S: S-Systemview


S-Satellite Cabinet

S

Designation the sleeve or control leads in electromechanical Central Offices which are used to make busy circuits, trunks and subscriber lines, as well as to test for busy conditions. It also designates the sleeve wire on a switchboard cord.

S Band

  1. The microwave radio band from 2 GHz to 2.4 GHz. The designation S Band applied to World War 2 radar in the range 1.55 - 4.2 GHz. See also S-Band.

  2. Short Wavelength Band. The optical band, or window, specified by the ITU-T at a wavelength range between 1460nm and 1530nm (nanometers) for fiber optic transmission systems. See also C-Band, E-Band, L-Band, O-Band, and U-Band.

S Interface

For basic rate access in ISDN, the S interface is the standard four-wire, 144-Kbps (2B+D) interface between ISDN terminals or terminal adapters and the network channel termination, which is two wires. The S interface allows a variety of terminal types and subscriber networks (e.g., PBXs, LANs, and controllers) to be connected to this type of network. At the S interface, there are 4,000 frames of 48 bits each, per second, for 192 Kbps. The user's portion is 36 bits per frame, or 144 Kbps. Out of that 144 Kbps, the user gets two B channels, each of 64 Kbps, and one D channel of 16 Kbps. The local telephone company usually needs a portion of the D channel for signaling. And often it will sell you a 9.6 Kbps packet switched service carved out of the D channel. See also T Interface, U Interface and ISDN.

S Mail Address

Snail Mail address. Your post office address.

S Port

Refers to the port in an FDDI topology which connects a single attachment station or single attachment concentrator to a concentrator.

S Reference Point

The reference point between ISDN user terminal equipment (i.e., TE1 or TA) and network termination equipment (NT2 or NT1).

S SEED

Symmetric Self Electro-optic Effect Device. A switching device in which signals enter and exit as beams of light, not through electrical contacts. In 1990 AT&T Bell Labs built a general purpose digital optical processor/computer. The device contained 2,048 S-SEED chips which could be accessed simultaneously with separate beams of light. That means, that ultimately, such a computer could process huge amounts of information in parallel.

S Video

Type of video signal used in Hi8, S-VHS and some laserdisc formats, It transmits luminance and color portions separately, using multiple wires. S-Video avoids composite video encoding, such as NTSC and the resulting loss of picture quality. Also known as Y-C Video.

S-Band

Short Wavelength Band. The optical wavelength band range from 1490- 1530nm (nanometers). See also C-Band, L-Band, and S Band.

S-BCCH

System message-Broadcast Control CHannel. A logical channel element of the BCCH signaling and control channel used in digital cellular networks employing TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access), as defined by IS-136. See also BCCH, IS-136 and TDMA.

S-HTTP

Secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol. An extension of HTTP for authentication and data encryption between a Web server and a Web browser. This is another protocol in addition to SSL for transmitting data securely over the Internet and World Wide Web. Whereas SSL creates a secure connection between a client and a server, over which any amount of data can be sent securely, S-HTTP is designed to transmit individual messages securely. SSL and S-HTTP are complementary rather than competing technologies. Both protocols have been approved by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) as a standard. See also SSL.

S.100

A software voice processing standard established by the ECTF ((Enterprise Computer Telephony Forum). S.100, published in March, 1996 specifies a set of software interfaces that provide an effective way to develop computer telephony applications in an open environment, independent of underlying hardware. It defines a client-server model in which applications use a collection of services to allocate, configure and operate hardware resources. S.100 enables multiple vendors' applications to operate on any S.100-compliant platform. www.ectf.org. See ECTF, H.100, M.100 and S.100 Media Services API. In Communications Systems Design Magazine, Alan Percy wrote "Realizing features such as call processing, directory services, and unified messaging requires designers to coordinate a complex array of functions, services, and processes in various types of complex telephony equipment. The S.100 application programming interface (API) provides just such a toolset by brokering transactions among hardware and software components in telephony enabled products. S.100 is the result of the work done by the Enterprise Computer Telephony Forum (ECTF), which was founded in 1995 as a non-profit organization of computer telephony vendors , developers, integrators, and users from around the world. The result of this work is an architectural framework, that encompasses software and hardware, allowing a broad collection of services and telephony resources to be combined in sophisticated applications. A key component of this architecture is the S.100 API. This API fosters a development environment that opens the door to new and enhanced telephony applications such as interactive voice response (IVR), enhanced call and automated attendant services, and other useful services. The architecture provides several advantages for developers of computer telephony (CT) applications. The most important advantages include support for multiple applications, improved scaleability, and cross-vendor support. The majority of telephony application products ” designed to work with servers dedicated to specific purposes ” operate independently of each other, resulting in separate servers and telephone resources. Generally , if a corporation has a fax server, voice mail, and IVR system, and other applications, each resides in a separate server, uses a separate set of telephony resource cards, and requires separate telephone lines from the local PBX. A primary design goal of the S.100 architecture is flexibility, allowing multiple applications to execute and share telephony resources on a common server. S.100 accomplishes this flexibility by implementing an abstraction layer that makes the actual telephony resources and their physical location in the network transparent to the application. As a result, one telephony server can provide the required telephone interface and media processing resources to enable one or more application servers to execute a number of applications at the same time. For small-scale applications, the architecture allows the application and telephony server to be combined into a common server."

