Value Chain-Verifier

Value Chain

The value chain is the entire collection of companies that contribute to a finished product that's ultimately sold to a consumer ” from the guys who make the steel to the guys who sell you the car at the local dealer . When you get to optimizing the value chain, you get something called value chain Management. See Value Chain Analysis and Value Chain Management.

Value Chain Analysis

A financial tool for identifying and quantifying cost-reduction opportunities within the supply chain. See Value Chain Management for a longer explanation.

Value Chain Management

The value chain is the entire collection of companies that contribute to a finished product that's ultimately sold to a consumer. According to Industry Week Management, "value chain management enables the synchronized flow of product, information, processes and cash ” from raw material to end customers. It optimizes the profitability and productivity of the entire value chain, from the supplier's supplier to the customer's customer, and of the individual business constituents that make up the chain...value chain management binds all corporate facets ” the plan, develop, buy, make, sell and move activities ” into unified inter-company relationships, enabling companies to target larger than corporate goals and achieve larger than corporate benefits." Benefits from value chain management include:

• New product development cycle at companies within high-performance chains is nearly twice as fast as.

• Firms with highly effective value chain strategies are nearly four times as like to have their suppliers heavily involved in new product development.

• Manufacturers with highly effective value chain strategies turn total inventory 40% faster.

• 94% of companies within high performance chains report that increased sales are a benefit of sharing information with value chain partners .

Value Driven Re-Engineering

A fancy term for Re-Engineering, which is a term probably invented by Michael Hammer in the July-August, 1990 issue of Harvard Business Review. In that issue, he wrote "It is time to stop paving the cowpaths. Instead of embedding outdated processes in silicon and software, we should obliterate them and start over. We should 're-engineer' our business: use the power of modern information technology to radically redesign our business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in their performance." The term re-engineering now seems to me mean taking tasks presently running on mainframes and making them run on file servers running on LANs ” Local Area Networks. The idea is to save money on hardware and make the information more freely available to more people. More intelligent companies also redesign their organization to use the now, more-freely available information. See Re-Engineering.

Value Proposition

You decide to introduce a new product or service. You need to figure out why people will buy it. Will it save them money? Will it save them time? Will it make them handsome? The answer to these questions is your value proposition. This is a fancy way of figuring why people should buy your fancy new thing.

Valve

The original British word for an electron tube.

VAM

Value Added Modules which are fiber cross connect/ distribution panels for various optic carriers .

Vampire Tap

In local area networking technology, a cable tap that penetrates through the outer shield to make connection to the inner conductor of a coax cable. The name comes from the fact that the connector pierces the insulation and outer shield by means of one or more sharp "teeth" in order to access the communications artery, much like a vampire's teeth pierce might your jugular in order to drink your blood.

VAN

Value Added Network. A public data communications network that provides basic transmission facilities ( generally leased by the van vendor from a common carrier) plus additional, "enhanced" services such as computerized switching, temporary data storage, protocol conversion, error detection and correction, electronic mail service, etc.

Van Allen Belts

Two layers of charged particles emitted from the sun that are trapped within the earth's magnetic influence. These are named after the discoverer, J. Van Allen. The inner layer exists from about 2,400 to 5,600 km altitude above the earth's surface and consists of secondary charged particles. The outer layer lies between about 13,000 and 19,000 kilometers and is thought to consist of the original particles released from the sun's surface.

Van Eck Detection Kit

A receiver that monitors the electromagnetic radiation given off by a computer screen, allowing an eavesdropper to monitor the contents of a victim's screen from a distance (say in the bushes outside a company).

Vanity

A telephone, often an 800 toll-free number, which spells something. By way of example, 1-800-542-7279 is advertised as 1-800-LIBRARY, the toll-free number of the publisher of this dictionary. Clearly, there is only a single set of digits which spell "LIBRARY;" therefore, such numbers can be of great value, largely due to the advantage of spontaneity of recall. The recent expansion of the North American 800 number dialing scheme to include 888 numbers has created a storm of controversy, as the publisher must now protect that vanity number from duplication via the 888 prefix.

