Callpath CallCoordinator-Case Sensitive

CallPath CallCoordinator

CallCoordinator is IBM's integrated call management application that uses CallPath Services APIs to integrate data processing applications with telephone systems. IBM has versions of CallCoordinator for MVS CICS, OS/2 and Windows workstations. CallCoordinator provides features such as Intelligent Answering (based on ANI, DNIS, or Calling Line ID), Coordinated Voice and Data Transfer, Consultation (both voice and data), Conferencing (both voice and data), Transfer Load balancing between a single or multiple telephone systems, Outbound dialing, Event logging for Management Information Reporting, Personal Dialing Directory ( Windows Only), Personal telephony facilities (answer phone, disconnect, transfer, etc.), Integration with CallPath DirectTalk/2 and CallPath DirectTalk/6000, Customizable Application Programming Interfaces. CallCoordinator integrates with existing 3270 or 5250 applications, and on the workstation versions, has the ability to communicate with existing applications via Dynamic Data Exchange or standard LAN communications protocols (such as TCP/IP). See CallPath Services Architecture.

CallPath CICS

Enabling software that connects your telephone systems with your IBM 370 or 390 (i.e. the mainframe version of CallPath/400, which works on the AS/400 platform). See CallPath CallCoordinator.

CallPath Services Architecture

CSA is IBM's architecture that defines the protocols for communication between computers and telephone switches. CallPath Services Architecture, announced in 1991, provides an Application Programming Interface (API) that enables a call management application to interact with telephone systems, with little regard to the protocols or communications interface provided by the telephone system. The idea is that with CallPath a call will arrive at a computer terminal simultaneously with the database record of the caller. And such call and database record can be transferred simultaneously to an expert, a supervisor, etc. CallPath has especial value in telephone call centers. As of writing, IBM provided connectivity to PBXs (Lucent Definity Generic 3, Nortel Meridian 1, Siemens/ROLM 9751 and Hicom, Bosch, Alcatel, SDX, Ericsson, Philips, Deutsche Telecom, Cortelco, and GPT), central office switches (AT&T 5ESS and Northern Telecom DMS-100), and ACDs (Aspect and Rockwell). IBM's CallPath products provide support for locally attached applications and client/server applications. IBM has CallPath APIs available for mainframes, minicomputers and workstations, in particular IBM System 390 and ES9000, AS/400, RISC System/6000, OS/2 workstations, Windows workstations, Sun Solaris, HP UX, and SCO UNIX workstations. See Open Application Interface and DirectTalk.

Callpower

A Rockwell ACD term . An integrated voice and data workstation for use in combining ACD capabilities with host computer database management.

CallWare

CallWare is a company in Salt Lake City, UT, which makes computer telephony software that runs on the Novell NetWare operating system. CallWare software includes voice mail, autoattendant, IVR database lookup, etc.

CALLS Proposal

Access charge reform adopted by the FCC in May 2000 that applies only to price cap carriers. The order intended to lower consumer rates and make implicit subsidies explicit. It (1) reduced per minute access charge rates paid by interex- change carriers (IXCs); (2) eliminated the presubscribed interexchange carrier charge (PICC) (3) increased the fixed subscriber line charge (SLC); and (4) established a $650 million interstate universal service support mechanism.

CALNET

The California Network (CALNET) implemented service in September 1991 with the objective of providing cost-effective telecommunications services to state and local government in California by reducing costs through consolidation of user service requirements. In the summer of 1998, CALNET provided services to 300,000 government customers statewide. The Department of General Services' (DGS) Telecommunications Division oversees CALNET.

CAM

1. Call Applications Manager. The name of the Tandem software interface which provides the link between a call center switch telephone switch (either a PBX or an ACD) and all Tandem NonStop (fault tolerant) computers. CAM supports most major PBXs and automatic call distributors .

2. Computer-Aided Manufacture. The actual production of goods implemented and controlled by computers and robots. Often used in conjunction with CAD. Only a few factories are completely automated. Usually, there is some human intervention in the actual construction of the product, often to make sure a part is placed in the robot correctly.

3. Controlled Attachment Module. Intelligent Token-Ring hub.

4. Content Addressable Memory. It is a key component used in high performance routers. See Content Addressable Memory for a full explanation.

CAMA

Centralized Automatic Message Accounting. See CAMA/LAMA.

CAMA-ONI

Central Automatic Message Accounting-Operator Number Identification. An operator located at a position that is connected temporarily on a customer- dialed station- to-station call.

CAMA/LAMA

Centralized Automatic Message Accounting/Local Automatic Message Accounting. Specific versions of AMA in which the ticketing of toll calls is done automatically at a central location for several COs (CAMA) or only at the local office for that office's subscribers. See CESID.

Camcorder

A camera and a video recording system packaged as a whole.

CAMEL

1. Customized Application of Mobile Enhanced Logic. An ETSI standard for GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications). CAMEL enhances GSM for the provisioning of international IN (Intelligent Network) services. In order to effect CAMEL, the GSM operator installs a CSE (CAMEL Service Environment), similar to the wired IN equivalent. The CSE comprises a SSP (Service Switching Point), IPs (Intelligent Peripherals), a SCP (Service Control Point), the SCE (Service Creation Environment) and some additional SS7 (Signaling System 7) software. CAMEL supports the availability of IN services internationally, across GSM networks. Initial services will include voice mail, call waiting, call forwarding, and Freephone (toll-free) access. While only approximately 10% of GSM users currently roam internationally, that number is expected to increase significantly in the future. See also ETSI, GSM and IN.

2. A camel can lose up to 30% of its body weight in perspiration and continue to cross the desert. A human would die of heat shock after sweating away only 12% of body weight. See Camel Droppings.

Camel Droppings

Some camel droppings are so dry that they can be set on fire as soon as dropped. See also Shit.

Camel Toes

I don't quite understand this one. But I am assured that it exists. Camel toes describes what some telephone men describe as the sight of a female telephone operator in tight polyester pants ” as in a frontal view below waist level.

Camgirl

A young woman who broadcasts live pictures of herself over the World Wide Web. Also called cam-girl, cam girl or Webcam girl.

Camp-on

You're calling a telephone an extension or you want to transfer a call to a phone but it's busy. This telephone system feature will allow you to lock the call you're trying to transfer onto the line that's busy. When it becomes free, the phone will ring and the "camped-on" call will be connected automatically.

Campus

The buildings and grounds having legal contiguous interconnection.

Campus Area Network

CAN. A network that provides interconnectivity in a confined geographic area such as a campus or industrial park. Such networks operate over fairly short distances, and do not require public rights-of-way.

Campus Backbone

Cabling between buildings that share telecommunications facilities.

Campus Distributor

CD. The international term for the main cross-connect. The distributor from which the campus backbone cable emanates.

Campus Environment

An environment in which users ” voice, video and data ” are spread out over a broad geographic area, as in a university, hospital, medical center, prison . There may be several telephone systems. There may be several LANs on a campus. They will be connected with bridges and/or routers communicating over telephone, microwave or fiber optic cable.

