See COLT.
See CMTS.
Conventions and procedures which relate to the format and timing of device communications. In data transmission communications, there are currently three major protocols, which are converging into a de facto standard: MNP, SPCL, and PEP.
A mobile radio system. In the old days, there was one central antenna and everything
You can handle many simultaneous conversations on the same frequencies. One frequency is used in one cell and then re-used in another cell. You can't do this on a normal mobile radio system.
Because one cellular system can accommodate many more subscribers than a normal mobile radio system, and therefore because it can achieve certain economies of scale, it has the potential of achieving much lower transmission costs.
Because the transceiver is always closer to the user than in a normal mobile system, and the
The following are specific cellular radio terms, or general telecom terms that mean something special in cellular radio:
A/B Switch Permits user to select either the wireline (B system) or the nonwireline (A system) carrier when roaming.
Alphanumeric memory Capability to store
Call-in-absence horn alert User-activated feature that sounds car horn upon receiving a call.
Call-in-absence indicator Feature that displays what calls came in while user was absent.
Call-in-progress override Insures that power to the phone is not lost if the car's ignition is turned off.
Call restriction Security feature that limits phone's use without completely locking it. Variations might include dial from memory only, dial last number only, seven- digit dial only, no memory access, etc.
Call timer Displays information on call duration and quantity. Variations might include present call, last call, total number of calls, or total
Continuous DTMF (touch-tones) Sends DTMF (dual-tone, multi-frequency) tones ” also called touchtones ” allowing access to voice mail and answering machines that require long-duration tones. "Continuous" means you get the tone so long as your finger is on the button. This may seem obvious to you and me, except that some "modern" phones just give a short tone no matter how long you keep your finger on the touchtone button.
Dual NAM Allows user to have two phone numbers with separate
Electronic lock Provides security by completely locking phone so it can't be used by unauthorized persons.
Hands-free operation Allows user to receive calls and
Hands-free answering Phone automatically answers incoming call after a fixed number of rings and goes to hands-free operation.
Memory linkage Allows programming specific memory locations to dial a sequence of other memory locations.
Multi-NAM A cellular telephone
Mute Silences the telephone's microphone to allow private conversations without discontinuing the phone call. Audio mute turns off the car stereo automatically when the phone is in use, and turns it back on when the call is completed.
NAM Numerical Assignment Module. Basically, your cellular phone number, although it refers
On-hook dialing Allows dialing with the handset in the cradle.
Roaming Using any cellular system outside your home system. Roaming often incurs extra charges.
Scratch pad Allows storage of phone numbers in temporary memory during a call. Silent scratch pads allows number entry into scratch pad without making beep tones.
Signal strength indicator Displays strength of cellular signal to let user know if a call is likely to be dropped.
Speed dialing Dialing phone number from memory by pressing a single button.
Standby time Maximum time cellular phone operating on battery power can be left on to receive incoming calls.
Talk time Maximum time cellular phone operating on battery power can transmit.
Voice-activated dialing Your cellular phone recognizes your words and dials
The electronic switching office which switches calls between cellular (mobile) phones and wireline (i.e. normal wired) phones. The switch controls the "
See Cell Switching.
See CTIA.
Code Excited Linear Prediction. An
CELP involves the gathering in a buffer of a set of 80 PCM voice samples, representing 10 ms (10
At a glance, the Celsius scale makes more sense than the Fahrenheit scale for temperature measuring. But its creator, Anders Celsius, was an
Controlled Environment ManHole. Environmental control of the CEMH is
Comite European de Normalisation (French); the English translation is European Committee for Standardization. CEN is responsible for European standardization in all fields except electrotechnical (CENELEC) and telecommunications (ETSI). Certified products are awarded the CE Mark, signifying that a company has met the
Comite European de Normalisation ELECtrotechnique (French); the English translation is European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization. CENELEC is responsible for European standardization in the electrotechnical field, working closely with ETSI (telecommunications) and CEN (all other fields). Certified products are awarded the CE Mark, signifying that a company has met the applicable essential health and safety requirements and the specific conformity assessment requirements to market its product in the European Union under the "New Approach" directives. CENELEC is the European technical organization responsible for coordination of standards for safety and electromagnetic emissions for electrical equipment in the European Economic Community (EEC). The EEC is working toward having a uniform set of standards that will apply for all EEC countries. Membership includes all EU countries, as well as affiliate members including Turkey, Cyprus, and many countries which formerly were members of the Soviet Bloc.
In a laser, the center wavelength is the nominal value central operating wavelength. It is the wavelength defined by a peak mode measurement where the effective optical power resides. In an LED (Light Emitting Diode), it is the average of the two
CO. (pronounced See-Oh). Central office is an ambiguous term in North America. It can mean a telephone company building where subscribers' lines are joined to switching equipment for connecting other subscribers to each other, locally and long distance. Sometimes, that central office means a wire center in which there might be several switching exchanges. That means there will be switches, cable distribution
A
To provide a constant source of DC power for eight hours or so after AC power
To isolate the central office from glitches on the AC line.
Part of the North American Numbering Plan (NANP), the central office code also is known as the central office prefix, the NXX code, and the end office code. A ten-digit telephone number in the U.S., for example,
555 ” Directory Assistance
950 ” Feature Group B Access
958 ” Local Plant Test
959 ” Local Plant Test
976 ” Information Delivery Service
COER. A telephone company definition. A large scale computer software package which accepts Central office Engineering Data properly formatted by a Data Collection System (DCS), subjects this data to a series of validation tests, and produces final summarized reports designed to meet both administrative and engineering requirements.
A third party may interrupt or join in your conversation.
A trunk between central offices. It may be between major switches or between a major and a minor switch.
A trunk between public and private switches.
CPU. The part of a computer which
Telephone systems,
A central site is a location that acts as a data collection point for remote and branch offices, as well as telecommuters and travelers.
Calls to remote (typically branch) locations are automatically directed to operators at a central location. Imagine four retail stores in a town. There are three branch stores and one main, downtown store, each having its own local phone numbers, which customers call. It's clearly inefficient to put operators at each of the stores ” when one group is busy, the other will be free, etc. What this feature does is to direct all the calls coming into each of the stores into one bank of operators, who then send those calls back to the outlying stores.
Despite the extra schlepping of calls around town, having one large group of operators is cheaper than maintaining many small groups. Each store has its own local Listed Directory Number (LDN) Service. Special Release Link Trunk circuits connect each unattended location (each store) to the main attendant location. These trunks are only temporarily used during call processing. An incoming call to an unattended store seizes such a trunk circuit for completion of the call to the centralized attendant, who then uses the same trunk circuit to process the call to the remote location's internal extension. (After all if the caller was calling that store, they obviously want to talk to someone in that store.) The circuit is then released and is available for other calls. Since such special trunk circuits are only used during that part of a call that requires connection between locations, such trunks are more efficient than normal tie trunk circuits.
CAMA. The recording of toll calls at a centralized point.
See CNA.
COG. An organization provided by some communications service providers (like a local phone company) to coordinate services between the companies and
Centrex is a contraction of Central Exchange. Centrex is a business telephone service
Think about your home phone. You can often get "Custom Calling" features. These features are typically fourfold: Call forwarding, Call Waiting, Call Conferencing and Speed Calling. Centrex is basically Custom Calling, but instead of four features, it has 19 features. Like Custom Calling, Centrex features are provided by the local phone company's central office.
Phone companies peddle Centrex which is leased to businesses as a substitute for that business buying or leasing its own
Money. Centrex is typically cheaper to get into (the central office already exists). Installation charges can be low. Commitment can also be low, since most Centrex service is leased on a month-to-month basis. So it's perfect for companies planning an early move. There may be some economies of scale, also. Some phone companies are now offering low cost, large
Multiple locations. Companies with multiple locations in the same city often are cheaper with Centrex than with multiple private phone systems and tie lines, or with one private phone system and OPX lines. (An OPX line is an Off
Growth. It's theoretically easier to grow Centrex than a standalone PBX or key system, which usually has a finite limit. With Centrex, because it's provided by a huge central office switch, it's hard, theoretically, to run out of paths, memory, intercom lines, phones, tie lines, CO lines, etc. The limit on the growth of a Centrex is your central office, which may be many thousands of lines.
Footprint Space Savings. You don't have to put any switching equipment in your office. All Centrex switching equipment is at the central office. All you need at your office are phones.
Fewer Operators because of Centrex's DID features. Having fewer operator
Give better service to your customers. With Centrex, each person has their own direct inward dial number. Many people prefer to dial whomever they want directly rather than going through a central operator. Saves time.
Better Reliability. When was the last time a central office crashed? Here are some of the features built into modern central offices: redundancy, load-sharing
Non-blocking. Trunking constraints are largely eliminated with Centrex, since a central office is so large.
Minimal Service Costs. Repair is cheap. Service time is immediate. People are right next to the machine 24-hours a day. Phones and wires are the only things that require repair on the customers' premises. You can easily plug new phones in and unplug them yourself. All other equipment is in the central office. You need not hold inventory or test equipment.
No technological obsolescence. Renting Centrex means a user has the ultimate flexibility ” ability to jump quickly into new technology. Central offices are moving quickly into new technologies, such as ISDN.
Ability to manage it yourself. You can now get two important features previously available only on privately-owned self-contained phone systems (like PBXs):
The ability for you, the user, to make changes to the programming of your own Centrex installation without having to
The ability to get call detail accounting by extension and then have reports printed by a computer in your office. The phone company does this call accounting by installing a separate data line which carries Centrex call records back to the customer as those calls are made.
