g-38 McDATA® Sphereon 3032 and 3232 Fabric Switches Installation and Service Manual
Glossary
open systems mode The mode that is used for McDATA or open fabrics. See also operat-
ing mode; S/390 mode.
operating mode In directors or switches, in managed products, a selection between
s/390 and open systems mode. See also open systems mode; S/390
mode.
operating system OS. Software that controls execution of applications and provides ser-
vices such as resource allocation, scheduling, I/O control, and data
management. Most operating systems are predominantly software,
but partial hardware implementations are possible (D, T).
Operating System/390 OS/390™. An integrated, open-enterprise server operating system
developed by IBM that incorporates a leading-edge and open com-
munications server, distributed data and file services, parallel Sys-
plex™ support, object-oriented programming, distributed computing
environment, and open application interfaces (D).
optical cable Single fiber, multiple fibers, or a fiber bundle in a structure built to
meet optical, mechanical, and environmental specifications (D, E). See
also jumper cable; trunk cable. Synonymous with fiber-optic cable.
optical drive backup A data backup system that uses rewriteable optical cartridges (ROCs)
as the storage medium.
optical fiber
connector Synonymous with connector.
ordered set In Fibre Channel protocol, four 10-bit characters (a combination of
data and special characters) providing low-level link functions, such
as frame demarcation and signaling between two ends of a link. It
provides for initialization of the link after power-on and for some
basic recovery functions.
original equipment
manufacturer OEM. A company that has a special relationship with computer pro-
ducers. OEMs buy components and customize them for a particular
application. They sell the customized computer under their own
name. OEMs may not actually be the original manufacturers. They
are usually the customizers and marketers.
OS See operating system.
OS/390™ See Operating System/390.