10BASE-T
Shorthand for 10 million bits per second (10 Mbps) line, like that currently joining Ethernet units on campus. The name comes from 10 for the 10-Megabits, BASEband transmission, on Twisted pair wire. That last is significant because twisted-pair wiring is much cheaper than coaxial cable; within buildings this is beefy wiring alongside phone cable.

100BASE-T
Able to carry data at 100 million bps, ten times faster than 10BASE-T and about 100 times faster than regular fast modems.

1000BASE-T
Also known as Gigabit Ethernet. One hundred times faster than 10BASE-T and about 10 times faster than 100BASE-T connections.

14.4K
14.4 Kilobits (Kbps) per second, or .018 Megabytes (MB) per second, the speed of v.32bis modems.

28.8K
28.8 Kilobits (Kbps) per second, or .036 Megabytes (MB) per second, the speed of v.34 modems.

56K
56 Kilobits (Kbps) per second, or .07 Megabytes (MB) per second. A common maximum transmission rate for frame relay or leased lines.

Absolute Path
A file path that begins from the root, or topmost, level of a hard drive or server.

Access Port
The physical gateway between a customer's local loop and the frame relay network.

Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line or ADSL
A new technology that allows more data to be sent over existing copper telephone lines. ADSL supports data rates of from 1.5 to 9 Mbps when receiving data (known as the downstream rate) and from 16 to 640 Kbps when sending data (known as the upstream rate).

Amplifier
A device used to boost the strength of an electronic or optical signal, which is weakened (attenuated) as it passes through the transport network. Amplifiers add gain to the signal by an amount equal to the loss in the previous section of the network since last amplification.

Anonymous FTP
Using FTP with a user name of anonymous and the user's e-mail address as a password. A common way of making files available to the general public on the Internet.

ASCII
American Standard Code for Information Interchange. A standard for representing text characters in 7 bits, as the numbers 1 through 128.

Atlantic Crossing (AC-1)
Part of the Global Crossing network. AC-1 links the United States, United Kingdom, Netherlands and Germany. It became operational in May 1998.

ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode)
Asynchronous Transfer Mode, the means by which data get transferred fast on the fiber-optic network itself, at a speed of 155 Mbps or higher. This is the very-high-volume data stream or "water main" that local networks will tap into via the IDF's (Intermediate Distribution Frames, aka "telephone closets") and ADF's (Area Distribution Frames, the large-scale network nodes that form the backbone system). Highly touted at the beginning of the UCDavis Network 21 infrastructure improvement project, ATM turns out to be an expensive and possibly unworkable solution to campus backbone problems.

Backbone
The interconnecting "wiring" (fiber optic in Network-21, combo of coaxial cable and some fiber optic in the current configuration) that allows networked computers to communicate with each other, share printers and other resources, and connect with the Internet at large; on our campus in 1996 the term refers both to existing backbone which is called UCDNet (mostly at 10BASE-T speed), and also Net21 high-speed version. Note that a subnet or LAN has a backbone as well; perhaps "spinal cord" would be more accurate anatomical analogy.

Backhaul Capacity
Capacity on terrestrial fiber optic cables from undersea cable landing stations to metropolitan areas.

Band
A range of frequencies between two defined limits.

Bandwidth
A measure of capacity of information-carrying capacity on a communications channel.

• Narrowband:  Less than or equal to 64-kbps.

• Wideband: Digital rates between 64-kbps and 1.544 Mbps (DSI) or 2.048-Mbps (E1)-LANs, bulk files transfer, video conferencing, and multimedia.
• Broadband: Greater than 44.736 Mbps (D3) or 34.368-Mbps (E3).

BGP or Border Gateway Protocol
A routing protocol used in interdomain routing in large networks to maintain integrity of the network. It allows the routers to exchange only prespecified information with prespecified routers in other domains.

Biderectional Line Switched Ring
Commonly referred to as BLSR. It is a method of SONET transport in which half of the working network is sent counterclockwise over one fiber and the other half is sent clockwise over another fiber. BLSR offers bandwidth use advantages for distributed traffic in single-ring architectures.

Binary
A binary file is any nontext file, made up of 8-bit data, as opposed to 7-bit ASCII.