Campus Network

A campus network is a LAN that is spread over multiple buildings. Campus Networks are typically created by small companies or divisions of larger firms.

Campus Subsystem

The part of a premises distribution system which connects buildings together. The cable, interbuilding distribution facilities, protectors, and connectors that enable communication among multiple buildings on a premises.

CAN

1. Abbreviation for cancel. The binary code is 100001 and the HEX is 81.

2. See Campus Area Network.

Cancel

By touching the "cancel" button on a phone system you're telling the phone system to ignore the last command you gave it. That command might have been transfer, hold, park, etc. The "cancel" button is often mistakenly confused with the "release" button. The "release" button acts the same as hitting "Enter" on a computer system, i.e. it tells the system to go ahead and do what you just told it to do, no matter how stupid your command. In short, "Cancel" means kill the last command. You use it when you make a mistake. "Release" means "Enter" ” Do it and do it now.

Cancel Call Waiting

On a touchtone phone in North America, you typically can cancel the feature, Call Waiting, by touchtoning *70.

Cancelmoose

A Newsgroup/Usenet Term. An individual who wages war against spamming .

Cannibalize

To devour a phone system by stripping parts from it to repair another system. A common technique for maintaining equipment whose original manufacturer no longer supplies parts. Before you cannibalize, check out the monthly publication Telecom Gear. That publication lists sources of secondary telecom equipment. Good stuff, too.

Cannibalism

Two men accused of eating human body parts, washed down with a bottle of wine, were freed by a Cambodian provincial court because there was no law against cannibalism. The two men, both crematorium workers, were arrested for eating fingers and toes of a body they were cremating. Police in Banteay Meanchey province , 140 miles northwest of Phnom Penh, were alerted by villagers, who said the men often ate human parts after relatives of deceased had left the crematorium. Eating human parts was common during the 1975-79 Khmer Rouge "killing fields" rule, when an estimated 1.7 million people died from torture, overwork, disease, execution and widespread famine . Besides having no law against cannibalism, the men were hungry.

Canonical

Conforming to a generally accepted rule or procedure, commonly reduced to the simplest or clearest schema possible. A simple matrix used for translating addresses is one example. When using Windows XP faxing service, telephone numbers must be in the canonical form in which a U.S. number would appear as [phone]. If you use even a slightly different form, says Microsoft, such as [phone] or 1-626-555- 1212, the dialing rules won't be applied and the fax transmission will fail. See also Canonical Address and CNAME Records.

Canonical Address

A method for storing unique telephone numbers. Canonical addressing is used by Windows Telephony TAPI (Telephony API) for making telephone calls from a database of numbers. A canonical address describes all possible aspects of a telephone number. You can call a telephone number using canonical addressing independent of calling location or access method. A canonical address is stored in a database and preceded by an ASCII Hex (2B) to indicate its address type. It includes delimiters and strings for Country Code, Area Code, Subscriber Number, Subaddress and Name. See also Canonical.

Canopy Beds

In England in the 1500s, the roof was thatched. Insects and other animals lived there. There was little to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could really mess up your nice clean bed. Thus came into existence a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. Hence canopy beds.

Cantenna

A cantenna is a homemade WiFi antenna. It is made out of a soup can or such. It is also the brand name of such a device, www.Cantenna.com.

Canuck

Slang for a Canadian. Canadians call each other Canucks.

Cao's Law

According to the November, 2000 Gilder Technology Report, Cao's Law tells us that the communications spectrum is virtually infinite and that wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) will follow a sort of turbo version of Moore's Law. WDM will spread across an optical fiber more and more and finer and finer channels of light each using less and less power. It will multiply these lambdas two to three times as fast as Moore multiplied transistors. Channels on a fiber will recapitulate the saga of transistors on a chip and exhibit many of the same trade-offs between power and connectivity. On optical fiber, the trade-off is between bitrate and channel count. So far, we can pump a high bitrate on each channel, or we can transmit lots of channels. But we can't do both on the same fiber. The dispersive effects of 10 and 40 Gbps systems, in which the modulated signals tend to "mush" together, can disable high channel count WDM. At the other extreme, each of Avanex's 100,000 channels ” if they ever escape from the lab ” will probably bear multi-gigabit signals. Nevertheless, there is today among telecom carriers a real world pattern emerging that manifests Simon Cao's law in action.

CAP

1. Competitive Access Provider. Also known as AAV (Alternative Access Provider). CAPs provide an alternative means of establishing a connection between a user organization and an IXC (IntereXchange Carrier), completely bypassing the ILEC (Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier). CAPs typically deploy high-capacity SONET fiber optic transmission systems in a ring topology around geographic areas in which are found a high density of large businesses. Drops from the fiber optic rings are terminated at both the customer locations and the IXC POPs (Points of Presence). Thereby, end user organizations with substantial levels of interLATA voice and data traffic can bypass the ILEC facilities, which often are made up of poor quality UTP (Unshielded Twisted Pair) and who may take months to provision a T-1 circuit. In addition to providing superior performance and much reduced provisioning time, such fiber optic transmission facilities offer incredible levels of bandwidth, which quickly can be increased, and generally are provided at much lower cost than leased-line ILEC circuits. CAPs also offer the inherent advantage of loop diversity. In the event that the ILEC local loop suffers a catastrophic failure, the CAP loop likely will not be affected, unless both loops follow the same physical path and are destroyed by the same post-hole digger (or other catastrophe). In the unlikely event that the redundant CAP loop fails, the user organization can still access the IXC through the ILEC on a circuit- switched, 1+ dial-up basis. Since the Telecom Act of 1996 and various state initiatives have relaxed regulatory constraints and opened the local exchange to competition, many CAPs have become CLECs (Competitive Local Exchange Carriers). As CLECs, they are free to offer switched voice and data services within the local exchange area. Where they do not provide their own fiber optic local loops, they lease UTP local loops from the ILECs for resale, with those loops terminating in colocated termination equipment in the ILEC central offices and with the traffic then being directed to the CLEC fiber optic transmission facilities. As facilities-based carriers, the traffic then is transported to the CLEC's own switching centers and wire centers for local and long-haul service access. See also CLEC, ILEC, IXC and SONET.

2. Cellular Array Processor.

3. Carrierless Amplitude and Phase modulation is a bandwidth-efficient line coding technique. CAP is a variant of Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM), which is used in today's rate-adaptive voice band V.32/V.34 dial modems. AT&T Bell Laboratories first began development of CAP in the mid-1970's for more efficient implementation of a digital signal processor (DSP), while providing the same high level of performance. Used in conjunction with advanced error correcting codes and channel equalization, CAP modulation provides robust performance and excellent loop reach in the presence of bridge-taps, crosstalk, and other interferers. Carrierless Amplitude & Phase Modulation is now a transmission technology for implementing a Digital Subscriber Line (DSL). The transmit and receive signals are modulated into two wide-frequency bands using passband modulation techniques. CAP is bandwidth-efficient and supports ADSL, HDSL, RADSL, and SDSL line coding.

