Glossary


A Asynchronous Transfer Mode - a network protocol designed to be a single networking strategy that can transport real-time video conference and audio as well as image files, text and email.
B Bandwidth is the amount of data that can be transferred over a communication line in a certain amount of time. It is expressed in bits per second (bps) or bytes per second (big B).
C Call hunting - A calling feature for inbound calls that will try multiple numbers or extension within a hunt group. Clipping - Dropping of the initial or end parts of a word or sentence. Codec - The Compressor-Decompressor processing of audio or video. It is used for software or hardware devices that can convert or transform a data stream. For instance, at the transmitting end codecs can encode a data stream or data signal for easy transmission, storage or encryption. At the receiving end, they can decode the signal. Colocation - The provision of space, bandwidth, and power in a data center, for use in web-hosting. The customer purchases and manages the the computing hardware. Customer - Premises Equipment - Any equipment leased by a service provider, located at a subscribers premises and connected to the carrier's communication channel. For example, a Cisco DSL Modem is CPE.
D Direct Dial-In - A feature offered by telephone companies that allows routing from a range of external (public) numbers to internal numbers, negating the need for operator involvement. Digital Subscriber Line - A family of technologies that provides digital data transmission over the wires of a local telephone network. DNS - Domain Name Service translates domain names or host names to a IP address which a computer can ask to be routed by a network.
E Ethernet - A family of frame-based computer networking technologies for local area networks. Ethernet in the First Mile - A collection of protocols, defining the Ethernet in the access networks. Ethernet Ring Protection - Also known as Ethernet Ring Protection Switching, is a method to provide protection for ethernet traffic in a ring topology and at the same time ensuring that there are no loops formed at the ethernet layer.
F Fax Server - A computer based fax machine which can distribute faxes received by email or to a printer. Full Duplex - The ability for both ends of a communication to simultaneously send and receive.
G Gateway - A device that converts voice, video or fax in real-time to or from the PSTN to an IP network.
H H.323 - An ITU standard for real time voice and videoconferencing on the Internet. High Availability - Strategies designed to provide access to fully functioning systems at all times. Clustering, load-balancing are forms of HA.
I Integrated Services Digital Network - A circuit-switched telephone network system, that also provides access to packet switched networks, designed to allow digital transmission of voice and data over ordinary telephone copper wires, resulting in better voice quality than an analog phone. Internet Service Provider - An Internet service provider(ISP) is an organization that provides access to the Internet.
J Jitter is the deviation from true periodicity of a presumed periodic signal in electronics and telecommunications.
K Kbps - KiloBits Per Second is used to indicate a data transfer speed. If a device can transfer at 1 Kbps then that is a speed of one thousand bits per second.
L Lag is used to indicate the extra time a packet takes to travel from the source to the destination. The lag may be caused by a poor network or by inefficient. Latency is the time that elapses between the initiation of a request for data and the start of the actual data transfer.
M Managed Web Hosting - Colocated web-hosting where we assist and manage the maintenance of your hardware. Mean opinion score (MOS) - A measurement of the quality of human speech, represented as a subjective rating index. MGCP (replaced by H.248) Media Gateway Control Protocol; RFC 2705. It is an IETF standard for converting voice signals from the conventional telephone network into data packets. May be used in conjunction with SIP or H.323. Multiprotocol Label Switching - A mechanism in high-performance telecommunications networks which directs and carries data from one network node to the next.
N Network Address Translation - An Internet standard allowing a local network of many devices to use one public IP address to connect to the Internet and a set of local IP addresses to identify each PC or device in the local network.
P Packet Switching - A means of sending and receiving data over multiple network channels. The premise for packet switching is the packet, a small bundle of information containing the payload and routing information. Packet switching takes data, breaks it down into packets, transmits the packets and does the reverse on the other end. Packets can be sent in order and then be received in a different order - only to be put back in the correct order quickly. PBX - Private Branch Exchange or PABX (Private Automatic Branch Exchange). POP - Point of Presence, equivalent of a local phone exchange. POTS (plain old telephone service) Protocol - A standard that defines the procedures regarding the transmission of data between two devices. PSTN - Public Switched Telephone Network.
Q QoS (quality of service) - The ability of a network, all layers, to deliver traffic with minimum delay and maximum availability.
R Real Time - A communication where any perceptible delay between the sender and receiver are minimal and tolerated. Telephone calls are normally real time. Router - A router is a network device that that handles message transfer between devices.
S Sampling - Used to measure the value of an analog signal at regular intervals, encoding it into a digital format. Session Announcement Protocol - A protocol for broadcasting multicast session information Session Initiation Protocol - A signalling protocol for controlling multimedia communication sessions such as voice and video calls over Internet Protocol (IP) Service Level Agreement - Part of a service contract where the level of service is formally defined. SIP - Session Initiation Protocol SS7 - Used to control a legacy voice network.
T TCP - Transmission Control Protocol. The transport layer protocol comprises layers 4 and 5 of the OSI model. TCP controls sequential data exchange in TCP/IP.
U Unix - Is an operating system that originated at Bell Labs in 1969 as an interactive time-sharing system.
V Virtualised Hosting - Web hosting on a 'Virtual Machine': that is to say that one server might be running several instances of an operating system, each one performing the task of being a web host. Virtual Local Area Network - a network where all participants communicate as if they were attached to the same domain, regardless of their physical location. Virtual Private LAN Service - A way to provide Ethernet based multipoint to multipoint communication over IP/MPLS networks. It allows geographically dispersed sites to share an Ethernet broadcast domain by connecting sites through pseudo-wires. VoIP (Voice over IP) - The process of making and receiving voice transmissions over any IP network. IP networks include the Internet, office LANs, and private data networks between corporate offices.
W WiFi Hotspot - A network where a wireless AP (access point) enables users carrying wireless enabled devices.