The above arguments are pro-Centrex. There are also anti-Centrex arguments. Central offices often run out of capacity. Centrex is also cable-
The "big" key to Centrex traditionally comes down to price. In some cities the price of Centrex lines is lower than "normal" PBX lines. Of course, you can buy Centrex lines and attach your own PBX or key system to those Centrex lines. The big
Centrex is known by many names among operating phone companies, including Centron and Cenpac. Centrex comes in two variations ” CO and CU. CO means the Centrex service is provided by the Central Office. CU means the central office is on the customer's premises. See the following Centrex definitions.
A Centrex feature that provides detailed cost and usage information on toll calls from each Centrex extension, so you can better manage your telephone expenses.
Centrex Customer Rearrangement System. Computer software from New York Telephone that allows their Centrex customers to make certain changes in their own line and features arrangements. Other phone companies have similar services under different names.
Indicates that all equipment except the attendant's position and station equipment is located in the central office. See Centrex.
Indicates that all equipment including the dial switching equipment, is located on the customer's premises. See Centrex.
The name of a Bell Atlantic service. If you maintain offices in multiple locations ” or have
Have you ever called someone and been forwarded to their voice mail, and then had to enter their extension again. This is because their voice mail does not know where the call originated. The voice mail system does not know who you just called, All it
To
Problems to watch out for... Since SMDI is a communications link, it can be broken. If the SMDI link goes down, make sure you build in the old two step method of finding out what extension the caller was attempting to call. Make sure you also offer a user directory in case the caller does not know the extension number. When the link goes down, make sure the system does not continue to send the message waiting status commands down an inactive link. SMDI stands for Standard Message Desk Interface or Simplified Message Disk Interface. See also SMDI.
The name of the printer manufacturer whose method of data transmission between a computer and a parallel printer has become an industry standard. See Centronics Printer Standard.
The Centronics standard was developed by the Centronics company which makes computer printers. The Centronics standard is a 36-pin single plug/connector with eight of the 36-pins carrying their respective bits in parallel (eight bits to one character), which means it's much faster than serial transmission which sends only one bit a time. There are several types of Centronics male and
The Centronics printer standard has been adopted by many printer and PC companies, including IBM. It is a narrower standard than the RS-232-C standard. The Centronics works only between a computer and a printer. It won't work over phone lines, unless conversion is done at either end. However, it is standard and has none of the dumb interface problems the RS-232-C standard does.
1/36th of an
Chief Executive Officer.
Certificate Enrollment Protocol. Certificate management protocol jointly developed by Cisco Systems and VeriSign, Inc. CEP is an early implementation of Certificate Request Syntax (CRS), a standard proposed to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). CEP specifies how a device communicates with a CA, including how to retrieve the public key of the CA, how to enroll a device with the CA, and how to retrieve a certificate revocation list (CRL). CEP uses Public Key Cryptography Standard (PKCS) 7 and PKCS 10 as key component technologies. The public key infrastructure working group (PKIX) of the IETF is working to standardize a protocol for these functions, either CRS or an equivalent.
Conf rence des administrations Europeanes des Postes et Tel communications (European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications
Defines how the bits of a PCM carrier system of the 32 channel European type T-1/E-1 will be used and in what sequence. To correctly receive the transmitted intelligence, the receiving end equipment must know exactly what each bit is used for. CEPT format uses 30 VF channels plus one channel for supervision/control (signaling) and one channel for framing (synchronizing). All 8 bits per channel are used to code the waveshape sample. For a much better explanation, see T-1.
An ATM term. Cell Error Ratio: The ratio of errored cells in a transmission in relation to total cells sent in a transmission. The measurement is taken over a time interval and is designed to be measured on an in-service circuit.
Centralized Emergency Reporting Bureau. A Canadian term similar to PSAP ” Public Safety Answering Position. See PSAP.
Founding President of the Internet Society (ISOC) from 1992 to 1995 and co-creator of the transmission control protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), which enables computers to talk to each other over the Internet. Cerf proved that a network can reconfigure itself so that no communications are lost. He did this by breaking apart the Defense Department's Arpanet network artificially, and showing that it could be reconnected by way of flying packet radios in Strategic Air Command
European Laboratory for Particle Physics Research in Geneva, Switzerland.
Computer Emergency Response Team. The CERT is a group of computer experts at Carnegie-Mellon University chartered to work with the Internet community to facilitate its response to computer security events involving Internet
A cryptography term. Also known as a digital certificate, a "certificate" is a password-protected, encrypted data file which includes the name and other data which serves to identify the transmitting entity. The certificate also includes a public key which serves to verify the digital signature of the sender, which is signed with a matching private key, unique to the sender. Through the use of keys and certificates, the entities exchanging data can authenticate each other.
CA. A trusted third-party organization or company that issues digital certificates used to create digital signatures and
See CPCN.
This term originates in the American Bar Association's Digital Signature Guidelines where it is defined as a "statement of the practices which a certification authority employs in issuing certificates."
Several companies in the "secondary" industry test used equipment,
A term used in the secondary telecom equipment business. Equipment carrying the written assurance that it will perform up to the manufacturer's specifications. It qualifies for addition to existing maintenance contracts.
An ATM term. Circuit Emulation Service: The ATM Forum circuit emulation service interoperability specification specifies interoperability agreements for supporting Constant Bit Rate (CBR) traffic over ATM networks that
Caller Emergency Service ID. Several states in the United States require PBXs to send a telephone extension number to a PSAP (E-911 emergency answering point). This is helpful in cases where the caller is not located near the address listed for the business' Listed Directory Number. A "campus" environment of separate
See International Atomic Time.
A clock containing a cesium standard as a frequency-determining element. It's a very accurate clock. See Cesium Standard and International Atomic Time.
A primary frequency standard in which a specified hyperfine transition of cesium-133
Commercial End User. See SU, service user.
Controlled Environmental Vault. A below ground room that
Carrier Facility Assignment. CAPs/CLECs give RBOCs/LECs a slot or channel assignment where their T-1s or T-3s will be connecting. A CFA is the identifier or location where an IXC, CAP, CLEC, or LEC will interconnect with the incumbent Telco. It will come in one of three forms: ACTL/CLLI, APOT, or tie/cable pair. ACTL/CLLI looks like 1001/T3/18/WASHDCAB123/WASHDCXY789, where 1001 is the DS-3 off a SONET OC ring, while T3 signifies that connection will be made at the T-3 slot 18 (the T-1 will connect to this slot). The first location CLLI is the ACTL WASHDCCAB123. The second location CLLI is the central office CLLI WASHDCXY789. If the CFA is in APOT form, it will be like 1.9.13.23.18 (i.e. floor.aisle.bay.panel.jack). Tie/cable pair looks like 10011/t3/T1TIE/WASHDCAB123/WASHDCAB where the last 1 in 10011 signifies slot 1. The Telco tech will then do the interconnect or x-connect at that facility assignment. See CAP, CLEC and RBOC.
Carrier Failure Alarm. The alarm which results from an out-of-frame or loss of carrier condition and which is combined with trunk conditioning to create a CGA.
Connecting Facilities Arrangement. Identifies a complete communications channel between two places.
Connecting Facility Assignment. The facility designation of the high-capacity system that the line or trunk is using.
Call Forward All Calls.
Call Forwarding Address Modified Notification.
Call Forward Busy.
Call Forwarding on mobile subscriber Busy. A wireless telecommunications term. A supplementary service provided under GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications).
Communications Fraud Control Association. Founded in 1985, CFCA is a not-for- profit international educational association working to help combat telecommunications fraud. CFCA seeks to promote a close association among telecom security personnel, to enhance their professional status and efficiency, and to serve as a clearinghouse of information pertaining to the fraudulent use of telecommunications services. CFCA membership is includes interexchange carriers (IXCs); local exchange carriers (LECs); competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs), incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs), private network companies, law enforcement officers; users, e-mail providers, security product vendors, and corporations that use telecommunication services. www.@cfca.org.
Call Forward Don't Answer.
Call Forward Group Don't Answer.
Cubic Feet per Minute. A measure of how much air you move through the fan of a PC.
Carrier Financial Management.
Call Forwarding on mobile subscriber Not Reachable. A wireless telecommunications term. A supplementary service provided under GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications).
Call Forwarding on No Reply. A wireless telecommunications term. A supplementary service provided under GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications).
Chief Financial Officer.
Channel Frame Processor.
Confirmation to Receive frame.
Code of Federal Regulations.
Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic. A light and durable material, which has been used (for the wings of advanced fighter jets) in the defense business and which Toshiba introduced in 1991 as
Call Forwarding UnConditional. A wireless telecommunications term. A supplementary service provided under GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications).
Call For Votes. Begins the voting period for a Usenet newsgroup. At least one (occasionally two or more) email addresses is customarily included as a repository for the
Call Forward.
Carrier Group Alarm. A service alarm generated by a channel bank when an outof-frame (OOF) condition exists for some predetermined length of time (generally 300 milliseconds to 2.5 seconds). The alarm causes the calls using a trunk to be dropped and trunk conditioning to be applied.
Common Gateway Interface. An Internet term. Let's start simple. You write a form on a web site which you want
A directory on a server that "houses" all of the CGI programs. When you see this as a directory in your browser's URL window, it usually means you are either running or about to run a CGI program. The "binary" part refers to when many of the files placed in that directory were binary files. More recently, many of these files are text-based. CGIBin is the most common name of a directory on a web server in which CGI programs are stored. The "bin" part of "cgi-bin" is a shorthand version of "binary" because once upon a time, most programs were referred to as "binaries." In real life, most programs found in cgi-bin directories are text files ” scripts that are executed by binaries located elsewhere on the same machine.