The introduction of UIFN (Universal International Freefone Number) services further promises to infringe on the uniqueness of that number. However, it should be noted that touchtone keypads in North America always display letters as well as numbers, while that is not the case in most of the rest of the world. Yet, hotel phones, fax machines and cellular phones worldwide generally do display letters as well as numbers. See also 800 Service and UIFN.

VANS

Value Added Network Service. See Value Added Network Service.

VAPD

Voice Activated Premier Dialing.

VAPN

Voice Access to Private Network.

Vapor Seal

A vapor seal is an essential infiltration of a critical space, such as a data processing center or other room that contains sensitive electronic instrumentation. Essentially , a vapor seal is a barrier that prevents air, moisture, and containments from migrating through tiny cracks or pores in the walls, floor, and ceiling into the critical space. Vapor barriers may be created using plastic film, vapor-retardant paint, vinyl wall coverings and vinyl floor systems, in combination with careful sealing of all openings into the room.

Vaporware

A semi-affectionate slang term for software which has been announced, perhaps even demonstrated, but not delivered to commercial customers. Hyperware is hardware which has been announced but has not yet been delivered. Slideware is hardware or software whose reason for existing (eventually) has been explained in 35-mm slides, foils, charts and/or PC presentation programs. Slideware is usually less real than vaporware or hyperware, though some people would argue with this. Allegedly the term vaporware cam as a result of the many delays in releasing Windows after Bill Gates of Microsoft announced it at the Fall, 1983 Comdex show in Las Vegas. See also Hookeware Hyperware Meatware Slideware and Shovelware.

VAR

Value Added Reseller. Typically VARs are organizations that package standard products with software solutions for a specific industry. VARs include business partners ranging in size from providers of specialty turn-key solutions to larger system integrators.

Variable

A symbol or string of symbols whose value changes. Macros, equate statements, Configuration File parameter can have a variable value.

Variable Bit Rate Service

VBR. A telecommunications service in which the bit rate is allowed to vary within defined limits. Instead of a fixed rate, the service bit rate is specified by statistically expressed parameters.

Variable Call Forwarding

An optional feature of AT&T's 800 IN-WATS service. It allows the subscriber to route calls to certain locations based on time of day or day of week.

Variable Format Message

A message in which the page format of the output is controlled by format characters embedded in the message itself. The alternative is to have the format determined by prior agreement between the origin and the destination.

Variable Length Buffer

A buffer into which data may be entered at one rate and removed at another, without changing the data sequence. Most first-in, first-out (FIFO) storage devices serve this purpose in that the input rate may be variable while the output rate is constant or the output rate may be variable while the input rate is fixed. Various clocking and control systems are used to allow control of underflow or overflow conditions.

Variable Length Record

A file in a database containing records not of uniform length and in which the distinctions between fields are made with commas, tabs or spaces. Records become uniform in length either because they are uniform to start with or they are " padded " with special characters.

Variable Quantizing Level

VQL. A speech-encoding technique that quantizes and encodes an analog voice conversation for transmission at 32,000 bits per second.

Variable Resistor

A resistance element which may be varied to afford various values.

Variable Term Pricing Plan

VTPP. A rate plan developed by AT&T to replace two- tier pricing. VTPP used to provide for two, four, five or six year contracts, over which period the customer is promised stable prices for some ” not all ” of the equipment and/or tariffed services he uses. Generally, under VTPP, the customer does not end up owning any of the equipment. VTPP has now been replaced by more normal ways of doing commercial business ” outright sale, leasing, etc.

Variable Timing Parameter

Timing durations for features such as hold recall, camp-on recall, off-hook duration, and many other programmable telephone system services.

Variance

The average squared deviation. To calculate the variance, determine the difference of each item from the group mean. Then square (multiply by itself) each of the differences (the deviations). Next , average the squares of the deviations to determine average square which is the variance (for samples, divide by one less than the number of items in the sample).

Variolosser

A device with a variable level of attenuation which is controlled by an external signal. Often this signal is the level of the signal being attenuated, that is the higher the level of the signal the more it is attenuated.

Varistor

A voltage controlled resistor, a voltage-limiting device used in telephony and surge protection equipment.