S.100 Media Services API

Defines a client server model in which applications use a collection of services to allocate, configure and operate hardware resources. Independent of operating system or hardware vendor, it abstracts implementation details of call processing hardware and switch fabrics from the applications themselves . See S.100 and ECTF.

S.300

The final component of the ECTF's set of server specifications, S.300 will compliment S.100R2 released in 1998. See ECTF and S.100.

S.410

S.410 is a Java 99 language expression of the ECTF Media Services API and Architecture. S.410 is part of JTAPI 1.3, which provides an integrated suite of object-oriented APIs for telephony control and media processing. The development of S.410 was a cooperative effort of both ECTF and Sun Microsystems' Java organizations. It is the media package for the Java Telephony API (JTAPI) 1.3 replacing the media package defined in JTAPI 1.2. Closely related to S.100 (the ECTF's C language API), S.410 permits applications to use the high-level, framework-supplied services defined by the ECTF architecture. This means that Java-based S.410 applications and C-based S.100 applications can use the same servers. The complete S.410 specification may be downloaded from www.ectf.org.

S/MIME

Secure Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension. An emerging de facto security standard for securing all types of e-mail. Increasingly being used in lieu of PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) and PEM (Privacy Enhanced Mail) security techniques, S/MIME has received broad support from the vendor community. Developed by RSA Data Security in 1996, S/MIME was a proprietary security mechanism, which fact led the IETF to reject it for consideration as a standard. In November 1997, RSA announced that it would give up the trademark and other rights to the protocol and the underlying encryption algorithm, leading the IETF to reconsider it as a standard. S/MIME is built on the Public Key Encryption Standard. Digital signatures are used to ensure that the message has not been tampered with during network transit. Digital signatures also provide nonrepudiation, thereby denying senders the ability to deny that they sent a message. The message content is encrypted and enclosed in a digital envelope; the envelope can be opened and the message read only with the use of the recipient's public key, which is sent along with the message. See also Digital Signature, Encryption, MIME, PEM, PGP and Public Key.

S/N

See Signal-to-Noise Ratio.

S/T Reference Point

An ISDN term . In the absence of the NT2, the user-net- work interface is usually called the S/T reference point.

S/W

Software.

S&P 500

The S & P 500, or Standard and Poor's 500, is an index used to gauge the overall health of the stockmarket, similar to the Dow Jones Index in some ways. The S & P 500 consists of 500 companies selected because they are judged to be leaders in their respective businesses. The S & P has become so well respected in the market, a company's stock value may increase simply because it is added to the S & P 500. The way stocks are chosen for the S & P 500 is a bit mysterious , and not a lot is widely understood about the selection process, but the companies are predominantly United States companies operating in a wide range of businesses. Fundamental analysis plays a role in selection, as does availability of stock on the open market. www.spglobal.com.

S0

Sub zero. A European terms for BRI ISDN. Europeans call it BRA.