A Wired Magazine definition. A hardcore CGI script programmer with all the social skills and charisma of a plastic action figure.
See CGI.
Computer Graphics Metafile. A standard format that allows for the interchanging of graphics images.
Cellular Geographic Service Area. The actual area in which a cellular company provides cellular service. CGSAs are usually made up of multiple counties and often cross state lines.
If you own a cellular phone, you are prevented from making calls outside your own local Cellular Geographic Service Area. This restriction is an option that is available to subscribers in most cellular cities.
The little solid round dots of paper made when paper tape is punched with information. Also the little rectangular pieces of paper that are made when any
CHAnge Display.
Punched tape used in telegraphy/teletypewriter operation. The perforations, called "chad," are severed from the tape, making holes representing the
Punched tape that has been punched in such a way that chad is not formed.
A punched tape wherein only partial perforation is completed and the chad remains attached to the tape. This is a
Mailboxes that are connected together to provide a service or a number of messages (e.g. Directory, Product Information, etc.).
A group of Web homepages which merely link to each other.
A programming technique linking one activity to another, as in a chain. Each link in the chain may contain a pointer to the next link, or there may be a master control or program instructing the programs to link together.
An outside "expert" brought in to reduce the employee headcount, leaving the top brass with clean hands and a clean conscience.
A PowerPoint presentation.
Let's say you're sick of all the spam mail. You set up a system whereby to every email that comes your way, you send an email asking the sender of your email a question. If the person replies to your email the correct way, they are allowed to send emails to you. This method of cutting back on spam is called "challenge email."
CHAP. An authentication method that can be used when connecting to an Internet Service Provider. CHAP allows you to log in to your provider automatically, without the need for a terminal screen. It is more secure than the Password Authentication Protocol (another widely used authentication method) since it does not send passwords in text format. An Internet term.
A type of authentication procedure into a system in which a user must respond correctly to a challenge, usually a secret key code, to gain access.
Indicating an undesirable or unappealing condition. People who are "intellectually challenged" are stupid.
When your
Change management is the process of introducing controlled change during the project life cycle. The intent behind a change control process is to evaluate the risk, at the end-user level, against the urgency and importance of the change. IT organizations must establish a specific change control process for every type of change and consider a procedure specific to rapid and emergency changes. The creation of these processes must involve several groups, including users, developers, and operations. Successful change management is not only a matter of skill and expertise, it is also a question of where the team draws its support from the company hierarchy. Source: Giga Information Group.
Typically what you rent from the telephone company. A voice-grade transmission facility with defined frequency response, gain and bandwidth. Also, a path of communication, either electrical or electromagnetic, between two or more points. Also called a circuit, facility, line, link or
An SCSA term. A transmission path on the SCbus or SCxbus Data Bus that transmits data between two end points.
A channel of a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver consists of the circuitry necessary to tune the signal from a single GPS satellite.
A
A Fibre Channel term. A point-to-point link, the main task of which is to transport data from one point to another.
When the FCC first allocated broadcast TV frequencies in 1945 in the United States. Later, the FCC decided that TV was taking up too much broadcast spectrum. Each channel requires a bandwidth 600 times as wide as an individual radio station does. Thus, the Channel 1
Also known as inverse multiplexors. Devices that allow very large amounts of data to be sent down the narrow band channels of ISDN. The aggregator effectively pulls together ISDN channels at one end to form a higher bandwidth and then re-synchronizes the information at the other end. Re-synchronization is necessary because during transmission the ISDN channels may send the information along different routes, so it arrives at its destination at fractionally different times.
CAS. A form of circuit state signaling in which the circuit state is indicated by one or more bits of signaling status sent repetitively and associated with that specific circuit.
Describing the attachment of devices directly to the input/output channels of a (mainframe) computer. Devices attached to a controlling unit by cables rather than by telecommunications circuits. Same as locally attached (IBM).
A multiplexer. A device which puts many slow speed voice or data conversations onto one high-speed link and controls the flow of those "conversations." Typically the device that sits between a digital circuit ” say a T-1 ” and a couple of
A measure of the maximum possible bit rate through a channel, subject to specified constraints.
A condition that occurs when the Ethernet MAC layer temporarily becomes
The process of adding redundant information into a transmitted bit stream before transmission in order to protect the bit stream from errors that may occur. Channel coding therefore
The process of fitting more than one program into a single channel. See Analog Channel Compression and Digital Channel Compression.
Channel conflict happens when a manufacturer wants to sell over the web, but a brick-n-mortar retailer that manufacturer sells through says, "If you sell your products directly on your web site, we'll stop carrying your brand or relegate it to the bottom shelf." The physical distribution channel is in conflict/competition with the e-commerce distribution channel. Sometimes this problem is solved by the manufacturer agreeing to keep his prices at full retail on his web site. Other times it's solved by the manufacturer simply saying ” Sorry, but we're going ahead anyway. Other times it is
A device which converts signals from one channel to another channel. There are two types ” heterodyne converters and those which use frequency multiplication principles. See Heterodyne Converter and Processor.
An open standard announced by Microsoft in March 1997 to be presented to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) as a suggested future
In a LAN environment, a measure of the total information that can be communicated in a channel in a unit of time, accounting for noise, collisions and other disruptions.
A device for connecting a channel to a highway, or a
A cellular radio term. Channel Hopping is the process in CDPD of changing the Radio Frequency (RF) channel supporting a CDPD channel stream to a different RF channel on the same cell. This is typically used to avoid collisions with voice traffic use of the RF channel.
Information element that
In network management systems, diagnostic test that forms a loop at the multiplexer's channel interface that returns transmitted signals to their source. See also Loopback.
Since the last of the HP/Compaq merger much has been written. Now that shareholders have approved the deal, it is interesting to look at one of the most critical aspects of this and any merger - channel management. HP and Compaq each support broad product lines with unique distribution strengths. HP is known for its reseller channel, while Compaq is lauded for its direct marketing strength. The potential for conflict is obvious. While the aim of the merger it to increase sales, HP resellers are rattled by the fear of being cut out by greater adoption of Compaq's direct selling tactics. Moreover, much of the Compaq and HP reseller network find themselves with indistinct product lines. Pundits correctly predict that the dealer channel will be cut back to reduce costs. Only Value Added Resellers (VARs) offering true added value will survive, as the industry moves towards the Dell direct sales model. In this rather confusing environment,
An AT&T term for a method of communications whereby a fixed bandwidth is established between two or more points on a network as a semi-permanent connection and is rearranged only occasionally.
See Inifiniband.
That portion of multiplexing equipment required to derive a desired subscriber channel from the local facility.
A technique for maximizing the use of voice frequency channels used for data transmission by multiplexing a number of lower data rate signals into a single higher speed data stream for transmission on a single voice frequency channel.
Limit on the number of transmit buffers used by a station to guarantee that some receive buffers are always available.
These protocols tell the ISDN terminal adapter (TA) how to change its transmission/
A channel is a shortened way of saying "distribution channel." Let's say you make a product ” hardware or software. You need to have some way of selling it. You can sell it yourself with your own salespeople. Or you can give it to distributors to sell. Such distributors could be wholesalers, small retailers, large retail chains, direct mail catalogs, etc. Each one of these categories is called a "channel." Channel Ready means that your product is in a form your
The time when a connection is established between the cellular user's mobile equipment and the mobile telephone switching office (MTSO). Channel seizure occurs before the number
CSU. A device used to connect a digital phone line (T-1 or Switched 56 line) coming in from the phone company to either a multiplexer, channel bank or directly to another device producing a digital signal, e.g. a digital PBX, a PC, or data communications device. A CSU performs certain line-conditioning, and equalization functions, and responds to loopback commands sent from the central office. A CSU regenerates digital signals. It monitors them for problems. And it provides a way of testing your digital circuit. You can buy your own CSU or rent one from your local or long distance phone company. See also CSU and DSU.
A channel splitter transmits channels one through 12 over one wire pair and channels 13 through 24 over another wire pair.
A cellular radio term. Channel Stream is a shared digital communications channel between a Mobile Data Base Station (MDBS) and a set of Mobile End Systems (M-ESs) considered as a logical concept, separate from the frequency of the Radio Frequency (RF) channel used to implement the channel at any given time.
Flipping channels on a TV set. A person who channel surfs is called a Mouse Potato.
That portion of multiplexing equipment required to derive a desired subscriber channel from the bearer facility.
Central Office (CO) equipment at the telephone company side of a local loop, a channel termination is used to terminate an end user's network access circuit, channel-by-channel. For a T-1 circuit, channel termination equipment commonly is in the form of two ports on a channel bank, one for the upstream circuit and one for the downstream circuit. Dedicated, multichannel T-1 circuits typically involve a recurring monthly charge in each direction, per channel.
An AT&T term for the tier within the Universal Information Services network that partitions transmission capacity into channels and offers the channels to the nodes' higher tiers.
A time slot starting at a particular instant in a frame and allocated to a channel for transmitting a character, in-slot signal, or other data. Where appropriate a modifier may be added.
Device used in broadband LANs to increase carrier frequency, converting upstream (toward the head-end) signals into downstream signals (away from the head-end).
Where Internet Relay Chat (IRC) users communicate in real time. There are thousands of channels on the Internet.
The process of subdividing the bandwidth of a circuit into smaller
See Channelization.
