Key Pad-KWH

Key Pad

The touchtone dial pad on a pushbutton phone. Contrary to popular belief, touchtone is not a registered trademark of AT&T. See Touchtone.

Key Pad State

An AT&T enhanced fax term . The KEYPAD state can be either NULL or NON-NULL. NULL: The keypad is in use by a feature and is not available for use on a call. NON-NULL: The keypad is available for use in originating a call or for sending DTMF tones on an existing call.

Key Pair

Set of mathematically related keys-a public key and a private key-that are used for asymmetric cryptography and are generated in a way that makes it computationally infeasible to derive the private key from knowledge of the public key.

Key Pulse

In multi-frequency (MF) tone signaling, a signal used to prepare the distant equipment to receive digits.

Key Pulse Dialing

The transmitting of telephone address signals in which digits are transmitted using pushbuttons. Each button generates a unique set of tones.

Key Pulsing

A pulsing system in which digits are transmitted using pushbuttons. Each button corresponds to a digit and generates a unique set of tones.

Key Punch Card

A method of storing programs and other data on heavy, stiff, stock paper, measuring 3-1/4" high by 7-3/8" wide. Each card represents one line of program code, and has a pattern of 80 columns and 12 rows, where each column is typically used to represent a single piece of data such as a character. The top row is called the "12" or "Y" row; the second row from the top is called the "11" or "X" row; and the remaining rows are called the "0" to "9" rows (indicated by the numbers printed on the cards). Each position is either "punched" out, or left solid. A typewriter like machine, called a key punch machine, is used to keyboard input the punched holes into cards by means of dies. The punched cards data are fed into a computer via a card reader, which scans each card and can read each punch/hole. Punch cards are rarely used today. Where keypunchers punched data into cards, bar codes and point-of-sale machines now enter data directly into computer files. Where sorters sequenced cards, sort programs now do it electronically . Where collators merged, matched, and selected cards, programs now do it with electricity. Where tabulators accumulated and printed information from cards, programs now send electronic information to laser printers and graphical color output. There is nothing new in the methods , procedures, and processesof personnel and material accounting-only the technology used to perform the task.

Key Recovery

1. Process for learning the value of a cryptographic key that previously was used to perform some cryptographic operation.

2. Techniques that provide an intentional, alternate (that is, secondary) means to access the key used for data confidentiality service in an encrypted association.

Key Sequence Number

An identifier associated with a key that allows one value of a key to be distinguished from an older or newer value of the key.

Key Service Panel

An old 1A2 key telephone term. Wired or unwired connector panel for modular expansion of key system service by allowing the installation of additional Line Cards and/or other KTUs. Typically, Key Service Panels are available in different jack configurations to accommodate 18-, 20-, 36- and 40-pin KTUs. Commonly abbreviated as KSP. Most KSPs are supplied as rack-mount equipment.

Key Service Unit

KSU. This is a small metal cabinet which contains all the electronics of a business key telephone system. The KSU fits between the lines coming in from the central office and the lines going to the individual phones. Be careful where you place the Key Service Unit. That place should be well-ventilated as the KSU gets hot. It should be near a power outlet (it needs one). Unless it's a very small phone system, it should be plugged into a power outlet dedicated to it (other devices, such as typewriters, computers, TV sets, and vacuum cleaners, plugged into the same electrical circuit could affect it). And the power outlet should be above the reach of the mops and brooms of the local cleaning people. Otherwise the plug will get knocked out and the phone system won't work the next day. See Key Telephone System.

Key Set

Also called Key Telephone Set. A telephone set having several buttons which can be used for call holding, line pickup, auto-dialing, intercom and other features. Ericsson calls a keyset a touchtone telephone.

Key Station Line

The circuit which extends from the key set to the key system common equipment. May be two or four wire.

Key Strip

The row(s) of buttons on key telephone sets used for line or extension access and for features like call hold and intercom.

Key System

The equipment utilized to provide features associated with key sets, including keysets, multipair cable ( rapidly disappearing from the scene), key service unit, distribution blocks, and miscellaneous devices.