S10 Register

Hayes, the modem people, invented their "Command Set." This command set lets you control your Hayes compatible modem. In the Command Set there are "S" registers which set how the modem responds to events like answering. Should it answer on the first, second, third, etc. ring. There are 27 registers. The most important S register is S10. This register sets the time between loss of carrier and internal modem disconnect. The factory setting is 1.3 seconds. Drop carrier for 1.3 seconds and your modem will turn itself off. This is long enough for all conditions, except the awful "call waiting" signal you get at hotels and at home. There is a solution: Get your communications software to "go local." Then type ATS10=20. That will increase your S10 register to two seconds. If you have a 300 or 1200 baud you'll have to do this every time you turn on your modem. If you have a 2400 baud modem (the only one to get), you type ATS10=20&W only once. The "&W" writes it into your 2400 baud's non-volatile memory. If you want to check to see if you did it right, type ATS10? That will reply by saying 020. That means 20 tenths of a second, or two seconds. If that still doesn't work for you, increase S10 to three seconds. Other S registers control how long your modem waits for the other end to answer, how long its dialing "pause" is, how quickly it outpulses tones for dialing, etc.

SA

Source Address. The address from which the message or data originated. A six octet value uniquely identifying an end point and which is sent in an IEEE LAN frame header to indicate source of frame.

SAA

Systems Application Architecture. A set of specifications written by IBM describing how users should interface with applications and communications programs. The idea is to give all software "a common feel" so that training will be less burdensome. According to IBM advertising, "SAA will make it possible for everyone in an organization to access information regardless of its location. What's more, all software written to SAA specifications will provide similar screen layouts, menus and terminology." For a fuller explanation, see Systems Applications Architecture.

SAAL

Signaling ATM Adaptation Layer: This resides between the ATM layer and the Q.2931 function. The SAAL provides reliable transport of Q.2931 messages between Q.2931 entities (e.g., ATM switch and host) over the ATM layer; two sublayers : common part and service specific part.

SABME

Set Asynchronous Balanced Mode Extended.

SAC

  1. Single-Attached Concentrator.

  2. Service Access Code or Special Area Code. See Service Access Code.

  3. Subscriber Acquisition Cost. What it costs a telecom, wireless carrier, Internet Service Provider, satellite or cable TV or other provider (e.g. TiVo) to acquire a new customer. Usually the cost exceeds several months of revenue. SAC might include the cost of a cell phone for a wireless provider. It definitely includes the cost of the marketing and sales. See also Churn.

Sacrificial Host

A computer server placed outside an organization's Internet firewall to provide a service that might otherwise hurt the local internal area network's security.

SADL

Synchronous Auto Dial Language. Created by Racal Vadic, SADL is a public domain auto-dialing protocol which defines procedures in BSC, SDLC (SNA) and HDLC for PCs and larger computers that wish to control synchronous modems directly under program control. SADL does for synchronous dialing systems what the Hayes "AT" command set has done for the async PC dialing world.

Saddle

A device for establishing the position of the raceway or raceways within the concrete relative to the screed line, and for maintaining the spacing between the raceways.

SAF-TE

SCSI Accessed Fault Tolerant Enclosures specification is a non-proprietary, standardized alert detection and status reporting system for storage subsystems which can send and receive information via a standard SCSI interface. A SAF-TE compliant enclosure is designed to monitor and provide notification to the LAN administrator on the condition of disk drives , power and cooling systems and allow for communication to server-based software agents for network notification. Under the SAF-TE specification, the enclosure is typically implemented as an assignable SCSI target using a low-cost SCSI chip and 8-bit micro- controller. The microcontroller is attached to various alarm sensors and status lights / displays on the enclosure. The enclosure target ID is periodically polled (e.g. every 10-20 seconds) by the host to detect / send changes in status. Disconnect / reconnect and asynchronous event notifications area are not used.

Safe Area

That area in the center of a video frame which is sure to be displayed on all types of receivers and monitors. Televisions and other monitors made at different times and by different companies are slightly different in size and shape, and the outer edge of the video frame (about 10 percent) of the total picture is not produced in the same way on all sets.

Safe Harbor Statement

When companies tell you about their idea of the future, they will typically preface their forecast with a "Safe harbor Statement." This suggests that they are protecting you from the storm raging outside the harbor and everything they tell you will be just wonderful. In fact, that the opposite . The people in the safe harbor are the company. They're safe. And you're outside in the storm. Believe what they tell you with a grain of salt. Caveat emptor. In short, a safe harbor statement protects the giver of the information, not the receiver. It's a disclaimer and once you're heard it, you basically can't sue the giver of the information if something goes wrong with your investment. Here's a typical safe harbor statement:

"The Company wishes to take advantage of the Safe Harbor provisions included in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 ("the Act"). Statements by the Company relating to future revenues and growth, stock appreciation , plant startups , capabilities and other statements which are not historical information constitute "forward looking statements" within the meaning of the Act. All forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ from those projected . Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include, but are not limited to, the following: general economic conditions; conditions in the Company's major markets; competitive factors and pricing pressures; product demand and changes in product mix; changes in pricing or availability of raw material, particularly steel ; delays in construction or equipment supply; and other risks described from time to time in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission."