VARTI

Value Added Reseller Telephone Integrator. A term coined at Telecom Developers '92. It refers to the VARs and interconnects of the 90s that are combining telephony and personal computers to offer products that tie the telephone network to personal computer applications.

VASCAR

VASCAR is an acronym for Visual Average Speed Computer and Recorder. VASCAR is little more than a combination stopwatch and measuring device. In its simplest application, the police officer uses the VASCAR to measure a section of the road. The officer then starts the VASCAR when a vehicle enters the section and stops the VASCAR when it leaves the section. The VASCAR displays the vehicle's average speed over the section of road.

VAX

1. A line of minicomputers made by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), now part of Compaq.

2. Virtual Address Extension.

VBD

Voice Band Data.

VBI

Vertical Blanking Interval. The vertical blanking interval is the portion of the television signal which carries no visual information and appears as a horizontal black bar between the pictures when a TV set needs vertical tuning. The VBI is used for carrying close- captioned signals for the hearing impaired. Digitized data can also be inserted into the VBI for transmission at rates greater than 100,000 bps. Information services such as stock market quotations and news offerings are now available via the VBI of a CATV signal. The data embedded in the VBI signal is retrieved from a standard cable or satellite receiver wall outlet by a receiver set, which connects to a RS-232 port on a microcomputer. Software packages then allow subscribers instant access to the information, which may be displayed in a number of formats.

vBNS

Very high-speed Backbone Network Service. A high-speed SONET fiber optic backbone network being developed by MCI (now MCI Worldcom) for the National Science Foundation (NSF), vBNS will serve as the backbone transport network for Internet2. Initially, vBNS will runs at a speed of 155 Mbps (OC-3); ultimately, the network will run at 2.4 Gbps (OC-48). The first deployment of vBNS connects five NSF-funded supercomputing centers (SCCs): Cornell Theory Center, National Center for Atmospheric Research, National Center for Supercomputing Applications, Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, and San Diego Supercomputing Center. Also connected are the NSF- funded Network Access Points (NAPs) at Hayward, CA; Chicago, IL; Pennsauken, NJ; and Washington, DC. vBNS replaces the old NSFNET, which was decommissioned in 1995. See also Internet2, NSFNET, and SONET.

VBR

Variable Bit Rate. A voice service over a an ATM switch. Voice conversations receive only as much bandwidth as they need, the remaining bandwidth is dynamically allocated to other services that may need it more at any given moment. Nortel Networks refers to this approach as "making bandwidth elastic." VBR also refers to networking processes such as LANs which generate messages in a random, bursty manner rather than continuously.

VC

1. Virtual Channel. A SONET term. Existing with a Virtual Tributary (VT), a VC is virtually to a traditional TDM channel. Note that a TDM channel is either set aside for or priori - tized for a particular transmission; in other words, it's a dedicated channel. A Virtual Channel, on the other hand is not set in such a rigid environment; rather, such channels float in a SONET frame, available only when needed in a particular transmission, and not necessarily found in the same place in time. All things considered , "virtual channel" is just a fancier term for a channel, but maintaining the "virtual" nomenclature of SONET-Virtually Aggravating at times, isn't it! Also known as a Tributary Unit in SDH (Synchronous Digital Hierarchy) terminology. See also SDH, SONET, TDM and Tributary Unit.

2. Virtual Channel. An ATM term. According to the ITU-T, a virtual channel is a unidirectional communication capability for the transport of ATM cells ." A Virtual Channel Identifier (VCI) in the header of the ATM cell is assigned or removed, respectively, to either originate or terminate a Virtual Channel Link (VCL). VCLs are concatenated to form a Virtual Channel Connection (VCC), which is and end-to-end VP (Virtual Path ) at the ATM layer.

   Once again, "virtual" is the operative word. Channels are "virtual" in the ATM world, as the extent to which they are made available depends on the priority level of the traffic, as defined in the cell header. High-priority traffic gets lot of VCs through the ATM switch, while low-priority traffic gets fewer. VCs also are defined in the UNI 3.0 specification. See also ATM, Concatenation, UNI, VCC, VCI, VCL, and Virtual.