Key System Power Supply

The local source for all DC voltages required for talking and lamp signaling within the Key Telephone System. The power supply may or may not also provide an AC voltage output for ringing. If it does, a separate Ringing Generator will normally not be required.

Key System Unit

See KSU.

Key Telephone System

KTS. A system in which the telephones have multiple buttons permitting (requiring) the user to directly select central office phone lines and intercom lines. According to strict, traditional definition, a KTS is not a switch. A PBX switch allows the sharing of pooled trunks (outside lines), to which the user typically gains access by dialing "9," with software in the switch managing contention for the pooled lines, selecting an available line, and setting up the connection. A KTS system, on the other hand, requires that the user make the selection of an available outside line through the use of "grayware" (brain power).

KTS systems generally and traditionally find most appropriate application in relatively small business environments, typically in the range of 50 telephones and requiring relatively unsophisticated functionality and feature content. PBX systems generally are applied to larger and more demanding situations. Contemporary Electronic Key Telephone Systems (EKTSs), however, often cross the line into the PBX world, providing switching capabilities, as well as impressive functionality and feature content.

Key Telephone Unit

A modular 1A2 Key Telephone System building block that plugs into a KSU or KSP. Commonly abbreviated as KTU. Typical KTU examples include 4000 Series Line Cards, 4448 Delayed Ring Transfer Card, 6606 Interrupter, etc.

Key To Disk

A method of entering data whereby it's sent directly from the keyboard to a disk, usually a hard disk.

Keyboard

1. A series of switches, arranged somewhat like a standard "QWERTY" typewriter that allows you to send information to a computer. There is no such animal as a "standard" computer keyboard. For speed typists, this is a terrible pity. If you are buying multiple computers for your office, check out your peoples' preference for keyboards. Getting the right one can make a big difference. You can often buy PCs without keyboards and buy third party differently designed keyboards.

2. According to the Vermonter's Guide to Computer Lingo, a keyboard is where you hang your keys. Joke.

Keyboard Buffer

A temporary storage area in memory that keeps track of keys that you typed, even if the computer did not immediately respond to the keys when you typed them.

Keyboard Call Setup

Allows you to set up a data call using the buttons of a telephone, or it allows you to set up a voice call using the keyboard of your PC. Which definition you choose ” setting up a voice or a data call ” depends on which manufacturer you're working with.

Keyboard Plaque

The disgusting buildup of dirt and crud found on computer keyboards. "Are there any other terminals I can use? This one has a bad case of keyboard plaque."

Keyboarding

A really stupid word for typing.

Keyed

A term used in data communications whereby the RJ-45 male plug has a small, square bump on its end and the female RJ-45 plug is shaped to accommodate the plug. A keyed RJ-45 plug will not fit into a female , non-keyed (i.e. normal) RJ-45. The purpose of keying a plug is to differentiate it from a "normal" non-keyed plug. Keyed RJ-45 plugs are typically used for data communications. See also RJ-11, RJ-22 and RJ-45.

Keying

Modulation of a carrier signal, usually by frequency or phase, to encode binary (digital) information, (as in FSK or Frequency Shift Keying).

Keylog

See Magic Lantern.

Keypad

See Key Pad.

Keypunch

An old method of data entry in which a keyboard was used to activate a keypunch machine, which punched holes or notches in cards.The cards were fed into a computer to input data; A keyboard-actuated punch that punches holes in a data medium. See also Key Punch.

Keystroke Monitoring

An application software program that can be installed on a workstation to monitor your keystrokes. Such programs are used to track your activities during a data session, usually a session on the Internet and Web (World Wide Web, or WWW). Some programs take snapshots of your screen at definable intervals so that those who are monitoring your activities can see what you see, so watch out. Debates rage over keystroke monitoring. Proponents mainly are companies that maintain that they right to monitor your use of company resources. Opponents mainly are individuals who maintain that they have an inherent right to privacy. PC programs are commercially available so that husbands can monitor their wives activities and (more commonly) so that wives can monitor their husbands. See also Electronic Communication Privacy Act and Network Accounting.