4. Client Access Protocol. See iCalendar.

Cap Code

Every functioning pager is assigned a unique cap code that identifies to the paging terminal what signals should be sent to the pager. No two cap codes in the same system are the same. When a beeper's special phone number is dialed, it causes only that one beeper to be signaled.

Cap'N Crunch

See Captain Crunch.

Capability Sets

In 1989, the ITU-T developed the standard for Intelligent Networks (IN). The full standard is quite extensive to implement. In order to facilitate acceptance of the standard, the ITU developed a set of upwardly compatible "capability sets". The first of these (CS-1) was approved in 1992 is the standard that is implemented in most IN elements today. CS-2 was supposed to follow on in 1997 and CD-3 in 1998, however, these have not been finalized. CS-1 includes the following services: Number translation, Alternate Billing, Call Screening (based on source or destination number), Automatic callback, Conference calling, Call logging, Mass calling, Televoting and VPN. VPN CS-2 will define standards for voice services over the internet, mobility services, broadband services etc.

Capacitance

The capacity of a conductor (e.g., copper wire or bus), or the dielectric insulation surrounding a conductor, to store an electrical charge. Capacitance is measured in farads. The capacitance of cable systems generally is measured in picofarads (pF).

Capacitive Coupling

The transfer of energy from one circuit to another by virtue of the mutual capacitance between the circuits. The coupling may be deliberate or inadvertent. Capacitive coupling favors transfer of higher frequency components, whereas inductive coupling favors transfer of lower frequency components .

Capacitor

Capacitors provide a means of storing electric charge so that it can be released at a specific time or rate. The simplest type of capacitor is a parallel plate capacitor and consists of two closely spaced plates of conductive material with an insulating material known as a dielectric sandwiched between them. Dielectrics are chosen for their ability to enhance a capacitor's performance. Capacitors are rated for their capacitance which is measured in farads and voltage. The rated voltage is usually the breakdown voltage, I.e. The maximum voltage the dielectric can insulate against before the voltage discharges between the two plates of the capacitor as an electric spark.

Because capacitors store charge, they can be used in electronic circuits in place of a battery. However, a battery generates electricity through a chemical reaction. A capacitor will generate an electric current only after it has been charged by another current source. When working on electronic equipment ” even equipment unplugged from a power supply ” make sure you are well insulated against shock. Capacitors in a circuit can hold a charge, sufficient to cause injury or death, sometimes for many hours after an appliance or device has been turned off. Capacitors in TV sets, for example, can store up to 100,000 volts .

Capacity

1. The information carrying ability of a telecommunications facility. What the "facility" is determines the measurement. You might measure a data line's capacity in bits per second. You might measure a switch's capacity in the maximum number of calls it can switch in one hour , or the maximum number of calls it can keep in conversation simultaneously. You might measure a coaxial cable's capacity in bandwidth.

2. The measure of the amount of electrical energy a condenser can store up. The unit of capacity is the farad.

Capacity Study

A local document issued at least once a year for each entity within the telephone company. The capacity study includes information relative to the network access line/trunk capacity of each item of switching equipment as well as the network access line capacity of lines and numbers.

Capacity Transfer Control

A Northern Telecom term for a feature which permits single allocation of capacity to be shared among members in a digital switched broadcast connection. For teleconferencing, for instance, a conference leader can transfer transmission capacity among the digital ports in the circuits. 95% of such transfers will take place within 10 seconds.

Capacity Swaps

Imagine you're a long distance telecom company in need of circuits in California. You find another long distance company in need of circuits of circuits in say New York, where you have too many. So you swap (also known as barter) the use of your New York circuits for the use of their circuits in California. Typically money won't change hands. But the transaction can get more interesting. Let's say you're a phone company in need of profits ” for example, to maintain your growth, please your shareholders and Wall Street. You may want to treat the swap as two separate transactions. And if your accountants are sufficiently creative, you can create "sales" and report the accompanying "profits." Of course, the "profits" won't be real... but in the heydays of the late 1990s, auditing was lax, corporate governance was non-existant and expectations were high. Anything went. Most of the companies that indulged in capacity swaps that made "profits" eventually went Chapter 11 (bankrupt).

CAPC

Competitive Access Provider Capacity. The highest possible reliable transmission speed that can be carried on a channel, circuit, or piece of equipment.

Capcode

A capcode is a four or seven digit number on either side or rear of the casing of a pager, the type you wear on your belt. This number is a paging system necessity to know how to generate the right sequence of tones to alert the pager. Also spelled cap code.

Capex

A shortened way of saying capital expenditures.

CAPI

Cryptography Application Program Interface. The first API developed by Microsoft for encryption programs.

Capout

Capout means broken in bad French. In German, the word is kaput.

CAPS

1. Code Abuse Prevention System.

2. Competitive Access Providers to the local telephone network i.e., Teleport or Metropolitan Fiber System.

Capsizing

When downsizing, rightsizing and upsizing fail. Contributed by Fred Schindler of IBM.

Capstan

1. A flangeless pulley used to control speed and motion of magnetic tape through a recorder or playback unit.

2. A rotating drum or cylinder used for pulling cables by exerting traction upon a rope or pull line passing around the drum.

CAPTAIN

Character And Pattern Telephone Access Information Network System. A form of videotext developed in Japan and operated through the public switched telephone network. Displays are on a TV set. It's interactive.

Captain Crunch

In the 1960s, boxes of a breakfast cereal called Cap'n Crunch had a promotion. It was a toy bosun's whistle. When you blew the whistle, it let out a nearly precise 2,600 Hz tone. If you blew that whistle into the mouthpiece of a telephone after dialing any long distance number, it terminated the call as far as the AT&T long distance phone system knew, while still allowing the long distance connection to the distant city to remain open. If you dialed an 800 number, blew the whistle and then pressed in a series of tones (called multi-frequency or MF tones) on your "Blue Box", you could make long distance and international calls for free, since the only thing the billing machine at the local telephone company central office knew was the original toll-free call to the 800 number. It assumed the call was free.

The man who discovered the whistle was John Draper and he picked up the handle of Cap'n Crunch from the Quaker Oats breakfast cereal, Cap'n Crunch. A marvelous account of the exploits of phone phreaks was published in the October 1971 issue of Esquire Magazine. That article described how the Cap'n would call himself (he needed two lines and two phones) ” choosing to route the call through Tokyo, India, Greece, South Africa, South America, London, New York and California ” to make his second phone next to him ring. He'd have a wonderful time talking to himself, albeit with a round-the-world delay (despite the speed of light) of as long as 20 seconds. Later, AT&T closed the loophole Cap'n Crunch had discovered . AT&T turned from in-band signaling to out-of-band signaling. Cap'n Crunch's legacy (he got put in jail four times during the 1970s) is Signaling System 7, a system of immense benefit to us all. See 2600 Tone, Multi-Frequency Signaling and Signaling System 7.