3. Virtual Circuit. In packet switching, network facilities that give the appearance to the user of an actual end-to-end circuit. VCs define the physical path that all packets in a packet stream will follow during a session between two or more computing systems. Virtual circuits allow many users to share switches and transmission facilities, while each can enjoy the advantages of a Virtual Private Network (VPN). VCs can be provisioned as Permanent Virtual Circuits (PVCs) or Switched Virtual Circuits (SVCs). X.25 Packet Switched networks, Frame Relay and ATM all make use of VCs. See also ATM, Frame Relay, Packet Switching, PVC, SVC and X.25. EXPAND SLIGHTLY, XREF: VCC Virtual Channel Connection. As an ATM term, it is a concatenation of VCLs (Virtual Channel Links) that extend between the points where the ATM service users access the ATM layer. The points at which the ATM cell pay- load is passed to, or received from, the users of the ATM Layer (i.e., a higher layer or ATM- entity) for processing signify the endpoints of a VCC. VCCs are unidirectional. See also Concatenation and VC.

4. Virtual Container. SDH defines a number of "containers". The container and the path overhead from a "Virtual Container" (VC) in Europe or "Virtual Tributary" (VT) in North America (ref: ITU G.709).

5. Videoconferencing

6. Venture Capital.

VCA

See Voice Connecting Arrangement.

vCalendar

A virtual calendar specification by the IMC (Internet Mail Consortium) as an electronic exchange format for personal scheduling information. vCalendar is an open specification based on industry standards including the X/ Open and XAPIA Calendaring and Scheduling API, the ISO 8601 international date and time standard, and the related MIME e-mail standards. Adoption of the standard allows software products to exchange calendaring and scheduling information in an easy, automated and consistent manner. According to the IMC, it can work like this. You are at a business meeting with representatives from various companies. Every imaginable portable computing device is present, from PDAs, to hand-held organizers, to laptops and notebook PCs. The chairperson of the meeting communicates from his device to all other devices via infrared beam. All attendees then do the same. Thus, the next meeting is scheduled electronically , with conflicts identified. At the same time, personal information is passed around via vCard technology. vCalendar is being enhanced by a new specification called iCalendar, which is designed specifically for the Internet. See iCalendar, IMC and vCard.

vCard

A totally wonderful idea. vCard is a tiny file (with the extension .vcf) that contains all the information on your business card ” your street address, your phone numbers, your email address, etc. You attach this file to an email you send to someone. They receive it as an attachment. They click on it. It opens up as entry in the electronic address book or PIM (Personal Information Manager). They then click "save." And bingo, your information is added to their address book. vCards can also be shared wirelessly between PDAs by beaming cards over infrared links. The benefits are obvious: huge time savings, huge savings in accuracy, etc. Most browsers and most email clients now support the vCard specification. And most allow you to choose that your vCard file is attached to each and every email you send. My recommendation to everyone is simple: organize so that you attach your vCard to each of your outgoing emails. vCard was a Versit idea. They defined it as an electronic, virtual information card that can be transferred between computers, PDAs, or other electronic devices through telephone lines, or e-mail networks, or infrared links. With vCard, according to Versit, individuals can consistently identify themselves without restating or rekeying their information. vCards include data such as name, address, phone number, e-mail user ID, with multimedia support for photographs, sound clips and company logos. vCard is the result of a collaborative industry effort between Versit and multiple vendors . The vCard specification is at the Internet Mail Consortium (IMC) (www.imc.org), which developed the specification in cooperation with leading producers of desktop software, hand-held organizers, Internet web clients, and others. The specification is open and based on industry standards, including ITUT X.500 directory services.

VCC

Virtual Channel Connection. As an ATM term, it is a concatenation of VCLs that extends between the points where the ATM service users access the ATM layer. The points at which the ATM cell payload is passed to, or received from, the users of the ATM Layer (i.e., a higher layer or ATM-entity) for processing signify the endpoints of a VCC. VCCs are unidirectional.

VCEP

Video Compression/Expansion Processor chip.

vcf

Virtual Card File. A vcf is a standard way of sending someone your personal information. It stands for virtual card file.See vCard.