Keystone

A monitor distortion where one end of the screen ” either side to side, or top to bottom ” is larger than the other end.

Keystone Module

A universal modular network-wiring component that can fit many different vendors 'faceplates, modular furniture systems adapters or surface mount assemblies. For example, a keystone module from Siemon would be interchangeable with one made by Avaya.

KF-E

FK-E is a suffix to an FCC registration number, indicating the function of a system in accordance with its FCC registration. A KF-E is a Fully Protected Key System, with "KF" denoting "Key Function," and "E" denoting that the system will accept both rotary and tone signaling. See also Key Telephone System, MF-E, PF-E and Registration Number.

KHz

KiloHertz. One thousand hertz. See K.

Kiddie Cams

On-line cameras attached to computers attached to the Internet that allow parents to monitor their children from their desks at their offices. Kiddie cams (cam- eras) are often installed in daycare centers and grade schools . Also called Cradle Cams. See also Web Cam.

Kill File

A file that lets you filter USENET postings to your account to some extent. It excludes messages on certain topics or from certain people.

Kill Message

A recorded message played at the beginning of a call to a 900 (or other pay-per-call) number that warns the caller of the charges and gives him the option to hang up before it starts.

Killer App

Killer Application. The high-tech industry's lifelong dream. That dream is to discover a new application that is so useful and so persuasive that millions of customers will rush in, and throw money at you to buy your killer app. The term derives from the PC industry where a killer app was so powerful that it alone justifies the purchase of a computer. The first PBX killer app was probably being able to dial out without an operator (i.e. dial 9). The second was probably least cost routing. The third was probably call accounting. The next may be some form of hookup to PCs, with desktop and LAN connectivity. In the PC industry, killer apps have been spreadsheets, word processing and databases. Finding that one killer app that will make them wealthy beyond their wildest dreams is what drives many software programmers and entrepreneurs. See Windows Telephony.

Kilo

One thousand (1,000), as in Kilobits per second (kbps), or KiloHertz (kHz). One thousand twenty-four (1,024), as in KiloByte. See KiloByte.

Kilobyte

KB. From the Greek "chilioi," meaning "thousand." A unit of measurement for physical data storage on some form of storage device ” hard disk, optical disk, RAM memory, etc. The actual definition can be confusing, since there are two measurements. In the metric system, a kilobyte is 1,000 bytes, or 10 to the third power. In the computer world, things tend to be measured in binary terms ” 1s and 0s. In binary terms, a kilobyte is 2 to the 10th power, or 1,024. Here is the progression:

Following is a summary of sizes, in binary terms:

KB = Kilobyte (2 to the 10th power)

MB = Megabyte (2 to the 20th power)

GB = Gigabyte (2 to the 30th power)

TB = Terabyte (2 to the 40th power)

PB = Petabyte (2 to the 50th power)

EB = Exabyte (2 to the 60th power)

ZB = Zettabyte (2 to the 70th power)

YB = Yottabyte (2 to the 80th power)

One googolbyte equals 2 to the 100th power.

Kilocharacter

One thousand characters . Used as a measure of billing for data communications by some overseas phone companies. See also Kilosegment.

Kilohertz

1000 hertz, or 1000 cycles per second. See Alternating Current.

Kilosegment

64,000 characters. Used as a measure of billing for data communications by some overseas phone companies. See also Kilocharacter.

Kingsbury Commitment

December 13, 1913: A letter from Nathan C. Kingsbury, VP AT&T, to the Attorney General of the United States committed AT&T to dispose of its stock in Western Union Telegraph Company. It also promised to provide long distance connection of Bell System lines to independent phone companies (where there was no local competition) and further agreed not to purchase any more independent telephone companies, except as approved by the Interstate Commerce Commission which regulated the phone industry at that time. See also Divestiture.