Developed by Edward Lorenz in the 1960s, chaos theory states that simple systems may produce complex behavior. It also has been proven that complex systems possess a simple underlying order. The emerging scientific discipline of chaos theory deals with systems with boundaries that are not clearly defined, with a "system" being defined as a set of things which interact. A computer system, for instance, is a set of elements including perhaps hardware, firmware, application software, CPU, hard drive, I/O devices, terminal devices, peripheral devices, drivers, and so on. Ideally, these system elements work together to consistently yield a predictable, desired result. In the context of a complex computer system, chaos theory describes a condition in which the system behaves in a nonlinear,
Challenge-Handshake Authentication Protocol. An authentication method that can be used when connecting to an Internet Service Provider. CHAP allows you to log in to your provider automatically, without the need for a terminal screen. It is more secure than the Password Authentication Protocol (another widely used authentication method) since it does not send passwords in text format. An Internet term.
See Chapter 11.
The Chapter 11 process is started when a company files a reorganization petition with the federal Bankruptcy Court. From that moment on, creditors are prevented from suing the company, and any creditor lawsuits in process are halted, pending the outcome of the Chapter 11 reorganization. Creditors of the company file claims with the Bankruptcy Court. A creditors committee, usually made up of the seven creditors who have filed the largest claims against the company, represents the interest of all creditors. Under Chapter 11 protection, the company's management usually continues to manage the company's business, subject to judicial review. In rare circumstances, such as fraud, a party may ask the
Once developed, the company's reorganization plan ” or one of the competing plans ” must be accepted by specified margins of creditors and shareholders. Creditors representing two-thirds of the total dollar amount of bankruptcy claims against the company and 51 percent of the total number of those voting must accept the plan, and two-
A letter, a number or a symbol. A character is sometimes described by the digit represented by the bit pattern that makes up the Character. i.e., the letter A is ASCII code 65, a
In text mode on a PC, each pel (Picture ELement) is called a character cell. Character cells are arranged in rows and columns. A typical PC will support two text modes ” 80 columns by 25 rows and 40
One of several standard sets of binary representations for the alphabet, numerals and common symbols, such as ASCII, EBCDIC, BCD.
In telegraphy, the distortion caused by transients that, as a result of previous modulation, are present in the transmission channel. Its effects are not consistent. Its influence upon a given transition is to some degree dependent upon the remnants of transients
CG. A computer used to generate text and sometimes graphics for video titles.
The impedance termination of an electrically uniform (approximately) transmission line that minimizes reflections from the end of the line.
A form of TDM used for asynchronous protocols. A 20% saving can be obtained by omitting the start and stop bits. This can be used either with extra channels or by carrying RS-232-C control signals.
The total number of unit intervals (including synchronizing, information, error checking, or control bits) required to transmit any given character in any given communication system. Extra signals that are not associated with individual characters are not included. An example of an extra signal that is excluded in the above definition is any additional time added between the end of the stop element and the beginning of the next start element as a result of a speed change, buffering, etc. This additional time is defined as a part of the intercharacter interval.
A communications protocol in which the beginning of the message and the end of a block of data are flagged with special characters. A good example is IBM Corp's. Binary Synchronous Communications (BSC) protocol. Character oriented protocols are used in both synchronous and asynchronous transmission.
COW. An SAA-compatible user interface for OS/2 applications.
A device which prints a single character at a time. Contrast with a line printer, which prints blocks of characters and is much faster.
All the letters, numbers and characters which a computer can use. The symbols used to represent data. The ASCII standard has 256 characters, each represented by a binary number from 1 to 256. This set includes all the
A technique used to ensure that transmitted control information is not misinterpreted as data by the receiver during character-based transmission. Special characters are inserted by the transmitter and then removed by the receiver.
A computer terminal that cannot show graphics, only text.
A frequency that can be easily identified and measured in a given emission. A carrier frequency may, for example, be designated as the characteristic frequency.
The impedance of a circuit that, when connected to the output terminals of a uniform transmission line of arbitrary length, causes the line to appear infinitely long. A line
CPS. A data transfer rate generally estimated from the bit rate and the character length. For example, at 2400 bps, 8-bit characters with Start and Stop bits (for a total of 10 bits per character) will be transmitted at a rate of approximately 240 characters per second (cps). Some protocols, such as USR-HST and MNP,
The process of allocating network and telecommunications line, equipment, and usage costs to departments or to individuals. Companies charge back to departments or to users. Colleges and universities charge costs back to departments and to students.
CCD. The full name of the term is Interline Transfer Charge Coupled Device or IT CCD. CCDs are used as image sensors in an array of elements in which charges are produced by light focused on a surface. They consist of a rectangular array of hundreds of thousands of light-sensitive photo diodes. Light from a lens is focused onto the photo diodes. This
Character Generation. Via TCP, a service that sends a continual stream of characters until
Slang. Seriously beyond all hope. Very badly broken.
A common name for a type of messaging done over a network, involving short messages sent from one node to another. Chatting usually happens in real-time, sometimes in just short messages, replied to quickly. Sometimes, chatting software is RAM-resident, meaning it can be "popped up" inside an application program. Users are usually notified of an incoming chat by a beep and a message at the bottom of their screens.
Real-time chat services offered by many Internet Information Service Providers such as America Online. Supporting a dozen or so
A slang name for the thin wire coaxial cable (0.2-inch, RG58A/U 50- ohm) that uses a smaller diameter coaxial cable than standard thick Ethernet. Thin Ethernet is also called "Cheapernet" due to the lower cabling cost. Thin Ethernet systems tend to have transceivers on the network interface card, rather than in external boxes. PCs connect to the Thin Ethernet bus via a coaxial "T" connector. Thin Ethernet is now the most common Ethernet coaxial cable, though twisted pair is gaining. Thin Ethernet is also referred to as ThinNet or ThinWire. See also 10BASE-T.
In the Spring of 2002 two Vermont teenagers were caught for killing two Dartmouth College professors. The teenagers believed that the entire world was like a giant computer game and there were "cheat codes" that could allow you to take a shortcut to success. Cheat codes are often used in computer
A bit added to a unit of data, say a byte or a word, and used for performing an accuracy check. See also Parity.
Characters added to the end of a block of data which is determined by an algorithm using the data bits which are sent. The receiving device computes its own check characters. It compares them with those sent by the transmitter. If they do not match, the receiver requests the sender to send the block again. If the check characters match, then all the bits used to compute the check characters have been received properly.
The Centigram VoiceMemo II mailbox used to assign names and passcodes for guests checking into a hotel.
The Centigram VoiceMemo II mailbox used to clear out guest mailboxes when the guest checks out of the hotel.
HDLC error recovery cycle formed by
HDLC error recovery based on pairing of P and F bits and giving the equivalent of a negative acknowledgment without using either REJ or SREJ.
The sum of a group of data items used for error checking. Checksum is computed by the sending computer based upon an algorithm that counts the bits going out in a packet. The check digit is then sent to the other end as the tail, or trailer of the packet. As the packet is being received, the receiving computer goes through the same algorithm, and if the check digit it comes up with is the same as the one received, all is well. Otherwise, it requests the packet be sent again.
The content of a commercial site that
This is an old trick used by the boiler room operators to hide their real physical location from the vice squad. It was a call forwarding device placed in a empty room. Police would attempt to trace the location of a boiler room raid the spot where they thought the calls were being terminated at and find nothing but this device. Meanwhile a lookout for the operation would be watching and have his people shut down to avoid detection as the police got one step closer. The name for this device originated because the first time the police came across this piece of hardware it was fitted into a box originally containing cheese. See Boiler Room.
When a buffered fiber cable appears to stretch during stripping and then cheeses (creeps) back into the outer jacket of the cable, to resume its original place.
A chemical device for changing alternating current to pulsating direct, usually used for charging storage batteries.
Soaking an optical fiber in a chemical to remove its coating.
CVD. In optical fiber manufacturing, a process in which deposits are produced by heterogeneous gas-solid and gas-liquid chemical
If you are afraid that you might die laughing you are suffering from cherophobia.
An industrial
A call center term. Calls come in and are identified in some way ” by ANI (automatic number identification), Caller ID, or caller touchtone input. The identity of the
A network packet that induces a broadcast
The U.S, military has built a
Concentration Highway Interface, pronounced "Ki." A user-programmable,
Chicago's name comes from an American Indian word meaning "place that smells bad."
Chicken feet are an extremely popular dim sum dish in Asia. Not surprisingly, they aren't popular with Americans. Simply prepared, chicken feet are
During the Middle Ages, chicken soup was believed to be an aphrodisiac.
Another term for a B Connector. See B Connector.
IBM once came out with a PC that had small keys. The press said the PC had a chiclet keyboard, after the chewing gum.
CIO. The person responsible for planning, choosing, buying, installing ” and ultimately taking the blame for ” a company's computer and information processing operation. Originally, CIOs were called data processing managers. Then they became Management Information System (MIS) managers. Then, CIOs. The idea of calling them CIOs was to reflect a new idea that the information they controlled was a critical corporate advantage and one that could give the company a competitive edge over its
Once there was data processing managers. They grew up to become MIS managers ” Management Information Systems. Then they became Chief Information Officers, i.e. CIOs. The changing title was a simple and blatant attempt to improve their status (and pay) within the corporation. The latest step "up" is to call these people "Chief Technology Officers," or CTOs. And that's fair in the self-aggrandizement "progress" ” except that I believe the Chief Technology Officer is not only responsible for the company's computer and information processing but he (or she) is also responsible for figuring how to take the entire spectrum of technology and apply it to endow his/her company with one or many competitive advantages. In short, a CTO is a broader
Same thing as a subdomain. See Subdomain.
