434 GLOSSARY
auto dial A feature that opens a line and dials a preprogrammed telephone
number.
Auto Attendant A system feature that provides incoming callers with menu options to
help them reach the appropriate person or information.
Auto Discovery A feature that “discovers” a new telephone or other device on the
network. A new telephone receives a default telephone number that
appears on the telephone display panel. A new device is assigned one or
more extension numbers or device numbers.
auto redial A modem, fax, or telephone feature that redials a busy number a fixed
number of times before giving up.
autorelocation A feature that allows a telephone to keep its extension number and
personal and systems settings when you connect it to a different Ethernet
jack on the same LAN.
backbone A high-capacity network that links together other networks of lower
capacity. A typical example is a Frame Relay or ATM backbone that serves
a number of Ethernet LAN segments.
bandwidth The capacity of a connection method to carry data.
BRI Basic Rate Interface. An ISDN standard that allows two circuit-switched B
(bearer) channels of 64 Kbit/s each plus one D (data) channel at 16 Kbit/s
for a total of 144 Kbit/s to be carried over a single twisted pair cable.
bridge A networking device that connects two separate local area networks and
makes the LANs look like a single LAN, passing data between the
networks and filtering local traffic.
bridged extension An extension of a primary telephone that appears on one or more
secondary telephones. Incoming calls and indeed any activity associated
with the primary telephone can be handled on any of the secondary
telephones.
broadcast A simultaneous transmission method that sends each packet from one
node to all other nodes.
buffer A temporary storage area for data that compensates for a difference in
transmission speeds.