BIND
Berkeley Internet Name Domain. A common UNIX software package which provides DNS, or Domain Name Services.

Bit
A binary unit of information that can have either of two values, 0 or 1. Contraction of binary digit:

kilobit = 1,000 bits

megabit = 1 million bits

gigabit = 1 billion bits

terabit = 1 trillion bits

Bridge
A data communications device that connects two or more network segments and forwards packets between them. It also amplifies the carrier signal, and accepts data packets, (perhaps buffering them during periods of network congestion) and forwards them.

Broadband
A transmission channel usually carrying a tremendous amount of information at transmission speeds of 45 Mbps (45,000,000 bits per second) or greater. A communications channel with a bandwidth sufficiently large to carry voice, data and video on a signal channel. Any voice communications channel having a bandwidth greater than a voice grade channel.

Burst Mode
A way of doing data transmission, usually faster than normal transmission mode, in which a continuous block is transferred between main memory and an input/output device without interruption until the transfer has been completed. Characteristically, burst mode is sustainable for only limited periods of time under special conditions.

Capacity
The information-carrying ability of a telecommunications system, as defined by its design (number of fibers, system length, and optoelectronic equipment) and its deployed equipment (amount of optoelectronics in the station) and measured in bits per second. Capacity is sold in discrete units, usually system interface levels such as DS-3's and STM-1's, that in the aggregate are the equivalent of total system capacity.

Carrier
A third party provider of communications services by wire, fiber or radio. Common Carrier: A private company offering facilities or services to the general public on a non-discriminatory basis and regulated as to market entry, practices, and rates by various Federal and State authorities. Private Carrier: Services provided for internal use and free of most common carrier regulations to allow discrimination in service provision or pricing.

CGI
Common Gateway Interface. Any program or script run on a Web server, which is triggered by a client's actions.

Channelization
The process of subdividing the bandwidth of a circuit into smaller increments called channels. Typically, each channel carries an individual transmission, e.g., a voice conversation or a data conversation – a computer-to-computer session. This process is accomplished through a multiplexer, such as dense wavelength division multiplexers.

CHAPor 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.

Coax
(co-ax, short for coaxial cable)--a type of cabling with a conductor inside a braided-wire shield, arranged co-axially rather than side-by-side as in twisted-pair cabling such as 10BASE-T. Coax or Thin-net is more expensive to install and is being phased out.

Compression
Algorithm that minimizes the redundancy in the signal to be transmitted.

Cryptography
The process of concealing the contents of a message from all except those who know the key. Cryptography is used to protect e-mail messages, credit card information, and corporate data. As the Internet and other forms of electronic communication become more prevalent, electronic security is also becoming increasingly important.

CSU/DSU
Customer Service Unit/Digital Service Unit. An interface for connecting a computer or other device to a digital medium. A modem is the analog equivalent of a CSU/DSU.

Dark Wavelength
Refers to a virtual channel in a fiber optic system utilizing DWDM. Each virtual channel is supported through a specific wavelength of light, with many channels riding over the same fiber. Once the fiber system is deployed and the DWDM equipment is activated, some of the wavelengths may be activated immediately and others may be left dark for future needs. When the need arises, those dark wavelengths are lit up.

Digital
Describes a method of storing, processing and transmitting information through the use of distinct electronic or optic pulses representing the binary digits 0 and 1. In communications they will modify a carrier at a selected frequency. The precise signal transitions preclude any distortion such as graininess or snow in the case of video transmission or static or other background distortion in the case of audio transmission.

Digital Transmission
Method of storing, processing and transmitting information through the use of distinct electronic or optical pulses that represent the binary digits 0 and 1. Digital transmission and switching technologies employ a sequence of these pulses to represent information as opposed to a continuously variable analog signal. The precise digital numbers preclude any distortion such as graininess or snow in the case of video transmission, or static or other background distortion in the case of audio transmission.

DNS (Domain Name System)
naming conventions (including 4-part "dotted quad" version as well as text name) for hooking a server into the big network and making sure it can be addressed. For example, UCD's "bullwinkle" server is a domain known by the IP address 128.120.8.167 in machine-talk; the "peseta" mail server is 128.120.2.149. When a Web browser like Netscape cannot find a particular host computer's location (or if the host doesn't answer) the error message includes "cannot locate DNS."