Asynchronous Transfer Mode - a network protocol designed to be a single networking strategy that can transport real-time video conference and audio as well as image files, text and email.

Bandwidth is the amount of data that can be transferred over a communication line in a certain amount of time. It is expressed in bits per second (bps) or bytes per second (big B).

Call hunting - A calling feature for inbound calls that will try multiple numbers or extension within a hunt group.

Clipping - Dropping of the initial or end parts of a word or sentence.

Codec - The Compressor-Decompressor processing of audio or video. It is used for software or hardware devices that can convert or transform a data stream. For instance, at the transmitting end codecs can encode a data stream or data signal for easy transmission, storage or encryption. At the receiving end, they can decode the signal.

Colocation - The provision of space, bandwidth, and power in a data center, for use in web-hosting. The customer purchases and manages the the computing hardware.

Customer - Premises Equipment - Any equipment leased by a service provider, located at a subscribers premises and connected to the carrier's communication channel. For example, a Cisco DSL Modem is CPE.

Direct Dial-In - A feature offered by telephone companies that allows routing from a range of external (public) numbers to internal numbers, negating the need for operator involvement.

Digital Subscriber Line - A family of technologies that provides digital data transmission over the wires of a local telephone network.

DNS - Domain Name Service translates domain names or host names to a IP address which a computer can ask to be routed by a network.

Ethernet - A family of frame-based computer networking technologies for local area networks.

Ethernet in the First Mile - A collection of protocols, defining the Ethernet in the access networks.

Ethernet Ring Protection - Also known as Ethernet Ring Protection Switching, is a method to provide protection for ethernet traffic in a ring topology and at the same time ensuring that there are no loops formed at the ethernet layer.

Fax Server - A computer based fax machine which can distribute faxes received by email or to a printer.

Full Duplex - The ability for both ends of a communication to simultaneously send and receive.

Gateway - A device that converts voice, video or fax in real-time to or from the PSTN to an IP network.