Captive Effect

An effect associated with the reception of frequency-modulated signals in which, if two signals are received on or near the same frequency, only the stronger of the two will appear in the output. The complete suppression of the weaker carrier occurs at the receiver limiter, where it is treated as noise and rejected. Under conditions where both signals are fading randomly , the receiver may switch from one to the other.

Captive Screw

Let's say you have a couple of screws at the front of an industrial grade computer. You unscrew the two screws and a panel pops down. You can then get access to something inside the computer. The screw, however, doesn't leave the computer. No matter how much you unscrew it, you cannot remove the screw. It's "captive."

Capture Division Packet Access

CDPA. Capture Division Packet Access is a packet-oriented cellular access architecture able to support the constant bit rate traffic and variable bandwidth on demand for multimedia traffic. CDPA integrates multiple access and channel reuse issues to achieve a high rate of spectral efficiency, and presents general advantages even if used for delay-constrained circuit-oriented traffic. Unlike CDMA and TDMA, wherein the effective data rate of each connection is typically a small fraction of the total radio channel allocated for PCN, the CDPA approach allows each user to access the entire channel, if necessary, for brief periods of time (packet access). Spectrum sharing is accomplished by exploiting the different path losses suffered by the various signals as they appear at the base stations (the capture effect), with co-channel interference abated through time diversity ( colliding users do not successively retry in the same time interval). Results suggest that abating co-channel interference by random transmission may be more effective than spatial isolation at cells using the same channel, as is usual in FDMA/TDMA systems. See also Capture Effect, CDMA, FDMA, and TDMA.

Capture Effect

An effect associated with the reception of frequency-modulated signals in which, if two signals are received on or near the same frequency, only the stronger of the two will appear in the output. The complete suppression of the weaker carrier occurs at the receiver limiter, where it is treated as noise and rejected. Under conditions where both signals are fading randomly, the receiver may switch from one to the other.

Capture Ratio

The ability of a tuner or receiver to select the stronger of two signals at or near the same frequency. Expressed in decibels, the lower the figure, the better.

CAR

Committed Access Rate. CAR is a term Cisco applies to Cisco Weighted Rate-limit, a traffic control method that uses a set of rate limits to be applied to a router interface. CAR is a configurable method by which incoming and outgoing packets can be classified into QoS (Quality of Service) groups, and by which the input or output transmission rate can be defined.

Car Phone

The type of cellular phone that's installed in a vehicle. There are four types of cellular phones being sold today ” mobile, transportable, portable and handheld. A car phone (also called a mobile unit) is attached to the vehicle, its power comes from the vehicle's alternator (or battery if the car is not running) and the car phone has an external antenna, which works best if it's mounted in the middle of the highest point of the car and wired directly with no breaks in the wire. Many window-mounted antennas have a break in their wiring. The wiring ends at the inside. There is no electrical connection between the inside of the window and the antenna glued onto the outside of the window. The "connection" is done through signal radiation. In North America, the car phone transmits with a standard three watts of power.

Carbon Block

A device for protecting cable from lightning strikes. The carbon block consists of two electrodes spaced so that any voltage above the design level is arced from line to ground. Carbon block protectors are used commonly in both local customer offices and central offices. They are effective, but can be destroyed if high voltage is directly applied ” as in a direct strike by lightning. A more expensive, but more effective method of protection is the gas tube. These are glass capsules that are connected between the circuit and the ground. When a voltage higher than the design voltage strikes the line, the gas ionizes and conducts the excess voltage to ground. When the voltage is gone, the protector restores itself to normal. Gas tubes, however, take a tiny time to ionize. This may not be fast enough for very sensitive things, like PBX circuit cards. So gas tube protectors are often equipped with diodes, which clamp the interfering voltage to a safe level until the gas tube ionizes.

Carbon Fiber

A strong synthetic material that is low in mass with excellent damping characteristics, used in the manufacture of tonearms.

Carbon Rheostat

A rheostat using carbon as the resistance material. See Rheostat.

Carbon Transmitter

The microphone of an telephone set from yesteryear which uses carbon granules and a diaphragm. The diaphragm responds to our voice and varies the pressure on the granules and hence, their resistance. If your carbon mike isn't working well, the humidity has got to it. Tap it lightly on your desk and the carbon granules will line up and it will work much better. Carbon microphones are very reliable but are being increasingly replaced with more sensitive electret microphones.

Carbon XMTR

See Carbon Transmitter. The carbon XMTR is in the sending part of older telephone hand sets.

Card

1. A printed circuit card, or Printed Circuit Board (PCB). See also Card Cage and Printed Circuit Board.

2. A discrete unit of data specifically designed to be read easily on the small screen of a handheld wireless device such as a cell phone, pager, or PDA (Personal Digital Assistant). A card can be for entering data, displaying data, or listing indexes or available menu options. Packet radio networks generally send a "deck of cards" in a single data packet for reasons of efficiency, as the individual cards are small in terms of byte count.

Card Authorization Center

CAC. A computer directly linked to MCI switches for authorization and determination of billing center ID for MCI card calls.

Card Cage

A frame in a telephone system or computer for mounting circuit cards, power supply, backplane and other equipment.

Card Dialer

A device attached to a telephone which accepts a special plastic card and then automatically dials the number on the card as indicated by the holes punched in it. A card dialer is now obsolete except for unusual applications, like systems whereby you carry your card with you and use it as a security device.

Card Issuer Identifier Code

CIID - (pronounced "sid") A code issued with certain calling cards. AT&T's CIID cards cannot be used by other interexchange carriers but can be used by LECs.

Card Services

The software layer above Socket Services that coordinates access to PCMCIA cards, sockets and system resources. Card Services is a software management interface that allows the allocation of system resources (such as memory and interrupts) automatically once the Socket Services detects that a PC Card has been inserted. This is called "hot swapping." The idea is that you can slide PCMCIA cards in and out of PC at will and your Socket and Card services will recognize them and respond accordingly . It's a great theory. In practice, it doesn't work because certain cards, like network cards, simply can't be connected and disconnected at will. Socket Services is a BIOS level software interface that provides a method for accessing the PCMCIA slots of a computer. Card Services is a software management interface that allows the allocation of system resources (such as memory and interrupts) automatically once the Socket Services detects that a PC Card has been inserted. Both of these specifications are contained in the PCMCIA Standards document. You do not need either Socket or Card Services to successfully use PCMCIA cards in your desktop or laptop. You simply need the correct device drivers and the proper memory exclusions. See PCMCIA, Socket Services and Slot Sizes.

Card Slot

A place inside a phone system or computer into which you slide a printed circuit board. See Board.

Card walloper

A programmer who provides batch programs that do mundane things such as payroll.