DNR (Domain Name Resolver)
A piece of software living in a Mac's System Folder that helps "resolve" domain names into machine-comprehensible form; you will not know this item exists until something goes wrong with it, in which case you will get the an error message referring to "Domain Name Reslover" (yes, with the picturesque typo there).

Doped Fibers
Various impurities may be added to silica-based fiber optic strands as they are constructed to achieve specifically desired transmission or physical properties. Erbium-Doped Optical Fiber Amplifier (EDFA) optical amplifiers use a section of optical fiber doped with the rare earth erbium and optically pumped with a laser diode. It can amplify a range of wavelengths at the same time surrounding a base wavelength of 1550 nm. Praseodymium-doped fibers produce a signal gain of 30 dB in 1310 nm fibers.

DSI
A digital transmission hierarchy supporting 1.544 million bits per second that may be used for "near-full motion" or compressed video, data or voice circuits (24, 48, or 96).

DWDM (Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing)
A technique which employs more than one light source and detector operating at different wavelengths and simultaneously transmits optical signals through the same fiber while message integrity of each signal is preserved.

E-1
Similar to the North American T-1, E-1 is the European format for digital transmission. E-1 carries signals at 2.048 Mbps (32 channels at 64Kbps), versus the T-1, which carries signals at 1.544 Mbps (24 channels at 64Kbps). E-1 and T-1 lines may be interconnected for international use.

EDFA (Erbium-Doped Fiber Amplifier)
A purely optical (as opposed to electronic) device used to boost an optical signal. It contains several meters of glass fiber doped with erbium ions. When the erbium ions are excited to a high energy state, the doped fiber changes from a passive medium to an active amplifying medium.

Ethernet
Networking solution developed by Xerox, now the standard 10-Mbps way for computers to talk to each other; used to require coax cable, but with 10BASE-T can use twisted-pair. Ethernet is a protocol, a language and set of conventions for sending data; in common usage it also designates the concept of "hard-wired" as opposed to modem-and-phone-line access.

Fault Tolerance
The ability of a system to respond gracefully to an unexpected hardware or software failure. There are many levels of fault tolerance, the lowest being the ability to continue operation in the event of a power failure.

Fiber Kilometers
The number of route kilometers installed multiplied by the number of fiber strands along the path.

Fiber Optics
Technology based on thin filaments of glass or other transparent materials used as the medium for transmitting coded light pulses that represent data, image and sound. Fiber-optic technology offers extremely fast transmission speeds.

Finger
A protocol that displays information about a user for a given system.

Full Duplex
The simultaneous transmission of data in both directions, used when communicating between two computers. Full duplex is sometimes called "Echo On" by some communications programs.

Gbps (Gigabits per second)
A data rate of 1 Gbps corresponds to 1,000 million bits per second.

Gigabit Ethernet
Also known as 1000BASE-T. One hundred times faster than 10BASE-T and about 10 times faster than 100BASE-T connections.

High Level Data Link Control or HDLC
A generic link layer protocol standard for point-to-point and multi-point communications that is bit oriented and in which control codes differ according to their bit positions and patterns.

High Performance Parallel Interface or HIPPI
HIPPI is used to network supercomputers, high-end workstations and peripherals using cross-bar type circuit switches. It provides for transfer rates of 800 megabits a second over 32 twisted pair copper wires (single HIPPI) and 1600 megabits a second over 64 pairs (double HIPPI).

Internet
A fabric of interconnected computer networks, originally known as the DARPA network (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) connecting government and academic sites. It currently links about 50 million people worldwide who use it for everything from scientific research to simple E-Mail.

Internet Protocol (IP) Address
An Internet address that is a unique number consisting of four parts separated by dots, sometimes called a "dotted quad." For example, 198.204.112.1. Every Internet computer has an IP address and most computers also are assigned one or more domain names that are easier to remember than the dotted quad.

Indefeasible Right of Use (IRU)
A measure of currency in the undersea cable business. The owner of an IRU has the right to use the capacity for the time and bandwidth to which the IRU applies.