VCI

Virtual Channel Identifier. An ATM term. The address or label of a VC (Virtual Channel). The VCI is a unique numerical tag, defined by a 16 bit field in the ATM cell header, that identifies a VC over which a stream of cells is to travel during the course of a session between devices. See also VC.

VCL

Virtual Channel Link. An ATM term. A means of unidirectional transport of ATM cells between the point where a VCI (Virtual Channel Identifier) value is assigned as it is presented to the ATM network, and the point where that value is translated or removed as it exits the ATM network. VCLs are concatenated to form VCCs (Virtual Channel Connections). See also VCC and VCI.

VCN

Virtual Corporate Network. Stentor's name for a service it later changed to Advantage VNet. It's similar to MCI's VNet.

VCO

Voltage Controlled Oscillator: An oscillator whose clock frequency is determined by the magnitude of the voltage presented at its input. The frequency changes when the voltage changes.

VCOMM

Win32 (virtual) communications device driver. It protect-modes services and lets Windows apps and drivers use ports and modems. To conserve system resources, comm drivers are loaded into memory only when in use ba an application. VCOMM also uses new Plug and Play services that began in Windows 95 to help configure and install comm devices. The Win32 communications APIs provide an interface for using modems and comm devices in a device-independent fashion. Applications call the Win 32 APIs to configure modems and perform data I/O through them. Through TAPI and Unimodem, apps can control modems or other telephony devices with VCOMM. Unimodem routes TAPI/Unimodem AT +V commands through VCOMM. In addition, data from the Win 32 Comm API and Audio from the Multimedia Wave API are routed through VCOMM. The virtual device driver in turn communicates through port drivers and serial virtual device drivers to the hardware.

Microsoft defines VCOMM as: VCOMM is a static VxD always loaded at boot time in Windows 95. It functions as the Plug and Play "device loader" for installed devices of class "ports" or "modem". This means VCOMM is called to load these devices when they are enumerated by the Plug and Play Configuration Manager. This is usually at boot time for COM ports, LPT ports, and internal and external modems. However, PCMCIA ports and modems can be enumerated "on the fly" when inserted at any time during a Windows 95 session. When the Plug and Play Configuration Manager calls VCOMM to load an enumerated device, it passes a handle to the "devnode" data structure for the device. The devnode contains information about the device, including its resource allocation and registry key locations. When called to load a device, VCOMM does the following:

• Remembers the PortName and FriendlyName strings specified in the device's hardware key. Later, when called to open the device by one of these names , VCOMM will match it to the software key for this device to determine the port driver VxD to load. Note that the port driver is not loaded immediately when the device is enumerated. Rather, it is only loaded when opened by a VCOMM client such as Remote Access or a communications application. This speeds boot time, and prevents unnecessary consumption of system resources until the device is actually opened.

• Assigns a "PortName" to the device in its hardware key, if its devnode contains system resources. For COM ports (PortSubClass="01") and PCMCIA modems (PortSubClass="02"), PortName is assigned according to the base I/O port address, as shown in the following. Devices with non-standard base addresses receive port names starting at COM5 and higher.

VCOS

Visible Caching Operating System. VCOS is a realtime multitasking DSP operating system for the AT&T DSP3210 Digital Signal Processor. Visible Caching means the programmer caches the program and the data onchip, in contrast to logic caching where state machines (implemented in silicon) perform all caching.

VCPI

An acronym for the Virtual Control Program Interface, a standard developed by Quarterdeck and Phar Lap Software for running multiple programs and controlling the Virtual-86 mode of 386 microprocessors. A program that's VCPI-compatible and can run in the protected mode under DOS without conflicting with other programs in the system.

VCR

VideoCassette Recorder (or Player). See also PVR.