CardBus

Laptops typically come with slots for what are now known as PC cards ” little credit card size devices who do various things ” like become a modem, become a network interface card, become a video conferencing card, become an ISDN card, become a wireless LAN, etc. These cards were originally called PCMCIA cards. (For a full explanation see PCMCIA). The original PCMCIA spec was 16-bit. The new spec, called CardBus, which combines the PCI bus, has a 32-bit interface. The CardBus specification is the significantly improved successor to the previous PC Card standard. The two standards are not compatible. You cannot run a laptop with both PCMCIA and CardBus cards. You must run them with cards of the same standard. And these days, the best standard to go with is CardBus. Here are some of CardBus; benefits:

• 20 times the throughput of previous 16-bit PC Card slots. The 32-bit CardBus interface can transmit data at 400-600 Mbps, compared to 16-bit PC Card's 20-30 Mbps. Users must have that higher bandwidth for linking to a 100 Mbps Fast Ethernet network, for quickly moving data to and from SCSI-2 storage devices (such as Zip drives ) and for handling bandwidth-hungry applications like video conferencing.

• Better systems performance. Bus mastering lets a CardBus device transfer data to computer memory directly, without intervention from the notebook's processor. This boosts overall computer performance multitasking the newer Windows systems.

• Lower power consumption. CardBus devices run at 3.3 volts, instead of 16-bit PC Card's 5 volts. That means CardBus devices use less power than conventional PC Card devices, and generate less heat inside the computer. Thus batteries last longer.

• Easier installation of multifunctional devices. The CardBus specifications enables sharing of multiple resources on a single card with no need for special drivers.

• Optimized video performance. The CardBus Zoomed Video feature handles streamed video transmissions more efficiently by transferring the data directly to the PC's video controller over a dedicated bus. That way, video doesn't have to compete for bandwidth on the computer's PCI bus. See Card Services and PCMCIA.

Cardioid Pattern

An antenna pattern similar to a half-hemisphere.

CARE

Customer Account Record Exchange. A system developed to make easy the exchange of customer account information between the IXC (long distance phone company) and the LEC (local phone company) to make easy the provisioning of telecom services. CARE generically identifies data elements that might be exchanged between the IXC and LEC in an industry format. It is intended to provide a consistent definition and data format for the exchange of common data elements. The C.A.R.E. records (kept at the LEC) inform the customer's long-distance provider of changes in the customer's account (i.e., customer has selected Company X as its provider, or has terminated service, etc.)

CARE/ISI

Customer Account Record Exchange/Industry Standard Interface. National guidelines for the formats and language used in mechanized exchanges of Equal Access- related information between Interexchange Carriers and telephone companies.

Caret

The symbol ^ which is found above 6 on most keyboards. Also used to indicate the "Ctrl" key in some instruction manuals. Sometimes it is used to indicate the power to be raised, as in 2^4, which equals 2 x 2 x 2 x 2.

Carnivore

See DCS1000.

CAROT

Centralized Automatic Reporting On Trunks. A test and maintenance facility associated primarily with electronic toll switching systems like the AT&T Communication's #4- ESS. CAROT is a computerized system that automatically accesses and tests trunks for a maximum of fourteen offices simultaneously. It enables rapid routine testing of all trunks to ensure quick identification of faults and potential failures.

CARP

Cache Array Routing Protocol. A protocol developed to route client requests to one of a cluster, or array, of proxy servers on which databases are cached from origin Web servers. CARP contains a Proxy Array Membership Table from which an HTTP client agent (i.e., proxy server or client browser) can allocate and intelligently route URL requests to any member. Microsoft has implemented CARP in its proxy servers. See also Client, HTTP, Proxy, Server, and URL.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Carpal tunnel syndrome is a serious disorder of the arm caused by fast, repetitive work, such as typing without support for your wrists or with insufficient time for rest. In carpal tunnel syndrome, the tendons passing through the wrist bones swell and press on the median nerve. Surgery to take pressure off the nerve can relieve numbness and pain, but it's not always effective and many victims remain permanently disabled. The best prevention is using a wrist rest and undertaking specific exercises. A lot of "knowledge workers" have claimed that carpal tunnel syndrome is the result of working at computer keyboards all day long, day after day. There is a good book on the subject ” Conquering Carpal Tunnel Syndrome by Sharon J. Butler, New Harbinger Publications, Oakland, CA. See also Computer Vision Syndrome.

Carriage Deals

Let's say I want to start a new TV channel. Let's call it Harry's 24- Hour All Tennis Channel. I figure out how to fill 24-hours a day, seven days a week with great tennis. Super idea. Now I have my programming. All I need is to get it out there. I have to work "carriage deals" with satellite operators and cable TV operators to get my channel on their network (i.e. to carry my channel on their network) so their customers can see it. There are no "standard" carriage deals. Sometimes the cable TV operator or satellite operator might pay me a flat monthly fee, or a per subscriber fee. Sometimes I will pay them. It all depends on how "hot" my programming is.

Carriage Return

By hitting this key, the printing head or the cursor on your screen will return to the left hand margin. Usually hitting a Carriage Return or the "Enter" key includes a line feed, i.e. the paper will move up one line or the cursor will drop down one line. "Usually" does not mean always. So check. You can usually correct the problem of not having a line feed with a carriage return by moving a dip switch on the printer, changing one of the parameters of the telecommunications software program (the part where it says something about auto linefeed ) or changing the computer's operating system (by doing a "Config" or the like). In most microcomputers, a Carriage Return is equivalent to a "Control M," or ASCII 13. A line feed is a "Control J".

Carriage Service Provider

CSP. A commercial entity that acquires telecommunications capacity or services form a carrier for resale to a third party.

Carried Load

1. A telephone industry definition. Carried load is the usage measured on a circuit group . A circuit has a potential carried load capacity of 36 CCS per hour which is rarely approached because of the idle time between calls.

2. A data networking definition. The traffic that occupies a group of servers on a LAN.

Carried Traffic

The part of the traffic offered to a group of servers that successfully seizes a server on a LAN.

Carrier

1. A company which provides communications circuits. Carriers are split into "private" and "common." A private carrier can refuse you service. A "common" carrier can't. Most of the carriers in our industry ” your local phone company, AT&T, MCI, Sprint, etc. ” are common carriers. Common carriers are regulated . Private carriers are not.

2. An electrical signal at a continuous frequency capable of being modified to carry information. For analog systems, the carrier is usually a sine wave of a particular frequency, such as 1800 Hz. It is the modifications or the changes from the carrier's basic frequency that become the information carried. Modifications are made via amplitude, frequency or phase. The process of modifying a carrier signal is called modulation. A carrier is modulated and demodulated (the signal extracted at the other end) according to fixed protocols. Some of the wideband (i.e. multi-frequency) circuits are also called "carriers." T-1, which typically has 24-channel PCM voice circuits, is known as a carrier system.

Carrier Access Billing System

See CABS.

Carrier Access Code

CAC. A code used in North America to reach a long distance carrier, called an Interexchange Carrier (IXC). The primary carrier of choice is reached by dialing "1" plus the area code and called party number. Secondary IXCs can be reached by dialing either 101XXXX, which is the Feature Group D (equal access) CIC, or 950-XXXX, which is the Feature Group B CIC, The XXXX CIC numbers are used to dial around the carrier presubscribed to the calling telephone number. See 101XXXX, 950-XXXX, Feature Group B, and Feature Group D. See also Carrier Identification Code.