H.323 - An ITU standard for real time voice and videoconferencing on the Internet.

High Availability - Strategies designed to provide access to fully functioning systems at all times. Clustering, load-balancing are forms of HA.

Integrated Services Digital Network - A circuit-switched telephone network system, that also provides access to packet switched networks, designed to allow digital transmission of voice and data over ordinary telephone copper wires, resulting in better voice quality than an analog phone.

Internet Service Provider - An Internet service provider(ISP) is an organization that provides access to the Internet.

Jitter is the deviation from true periodicity of a presumed periodic signal in electronics and telecommunications.

Kbps - KiloBits Per Second is used to indicate a data transfer speed. If a device can transfer at 1 Kbps then that is a speed of one thousand bits per second.

Lag is used to indicate the extra time a packet takes to travel from the source to the destination. The lag may be caused by a poor network or by inefficient.

Latency is the time that elapses between the initiation of a request for data and the start of the actual data transfer.

Managed Web Hosting - Colocated web-hosting where we assist and manage the maintenance of your hardware.

Mean opinion score (MOS) - A measurement of the quality of human speech, represented as a subjective rating index.

MGCP (replaced by H.248) Media Gateway Control Protocol; RFC 2705. It is an IETF standard for converting voice signals from the conventional telephone network into data packets. May be used in conjunction with SIP or H.323.

Multiprotocol Label Switching - A mechanism in high-performance telecommunications networks which directs and carries data from one network node to the next.

Network Address Translation - An Internet standard allowing a local network of many devices to use one public IP address to connect to the Internet and a set of local IP addresses to identify each PC or device in the local network.

Packet Switching - A means of sending and receiving data over multiple network channels. The premise for packet switching is the packet, a small bundle of information containing the payload and routing information. Packet switching takes data, breaks it down into packets, transmits the packets and does the reverse on the other end. Packets can be sent in order and then be received in a different order - only to be put back in the correct order quickly.

PBX - Private Branch Exchange or PABX (Private Automatic Branch Exchange).

POP - Point of Presence, equivalent of a local phone exchange.

POTS (plain old telephone service)

Protocol - A standard that defines the procedures regarding the transmission of data between two devices.

PSTN - Public Switched Telephone Network.

QoS (quality of service) - The ability of a network, all layers, to deliver traffic with minimum delay and maximum availability.

Real Time - A communication where any perceptible delay between the sender and receiver are minimal and tolerated. Telephone calls are normally real time.

Router - A router is a network device that that handles message transfer between devices.

Sampling - Used to measure the value of an analog signal at regular intervals, encoding it into a digital format.

Session Announcement Protocol - A protocol for broadcasting multicast session information

Session Initiation Protocol - A signalling protocol for controlling multimedia communication sessions such as voice and video calls over Internet Protocol (IP)

Service Level Agreement - Part of a service contract where the level of service is formally defined.

SIP - Session Initiation Protocol

SS7 - Used to control a legacy voice network.

TCP - Transmission Control Protocol. The transport layer protocol comprises layers 4 and 5 of the OSI model. TCP controls sequential data exchange in TCP/IP.

Unix - Is an operating system that originated at Bell Labs in 1969 as an interactive time-sharing system.

Virtualised Hosting - Web hosting on a 'Virtual Machine': that is to say that one server might be running several instances of an operating system, each one performing the task of being a web host.

Virtual Local Area Network - a network where all participants communicate as if they were attached to the same domain, regardless of their physical location.

Virtual Private LAN Service - A way to provide Ethernet based multipoint to multipoint communication over IP/MPLS networks. It allows geographically dispersed sites to share an Ethernet broadcast domain by connecting sites through pseudo-wires.

VoIP (Voice over IP) - The process of making and receiving voice transmissions over any IP network. IP networks include the Internet, office LANs, and private data networks between corporate offices.

WiFi Hotspot - A network where a wireless AP (access point) enables users carrying wireless enabled devices.