ISDN
Intergrated Services Digital Network. A standard for providing end-to-end digital connections, for both voice and data. Most ISDN connections have a maximum throughput of 64 or 128 Kbps, or .08 and .16 Megabytes per second, respectively.

ISP
Internet Service Provider.

ITU (International Telecommunications Union)
The ITU is an intergovernmental agency of the United Nations within which the public and private sectors cooperate for the development of telecommunications. The ITU adopts international regulations governing the use of the radio spectrum and develops standards to facilitate the interconnection of telecommunications systems on a worldwide basis. It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. In 1996, the ITU comprised 185 Member States and 363 members (scientific and industrial companies, public and private operators, broadcasters, regional and international organizations active in three sectors: Radio communications, Standardization and Development).

Lambda
The 11th letter of the Greek alphabet. Lambda is used as the symbol for wavelength in lightwave systems. Fiber optic systems use multiple wavelengths of light through dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM). Each range of wavelength appears in a "window" roughly corresponding to a color in the visible light spectrum.

Latency
The amount of time it takes a packet to travel from source to destination. Together, latency and bandwidth define the speed and capacity of a network.

Leased Line
A private (nonshared) line for voice or data.

Local Loop
The physical facility, leased from a LEC, which provides connectivity between the customer's location and the carrier's point of presence.

Low Voltage Differential Signaling or LVDS
A low noise, low power, low amplitude method for high-speed (gigabits per second) data transmission over copper wire.

Mbps (Megabit per second)
One Mbps corresponds to a data rate of 1,000,000 bits per second.

Media Distribution Centers or MDCs
MDCs are part of GlobalCenter's digital distribution architecture which bypasses the congested Internet infrastructure to provide enhanced performance. GlobalCenter's standard MDC facilities are equipped with state-of-the-art technology and provide the highest levels of security and fault tolerance for our customer's servers.

Media Gateway Control protocol or MGCP
A proposed control and signal standard for the conversion of audio signals carried on telephone circuits to data packets carried over the Internet or other packet networks. Unlike regular phones, IP phones and devices are not fixed to a specific switch, so they must contain processors that enable them to function independently from a central switching location. MGCP eliminates the need for complex, processor-intense IP telephony devices, thus simplifying and lowering the cost of these terminals.

Multicasting
The ability of one network node to send identical data to a number of end servers on the multicast backbone. For large amounts of data, IP multicasting is more efficient than normal Internet transmissions because the server can broadcast a message to multiple recipients simultaneously.

Multilink Point-to-Point Protocol or MP
MP allows multiple physical connections between two points to be combined into a single logical connection called a bundle. MP supports dynamic bandwidth allocation, which means that physical links can be added or removed from the bundle as needed.

Multimedia
The electronic conversation between two or more people or groups of people in different places using two or more types of digitally integrated communication for voice, sound, text, data, graphics, video, image or presence at the same time. Applications include conferencing, presentations, training, referencing, games, etc.

Multiplexing
An electronic or optical process that combines two or more lower bandwidth transmissions onto one higher bandwidth signal by splitting the total available bandwidth into narrower bands (frequency division) or by allotting a common channel to several transmitting sources one at a time in sequence (time division).

Multipoint
Pertaining or referring to a communications line to which three or more stations are connected. It implies that the line physically extends from one station to another until all are connected.

MultiProtocol Label Switching or MPLS
MPLS is a widely supported method of speeding up data communication over combined IP/ATM networks. This improves the speed of packet processing and enhances performance of the network.

NAM--Network Access Module
The special jack or module that connects a computer or other networked device to the office cabling that leads to the port that joins to the hub that links with the router that goes through the gateway that merges onto the Network 21 trunk fiber-optic cable that lives in the house that Jack Peltason built (sorry). Cost: none given, but IT tells us to anticipate an activation cost of ~$60 per hookup plus possibly a service fee.

Optical Fiber
Thin filaments of glass through which light beams are transmitted. Enormous capacity, low-cost, low-power consumption, small space, lightweight, insensitivity to electromagnetic interference characterize this transport media.

PTTs (Post, Telephone and Telegraph companies)
International telecommunications carriers which are generally under the control of the government in a country that has not yet privatized its telecommunication markets.