Carrier Access Line Charge

CALC. A per minute charge paid by long distance companies to local phone companies for the use of local networks at either or both ends of a long distance call. This charge goes to pay part of the cost of local telephone poles, wires, etc. See Access Charge and Carrier Common Access Line Charge.

Carrier Access Tarriff

The rate charged to all long-distance carriers, including telephone companies, for access to the local telephone network.

Carrier Band

The range of frequencies that can be modulated to carry information on a specific transmission system. See also Carrierband.

Carrier Bypass

A long distance phone company provides a direct link between its own switching office and a customer's office, thus bypassing the local phone company. Bypass is done to save the customer or the long distance company money. Bypass is also done to get service faster. Sometimes the local phone company simply can't deliver fast enough.

Carrier Circuit

A higher level circuit (DS-1, DS-3, Transmission System, etc.) that has been designed to carry lower-level circuits (DS-0, DS-1).

Carrier Class

Carrier class means telecom switching and transmission equipment that is targeted at local, long distance and international phone companies, but not at end users. There are two implications to this. It means the equipment is (theoretically) more reliable because it's built better and stronger. And it's more expensive. As phone companies face greater budget constraints, the term "carrier class" means less and less. Most telecom gear is now carrier class. See Carrier Class IP Switch.

Carrier Class IP Switch

A Carrier Class IP Switch is a high volume, high reliability hybrid device for routing IP packets. It separates out high priority packets that must all arrive together, like voice and video, and delivers them immediately. All other packets are delivered through normal routing. It adds the timing precision of a switch to the low cost, speed and efficiency of a router. See also Carrier Class.

Carrier Common Line Charge

CCL. The charge which IXCs (IntereXchange Carriers) pay to LECs (Local Exchange Carriers for the privilege of connecting to the end user through LEC local loop facilities. The CCL is a charge to cover a portion of the costs associated with the local loop, which is used for origination of local, intraLATA long distance (also known as "local toll"), and interLATA long distance calls. In combination, the CCL, the CALC (Customer Access Line Charge), and the monthly tariff charge for the local loop are intended to cover the costs of provisioning and maintenance of the loop, as well as to provide the LEC with a reasonable rate of return (i.e., profit) on its investment. That they do. They also encourage bypass and may, in the long term, be self-defeating. See also Access Charge.

Carrier Detect

CD. The little red LED light on most modems. When this light is on, your modem is connected to another modem or communications device.

Carrier Detect Circuitry

Electronic components which detect the presence of a carrier signal and thus determine if a transmission is about to happen. Used in modems.

Carrier Extension

A proposal for modifying the CSMA/CD access mechanism for Gigabit Ethernet. Under a carrier extension, when a device in the network transmits, the signal stays active for a longer time before another device can attempt to transmit. This lets an Ethernet frame travel a longer distance, and thereby increases the potential network diameter.

Carrier Failure Alarm

CFA. An alarm telling you that timing has been lost in your digital transmission because there are too many zeros in the message. When this happens, all the calls are lost until the equipment regains timing.

Carrier Frequency

The frequency of a carrier wave. The frequency of an unmodulated wave capable of being modulated or impressed with a second (information-carrying) signal. In frequency modulation, the carrier frequency is also referred to as the "center frequency."

Carrier Hotel

A term for a building that houses many local and long distance telephone companies and many different types of local and long distance companies. Those companies typically provide voice, data, video transmission, Internet access and perhaps switching. They may also provide Internet services, such as web site hosting, and web site caching. New York City has the classic carrier hotel. It's 111 8th Avenue in Chelsea, Manhattan, near where I live. It's the old Port Authority building. It's a huge well- constructed building, with floors that can support heavy machinery. It covers an entire square block. The new owner put in heavy duty and emergency power, heavy-duty air conditioning, and tons of duct space in and around the building and to the local manholes. Each floor in the building has its own loading dock. You can drive a two-ton truck to the loading dock on the ground floor and then lift the truck and its trailer up to your floor, back the trailer into position, unhitch and drive the truck out of the building. In this way, it's possible to roll in a complete central office and have it up and running in hours. As carrier hotels are neutral sites owned by " disinterested " third party landlords, who are only motivated by the rent, the entire process of installing, maintaining and operating a central office is much simpler, faster and less expensive than colocating equipment in an ILEC (Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier) CO (Central Office). Therefore, CLECs (Competitive LECs) and IXCs (Interchange Carriers) often prefer locating in a carrier hotel. Further, the companies that live in the carrier hotel can interconnect with each other directly over very short distances (e.g., the fifth floor to sixth floor) with cable very simply, quickly and cheaply ” without having to contact the local ILEC and wait an eternity while they engineer the connection to death and delay things. Some carrier hotels also do bandwidth brokering, helping their tenants do deals with each other. My friend, who's in real estate, tells me that the act of making an old building into a modern carrier hotel added a minimum of $250 million to value of the building. See also Broker, Colocation, Peering, Peering Point, and Private Peering Point.

Carrier Identification Code

CIC. Four digit numbers used by end-user customers to reach the services of Interexchange Carriers (IXCs). The primary carrier of choice is reached by dialing "1" plus the area code and called party number. Secondary IXCs can be reached by dialing either 101XXXX, which is the Feature Group D (equal access) CIC, or 950-XXXX, which is the Feature Group B CIC, The XXXX CIC numbers are used to dial around the carrier presubscribed to the calling telephone number. See 101XXXX, 950-XXXX, Feature Group B, and Feature Group D.

Carrier Information Paramater

An SS7 parameter. See SS7.

Carrier Interconnection Plan

The plan now largely implemented for connecting local and long distance phone companies in North American. The carrier interconnection plan provides the features known as Feature Group D. Exchange access plan and equal access are two other names that have been used to refer to the features provided by this plan. See Feature Group D and 101XXXX.

Carrier Leak

The unwanted carrier remaining after carrier suppression in a suppressed carrier transmission system.

Carrier Liaison Committee

CLC. A committee formed to help industry participants work together to resolve the issues of implementing 800 Portability. CLC is sponsored by the Exchange Carriers Standards Association (ECSA) and is comprised of the LECs (local exchange carriers), long distance carriers and users of 800 service.

Carrier Loss

In T-1, carrier loss means too many zeros. A carrier loss in T-1 is said to occur when 32 consecutive zeros appear on the network. Carrier is said to return when the next 1 is detected .

Carrier Neutral

When the Telecommunications Act of 1996 was passed it said that local phone companies must allow other phone companies to locate their equipment on their premises. This meant that other phone companies could get access to local loops and provide customers with services such as DSL. The only problem with this business is that the new carrier became locked into dealing with one phone company ” the one where their equipment was. Later, several real estate companies had the idea of renting space to all companies and bringing cables in from many other carriers. Thus you could locate your equipment there but you wouldn't be tied into dealing with one carrier. You would, in essence, now be "carrier neutral."