Kiosk

In Britain, a kiosk is a telephone booth . In America, a kiosk is a small structure with one or more sides open , used as a newsstand, refreshment stand, or a place for surfing the web, or a place for receiving and sending faxes, etc. As an Internet or fax telecommunications tool, it will typically have a phone line attached and it will typically be located somewhere there's lots of foot traffic, e.g. a suburban mall.

KISS

Keep It Simple Stupid. A philosophy of management that says simple is better. In the 1960s, during the heat of the space race, NASA decided it needed a ballpoint pen capable of writing in the zero-gravity confines of a space capsule , where gravity does not help the ink on its way to the tip. After considerable R&D, the Astronaut Pen was developed at a cost of about $1 million. The pen, which uses a pressurized container of ink, worked perfectly and has enjoyed modest success as a novelty item since. Faced with the same problem, the Soviets opted for pencils.

Kissup

A person or organization who tells their boss what he/she wants to hear.

Kitting

"We do equipment kitting," say some vendors. Kitting comes from the word kit. It means that a vendor will assemble all the equipment necessary to solve your problem (i.e. assemble it all into a "kit") and probably install it for you as well. Here's a description of the benefits from dealing with a telecom secondary equipment assembler and installer, Somera. "Why deal with multiple vendors when you can save time and work with one? Somera can free your resources and reduce your costs by taking over your inventory aggregation (i.e. kitting) and shipping requirements. Let Somera handle your kitting and staging for complex, multi-vendor equipment. We'll locate and acquire all the pieces from our own warehouse or from suppliers worldwide. Our staging process insures all needed components are present and installed in racks. We'll also coordinate shipping to insure that all components arrive when needed for smooth installation. The benefits to you:

• Single point of contact for multi-vendor purchases

• One purchase order

• Consolidated lead times

• Maximized capital expenditure efficiencies

• Fully-managed inventory receiving, storage and warehousing

• Equipment shipped to single or multiple locations

• Same day, next day, and pre-scheduled deliveries

• Internet-based accounting and tracking

Klingon

The office that treats mental health patients in metropolitan Multnomah County, in Portland, Oregon, is looking for people fluent in Klingon, to serve as interpreters. According to the county Department of Human Services, which serves about 60,000 mental health patients , some of the people in their care will only speak in this language, created for the Star Trek series. County officials are therefore obligated to respond with Klingon-English interpreters, as they would with any other language, such as Spanish or Vietnamese. Klingon, an artificial language like Esperanto, was designed by a linguist to have a consistent grammar, syntax, and vocabulary.

Kludge

A hardware solution that has been improvised from various mismatched parts . A slang word meaning makeshift. A kludge can also be in software. It may not be elegant and is probably only a temporary fix. As in, "That patch to the software is a real kludge."

Kluge

Another way of spelling kludge. We think spelling it kludge is correct. See Kludge.

Klystron

An electron tube, used for converting a stream of electrons into ultra high- frequency waves which transmits as a pencil-like radio beam. A traveling-wave tube (TWT) is a specialized vacuum tube used in wireless communications, especially in satellite systems. The TWT can amplify or generate microwave signals. Two common types of TWT include the Klystron and the magnetron.

In the Klystron, a negatively charged cathode emits a beam of high-speed, high-energy electrons that travel through the cylindrical tube in straight lines to a positively charged anode. A coil is wound around the tube. When the coil is energized with a radio-frequency (RF) signal, the electrons in the beam alternately bunch up and spread out. In the magnetron, the electrons move in circles rather than in straight lines. The circular motion, produced by magnets at either end of the tube, allows the electrons to pick up energy over a greater distance.

Inside the TWT, the regions of high and low electron concentration move along or around the tube in waves. When the tube is properly operating, some of the energy from the electrons is imparted to the signal in the coil. The result is amplification of the signal.

A TWT can be made to function as an oscillator by coupling some of the output back into the input. This configuration is called a backward-wave oscillator, because the feedback is applied opposite to the direction of movement of the electrons inside the tube. Such an oscillator can generate up to approximately 0.1 watt of signal power in the microwave range.