Packet
Generic term for a bundle of data, organized in a specific way for transmission. A packet consists of the data to be transmitted and certain control information, including the destination address.

Packet Switching
A process where messages are broken into finite-sized packets that are always accepted by the network. The message packets are sent across different circuit paths. The packets are reassembled into the original message at the end of the circuit.

Pipelining
In networking, pipelining is a technique used at the transport layer or data link layer in a layered network architecture that allows for the transmission of multiple frames without waiting to see if they are acknowledged on an individuals basis.

Point of Presence (POP)
The physical location within a LATA where an interexchange carrier's circuits interconnect with the local lines of telephone companies in that LATA.

Polling
Making continuous requests for data from another device. For example, modems that support polling can call another system and request data.

Protocols
Computer rules that provide uniform specifications so that computer hardware and operating systems can communicate.

Repeater
1. Equipment that receives a low-power signal, possibly converting it from light to electrical form, amplifying it or retiming and reconstructing it for transmission. It may need to be reconverted to light for retransmission. 2. An optoelectrical device used at each end and occasionally intermediate points of exceptionally long fiber optic span. Optical input is converted to electrical form to restore a clean signal, which drives lasers that fully restores the optical signal at the original signal strength.

Requests for Comments
Internet standards that have developed within the Internet community since 1969. They have grown to become a large series of numbered Internet informational documents and standards widely followed by commercial software and freeware in the Internet and Unix communities. Few RFCs are standards but all Internet standards are recorded in RFCs. Perhaps the single most influential RFC has been RFC 822, the Internet electronic-mail format standard. RFCs are unusual in that they are floated by technical experts acting on their own initiative and reviewed by the Internet at large, rather than formally promulgated through an institution such as ANSI (American National Standards Institute). For this reason, they remain known as RFCs even after they have been adopted as standards.

Route Kilometers
The number of route kilometers installed.

Router
A network device that connects two similar networks having the same network protocol. It also chooses the best path between two networks when there are multiple paths.

RFS (Ready for Service)
The data of provisional acceptance or commercial service of a cable system.

SLIP
(Serial Line Interface Protocol): A protocol for transmitting IP packets over serial lines; that is, using modems over telephone lines.

SMTP
(Simple Mail Transport Protocol): An Internet protocol for the delivery of e-mail.

STM (Synchronous TransferMode)
New term for traditional TDM switching to distinguish it from ATM.

STM-1
The largest standard circuit unit of capacity, which consists of 155,500 kbps (equal to 155 Mbps). Thus, each Gbps contains enough capacity for 6.4 STM-1 circuits. While capacity is sold to the largest telecommunications companies in minimum investment units equal to one STM-1 unit, most telecommunications companies buy smaller units at a price higher than the equivalent STM-1 price.

Time Division Multiplex or TDM
A technique for transmitting a number of separate data, voice and/or video signals simultaneously over one communications medium by quickly interleaving a piece of each signal one after another.

UCDNet
The current Ethernet-speed network backbone connecting the UCD campus with the Internet at large, in place since the mid-late 1980's; some parts of UCDNet are now connected with fiber-optic cabling, but Network 21 plans call for full fiber-optic connection.

Unix
The versatile, powerful, but notoriously user-hostile operating system environment running on most networks, allowing multiple users and multiple programs to run simultaneously on the same powerful computers. Menu-driven application programs like Pine insulate users from the Unix interface, although these programs are often launched from the Unix "system prompt," a $ or % sign.

VoIP
VoIP stands for "voice over IP," which is voice communications transmitted over the Internet.

Wavelength
The distance between two crests of a signal or a carrier and is measured in terms of meters, millimeters, nanometers, etc. In lightwave applications, because of the extremely high frequencies, wavelength is measured in nanometers.

Wavelength Division Multiplexing or WDM
A way of increasing the information-carrying capacity of an optical fiber by simultaneously operating at more than one wavelength. With WDM you can multiplex signals by transmitting them at different wavelengths through the same fiber.

xDSL
A term referring to a variety of new Digital Subscriber Line technologies. Some of these varieties are asymmetric with different data rates in the downstream and upstream directions. Others are symmetric. Downstream speeds range from 384 kbps (or "SDSL") to 1.5-8 Mbps (or "ADSL").