Carrier Noise Level

The noise level resulting from undesired variations of a carrier in the absence of any intended modulation.

Carrier Power (of a Radio Transmitter)

The average power supplied to the antenna transmission line by a transmitter during one radio frequency cycle taken under the condition of no modulation. Does not apply to pulse modulation or frequency- shift keying.

Carrier Provided Loop

A local phone line owned by a long distance company that is resold as part of a WAN service. This is generally separated from your long distance service, the same way local calls are.

Carrier Select Keys

Buttons at the bottom of a payphone used to choose a long distance carrier.

Carrier Selection

As a result of Judge Greene's Modified Final Judgment which led to the breakup of the Bell System, most local phone companies must offer their customers (business and home) the opportunity to select which long distance company they would like to use on a "primary" basis. That means when you dial 1+ (one plus) you get that carrier. To use any other long distance company you have to dial more digits, e.g. 1- 0288 (for AT&T). See NANP.

Carrier Sense

In a local area network, a PC or workstation uses its network card to detect if another station is transmitting. See CSMA.

Carrier Sense Multiple Access

CSMA. In local area networking, CSMA is a way of getting onto the LAN. Before starting to transmit, personal computers on the LAN "listen" to make sure no other PC is transmitting. Once the PC figures out that no other PC is transmitting, it sends a packet and then frees the line for other PCs to transmit. With CSMA, though stations do not transmit until the medium is clear, collisions still occur. Two alternative versions (CSMA/CA and CSMA/CD) attempt to reduce both the number of collisions and the severity of their impact. See CSMA/CA and CSMA/CD.

Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Avoidance

CSMA/CA. A protocol that requires the PC to sense if another PC is transmitting. If not, it begins transmitting. Under CSMA/CA, a data station that intends to transmit sends a jam signal; after waiting a sufficient time for all stations to pick up the jam signal, it sends a transmission frame; if while transmitting, it detects another station's jam signal, it stops transmitting for a designated time and then tries again. For a longer explanation see CSMA/CA and Ethernet.

Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Detection

A network control scheme. It is a contention access control scheme. It "listens" for conflicting traffic to avoid data collisions. The Ethernet LAN uses CSMA/CD, then waits a small amount of time and then tries again. For a longer explanation, see CSMA/CD and Ethernet.

Carrier Serving Area

CSA. The geographic area served by a PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) CO (Central Office). The CSA generally is considered to have a radius of 12,000 feet. It is the geographical portion of a wire center which will be provided with customer facilities primarily via digital loop carrier systems.

Carrier Shift

1. A method of keying a radio carrier for transmitting binary data or teletypewriter signals, which consists of shifting the carrier frequency in one direction for a marking signal and in the opposite direction for a spacing signal.

2. In amplitude modulation, a condition resulting from imperfect modulation whereby the positive and negative excursions of the envelope pattern are unequal , thus effecting a change in the power associated with the carrier. There can be positive or negative carrier shift.

Carrier Signal

A continuous waveform (usually electrical) whose properties are capable of being modulated or impressed with a second information-carrying signal. The carrier itself conveys no information until altered in some fashion, such as having its amplitude changed (amplitude modulation), its frequency changed (frequency modulation) or its phase changed (phase modulation). These changes convey the information.

Carrier Synchronization

In a radio receiver, the generation of a reference carrier with a phase closely matching that of a received signal.

Carrier System

A system where several different signals can be combined onto one carrier by changing some feature of the signals transmitting them (modulation) and then converting the signals back to their original form (demodulation). Many information channels can be carried by one broadband carrier system. Common types of carrier systems are frequency division, in which each information channel occupies an assigned portion of the frequency spectrum; and time division, in which each information channel uses the transmission medium for periodic assigned time intervals.

Carrier Terminal

The modulation, demodulation and multiplex equipment used to combine and separate individual channels at the ends of a transmission system.

Carrier To Noise Ratio

CNR. In radio receivers, the ratio, expressed in decibels, of the level of the carrier to that of the noise in the receiver bandwidth before any nonlinear process such as amplitude limiting and detection takes place.

Carrier Transitions

Carrier transitions appear on a serial link whenever there is an interruption in the carrier signal (such as an interface reset at the remote end of a link). Another example of a carrier transition is with frame relay. The keep- alive times are too far apart, causing the line protocol to go down but the frame pvc is stays up.

Carrier Wave

A carrier wave is the radio frequency wave generated at a transmitting station for the purpose of carrying the modulated frequency wave. Carrier waves are a form of analog signal that is used to encode information. The coding used to impress information on the wave can be a function of the frequency (the number of waves or cycles per second) or amplitude (height) of the waves or cycles. See PCM, TDM.

Carrier-to-Interference Ratio

C/I. The ratio of the amplitude of a radio frequency carrier to the amplitude of any form of interference including both noise and other undesired carriers. The C/I is a broader measure than C/N (Carrier-to-Noise Ratio) because it includes undesired radio frequency carriers.

Carrier-to-Noise Ratio

C/N. The ratio of the amplitude of a radio frequency carrier to the amplitude of background noise.

Carrierband

Same as single-channel broadband. See also Carrier Band.

Carrierless Amplitude and Phase

CAP. A transceiver technology that can be used in ADSL systems, CAP is a variation of Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM). With CAP, the POTS upstream and downstream channels are supported by splitting the frequency spectrum. CAP was the first ADSL transceiver to be commercially deployed, but Discrete Multitone (DMT) was selected as the standard.

Carrier's Carrier

A carrier's carrier is a company that provides telecommunications services to interexchange carriers or telephone companies. A carrier's carrier does not provide service to the public and therefore is subject to fewer regulations.

CARS

Cable Television Relay Service, a microwave service authorized by Part 78 of the FCC Rules for the purpose of transmitting signals intended for carriage over a cable television system. Back in the days when "CATV" stood for Community Antenna Television, "CARS" stood for Community Antenna Relay Service. Over the years , "CATV" has evolved to mean Cable Television, but CARS remains CARS.

Carson's Rule

A radiocommunications term. Carson's Rule is a method of estimating the bandwidth of an FM (Frequency Modulation) subcarrier system. It is commonly used in satellite systems in order to ensure that a high-fidelity, sharp TV picture will be delivered over a subcarrier TV channel. Violation of Carson's rule results in a higher video signal-to-noise ratio, at the expense of streaking in fast-moving scenes, sharpness of picture, and loss of audio fidelity. Carson's rule states that B = 2x(Df+fmax)(A-3), where B is the bandwidth, Df is the peak deviation of the carrier frequency, and fmax is the highest (maximum) frequency in the modulating subcarrier signal.