VCSEL

Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser. A VCSEL (pronounced "VIXel") is a tiny laser (10 x 10 x 2 microns) that consists of two mirrors that sandwich an active region. The laser emits a cylindrical beam of light vertically from its surface. The light signal travels through a cavity that has been etched through a semiconductor to the active region of the chip. The mirrors reflect the light back and forth, resulting in a stimulated emission at a single wavelength. VCSELs offer several significant advantages over edge-emitting lasers. VCSELs are smaller (in the case of CD lasers, they're 100 times smaller); are cheaper to manufacture, as they use the same fabrication techniques as chips (so Moore's Law now applies to lasers); consume greatly reduced levels of power (requiring only 1-2 milliwatts per gigabit per second); and can be packed closely together in two-dimensional arrays, yielding a theoretically unlimited aggregate data transfer rate, depending on how many are stacked . VCSELs and fiber-optic cabling are at the heart of Gigabit Ethernet (GE) technology. VCSELs are used in Very Short Reach (VSR) transmission systems, where they typically fire at a wavelength of 850 nm (nanometers, or billionths of a meter), although any wavelength in the 830-860 range is acceptable. See also Gigabit Ethernet and VSR.

VD

Virtual Destination. See VS/VD.

vDC

Volts Direct Current. For example, 12 vDC is the voltage which powers automobiles in most parts of the world, including North America.

VDDD

VNET International Direct Dialing Forced On-Net. VDDD is a feature enhancement for International VNET (I-VNET) customers that allows incorporation of 7-14 digit IDDD numbers into their dialing plans.

VDE

Verband Deutscher Elektrotechniker. Federation of German Electrical Engineers similar in form to the IEEE.

VDECK

An 8 millimeter cassette recorder developed by Sony Corporation for use as a computer peripheral.

VDI

Video Device Interface. A software driver interface that improves video quality by increasing playback frame rates and enhancing motion smoothness and picture sharpness. VDI was developed by Intel and will be broadly licensed to the industry.

VDISK

Virtual DISK. Part of the computer's Random Access Memory assigned to simulate a disk. VDISK is a feature of the MS-DOS operating system.

VDM

Voice Data Multiplexer.

VDO

A technology that enables Internet video broadcasting and desktop video confer- encing on the Internet and over regular telephone lines and private networks. VDOPhone which provides the ability to have private point to point audio/video contact is currently only available for Windows95 and requires a Pentium processor. The VDOLive player however is available for Windows and Power Macs and provides the ability as a Netscape plugin for viewing and hearing live Internet Broadcasts. To download the VDOLive Player go to www.vdo.net/download. See also Realaudio.

VDPS

Virtual Private Data Service.

VDRV

Variable Data Rate Video. In digital systems, the ability to vary the amount of data processed per frame to match image quality and transmission bandwidth requirements. DVI symmetrical and asymmetrical systems can compress video at variable data rates.

VDS

Vocabulary Development System.

VDSL

Very-high-data-rate Digital Subscriber Line. A technology in the very early stages of definition, Initial VDSL implementation likely will be in asymmetric form, essentially being very high speed variations on the ADSL theme. Goals are stated in terms of submultiples of the SONET and SDH principal speed of 155 Mbps. Specifically, target downstream performance is 51.84 Mbps over UTP local loops of 1,000 feet (300 meters), 25.92 Mbps at 3,000 feet (1,000 meters), and 12.95 Mbps at 4,500 feet (1,500 meters ). Upstream data rates are anticipated to fall into three ranges: 1.6-2.3 Mbps, 19.2 Mbps, and a rate equal to the upstream rate.

The application for VDSL is in a hybrid local loop scenario, with FTTN (Fiber-To-The- Neighborhood) providing distribution from the CO to the neighborhood, and with VDSL over UTP (Unshielded Twisted Pair) carrying the signal the last leg to the residential premise . Clearly, the specific application is for highly bandwidth- intensive information streams such as are required for support of HDTV and Video on Demand. Early work on VDSL has begun in standards bodies including ANSI T1E1.4, ETSI, DAVIC, The ATM Forum and The ADSL Forum. See also ADSL, ADSL Forum, HDSL, IDSL and SDSL.

VDT

1. Video Display Terminal. A data terminal with a TV screen. Another name for computer monitor. VDT is the term you hear in Europe.

2. Video Dial Tone. The new concept of getting home entertainment, information and interactive services to residences over some form of new broadband network stretching into the nation's homes . Video Dial Tone is a term used by traditional telephone companies. They're the ones allegedly building this broadband network to provide "Video Dial Tone."