Here's another one, this contained in a press release. "This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements include the ability to attract customers for Precise's products, ability to execute as designed, acceptance of Precise's products in the market place, ability to manage existing and future strategic relationships, ability to successfully integrate the operations of W. Quinn as well as statements regarding the financial performance, strategy and plans of Precise. Precise's actual experience may differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause such a difference include the size of the market; timing and acceptance of Precise's products in the market place; the future growth and acceptance of Precise's products in the market place; Precise's ability to predict and respond to market developments; the development, expansion and training of Precise's sales force; risks associated with management of growth; risks associated with existing and future strategic relationships and acquisitions, Precise being held liable for defects or errors in its products; political, economic and business fluctuations in the United States, Israel and Precise's international markets; as well as risks of downturns in economic conditions generally or as a result of recent events, and in the information technology and software industries specifically , and risks associated with competition, and competitive pricing pressures. For a more detailed description of the risk factors associated with Precise, please refer to Precise's Form 10-K Annual Report for the year ended December 31, 2000 and Registration Statement on Form S-3 on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission."

Safe Mode

A state in which Windows 95 loads in VGA without 32-bit drivers or network support. Usually occurs when there's a hardware or driver conflict or problem, or one of the drivers doesn't work well. You can't run Windows 95 usefully in Safe Mode. You have to fix it so it can run again in what it calls "normal" mode. There are three solutions to fixing the problem. The first is to keep rebooting Windows 95 until it returns to normal mode all by itself, which it probably will eventually. The second is to contact your PC's manufacturer and find out if he has any updated drivers you can have. Or third, you can remove all the installed hardware, boot up in normal mode (it will easily) and then re-install everything. I had this problem of Windows booting up in safe mode constantly and refusing to go to normal mode. I fixed it by replacing my mouse driver with a new version, which my manufacturer provided.

SAFENET

Survivable Adaptable Fiber Network. A U.S. Navy experimental fiber-based local area network designed to survive conventional and limited nuclear battle conditions.

Safety Belt

A thing made of leather. It's used by outside plant workers to attach themselves to and to climb utility poles. It's also called a body belt.

Sag

  1. The downward curvature of a wire or cable due to its weight.

  2. The opposite of surge. When the line voltage drops far enough to affect the operation of a phone system or computer.

Sagan

A large quantity. Its derivation is thought to come from Carl Sagan, the astronomer , who used the term "billions and billions" on his TV series.

SAI

  1. See Serving Area Interface.

  2. Stratus Computer's PBX Switch to Stratus Computer Application Interface.

SAIC

Science Applications International Corporation. According to SAIC, it is the largest employee-owned research and engineering company in the U.S. On November 21, 1996, SAIC announced its agreement to acquire Bellcore. See Bellcore. SAIC also owned Network Solutions Inc. (NSI), which currently administers the traditional Internet gTLDs (generic Top Level Domains). NSI went public in early 1998. www.saic.com. The domains under NSI control include the following: .com, which designates commercial entities; .edu, which designates institutions of higher learning; .org, which is intended to designate not-for-profit organizations, but is misused and abused.

SAID

Speech Activated Intelligent Dialing.

SAID SOD

Speech-Activated Intelligent Dialing Stringing of Digits.

Saint Gabriel

In the Catholic religion, Saint Gabriel the Archangel first appears in the prophesies of Daniel in the Old Testament. Gabriel announced to Daniel a prophecy . He also appeared to Zachariah to announce the birth of St. John the Baptist, and he announced to Mary that she would bear a Son Who would be conceived of the Holy Spirit. Saint Gabriel was quite a communicator. He is the patron saint of telecommunications workers, and his feast day is September 29.

Saint Valentine's Day

In the Middle Ages, the belief that birds chose their mates on St. Valentine's Day led to the idea that boys and girls would do the same. Up through the early 1900's, the Ozark hill people in the U.S. thought that birds and rabbits started mating on February 14, a day for them which was not only Valentine's Day but Groundhog Day as well.

