Glossary

 

| A | B | C | D | E | F | H | I | L | M | N | P | Q | R | S | T | V | W |

 

A

ACD

Automatic Call Distribution

ACP

Advanced Communications Package

ADSL

Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line
ANSI standard which defines a high-speed modem as capable of transmitting over 6Mbps via twisted-pair copper. Transmitting data via existing telephone lines at speeds 300 times the speed of an analog modem, ADSL can bring remote multimedia--video, audio, graphics, and text--to users. The ADSL market has evolved in two directions: first, a more developed, alternative version of ADSL technology dubbed Carrierless Amplitude Phase Modulation (CAP) and second, a more robust but less mature Discrete Multitone (DMT) line-coding scheme which was approved by ANSI as a standard in 1993.

AIN

Advanced Intelligent Network

ATM

Asynchronous Transfer Mode

 

B

 

BCS

Broadband Circuit Service - OC3 or OC12 optical handoff to CPE

BDS/LAN

Building Distribution System/Local Area Network

BGP

Border Gateway Protocol. An exterior routing protocol that determines the path through a TCP/IP network.  Defined in IETF RFC 1163.

BGMP

Border Gateway Multicast Protocol.  Uses a domain instead of a single router as a global root, enabling it to maintain a multicast connection as long as any path to the domain is available. 

BRI

Basic Rate Interface - ISDN service providing data speeds up to 128k (64k on each of 2 channels)

BVMS

Business Voice Mail System

BVS

Business Video System

 

C

CHAP

Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol

COPS

Common Open Policy Service. A QoS policy exchange protocol that allows communication between a Policy Decision Point (PDP) and a Policy Enforcement Points (PEP) such as switches, routers and gateways. 

CRS

Customer Rearrangement System

CNA

Customer Network Administration

D

DES

Data Encryption Standard

DHCP

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol

DigiLine

Southwestern Bell name for National BRI service

DLS

Digital Loop Service

DNS

Domain Name Service

DRS

Disaster Routing Service

DS0

Digital Signal with a speed of 64kbs

DS1

Digital Signal with a speed of 1.544Mbs. Equivalent to 24 DS0s, commonly called a T1.

DS3

Digital carrier with a speed of 45Mbs. Equivalent of 28 DS1s. Also called T3.

DWDM

Dense Wave Division Multiplexing.  A technique for transmitting several frequencies of light on a single fiber to increase the information carrying capacity.

 

E

EDI

Electronic Data Interchange

 

F

FRS

Frame Relay Service

 

H

H.323

An extension of the ITU standard H.320 that describes multimedia transmission over IP.   It has become the predominant protocol for  video and voice over IP.

 

I

IBGP

Internal BGP. A form of BGP that exchanges BGP updates within an autonomous system (a single domain)

ICS

Internet Connection Service

IEEE

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

IETF

Internet Engineering Task Force

IITS

Internet/Intranet Transport Service

IKE

Internet Key Exchange

IMAP

Internet Message Access Protocol. A method of accessing messages on a mail server that can be shared.

IP

Internet Protocol

IPSec

IP Security - used for VPN applications 

IPv6

IP version 6

ISAKMP

Internet Society Association Key Management Protocol

ISDN

Integrated Services Digital Network

ISP

Internet Service Provider

ITU

International Telecommunications Union

 

L

L2TP

Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol

LAN

Local Area Network

LDAP

Lightweight Directory Access Protocol. A directory service protocol that runs over TCP/IP

LNP

Local Number Portability

LPO

Loop Protection Option

LSP

Local Service Provider

 

M

MBGP

Multiprotocol extension to BGP. An interdomain routing protocol that supports multicast providing policy control to specify routing and forwarding for multicast.

MBONE

Multicast Backbone. A virtual network layered on top of the physical internet. Supports routing of IP multicast packets and is composed of multicast LANs and the point to point tunnels that interconnect them.

MGCP

Media Gateway Control Protocol. A voice protocol that runs in conjunction with SS7 and an IP protocol such as H.323 or SIP to bridge circuit switched and packet networks.  MGCP separates the signalling and call control from the media gateway.

MIME

Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension.  The standard for attaching non-text files to internet mail messages.

MPLS

Multiprotocol Label Switching. An advanced protocol that uses special labels to enable full mesh connectivity across a public network without managing virtual circuits. MPLS can also carry prioritization information.

MVS

Multipoint Video service

MPOE

Minimum Point of Entry - HB2128 and PUC Docket 10831

MPPC

Microsoft Point to Point Compression

MPPE

Microsoft Point to Point Encryption

 

N

NAT

Network Address Translation - Maps private IP addresses to public addresses for WAN access.

NOP

Network Optimization Performance

NRS

Network Reconfiguration Service

NSII

Network Subscriber Information Interface

 

O

OC3

Optical Carrier 3, 155Mbs, 3 DS3s. Common speed in SONET.

OC12

Optical Carrier 12, 622Mbs. Common speed in SONET.

OC48

Optical Carrier 48, 2.4Gbs. Common speed in SONET.

OC192

Optical Carrier 192, 10Gbs. Common speed in SONET.

 

P

PAP

Password Authentication Protocol

PAT

Port Address Translation - one public IP address used by many private addresses.   Common in WAN access routers to the internet. 

PCS

Personal Communications System

PKI

Public Key Infrastructure

PNNI

Private Network Node Interface. An ATM Forum specification for distributing topology information between switches and clusters of switches. PNNI is used to compute paths through a network.

POP

Point of Presence

PPP

Point to Point Protocol

PPTP

Point of Point Tunneling Protocol

PRI

Rrimary Rate Interface - ISDN service providing data speeds up to 1.4M (64k on each of 23 channels)

PSTN

Public Switched Telephone Network

 

Q

QoS

Quality of Service

 

R

RADIUS

Remote Authentication Dial In User Service

RFC

Request For Comment

ROTN

Route Other Than Normal

 

S

SIP

Session Initiated Protocol

SNS

Secure Net Service

Smart Trunk

Southwestern Bell name for providing two way, flat rate, digital service over PRI.

SMTP

Simple Mail Transfer Protocol.  A standard protocol that manages the exchange of mail between servers.

SMS/VM

Simplified Message System/Voice Mail System

SONET

Synchronous Optical NETwork

SS7

Signalling System 7 - Interoffice signaling protocol for circuit switched services.

SSL

Secure Sockets Layer

STN

Self-healing Transport Network

SWF-DS1

Switched Fractional DS1

 

T

 

TACACS+

Terminal Access Controller Access Control System Plus

TCP/IP

Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol

TRM

Transport Resource Management

 

V

VPN

Virtual Private Network

 

W

WAN

Wide Area Network