A parametric amplifier is a TWT amplifier that operates from a high-frequency alternating current (AC) power source, rather than the usual direct current (DC) source. Some characteristic of the circuit, such as its impedance, is made to vary with time at the power-supply frequency. Parametric amplifiers are useful because they generate very little internal noise. This makes it possible to obtain excellent sensitivity in receiving systems, minimizing data-transfer errors.

KM

Knowledge Management. See Knowledge Management.

Knee Mail

I saw this first on the billboard of the Tabernacle Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Portland, Oregon. The entire slogan was "God answers knee mail." I bet he also gets a lot of spam.

KNET

Kangaroo Network Hardware/software product (Spartacus/Fibronics) that lets IBM mainframes communicate over networks using the TCP/IP protocol.

Knowbots

Intelligent computer programs that automate the search and gathering of data from distributed databases. The creation of knowbots is part of a research project headed up by the Corporation for National Research Initiatives, Reston, VA. Two knowbot- based databases for the medical field are expected to be available in 1991. Knowbots could become more widespread for general use, according to networking experts.

Knowledge Base System

In its most simple term, it means knowledge that is known by the system. Software in which application specific information is programmed into something called the "knowledge base" in the form of rules. The system uses artificial intelligence (AI) procedures to mimic human problem solving. It applies the rules stored in the knowledge base and the facts supplied to the system to solve a particular business problem.

Knowledge Management

The big buzzword at the 1998 March Internet World in Los Angeles was "knowledge management." Defining precisely what it means is difficult. Some people define knowledge management as the ability to get the right information to the right people at the right time. Robert Buckman, one "father" of the term, says about knowledge management, "You have to think about using knowledge to accelerate speed to reduce costs in this environment where you have no pricing ability. You have to get better teamwork function, collaborate better, no matter what tools you use to get there." Yun Wang, wrote in InfoWorld Magazine, "In a way, this is what IT should have been about from the beginning...What has kept these networks from serving as true knowledge management systems in the past is the haphazard way in which they tend to grow. New technology routinely is added on to old without systemwide reengineering; new data sources are hooked up to the network without recategorization of the entire information base."

When planning your knowledge management system, says Wang, you should start by thinking about which information is most critical to move to which people, and begin planning accordingly . Thinking about the purpose of each kind of information can help you devise a scheme for information distribution and storage that best fits your company's business needs. The difference between a typical company network and a knowledge management system has to do with the deliberate engineering of an information structure. If you want to empower your employees to use your company's formal and informal information base to its full potential, you have to begin thinking of disparate data sources, applications, and interfaces as parts to a greater whole. From this vantage point, you can begin engineering an information retrieval system that makes the most sense for your company's purposes ” the integration of multiple sources and interfaces in a logical fashion is what causes "information" to magically transform into "knowledge." See also Knowledge Worker.

Knowledge Worker

In its simplest use, a knowledge worker is a person who uses a computer. But that's not the end of it. Some people take this term real seriously. It's as though they've discovered a new religion. A reader sent me this definition: "An organizational employee who, whenever he/she performs knowledge work, adds intellectual value to the organization's memory. A knowledge worker is an empowered person who both knows (has access to) and affects (measurably change) the organizational memory in a profitable sense. Profitable sense assumes the business-process being aligned to organization strategy, and the value (outcome) of the individual's work effort being measurable." John Perry Barlow, who is a cattle rancher, computer hacker, poet, and a lyricist for the rock band , The Grateful Dead, thinks the expression was created by the "droids" who run Microsoft and Apple.

KPI

Key Performance Indicator.

KS Number

Abbreviation for Kearney System number. AT&T's Western Electric division had a major manufacturing and distribution facility in Kearney, New Jersey. Thousands of items were assigned part numbers with KS prefixes. KS numbers still appear on certain basic telecom hardware items made by various manufacturers. AT&T now uses both a Code number which reflects standard industry numbering and a different "Comcode" number on most products. The Code No. 259C modular-to-Amphenol adapter is Comcode No. 103339396, and KS No. 21997L15. Very confusing. Kearney, by the way, is pronounced "carny."