Salary

Salt was given as monthly wages to Roman legionnaires, and was referred to as "salt money," or "salarium." Hence our word "salary.

Sales Agent

See Aggregator.

Sales Automation

See Sales Force Automation.

Sales Force Automation

The use of computers and computer software by salespeople to boost their sales. There are two types of sales force automation ” those totally self-contained on the computers of salespeople (mostly laptops) or those which communicate with headquarters computer over phone lines. There are many purposes of the phone communication ” sending orders in, finding out about back orders, getting updates on "specials," dropping letters and memos in, getting new prices, new products, new technical specs , etc. Salespeople routinely show 10% to 20% sales gains armed with a laptop PC and sales automation software (also called "personal contact") software.

Salmon Day

One of those days where you swim upstream all day only to get screwed and die in the end.

SALT

Speech Application Language Tags. SALT is an extended set of markup tags designed to add voice to Web sites. It is based on the Extensible Markup Language (XML). These markup tags are designed to add voice to application interfaces that are compatible with structured markup languages used on the Internet such as HTML, xHTML, XML, cHTML, SGML and WML. In essence, SALT allows you to add voice functions to applications built with any of the compatible languages. SALT does not change an existing language, nor does it provide all of the voice resources. It operates separately as a layer, but commands can be inserted into an existing structured language to allow access to voice functions such as speech recognition, speech synthesis, and grammar recognition that are available from a server. The main reason to use SALT is to provide speech input and output interfaces as well as the ability to control those voice functions from within a web page. There are two major applications for SALT. One is to enhance an existing application interface by adding voice, such as adding interactive voice prompts to a web page. The second is the creation of a SALT controlled, voice-only interface that could be implemented where a traditional graphical user interface (GUI) could not be used. In each case, SALT has the ability to listen for spoken input as well as accept input from a telephone touchtone pad. It then uses analyzes the input and provide the appropriate output in any combination of text, speech output or links to audio files. SALT is used in many applications. One of the most powerful is as a voice interface to web-enabled devices that are unable to adequately display a typical web interface. For instance, a web-enabled cell phone does not have a robust enough screen to properly display a web page, but through a SALT interface a user can listen to a menu of options and use vocal or keypad input to navigate the web page to find the desired information or services. SALT also enhances a typical web page. For example, an insurance company designs a Web page complete with helpful tips and online policy review to support their customers. To further enhance the page they include an interface that allows a customer to click and talk real-time with an insurance representative to handle questions, policy updates, and even claims ” all from the user's computer. The effort to develop SALT technology was spearheaded by a group of companies called the SALT Forum. Their goal is to develop a platform independent, open standard that allows a variety of input and output choices, including speech recognition and speech synthesis, for real- time, web-enabled telephony applications. Thanks for Alcatel for help on this definition.

Salvo

The sending of a group of commands at the same time.

Sam

  1. Security Accounts Manager.

  2. The Newton family's excessively spoiled cat.

See SAM Technology.

SAM Technology

Self Administered Maintenance. Application invented by a software engineer named Dave Tedesco. This is a technique added to large corporate web sites to allow the non-technical people to make changes to the web site without screwing up its functionality.

Samizdat

Samizdat, a phenomenon which began after Khrushchev's secret speech at the Twentieth Communist Party Congress in 1956, meant the private reproduction of books, documents, letters, essays , literary works, translations, reprints from formerly published and until recent times forbidden publications, by means of typing and retyping them for dissemination by private citizens . These publications were thus completely free of censorship. Most samizdat of the pre-glasnost period is in manuscript form. Many samizdat publications found their way to the West and were published in emigre publications . There are three periods of censorship in Russian History:

  1. The first period began in 1917 and ended in 1985 when Gorbachev came to power and announced a policy of glasnost. There was no freedom of speech and there was strict censorship.

  2. The second period lasted from 1985 to 1 August 1990, when the new anti- censor - ship law (Law on the Press) came into effect. Glasnost inaugurated the collapse of the homogeneous ideological front. However, glasnost was not freedom of the press. Censorship was still in effect. Nevertheless, during this time and up to the passing of the new anti-censorship law close to 600 unofficial periodical publications appeared. These publications were uncensored and not registered in the Soviet official national bibliographies .