3. Visual Display Terminal.

VDU

1. Visual Display Unit.

2. Video Display Unit.

Vector

A quantity in the visual (video) telecommunications industry that describes the magnitude and direction of an object's movement ” for example, a head moving to the right. See Vector Images.

Vector Graphics

Images defined by sets of straight lines, defined by the locations of the end points. See Vector Graphics.

Vector Images

There are two Images based on lines drawn between specific coordinates. A vector image is based on the specific mathematics of lines. In contrast, a raster image is a bit-mapped (i.e. bit- drawn) image. A vector engineering image is more useful for engineering, since it can be changed easier than a bit-mapped image. A vector image can easily be converted to a raster image. But it's much more difficult to go from a raster image to a vector image. Some storage systems now store images as combination raster/vector.

Vector Processor

Array Processor.

Vector Sum Excited Predictive Coding

VSELP. A method of enhancing Linear Predictive Coders using a combination of a limited number of different excitations (sums of excitation vectors). VSELP is a sub-class of the broader class of CELP coders. VSELP is a vocoding (voice encoding) technique for encoding analog voice for transmission over a digital wireless network. VESLP is used in the IS-54 US TDMA digital cellular standard, and in Motorola's iDEN network. See also CELP, iDEN, and IS-54.

Velcro

Swiss mountaineer Georges de Mestral was walking in the woods in 1948. He noticed hundreds of cocklebur weeds clinging to his trousers. Hoping to oust the zipper as the 20th century's fastener of choice, he replicated this phenomenon using a loom to create a material with hundreds of hooks that grip wooly surfaces, creating Velcro brand fasteners.

Velocity Of Light

The nominal speed of light in a vacuum is 186,000 miles per second, or 300,000 kilometers per second. The speed of light is very important because today we can measure time more accurately than length. In effect, we define the meter as the time traveled by light in 0.000000003335640952 of a second as measured by the cesium clock. The speed of light also is important, because it affects the speed of signal propagation. The speed of light in air is slower, at about 299,890 km per second, as the molecules (e.g., oxygen , carbon dioxide, smog, and water in the forms of such things as rain and humidity) in the atmosphere impede the progress of the signal. The speed of light in an optical fiber is even slower, at about 205,000 km per second, and depends on the purity of the fiber and the temperature of the fiber, as the temperature affects the density of the glass. Additionally, the speed of light in the core of the fiber generally is slower than in the cladding surrounding the inner core . See also Velocity of Propagation.

Velocity Of Propagation

Vp. The speed at which a signal travels through a transmission medium. Here are some examples: The nominal Vp of light is 300,000 miles per second in a vacuum, although different wavelengths of light (and frequencies of other electromagnetic waveforms) actually travel at slightly different speeds. The nominal Vp of a radio signal also is 300,000 miles per second in a vacuum, and about 299,890 miles per second in air. The nominal Vp of electricity in a copper cable (e.g., coax and twisted pair) ranges from 180,000 to 240,000 miles per second. The nominal Vp of light in an optical fiber is 205,000. It may surprise you that signals actually travel faster through a copper twisted pair than they do through an optical fiber. It sure surprised me. Bandwidth, you see, has nothing to do with the speed of the signal (i.e., Vp). Rather, it has to do with how many signals you can send per second.

Velocity Of Sound

The velocity of sound varies with the medium carrying it. In air at 0 degrees centigrade, it's 331 meters per second. In glass at 20 degrees centigrade, its 5485 meters per second.

Velveeta

An Internet Usenet posting, often commercial in nature, excessively cross- posted to a large number of newsgroups. Similar to Spam, although that term is often used to describe an identical post that's been loaded onto lots of inappropriate newsgroups, one group at a time (rather than cross-posted). This definition courtesy Wired Magazine.

VEN

Virtual Ethernet Network.

Vendor Code

Software written by the same company that manufactured the computer system on which it is running (or not running...).

Vendor ID

A Plug and Play term. Vendor ID is the 32-bit vendor ID that indicates the manufacturer, specific model, and version of a device. It is this number which helps Plug and Play configure the PC to run the device.

