells. Shared data-transfer rates of up to 75 Mbps per single channel. See 802.16, BWA.

Wireless

Telecommunications in which electromagnetic waves (rather than some form of wire) carry signal over part or all of communication path.

WISP

Wireless Internet Service Provider. Offers WLAN services including service specific hot spots and roaming services.

WLAN

Wireless Local Area Network. Mobile user connects to company’s LAN via wireless (radio) connection. 802.11 standard specifies WLAN technologies.

WLL

Wireless Local Loop. See FWA

WTA

Wireless Telephony Applications

X

X.25

An ITU/CCITT defined general purpose packet switching protocol

X.500

The ISO directory protocol. See DAP, LDAP, DNS

xDSL

Refers to all the DSL variants

Y

Z

ZBTSI

Zero Byte Time Slot Interchange (TSI). Bits 2 through 193 of each DS1 frame are scrambled to minimize the possibility of an all-zero octet. If all zero octets are still found, a group of all-ones is substituted. Due to its complexity this method is not often used.

ZCS

Zero Code Suppression. The seventh bit of an all-0 octet is replaced by a 1-bit. Only applicable to voice because there is no way to remove this one bit error.

 

Copyright © 2004 - 2005 - 2006 Continental Wireless, Inc. - Domestic/International Wireless-Solutions - Home

Call (800)527-2000 or email Continental with your system requirements for a free quotation