  3. The third period, the era of freedom of speech, began on 1 August 1990 when, theoretically, after the introduction of the new law, there were no more restrictions on publishing freely . Censorship was abolished. However, the pre-coup government tried to control publishers and publishing houses by having a monopoly on paper distribution. At the beginning of this period there were still publishing houses subsidized by the government as well as publications completely independent from the government. The August 1990 Law on the Press also required the registration of printed matter with the Book chamber .

Sampling

  1. Converting continuous signals, like voice or video, into discrete values, e.g. digital signals. See also Digital Signal Processing, PCM and Sampling Rate.

  2. Examining a small percentage of the universe to determine makeup of the entire universe. A cook concludes that the entire pot of soup needs salt after sampling only one teaspoonful. the cook makes the assumption that the rest of the soup will taste the same as his sample.

Sampling Frequency

The rate at which an inputted information signal is sampled to determine its instantaneous amplitude for subsequent quantization, coding and modulation to be digitally transmitted; thus 8 kilohertz becomes the sampling rate for 4 kilohertz analog speech, while 30 kilohertz is needed for 15 kilohertz music. See Pulse Code Modulation.

Sampling Rate

  1. The number of times per second that an analog signal is measured and converted to a binary number ” the purpose being to convert the analog signal each time it is sampled, to a digital byte representation. The most common digital signal ” PCM ” samples voice 8,000 times a second.

  2. The number of times per second that a digital audio sample is taken during recording or read during playback ” expressed in kilohertz (kHz). An audio CD sampled at a rate of 44kHz has 44,100 bits of information per second.

SAN

  1. System Administration, Networking and Security.

  2. Storage Area Network. A SAN is special purpose high-speed network designed to transport database- intensive applications, such as those used for inventory, billing, receivables, customer relationship management and supply chain. The concept is to have a dedicated network for these applications so users get fast response and don't get bogged down in the corporation's general networking traffic. Actually, a SAN generally is in the form of a sub-network that is part of a larger LAN (Local Area Network). The network protocols can include ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode), ESCON (Enterprise Systems Connectivity), Fast Ethernet (100 Mbps or Gigabit), FC-AL (Fibre Channel-Arbitrated Loop), or SSA (Serial Systems Architecture). The storage technology can be JBOD (Just a Bunch Of Disks), RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks), a bunch of servers on a network, or a more complex and expensive host storage server such as a midrange or mainframe computer. SAN applications include disk mirroring, data backup and restoration, data archival and retrieval, data transfer between storage devices, and data sharing between servers. A SAN is much more complex than simple Network Attached Storage (NAS). See also NAS.

Sand

See Pound Sand and Sandbox.

Sand Hill Road

The swank address in Menlo Park, California (i.e. Silicon Valley) for many of the world's leading venture capital firms. Firms based here have funded some of the biggest and most successful technology startups.

Sandbox

  1. Applications that are downloaded from a client on the Internet or an Intranet and which have the potential to damage that client. Viruses are an example of a malicious attempt to do so through damaging the hard drive, corrupting or erasing files, or perhaps damaging the operating system. Some computer programming languages or operating environments (e.g., Java) deny a distributed object access to operating system calls or to other resources. Such restricted objects are said to be "in the sandbox," according to Network magazine.

  2. Many inventors look for outside financing from angels or venture capitalists. Some people look for the money to grow their company, by selling product or service and ultimately making a profit. Some people look for the money so they can continue having fun writing software, creating hardware, and doing whatever cool neat new things amuse them. These are "sandbox" companies. They will never produce a real product for their customers or a profit for their stockholders . To be a successful investor, you need to identify sandbox companies and avoid them like the plague. I get a lot of proposals by inventors seeking money. In response to one, I wrote, "The problem I have - and I can smell this one - is that this is a sandbox company. A bunch of incredibly bright boys are looking for money so they can keep creating cool new technologies. My job, as investor, is to provide the money, not question the use, or God Forbid , that they might actually focus their endeavors on creating a commercial product that will sell."

  3. A protected area of a computer system in which programs run with limited privileges. For example Java applets may be confined to a sandbox environment which prevents them from accessing the computer system's permanent storage (e.g. hard disk) or networking services. Another example of a sandbox is an isolated network segment used for testing.

  4. A network security term. A protective mechanism used in some programming environments that limits the actions that programs can take. A program normally has all the same privileges as the user who runs it. However, a sandbox restricts a program to a set of privileges and commands that make it difficult or impossible for the program to cause any damage to the user's data.