In some systems, a new group of users created under a parent group is called a child group. Child groups sometimes have more properties than their parent groups.
An ATM term. A node at the next lower level of the hierarchy which is contained in the peer group represented by the logical group node currently referenced. This could be a logical group node, or a physical node.
An ATM term. A child peer group of a peer group is any one containing a child node of a logical group node in that peer group. A child peer group of a logical group node is the one containing the child node of that logical group node.
Cable Television programming originally produced and broadcast primarily for an audience of children 12 years old and
Commercial matter in children's programming carried on Origination Cablecasting channels must not exceed specified time limits.
The cable system must maintain, in its PIF, records ("certifications") to verify compliance with this requirement. Certifications for satellite-delivered programming must be obtained from the programmer. These requirements apply only to Origination Cablecasting. These requirements do not apply to:
Broadcast
Access channel capacity designated by franchise for public, educational, or governmental use.
ITU HIgh Level Language. A computer language developed by the ITU for the standardization of software in telecommunications switches. Not widely adopted. C is more widely adopted.
An electromechanical or electronic substitute for the conventional telephone bell, that sounds like a musical chime being struck, typically in a "bing-bong" sequence.
Picture a phone system. We have an upright, rectangular cabinet full of printed circuit cards and all getting hot. How to cool them? Simple, raise the machine a little off the ground, put holes in the bottom of the cabinet and holes in the top of the cabinet. Hot air rises. Bingo, air will rise through the top of the cabinet and cool air will get sucked in the bottom of the cabinet. And bingo, you don't need a fan. This natural cooling technique is called the Chimney Effect and many modern phone systems now use it.
A mounting system used for attaching an antenna mast to a brick chimney.
A "Chinese Wall" refers to barriers to the flow of information that are designed to prevent the misuse of material
The SEC and other regulators have provided guidance on what is required for a "Chinese Wall" in this context. These include physical barriers and security measures, review of employee and proprietary trading, memorailization and documentation of firm procedures, substantive supervision of inter-departmental communications by the firm's Compliance/Legal Department and procedures concerning proprietary trading when the firm is in possession of material nonpublic information.
The term "Chinese Wall" is also used more generically to refer to the policies and procedures that public companies put in place to prevent the misuse of inside information about the company by its employees and agents. That aspect of "Chinese Walls"
An integrated circuit. The physical structure upon which integrated circuits are fabricated as
The transition time for individual bits in the pseudo-random sequence transmitted by the GPS satellite.
A term used in wireless transmission. In the IEEE 802.11b standard for WLANs (Wireless Local Area Networks), for example, each bit is encoded into an 11-bit Barker code, with each resulting data object forming a "chip." The resulting chips are placed on a RF (Radio Frequency) carrier for transmission.
Anyone whose education, entertainment and employment is primarily derived from computer-based devices. Also called a Bit Head.
A Wired Magazine definition: Chip Jewelry is a euphemism for old computers destined to be scrapped or turned into
Also known as the spreading rate. The rate at which radio signals are spread across a range of frequencies in a spread spectrum transmission system. See also Spread Spectrum.
An RFID tag that doesn't depend on an integrated microchip. Instead, the tag uses materials that reflect back a portion of the radio waves beamed at them. A computer takes a snapshot of the waves beamed back and uses it like a
A rapid change (as opposed to a long-term
A pulse compression technique that uses (usually linear) frequency modulation during the pulse.
Your new TV will come with electronics that will allow you to program it not to receive certain programs, e.g. violent ones, you choose not to receive. The idea is that shows will be rated. Before they start, the show will broadcast a digital signal containing its rating. The "choice" chip in your TV will recognize the rating, check it against your instructions and block it or allow it through. The "choice" chip is so named as to give parents a choice of programs they and their children will watch. The provision for a choice chip was contained in telecommunications reform legislation passed by the Senate in mid- 1995.
An obsolete term: An inductance with either an air or iron
A telephone exchange or central office which is assigned to Radio and TV stations, Promoters, and other users which receive large numbers of simultaneous calls. The idea is to group all of these users on a single exchange so when all routes into that exchange are in use, "normal" users (on other exchanges) will not experience blocking of their incoming or outgoing calls. Trunks from other local exchanges into the choke exchange are deliberately limited to just a few paths so callers will get an "all trunks busy" instead of completely blocking their local exchange. However, when one of the choke exchange users experiences a large number of calls (as when your favorite radio station runs a contest) the other choke exchange users will be blocked because all trunks into the choke exchange will be busy due to the first user. See Blocking and Concentration.
A coil so wound as to offer a retarding or self inductance effect to an alternating current.
A telephone exchange which is assigned to Radio and TV stations, Promoters, and other users which will be receiving large numbers of simultaneous calls. The idea is to group all of these users on a single exchange so when all routes into that exchange are in use, "normal" users (on other exchanges) will not experience blocking of incoming or outgoing calls. However, when one of the choke exchange users experiences a large number of calls (as when your favorite radio station runs a contest) the other choke exchange users will be blocked because all trunks into the choke exchange will be busy. See Blocking and Concentration.
Packet used for flow control. The node detecting congestion generates the choke packet and sends it toward the source of congestion, which is required to reduce input rate.
See Infiniband.
A desk
A device for
This is a
The first electric Christmas lights were created by a telephone company PBX installer. Back in the old days,
The level of saturation or intensity of a color. Name sometimes applied to color intensity control in a receiver.
Method of
Chromatic dispersion is a characteristic of all optical fibers, caused by the fact that different wavelengths of light travel at different velocities in glass. A prism is a demonstration of this
The
Chromatic dispersion is one of the mechanisms that limits the bandwidth of optical fibers by producing pulse spreading because of the various colors of light traveling in the fiber. Different wavelengths of light travel at different speeds. Since most optical sources emit light containing a range of wavelengths, each of these wavelengths
Chromatic dispersion is the sum of material and
The color portion of the video signal. Chrominance includes hue and saturation information but not brightness. Low chroma means the color picture looks pale or washed out; high chroma means the color is too
Tape whose coating is of chromium dioxide particles. Noted for its
When you work a delay with a service provider ” a telephone or data carrier, you need to create certain definitions of service so that you can figure penalties if such levels of service are not maintained. For example, we might define service deficiency as being a service
Cylinder-Head Sector. The method of identifying a given location on a hard drive used by the original PC-AT BIOS (INT 13) and original IDE specification. Differences between details of the two methods resulted in the 528 MB limit on IDE
Also known as Pot Hole. Slang for when your system
Cellular phone and beeper users drop their monthly subscriptions often. Long distance users change their preferred carrier as often as they change their underwear. DSL customers switch to cable modem providers. The industry calls this phenomenon "churn." And it's very expensive. Churn is defined as the level of disconnects from service relative to the total subscriber base of the system. Often referred to on a percentage basis monthly, quarterly or annually. Sometimes it's as high as 2% or 3% or even 4% a month. It drives the cellular, beeper and long distance business nuts. It's very expensive to sign up a new customer. Many cell,
Monthly cancellation rate of subscribers as a percentage of total subscribers. This is a metric used for service companies (such as cell phone companies, Internet service providers, and CLECs) as an indication of how successful they are at retaining customers.
Chutpah is a Jewish word that means unmitigated gall. The word is typically explained by the story of the 15-year old who goes into court having
Customer Interface.
Certified Integrator.
An ATM term. Congestion Indicator: This is a field in a RM-cell, and is used to cause the source to decrease its ACR. The source sets CI=0 when it sends an RM-cell. Setting CI=1 is typically how destinations indicate that EFCI has been received on a previous data cell.
Cellular Intercarrier Billing Exchange Record. A billing record format used between cellular carriers.
See Carrier Identification Code.
See Circuit Identification Code.
Customer Information Control System. An IBM program environment designed to allow transactions entered at remote computers to be processed concurrently by a mainframe host. Also, IBM's Customer Information Control System software.
A generic term in Britain to identify a customer identity, client identity or contract identity. It is a single record and all the fields of information associated with it; for example, name, address, phone number, contact history and so on.
Compatibility ID. Motorola definition.
CIrcuit Designator.
Caller Identification or Caller ID.
Calling Line Identification Delivery Blocking. A "feature" of central offices which lets you block the sending of your phone number to the person you're calling.
CID on Call Waiting. See Caller ID Message Format.
Classless Inter-Domain Routing. An internetworking routing protocol. It is a way of using the existing 32-bit Internet address space more
Common Intermediate Format. An option of the ITU-T's H.261/Px64 standard for videoconferencing codes. It produces a color image of 288 non-interlaced luminance lines, each containing 352 pixels to be sent at a rate of 30 frames per second. The format uses two B channels, with voice taking 32 Kbps and the rest for video. QCIF (Quarter CIF), is a variation on the theme, requiring approximately 1/4 the bandwidth of CIF and delivering approximately 1/4 the resolution. CIF works well for large-screen videoconferencing, due to its greater resolution; QCIF works well for small-screen displays, such as videophones. QCIF is mandatory for ITU-T H.261-compliant codes, while CIF is optional. See QCIF.
Cost, Insurance and Freight are included. That means the seller pays the freight. The
Cells In Flight: An ATM term for an ABR (Available Bit Rate) service parameter, CIF is the negotiated number of cells that the network would like to limit the source to sending during the idle startup period, before the first RM-cell returns.