Carterfone

A device for connecting a two-way mobile radio system to the telephone network invented by Thomas Carter. It was electrically connected to the base station of the mobile radio system. Its electrical parts were encased in bakelite. When someone on the radio wanted to speak on a " landline " (the phone system), the base station operator would dial the number on a separate phone then place the telephone handset on the Carterfone device. The handset was acoustically, not electrically, connected to the phone system. No more than 4,000 Carterfones were ever installed, yet the Bell System thought they were the most dangerous device ever invented. Tom Carter died in Gun Barrel, TX where he lived, in the early part of 1991. He died a poor man. See Carterfone Decision.

Carterfone Decision

In the summer of 1968 the FCC determined that the Carterfone and other customer phone devices could be connected to the nation's phone network ” if they were "privately beneficial, but not publicly harmful ." The Carterfone decision was a landmark. It allowed the connection of non-telephone company equipment to the public telephone network. This decision marked the beginning of the telephone interconnect business as we know it today. The Carterfone decision made a lot of lawyers rich before all the rules on connection to the network got cleared up, and finally codified in something called Part 68 of the FCC's Rules. See Carterfone, NATA and Network Harm.

Carterphone

Incorrect spelling for Carterfone. See Carterfone.

Cartridge

1. A device which holds magnetic tape of some kind.

2. A device to translate (transduce) stylus motion to electrical energy in a phonograph. It comes in three basic types ” moving magnetic coil, induced magnet and ceramic. A phono cartridge is also call a pickup. Most record players use ceramic cartridges because they have higher output than the three magnetic types and can work with a less powerful (i.e. cheaper) amplifier .

CAS

1. Centralized Attendant Service. One group of switchboard operators answers all the incoming calls for several telephone systems located throughout one city. CAS is used by customers with several locations in the same geographic area, i.e. retail stores, banks.

2. Communicating Applications Specification. A high-level API (Application Programming Interface) developed by Intel and DCA that was introduced in 1988 to define a standard software API for fax modems. CAS enables software developers to integrate fax capability and other communication functions into their applications. See CAS 2.0.

3. CAS is a generic acronym for Channel Associated Signaling or Call-path Associated Signaling. CAS is in-band signaling used to provide emergency signaling information along with a wireless 911 call to the Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP). This signaling information includes the phone number of the wireless phone and coding used to derive a general location of the caller, and meets the Enhanced 911 Phase 1 FCC requirements. This coding can be either a p-ANI or an ESRD. This in-band signal is made up of tones which pass within the voice frequency band and are carried along the same circuit as the talk/call path that is being established by the signals. NCAS is a generic acronym for Non Call-path Associated Signaling. This definition contributed by Glenda Drizos and Doug Puckett of Sprint PCS, Overland Park, Kansas.

CAS 2.0

Communicating Applications Specification. Fax standard for both fax and voice applications. Developed by Instant Information, Inc. (I3), CAS 2.0 offers a simple, yet highly flexible and scaleable model that has allowed vendors such as Brooktrout, Dialogic and FaxBack to add greater and more sophisticated functionality to their products. Originally designed and developed by Intel and Digital Communications Associates in 1988, CAS is an API (Application Programming Interface) specification that provides support for programs sending data to other devices and computers. It is one of the world's most popular software interfaces to a fax board and is a universal standard embraced by hundreds of developers. Since its inception, more fax ports have shipped supporting CAS standards than any other communications protocol. New features in CAS 2.0 include:

• Full 32-bit Windows 95, NT 3.51, NT 4.0, support.

• Full support for asynchronous real-time fax applications.

• Class 1 and Class 2 support.

• C++ class library support.

• An intuitive redesigned setup user interface.

• Full Brooktrout, Gammalink and WildCard co- processed hardware support.

Cascade

1. To connect the output of a device into the input of another device, which then may in turn be connected to another device. Imagine the organization of a company. At the top is the president. Reporting to him are three vice presidents. Reporting to each of these vice presidents are five directors. Reporting to each of these directors are five managers. If each of these positions were a piece of network gear, you'd have a classic cascaded topology. For example, a long-haul circuit may involve multiple, cascading repeaters; multiple, cascading virtual circuits may be involved in a Frame Relay network.

2. A Windows term. When windows cascade, they are arranged in an overlapping pattern so that the title bar of each window remains visible.

3. A series of reply posts to a USENET message, each adding a trivial or nonsense theme to the collection of previous replies. Some consider this art; there is a USENET newsgroup devoted to propagating this art form (alt.cascade).

Cascade Amplification

Successively using two or more amplification systems. Most radio and audio products have more than one stage of amplification.

Cascaded Amplifier

Two or more amplifiers coupled together. Most radio and audio products have more than one stage of amplification.

Cascaded Stars

Local area network topology in which a centralized multiport repeater serves as the focal point for many other multiport repeaters.

Cascaded Topology

See Cascade.

Cascading Faults

Faults that cause other faults. Typically faults in a network causing other faults.

Cascading Menu

A Windows term. A menu that is a submenu of a menu item. Also known as a hierarchical menu.

Cascading Notification

A feature of some sophisticated voice mail systems. Let's say someone leaves a message for you in your voice mail box. Your voice mail system then automatically goes out to find you, i.e. to notify you. It may start by lighting your message light, calling your home phone number, calling your cellular phone, calling your beeper, etc. I like this feature because when I want you, I want you. And a little mechanized help is much appreciated. I first saw the feature in Macrotel's MVX voice mail series.

Cascading Style Sheets

CSS. According to CNET, cascading style sheets are a big breakthrough in Web design because they allow developers to control the style and layout of multiple Web pages all at once. Before cascading style sheets, changing an element that appeared on many pages required changing it on each individual page. Cascading style sheets work just like a template, allowing Web developers to define a style for an HTML element and then apply it to as many Web pages as they'd like. With CSS, when you want to make a change, you simply change the style, and that element is updated automatically wherever it appears within the site. Both Navigator 4.0 and Internet Explorer 4.0 support cascading style sheets. If you needed any more proof of the problem-solving nature of CSS, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has recommended cascading style sheets (level 1) as an industry standard. See also: DHTML, HTML

CASE

Computer Aided Software Engineering. CASE is a new, faster, more efficient way of writing software for some applications. The idea with CASE is to sketch out relations between databases, events, and options and then have the computer write the code.

Case Method

A traditional way of load testing computer telephony systems, the case method involves gathering many individuals together in a room full of telephones along with several cases of an appropriate libation (frequently beer), and using these individuals to simulate real users calling into (or being called by) the computer telephony system. Case method testing usually continues until all the cases have been consumed, the testing is completed, it becomes too late in the evening to continue, or the perspective of the gathered individuals becomes too subjective to be of use any longer to those conducting the test. This definition courtesy of Steve Gladstone, author of the book Testing Computer Telephony Systems.

Case Sensitive

This means that uppercase letters must be typed in uppercase on your keyboard, and that lowercase letters must be typed in lowercase. It is important to key in your data in the exact combination of upper or lower case characters . Inputting in the wrong case could make your entry invalid for some fields (for example, password). DOS and Windows are much less case sensitive than Unix, for example.