Sandhog

An underground worker, typically those building tunnels.

Sandpit

See Sandbox.

Sanitize

Jim Friehoff's term for forcing VARs to "get on board or get out."

Sanity Check

A check to confirm the service capability of a switching system. This test has not been applied to the author of this dictionary.

SAP

  1. Service Access Point. OSI terminology for portion of a network address that identifies the host application sending or receiving a data packet. In TCP/IP terminology, a SAP is a "port." SAPs and ports identify the specific application or service on the host computer; examples include e-mail and file server software. In the ATM Reference Model, traffic passes up and down the ATM Layers through SAPs, which are named for the specific Layers ; e.g., the User Layer, ATM Adaptation Layer (AAL), ATM Layer, and Physical Layer (PHY). The term also is used in SMDS architecture, and to reference the same concept.

  2. An IBM term for a logical point made available by an interface card where information can be received and transmitted.

  3. Systems, Applications, and Protocols. Translated from the German Systemanalyse und Programmentwicklung. SAP AG was founded in 1972 by five former IBM employees . It has grown to be one of the largest providers of inter-enterprise software solutions in the world. Software products address applications such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM), e-commerce, supply chain management, and product lifecycle management.

  4. Session Announcement Protocol. A protocol developed by the IETF as a companion to the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). SAP is a method by which a multimedia conferencing session over an IP-based network is announced to the potential conference participants .

SAPI

Service Access Point Identifier. The SAPI identifies a logical point at which data link layer services are provided by a data link layer entity to a Layer 3 entity. ISDN jargon. See also Windows Telephony.

SAR

  1. Segmentation And Reassembly. Generically speaking, a process of segmenting relatively large data packets into smaller packets for purposes of achieving compatibility with a network protocol relying on a smaller specific packet size. The process is often required in conjunction with ATM, SMDS and X.25 networks.

  2. A sublayer of the ATM protocol stack, specifically of the ATM Adaptation Layer (AAL). The native Protocol Data Unit (PDU) associated with the transmitting device is segmented into 48-octet payload fields at this sublayer. At the target end of the data communication, the SAR serves to reassemble the native PDU by extracting and combining multiple 48-octet payloads from multiple ATM cells .

  3. Specific Absorption Rate. Specific Absorption Rate (SAR): SAR is a measure of the rate of energy that is absorbed, or dissipated in a mass of dielectric materials, such as biological tissues (i.e. a human being, like you and me). Usually SAR is expressed in watts per kilogram (W/kg) or milliwatts per kilogram (mW/kg). Here's Motorola's explanation of SAR: Your wireless phone is a radio transmitter and receiver. It is designed and manufactured not to exceed the exposure limits for radio frequency (RF) energy set by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) of the U.S. Government. These limits are part of comprehensive guidelines and establish permitted levels of radio frequency (RF) energy for the general population. The guidelines are based on standards that were developed by independent scientific organizations through periodic and thorough evaluation of scientific studies. The standards include a substantial safety margin designed to assure the safety of all persons, regardless of age and health. The exposure standard for wireless mobile phones employs a unit of measurement known as the Specific Absorption Rate, or SAR. The SAR limit set by the FCC is 1.6watts/kilogram (W/kg). Tests for SAR are conducted using standard operating positions reviewed by the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) with the phone transmitting at its highest certified power level in all tested frequency bands. Although the SAR is determined at the highest certified power level, the actual SAR level of the phone while operating can be well below the maximum value. This is because the phone is designed to operate at multiple power levels so as to use only the power required to reach the network. In general, the closer you are to a wireless base station antenna, the lower the power output. Before a phone model is available for sale to the public, it must be tested and certified to the FCC that it does not exceed the limit established by the government-adopted requirement for safe exposure. The tests are performed in positions and locations (for example, at the ear and worn on the body) as required by the FCC for each model. The highest SAR value for this model phone (a typical Motorola mobile phone) when tested for use at the ear is 1.51 W/kg and when worn on the body, as described in this user guide, is 0.75 W/kg. (Body-worn measurements differ among phone models, depending upon available accessories and FCC requirements.) While there may be differences between the SAR levels of various phones and at various positions , they all meet the government requirement. The FCC has granted an Equipment Authorization for this model phone with all reported SAR levels evaluated as in compliance with the FCC RF exposure guidelines. SAR information on this model phone is on file with the FCC and can be found under the Display Grant section of www.fcc.gov/oet/fccid." See also www.rfiwireless.com/pages/press/articles/ART015.htm.