Cells In Frames. Referring to ATM over Ethernet (or Token Ring), CIF involves the insertion of one or more ATM cells into Ethernet frames for transport over an Ethernet LAN. CIF allows the user organization to maintain the existing Ethernet wiring, NICs (Network Interface Cards) and other hardware to support ATM applications. The drawback is that CIF must be used in a switched Ethernet environment in order to maintain ATM QoS (Quality of Service) commitments. Additionally, the SAR (Segmentation and Reassembly) process must be accomplished in software at the workstation, which is slow unless the workstation is really fast. CIF is something of a band-aid approach to bridge the gap until such time as ATM really takes hold in the LAN world.
Cells In Frames-Attachment Device. The device which attaches the CIF-ES to the ATM network.
Cells In Frames-End Station. An Ethernet- or Token Ring-attached workstation which supports CIF.
Common Internet File System. A remote collaborative file sharing technology that, according to Microsoft, dramatically reduces the time it takes to open and work with remote files. Data General, Digital Equipment, Intel, Intergraph Corp, Network Alliance and Microsoft announced support for CIFS in June 13, 1996. According to Microsoft, the Common Internet File System is an enhanced version of the native
The proposed Common Internet File System protocol runs over TCP/IP and is an enhanced version of the open, cross-platform protocol for distributed file sharing called Server Message Block (SMB). The SMB protocol is the standard way that millions of PC users already share files across corporate
The proposed Common Internet File System protocol has been enhanced over previous versions of the SMB protocol in ways that make it well suited for use on the Internet. CIFS, for example, supports the Internet's Domain Name Service (DNS) for address resolution. The protocol runs optimally over slow-speed dial-up lines, helping improve performance for the vast numbers of users today who access the Internet using a modem. In addition to remote file sharing, CIFS has mechanisms to support remote printer sharing.
CallInG subscriber identification. A frame that gives the caller's telephone number. See Caller ID.
Canadian Interest Group on Open Systems. Canadian organization which promotes OSI.
Common Interest Group on Rating and Routing.
Caller Issue Identifier Card. A calling card issued by an RBOC.
Canadian ISDN Interest Group. Canadian organization which promotes ISDN.
Computer-Integrated Manufacturing.
Common Information Model. CIM is the DMTF's model for describing management information to work with disparate systems.
See Customer Identification Number.
A
One of the "original" LECs (Local Exchange Carriers) that once was part of the Bell System. While AT&T owned some stock in Cincinnati Bell, it was not
See Chief Technology Officer.
Carrier Identification Parameter. An SS7 term. A 3 or 4 digit code in the initial address message identifying the carrier to be used for the connection. See SS7.
Channel Interface Processor. A Cisco term. Channel attachment interface for Cisco 7000 series routers. The CIP is used to connect a host mainframe to a control unit, eliminating the need for an FEP for channel attachment.
A means of transforming, or encrypting, data in order to disguise its meaning. Block ciphers, such as DES, are encryption algorithms which encrypt specific blocks of data. Stream ciphers, such as the RC4 algorithm from RSA Data Security, encrypt a steady flow of data. See also Encryption.
The unreadable form of an original plain text message after it has been encrypted. Also spelled Ciphertext. See also Ciphertext.
The result of processing plaintext (unencrypted information) through an encryption algorithm. Ciphertext is thus the content of an encrypted message. See Clipper Chip.
Committed Information Rate. A Frame Relay term. This is a long explanation, so put this book down for a minute, put the
When you subscribe to Frame Relay service through a public Frame Relay service provider, you identify the sites that you want to interconnect. Between each of those sites and based on agreement with the Frame Relay service provider (i.e., carrier), you typically establish a PVC (Permanent Virtual Circuit), which is a permanently identified path across which all data will flow between those sites. Each PVC has associated with it a CIR (Committed Information Rate). The CIR is the level of data traffic (in bits) which the carrier agrees to handle over a period of time ” not at every instant of time, but averaged over a period. The CIR can be
An ATM term. Committed Information Range: CIR is the information transfer rate which a network offering frame relay services (FRS) is committed to transfer under normal conditions. The rate is averaged over a minimum increment of time.
When you're kept working on a project that is going nowhere but refuses to die, it's circling the drain.
A circuit is a connection or line between two points. The connection can be made through various media, including copper, coaxial cable, fiber, or radiowave. A dedicated circuit is, as it sounds, a link that is dedicated to the two entities at either end. Dedication is expensive because it does not use the network as efficiently as i could. If A. B, C, and D all need to be connected with dedicated lines, then a total of six separate links are needed to connect them. Instead, a central switch to which each is connected reduces the number of links required to four. This difference in efficiency increases exponentially as the number of users increases.
Same as a Printed Circuit Board, namely a board with microprocessors,
A special type of switch arranged to open a circuit when overloaded, without
Same as a Circuit Board. See Circuit Board.
Modification of (most typically) analog data circuits to bring transmission parameters of the channel into narrower limits than provided by randomly-selected voice channels. Conditioning is also used to a lesser extent in certain other services. See Load Coil.
A connection over a virtual
CES. Part of the ATM Forum's proposed Service Aspects and Applications (SAA) standard.
The local channel termination needed to connect the customer's location to the carrier's POP.
The practice of directing selected circuit-switched DS-0s (64 kbit/s channels) from many T-1 trunks into a single T-1 (typical application is voice leased lines from a T-1 access line being 'groomed' in a DACS onto a dozen or more T-1s going to other central offices where those channels may again be groomed with other circuits onto T-1 access lines at those sites). Also used to separate voice circuits from data circuits, and for combining them for delivery to service-specific switches in the CO.
CIC. The part of a CCS/SS7 signaling message used to identify the circuit that is being established between two signaling points (14 bits in the ISDNUP).
A circuit level gateway ensures that a trusted client and an untrusted host have no direct contact. A circuit level gateway accepts a trusted client's requests for specific services and, after verifying the legitimacy of a
A firewall technology that involves examining transmitted data for certain types of improper or
An AT&T term for the method of communications in which a fixed bandwidth circuit is established from point to point through a network and held for the duration of a telephone call.
An AIN term for a type of switching that causes a one-to-one correspondence between a call and a circuit. That is, a circuit or path is assigned for a call between each switching node, and the circuit or path is not shared with other calls.
At any point in a transmission system, the ratio of the circuit noise at that point to some arbitrary amount of circuit noise chosen as a reference.
COMS. An automated processing system of MCI circuit- and service-related information. Processes hardwire service circuit orders from order entry through scheduling and completion. COMS also provides circuit order data,
COR. Report generated by the COR Tracking System within NOBIS, indicating circuit installations, changes, and disconnects.
The telephone operating company process that somehow organizes to get you a trunk or other special service circuit.
CSDC. A service implemented by some regional Bell Operating Companies that offers users a 56 Kbps digital service on a user-switchable basis. See Circuit Switching.
A network that establishes a physical circuit temporarily on demand (typically when telephone or other connected device goes off hook) and keeps that circuit reserved fo the user until it receives a disconnect signal.
Imagine making a phone call to Grandma. You pick up the phone and dial Grandma. When you finish dialing, the various telephone company switches along the way pick a path for your call and move your call along its way to Grandma. When Grandma answers, you and she are now able to speak. Both of you now have the exclusive and full use of the circuit that was set up between you. You have that circuit until you (or she) hang up, at which time it goes idle until the system of switches grabs it for another "call." That call might be voice, data and video. Circuit switching has one big advantage: You get the full circuit for the full amount of the time you're using it. And for the most part, it's full duplex. Circuit switching has one big disadvantage. Because you get the full circuit for the full amount of the time, you pay for the privilege of tying up that circuit (no one else can use it, even when there are pauses in your conversation). Which means it's expensive.
There are basically three types of switching ” circuit, packet and message: Circuit Switching, which I just explained, is like having your own railroad track for your conversation to travel on. It's yours for as long as you keep the connection open. No one else can use it. Once you hang up, the next caller gets to use that track. Virtually all voice telephone calls are circuit switched, though that won't be true in the future. All dial-up modem calls are circuit switched also.
Packet Switching is like having your own railroad cars which you're sharing with other railroad cars on a railroad track. You slice the information you want to send so it fits into the cars, which join other cars to travel on the railroad track to the other end. You get pretty well as many railroad
Message Switching sends a message from one end to the other. But it's not interactive, as in packet or circuit switching. Of course, you can reply. But it's not like having a "conversation." In message switching, the message is typically received in one block, stored in one central place, then retrieved or sent in one clump to the other end. Message switching is like the post office, or like email. It can be slow. But it can also be cheap.
Message Switching can use a combination of circuit switching and packet switching to get its message through.
A path in which four wires are presented to the terminal equipment (phone or data), thus allowing for simultaneous transmission and reception. Two wires are used for transmission in one direction and two in the other direction.
A horizontally polarized, half-wave dipole antenna formed into the shape of a circle except that the terminating ends do not touch to make a continuous loop.
Permits two or more single-line phones connected to a PBX, each with its own extension, to operate like a "square" key telephone system. An incoming call directed to any non-busy phone in the group will ring at all of the non-busy phones. The first extension to answer will be connected to the incoming call. At any time, a non-busy extension can make or receive calls.
When calling a phone, the switching system makes a complete search of all numbers within the hunting group, regardless of the location within that group of the called number. For example, the hunt group is 231, 232, 233 and 234, the call is directed to 233. If it is busy, the equipment will search 234, 231, and 232 to find a non- busy phone or line. Essentially it goes around the ring, remembering where it last connected and then goes to the next line or phone in the circle. See also Hunt Group and Terminated Hunt Group.
The measure of sectional area of a wire.
In electromagnetic wave propagation, polarization such that the tip of the electric field vector describes a circle in any fixed plane intersecting, and normal to, the direction of propagation. The magnitude of the electric field vector is constant. A circularly polarized wave may be resolved into two linearly polarized waves in phase quadrature with their planes of polarization at right angles to each other.
