Any mechanism that slows transmission by creating congestion along the backward path.
basic link service
Special Fibre Channel procedures and frame payloads that provide basic low-level networking functions.
Bit Error Ratio (BER)
The ratio of erroneous bits to valid bits in a data stream. Minimum BER requirements are stated in Layer 1 technology specifications to indicate the minimum acceptable transmit fidelity.
block-level protocol
A protocol used to store and retrieve data via storage device constructs.
block multiplexer
One of two classes of mainframe channel protocols.
bridge
A device that operates at the OSI data-link layer to connect two physical network segments. A bridge can connect segments that use the same communication protocol (transparent bridge) or dissimilar communication protocols (translational bridge). A bridge can forward or filter frames.
byte multiplexer
One of two classes of mainframe channel protocols.