Vendor Financing

When the manufacturer lends a customer the money to buy the manufacturer's products, it's called vendor financing. This is a good idea if the customer eventually pays for the stuff it buys. If it doesn't it can be a real problem. And that depends on how the "sale" was handled in the first place. If the "sale" was booked as a real-live cash sale, then the company will have to re-state its sales and earnings for that period or take a whopping writeoff in the present quarter. Meantime, the company's balance sheet might look bloated with "assets" of monies owed by companies. Those "assets" might be good or bad, depending on how likely the companies are to succeed. If they fail or look like they're going to fail, those "assets" could Gates predicted sales of hundreds of millions of copies of WindowsXP ” a generation "ahead" of Windows 2000. They have made an investment of more than $1 billion.

Vendor Independent

Hardware or software that will work with hardware and software manufactured by other vendors. The opposite of proprietary.

Vendor Independent Messaging Group

A group of software and software companies who are trying to create non-proprietary, standard programming interfaces to help software and corporate developers write messaging and mail-enabled applications. Ultimately, end users should be able to work together more effectively and be able to exchange information from within desktop applications in a work group environment regardless of vendor platform. Members of the group include Apple, Borland, IBM, Lotus, Novell and WordPerfect.

Vendors ISDN

VIA. In June 1996, according to a story in InfoWorld, thirteen major networking vendors united behind the banner of simple, standardized ISDN access with the announcement of the Vendors ISDN Association (VIA) at the recent ISDN World trade show in Los Angeles. The association will provide forums for discussing technical issues involved in standardizing ISDN service and products across the United States. Initial members include Cisco Systems Inc., Bay Networks Inc., 3Com Corp., and Ascend Communications Inc., as well as Microsoft Corp. and Intel Corp. The association grew out of the ISDN Forum, created in January. It is affiliated with the National ISDN Users Forum and the National ISDN Council, and it will work on standards with those organizations. The group's first focus will be on automating configuration of ISDN devices. Currently, users need to configure their devices manually by entering a Service Profile Identifier. The VIA is pushing for implementation of noninitializing terminals (NITs) by manufacturers of access devices. NITs will automatically send the configuration information, said Rob Rank, an ISDN product manager at Intel and vice president of the VIA. Apparently VIA no longer exists.

Vendorfare

When a vendor buys you meals to get your business.

Vendorware

Trash and trinkets provided by vendors to get your business.

Vengeance Billing

A term that originated with expensive restaurants in Paris and received new meaning when long distance carriers in the U.S. started billing international calls at high prices on their poor unsuspecting customers. Term contributed by Jeddy Lieber of Paris.

VENUS-P

A ITU X.25 packet-switched network operated in Japan by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) Co.

Verbal

Able to whine in words.

Verbal Contract

"A verbal contract isn't worth the paper it's written on." Samuel Goldwyn, film producer.

Verbose

In English, verbose means too many words. The speaker spoke verbosely means he used lots of words to say the little he had to say. In computerese, verbose means you get to see on screen what's going on. If you add the switch /v to the command line of a DOS program command, the program most likely will, as it loads, give you information on screen that shows what it's doing as it loads. If you don't add that switch, it will load or try and load and you won't be any the wiser as to what went on. If the program works well, there's no reason to turn on /v. If it doesn't, turn it on and see what happens. Not all programs have the /v switch.

Verification

A service of a phone company operator who dials into a busy or otherwise impossible -to-reach line and checks that line and reports on that check to the caller. Phone companies are beginning to charge for this service. As of writing, AT&T, for example, was charging 40 cents to verify the line was busy and 70 cents additional for the operator to interrupt the conversation and say another call was coming in.

Verification Trunk

A trunk to which an operator has access and which will switch through to a called line even if the line is busy.

Verified Off-Hook

In telephone systems, a service provided by a unit that is inserted on each of a transmission circuit for the purpose of verifying supervisory signals on the circuit. Off-hook service is a priority telephone service for key personnel, affording a connection from caller to receiver by the simple expedient of removing the phone from its cradle or hook.

Verifier

A device that checks the correctness of transcribed data, usually by comparing with a second transcription of the same data or by comparing a retranscription with the original data.