Sarchasm

The Washington Post's Style Invitational asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting or changing one letter, and supply a new definition. This one is one of the winners. Sarchasm is the gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the reader who doesn't get it.

Sardines

Canned herrings were dubbed "sardines" because the canning process was first developed in Sardinia, Italy.

SAS

  1. Simple Attachment Scheme.

  2. Severly errored frame/Alarm indication Signal. A one-second period of time in which are detected multiple frame errors or an alarm indication signal over a digital circuit. See also CV, ES and SES.

SASG

Special Autonomous Study Group. These ITU-T study groups are chartered to produce handbooks on basic telecommunications technical or administrative subjects for developing countries .

SASI

Shugart Associates System Interface. The first SCSI interface specification defined by Shugart, a disk drive manufacturer. Later it was modified and renamed as the Small Computer System Interface (SCSI), pronounced Scuzzy. See also SCSI.

SASL

Simple Authentication and Security Layer. An Internet security mechanism specified in RFC 2222, SASL is a method for adding authentication support to connection-oriented protocols. SASL grew out of the work on IMAP4 (Internet Messaging Access Protocol version 4), a next -generation e-mail protocol which is likely to replace POP (Post Office Protocol) for Internet mail servers. IMAP4 includes the ability for mail clients and servers to negotiate the authentication mechanism they will use. SASL allows a client to request authentication from a server and, as an option, to negotiate the use of any authentication mechanism (e.g., Kerberos version 4, simple username/passwords, and one-time passwords such as S/Key) registered with IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority). SASL mechanisms are named by strings, from 1 to 20 characters in length, and consisting of upper-case letters, digits, hyphens, and/or underscores. See also Authentication, IANA, IMAP, Kerberos, and POP.

SAT

  1. Subscriber Access Termination. An SMDS term.

  2. Supervisory Audio Tone. A cellular term. When a cellular call is set up, the MSC (Mobile Switching Center) sends a SAT to the cell phone. The SAT is returned by the cell phone through an automatic loopback. The MSC checks the characteristics of the SAT in order to ensure signal quality before setting up the call. See also Loopback and MSC.

SATA

See Serial ATA.

SATAN

Security Administrator Tool for Analyzing Networks. This tool allows a network analyst to mimic a malicious hacker (or cracker) for the purpose of identifying weaknesses in system and network security. It also provides malicious hackers a nifty tool. See Hacker.

Satcom

A shortened way of saying "satellite communications."

Satellite

  1. A microwave receiver, repeater, regenerator in orbit above the earth. Traditional communications satellites are known as GEO's, as they are in Geosynchronous Earth Orbit , which is an equatorial orbit with the satellites at high altitudes of approximately 22,300 miles. In such an orbital slot and at that altitude, they maintain their position relative to the earth's surface. More recently developed satellites are placed in Low or Middle Earth Orbits, hence the terms LEO and MEO. LEOs and MEOs vary widely in terms of orbital paths and altitudes; therefore, they are not synchronized with the earth's rotation. See GEO, MEO and LEO. See also Satellite Transmission.

  2. Something distant to the main something. See Main Distribution Frame, Satellite Cabinet and Satellite Distribution Frame.

Satellite Business Systems

SBS. A satellite long distance carrier originally owned jointly by IBM, Aetna Insurance and Comsat, but now owned by MCI (which acquired it in 1986). SBS started out to serve the data communications transmission marketplace but found that marketplace too small to be profitable. It then started to serve the voice transmission marketplace and did somewhat better. But everyone hated satellite voice calls because of the delay and the frequent echoes. Satellite Business Systems no longer exists as a separate entity. It has been merged into MCI. There are estimates on how much money SBS lost in its short history. They are substantial, ranging around $1 billion ” a lot of money in those days. See SBS.

Satellite Cabinet

Surface-mounted or flush-type wall cabinets for housing circuit administration hardware. Satellite cabinets , like satellite closets, supplement riser closets by providing additional facilities for connecting horizontal wiring subsystem cables from information outlets in user locations. Sometimes referred to as satellite location.




Newton[ap]s Telecom Dictionary
Newton[ap]s Telecom Dictionary
ISBN: 979387345
EAN: N/A
Year: 2004
Pages: 133

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