KSR

Keyboard Send Receive. A combination teleprinter/transmitter/receiver with transmission capability from the keyboard only, i.e. there is no punch paper tape device and no magnetic memory device, such as a floppy disk.

KSU

Key Service Unit. The heart (or brain) of a key telephone system is its KSU. Some telecom newbies say Key System Unit. Computer guys often call it a Central Processing Unit, or CPU. Old telecom guys call it a switch. Cardiologists call it a heart. Neurosurgeons call it a brain. The key service unit is basically the main cabinet containing all the equipment, switching and electronics necessary to run a key telephone system. See also Key Service Unit.

KSU-Less Phone System

KSU stands for Key Service Unit. It's a funny term for the main cabinet which contains all the equipment and electronics necessary to run a key telephone system. When you pick up your key telephone's handset and punch a button for an outside side, the KSU connects you to an outside line. When you pick up the handset and punch a button to make an intercom call, the KSU gives you intercom dial tone and receives your dialing instructions, rings the correct extension and gives you a talk path . When you have a KSU key system, you plug outside phone lines into the KSU and run lines in a star configuration to each phone. A KSU-less phone system, on the other hand, has all its electronics in the phone sets themselves . You run the outside phone lines into each KSU- less phone and typically one pair of wires looping for intercom to each one of the KSU-less phones. A KSU-less phone system is typically a very small system, consisting of usually no more than six phones. A KSU-less phone can be very easy to install. And that's its primary charm . It may also be cheaper than having a small KSU phone system. I always think of a KSU-less phones as multiple single line phones joined together in one plastic multi-line phone with one intercom path to other KSU-less phones. See also KEY. What normal people call a "Switch," telephone people call a "Key." That's were the term Key Service Unit gets it derivation from.

KTA Key Telephone Adapter.

A Rolm multiplexing unit which connects a standard 1A2 key telephone to a three-pair cable coming in from the Rolm CBX.

KTI

Key Telephone Interface.

KTILA

Development Centre for Telecommunications (Greece).

KTS

Key Telephone System, often just called a key system. A key system has multi-line phones with keys that you press to get dial tone on a specific line from the phone company's Central Office (CO). In smaller key systems, incoming calls usually ring at several ” or all ” phones. In bigger key systems, calls usually go to the receptionist or attendant, who will then tell someone that he or she has a call on a particular line, often using the intercom to call one phone, or by making a paging announcement to several people, or throughout a large area. With a PBX ("Private Branch Exchange"), you usually use a single-line phone and have to dial 9 to get dial tone. Incoming calls usually go to a receptionist , attendant or operator, who transfers the call to the appropriate person.

KTU

Key Telephone Unit. The circuit cards found in a KSU that control telephone sets and their features in a key system.

Ku Band

Portion of the electromagnetic spectrum in the 12 GHz to 14 GHz range. Used for satellites , employing 14 GHz on the uplink and 11 GHz on the downlink in support of such applications as broadcast TV for man-on-the-street interviews and other situations requiring a small, portable dish. Ku also is used in Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) systems, also know as Direct Satellite System (DSS), such as DirecTV.

Ku-Band

See Ku Band.

Kurzweil Reading Machine

Regarded by many as the most significant technological advance for the blind since the introduction of Braille in 1829, the Kurzweil Reading Machine, introduced in 1976, was the first computer to translate text into computer-generated speech, allowing visually imparied people to read almost any printed material.

KV

Old Bell-Speak for key telephone. K stands for Key; V stands for Voice. CV stood for Combined Voice, a single line, simple telephone. All this had to do with letters included in USOC (Universal Service Order Code) codes ” the alphanumeric naming convention the local Bell operating phone companies used to identify products and services. See USOC.

KVM Switch

Keyboard/Video/Mouse Switch. A switchbox used to control multiple computers from a single keyboard, monitor and mouse.

KVW

Old Bell-Speak for a key telephone that's designed specifically for wall mounting. Most modern key telephones can be used on a desk or wall.

KWH

KiloWatt Hour. One thousand WATTS of electricity used for one hour .