In networking, a passive junction of three or more ports in which the ports can be accessed in such an order that when power is fed into any port it is transferred to the next port, the port counted as following the last in order.
In radar, a device that switches the antenna alternately between the transmitter and receiver.
A type of
Contact Image Sensor. A type of scanner technology in which the photodetectors come in contact with the original document.
Complex Instruction Set Computing. PC Magazine defines CISC as a microprocessor architecture that favors robustness of the instruction set over the speed with which individual instructions are executed. The Intel 486 and Pentium are both examples of CISC microprocessors. See also RISC ” Reduced Instruction Set Computing. See RISC.
Internetwork Operating System. An OS incorporated as part of the CiscoFusion architecture designed to provide centralized integrated, automated installation and management of Internet and intranet networks.
This is a European Community standard specifying the limits of radio frequency emissions which appliances and other electrical equipment are allowed. The standard indicates the maximum
Computer Integrated Telephone is Digital Equipment Company's program, announced in October 1987, that provides a framework for functionally integrating voice and data in an applications environment so that the telephone and terminal on the desktop can be synchronized, the call arriving as the terminal's screen on the caller arrives. CIT uses the DEC VAX line of computers. According to DEC, CIT supports both inbound and outbound telecommunications applications. In an inbound scenario, the application may recognize the caller's originating phone number through Automatic Number Identification (ANI) and/or the dialed number through Dialed Number Identification Service (DNIS), match the information to corresponding data base records and automatically deliver the call and the data to the call center agent. In an outbound application, dialing can be automated, increasing the number of connected calls. In either scenario, the telephone calls and associated data can be
One of two bands used for low power radio transmissions in the United States ” either 26.965 to 27.225 megahertz or 462.55 to 469.95
Cell Interarrival Variation. An ATM term. See Cell Interarrival Variation.
Collaboration for Interactive Visual Distance Learning. A collaborative effort by 10 US universities that uses dial-up videoconferencing technology for the delivery of engineering programs.
Commercial Internet Exchange. Pronounced "kicks." As the Internet
Commercial Internet eXchange Association. A non-profit trade association of Public Data Internetwork service providers that promotes and encourages development of the public data communications internetworking services industry, nationally and internationally. The CIX states that it provides a "neutral forum to exchange ideas, information, and experimental projects among suppliers of internetworking services...Together, the membership may develop consensus positions on legislative and policy issues of mutual interest." www.cix.org.
Circuit Location.
Circuit Reference. The access service
Circuit.
ConnectionLess. A service which allows the transfer of information across a network without the need for the establishment of a defined path for the data to travel. IP (Internet Protocol) is a connectionless protocol, as the individual data packets travel across the network, from edge-to-edge, over the path of least resistance. IP packets work their way across a network on the basis of link-by-link forwarding, with each link selected solely on the basis of its availability. Therefore, each packet may travel a different path. TCP is a connection-oriented which ensures that a pre-defined path is set up across the network, from edge-to-edge. TCP runs on top of IP, which is the
The transparent material, usually glass, that
When referring to a metallic cable, a process of covering with a metal (usually achieved by pressure rolling, extruding, drawing, or swaging) until a bond is achieved.
In fiber optics transmission, a beam that transmits within the core and cladding
The diameter of the circle that includes the cladding layer in an optical fiber.
A type of glass or other transparent material used in fiber optic cables which has a lower refractive index than the glass used in the core.
In an optical fiber, a transmission mode supported by the cladding; i.e., a mode in addition to the modes supported by the core material.
A device for converting optical fiber cladding modes to radiation modes; as a result, the cladding modes are removed from the fiber. Often a material such as the fiber coating or jacket having a refractive index equal to or greater than that of the fiber cladding will perform this function.
In an optical fiber, a ray that is confined to the core and cladding by virtue of reflection from the outer surface of the cladding. Cladding rays
I got this from Verizon's dictionary. Claim is a report to Verizon that describes what the customer believes to be an incorrect charge. Claims may be made for recurring charges, non-recurring charges and usage; they may be general or individual. Verizon also has something called Claims Input File, which is a file format through which claims are submitted electronically to Verizon.
A technique used to determine which station will initialize an FDDI ring.
A token ring frame that initiates an election process for a new active monitor station. Claim tokening can result from
Harry Newton's favorite daughter. Why "favorite?" Simple. She's his only
Called Line Address Modification Notification.
An electronic circuit which sets the level of a signal before the scanning of each line begins to insure that no
Holding within an established operating range, or baseline or midline range in a circuit, in order to maintain various processes or electrical charges at a stable or safe level.
In a
The voltage at which a surge protector begins to stop electricity from getting through. A good surge protector in a 120 volt circuit (the one common in North America) has a clamping voltage of about 135 volts. Damage to computer equipment can occur as low as 160 volts.
In cheap hotels ” i.e. the ones I stay in ” soap is called. In ritzy hotels ” i.e. the ones my wife likes ” a bar of soap is now called a "clarifying bar," which costs more but does nothing different.
This Law was created by Jim Clark, the only man who ever created three companies, each with a market capitalization of over $1 billion. His Law states that "a person's wealth grows faster than his or her ability to manage it." His companies were Silicon Graphics, Netscape and Healtheon.
Arthur C. Clarke is credited with inventing the concept of satellite communications. In 1945, he published an article entitled "Extra-Terrestrial Relays" in a magazine called Wireless World. He described what we know today as GEOs (Geosynchronous Earth Orbiting)
Named after Arthur C. Clarke, who invented GEOs (Geosynchronous Earth Orbiting) satellites, a Clarke Orbit is better known as a geosynchronous orbit, or a geostatic orbit. See also Clarke, Arthur C.; and GEO.
Centrex Line Assignment Service. A service from local phone companies, which allows Centrex phone subscribers to change their class of service by dialing in on a personal computer, reaching the phone company's computer and then changing things themselves ” without phone company personnel assisting or
In short, load your PC with communications software. Dial your local central office. Change your Centrex phone numbers. Turn on, turn off features. Change pickup groups. Add numbers to speed dialing, etc. Your on-line changes are checked by the phone company's computers. If they make sense (i.e. one change doesn't conflict with another), they take effect by early the following day ” at which time you can call up and get a report on which took, which didn't and who's got what. Saves calling in person. Is more accurate. And, best of all, saves money. Typically just one flat monthly charge. No charge for any of your changes.
Custom Local Area Signaling Services. It is based on the availability of channel interoffice signaling. CLASS consists of number-translation services, such as
In an object-oriented programming environment, a class defines the data content of a specific type of object, the code that manipulates it, and the public and private programming interfaces to that code. See ANI and ISDN.
See also Class 1 and 2, below.
Also called Class 1/EIA-578. It's an American standard used between facsimile application programs and
A regional toll telephone switching center. The highest level toll office in AT&T's long distance switching hierarchy. There are essentially five levels in the hierarchy, with the lowest level ” Class 5 ” being those central offices owned by the local telephone companies. Each of the classes can complete calls between themselves. But, if the routes are busy, then calls automatically climb the hierarchy. A Class 1 office is the office of "last resort."
Also known as Class 2.0/EIA-592. An American standard used between facsimile application programs and facsimile modems for sending and receiving Class 2.0 faxes. This class places more of the task of establishing the fax connection onto the fax modem, while continuing to rely on the host's processor to send and receive the image data. The Class 2 standard (known as PN-2388) is still under study by the EIA's (Electronic Industries Association) TR.29 committee, with further revisions expected. See Class 1.
The second level in AT&T's long distance toll switching hierarchy.
The third level in AT&T's long distance toll switching hierarchy.
The fourth level in AT&T's long distance toll switching hierarchy ” the major switching center to which toll calls from Class 5 offices are sent. In U.S. common carrier telephony service, a toll center designated "Class 4C" is an office where assistance in completing incoming calls is provided in addition to other traffic. A toll center designated "Class 4P" is an office where operators handle only outbound calls, or where switching is performed without operator assistance.
An end office. Your local central office. The lowest level in the hierarchy of local and long distance switching which AT&T set up when it was "The Bell System." A class 5 office is a local Central Office that serves as a network entry point for station
A Federal Communications Commission (FCC) certification that a given make and model of computer meets the FCC's Class A limits for radio frequency emissions, which are designed for commercial and industrial environments. See Class B Certification.
See Carrier Hotel.
See Internet Address.
A class of ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) traffic defined by the ITU-T. Class A traffic is defined as being connection-oriented, Constant Bit Rate (CBR) traffic that must be
Litigation undertaken on
A Federal Communications Commission (FCC) certification that a given make and model of computer meets the FCC's Class b limits for radio frequency emissions, which are designed to protect radio and television reception to residential neighborhoods from excessive radio frequency interference (RFI) generated by computer usage. Class B computers also are
See Internet Address.
A class of ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) traffic defined by the ITU-T. Class B traffic is defined as being connection-oriented, Real-Time Variable Bit Rate (rt-VBR) traffic that must be carefully synchronized between transmitter and receiver. Further, such traffic is stream-oriented, and can
See Internet Address.
A class of ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) traffic defined by the ITU-T. Class C traffic is defined as being connection-oriented, Non Real-Time Variable Bit Rate (nrt-VBR) traffic that requires no synchronization between transmitter and receiver. Class C traffic can tolerate considerable levels of both latency (i.e., delay) and jitter (i.e., variability in latency). Class C traffic is supported by AAL (ATM Adaptation Layer) Type 3/4. Examples of Class C traffic include X.25 and Frame Relay. See also AAL 3/4.
A class C is a block of 256 IP address ” 254 usable (0 is reserved for a broadcast for the subnet and 255 is for a loopback.)
A class of ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) traffic defined by the ITU-T. Class D traffic is defined as being connectionless, Non Real-Time Variable Bit Rate (nrt-VBR) traffic that requires no synchronization between transmitter and receiver. Class D traffic can tolerate considerable levels of both latency (i.e., delay) and jitter (i.e., variability in latency). Class D traffic is supported by AAL (ATM Adaptation Layer) Type 3/4. Examples of Class D traffic include LAN and SMDS. See also AAL 3/4. See Internet Address.
See Internet Address.
The way a telephone company defines its switching facilities. Class 5 is an end office (local exchange), Class 4 is a toll center, Class 3 is a primary switching center, Class 2 is a sectional switching center, and Class 1 is a regional switching center. See Class 1, Class 2, Class 3, Class 4 and Class 5.
The set of characteristics of an emission, designated by standard symbols, e.g., type of modulation of the main carrier, modulating signal, type of information to be transmitted, and also if appropriate, any additional signal characteristics.
A ranking assigned to switching points in the telephone network, determined by function, interfaces and transmission needs.
Here's the definition of Class of Service internal to a PBX: Each phone in a corporation telephone system may have a different collection of privileges and features assigned to it, such as access to long distance, international calls, 900 area code calls, 976 local calls, etc. Let's say you are afraid that your people will waste the company's money by frivolously calling some expensive numbers, you might wish to define "Class of Service" assignments in your PBX. You could have one that's called "ability to dial everywhere except 900 area code, international calls and all 976 numbers." That could be Class of Service Assignment B. When you give a phone to an employee, you could simply give that person COS B. Big bosses, on the other hand might need to call internationally, but not 900 area code or 976 calls. That could be called Class of Service Assignment A. Class of Service assignments if properly organized, can become an important tool in controlling telephone abuse.
Here's the definition on the public switched network: A
Here are words courtesy Cisco relating to class of service issues on a packet switched network. "Networks typically operate on a best-effort delivery basis. All traffic has equal priority and an equal chance of being delivered in a
A class of ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) traffic defined by the ITU-T. Class X traffic is defined as being either connection-oriented or connectionless, traffic that accepts either Unspecified Bit Rate (UBR) or Available Bit Rate (ABR) transmission, and that requires no synchronization between transmitter and receiver. Class X traffic can tolerate considerable levels of both latency (i.e., delay) and jitter (i.e., variability in latency). Class X traffic is supported by AAL (ATM Adaptation Layer) Type 5. Examples of Class X traffic include LANE (LAN Emulation) and IP. See also AAL 5.
Class-4 is a type of circuit switch used in a tandem office. In the past, Class-4 switches managed only high-speed, four-wire T-1, T-3, and OC-3 connections (used to deliver long-distance services) in contrast to
Class-5 is a type of circuit switch used in a local telephone end office. It provides end-customer services, such as call waiting and call forwarding.
A set of specifications developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) for the operation of LAN-to-LAN IP connectivity over an ATM network.
Log Records required by Section 76.221(f) of the FCC Rules which relate to origination cablecasts or classified advertisements sponsored by individuals. This rule provides that the sponsor of such programming need not be identified within the content of the advertisement or program itself provided that two conditions are met:
The true sponsor must be an individual offering services which he or she personally provides (examples: yard work;
The system must maintain a written record of the name, address, and telephone number of the individual.
See CIDR.
A designator used to describe the service feature privileges, restrictions, and circuit characteristics for lines or trunks accessing a switch; e.g., precedence level, conference privilege, security level, zone restriction. See Class of Service.
Common Link Access for Workstations. Data link layer protocol used by channel- attached RISC System/6000 series systems and by IBM 3172 devices running TCP/IP offload. CLAW
Carrier Liaison Committee. 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.
Common Language Circuit Identification. An industry standard format for identifying a special access circuit by the characters used in the circuit code. This designation code is unique and in a form that is acceptable to both manual and mechanized procedures.
Competitive Long Distance carrier, a European term for what people in North America call a competitive IntereXchange Carrier (IXC).
Competitive Long Distance Coalition, a Washington, DC-based lobbying group.
Customer Location Equipment, same as Customer Premise Equipment or CPE. CLE is used by fancy, schmantzy telecom salespeople who want to impress their dumb customers. Don't be impressed. It means any and all telecom equipment in your office, factory, hospital, hotel or home.
To cause one or more storage locations to be in a prescribed state, usually that corresponding to a zero or to the space character.
In radio broadcasting a frequency assigned for the exclusive use of one entity. The FCC defines a clear channel as protecting radio stations designated as Class A stations from
In networking, a signal path that provides its full bandwidth for a user's service. No control or signaling is performed (or needed) on this path.
In digital networking, it's a circuit where no framing or control bits (i.e. for signaling) are required, thus making the full bandwidth available for communications. For example, a 56 Kbps circuit is typically a 64 Kbps digital circuit with 8 Kbps used for signaling. Sometimes called Switched 56, DDS or ADN. Each of the carriers have their own name for clear channel service. The phone companies are obsoleting the 56 Kbps service in favor of the more modern ISDN BRI, which has two 64 Kbps circuits and one 16 Kbps packet service, part of which is used for signaling on the 64 Kbps channels.
An SCSA term. A channel which is used exclusively for data transmission, with no bandwidth required for administrative messages such as signaling or synchronization. All SCbus data channels are clear.
Contention that occurs when a DTE and a DCE simultaneously transfer a clear request packet and a clear indication packet specifying the same logical channel. The DCE will consider that the clearing is completed and will not transfer a DCE clear confirmation packet.
A call control signal to
CTS. One of the standard attributes of a modem in which the receiving modem indicates to the calling modem that it is now ready to accept data. One of the standard pins used by the RS-232-C standard. In ITU-T V.24, the corresponding pin is called Ready For Sending.
A service company that collects and processes roaming and billing information from a number of carriers. It then transfers the compiled data to the proper carriers for credits and billing.
To cut the end of fiber at 90 degrees with as few rough edges as possible for a fusion splice. With mechanical splices the ends are hand-smoothed with a polishing puck before splicing.
Competitive Local Exchange Carrier. The term and concept was coined by the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Essentially the idea of the CLEC was that it would be a new local phone company that would be compete with the incumbent, i.e. existing, monopoly local phone company. The idea behind the Act was that the incumbent would be forced to lease local wired loops and other bits and pieces of its phone equipment ” called unbundled network elements (UNE) ” to the new phone company, i.e. the CLEC. Ultimately, the theory went, the CLEC would start building his own local phone lines and installing his own equipment and the public would benefit by better, cheaper, more innovative telecom service ” especially broadband service to the Internet. The idea of leasing some of the ILEC's plant was to give the CLEC a "leg-up." This was the theory. The first problem was that the legislation was the worst-written piece of legislation ever passed by Congress. The second problem was the ILECs deeply resented the idea that they were to allow competitors to get started in business at their expense and using their equipment and their lines. So the ILECs basically did everything they could get away with to mess up the CLECs. That meant delaying CLECs orders, creating onerous, cumbersome, new rules for doing business with them and creating huge, new charges for new services. For example, SBC (the new SouthWestern Bell) came up with something called "Unbundled Local Switching" and stated in their new tariff that "The Rate Structure for ULS will be one of 2 rate structures: Stand Alone ULS or ULS-Interim Shared Transport (ULS-IST)." SBC laid out "General Principles for Stand Alone ULS: Stand Alone Unbundled Local Switching (ULS) which included charging for a single usage sensitive component in addition to the "appropriate" non-recurring and monthly recurring rates contained in the rate table. No one, of course, knew what any of this meant but it didn't make any difference. It delayed and confused things. It was sort of like laying siege to your enemy. And when you have unlimited resources (like the ILECs) you clearly will win. The CLECs' final problem was marketing and sales. They were basically selling a service ” phone or data service ” that someone (their potential customers) can't see, feel, touch or smell. The only differentiating criterion falls on sound ” the quality of which is totally indistinguishable between the CLEC and the ILEC or between the CLEC and any other phone company in the country. The lack of a market and sales differentiator made selling CLEC services very very difficult. You couldn't sell a better product, so you sold lower prices. But no one believes the pitch for lower telecom prices. They've
Common Language Equipment Identifier codes that are assigned by Bellcore (now Telcordia Technologies) to provide a standard method of identifying telecommunications equipment in a uniform, feature-oriented language. It's a text/
Conference of the Lasers and Electro-Optics Society.
Command line interface.
Cumulative Leakage Index. As used in the FCC Rules (in Section 76.611(a)(1)), this term identifies the results of a ground-based measurement of the signal-leakage performance of a cable television distribution system. Under the procedure specified in this rule, each leak is measured on the ground and the CLI is then calculated from measurement data (this term does not include the results of airspace measurements specified in Section 76.611(a)(2)). The calculated CLI value must be
See CLLI Code.
Calling Line Identification. Data generated by a network that displays the calling party's number.
A common thought or idea, that has lost originality, ingenuity, and impact by great overuse. "Let's have some new cliches." Samuel Goldwyn, film producer.
A click stream is the sequence of clicks of pages requested by a Web surfer. This is important in gauging the value of different sites and the impact of different advertising initiatives on the Web.
See Clickthrough.
See Clickthrough Rate.
A particular progress tone injected onto the forward voice channel (mobile unit receive, base station transmit) to indicate to the subscriber that the call has not been
A business that combines traditional retail (
The paths a user takes as he or she navigates