S
Serial Port: The connector on a PC used to attach serial devices (those that need to receive data one bit after another), such as a mouse, a printer or a modem. This consists of a 9- or 25-pin connector that sends data in sequence (bit by bit). Serial ports are referred to as “COMx” ports, where x is 1 to 4 (i.e., COM1 through COM4). A serial port contains a conversion chip called a “UART” which translates between internal parallel and external serial formats.
Service: The requirements offered by an RPOA to its customers to satisfy specific telecommunications needs.
Severely Errored Seconds (SES): Refers to a typical T1 error event where an error burst occurs (a short term, high bit-error rate that is self-clearing). Per the ITU-T (CCITT) G.821: any second in which the BER is less than 1x10 -3 .
Signaling: The process of establishing, maintaining, accounting for, and terminating a connection between two endpoints (e.g., the user premises and the telco CO). Central office signals to the user premises can include ringing, dial tone, speech signals, etc. Signals from the user’s telephone can include off-hook, dialing, speech to far-end party, and on-hook signals. In-band signaling techniques include pulse and tone dialing. With common channel signaling, information is carried out-of-band.
Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP): TCP/IP protocol that allows network management.
Simultaneous Voice Data (SVD): A technology for letting a user send data via a modem, and use a handset to talk to another user at the same time over the same connection. The alternative, making a second call, can be expensive or even impossible. The uses for SVD are telecommuting, videoconferencing, distant learning, tech support, etc.
Stop Bit: One of the variables used for timing in asynchronous data transmission. Depending on the devices, each character may be trailed by 1, 1.5, or 2 stop bits.
Switched Virtual Circuit (SVC): A data transmission type where the connection is maintained only until the call is cleared.
Switched Line: In communications, a physical channel established by dynamically connecting one or more discrete segments. This connection lasts for the duration of the call, after which each segment can be used as part of a different channel. Contrast with leased line.
Switched Network: A network in which a temporary connection is established from one point via one or amore segments.
Synchronous Data Link Control (SDLC): A discipline conforming to subsets of the Advanced Data Communications Control Procedures (ADCCP) of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and High-level Data Link Control (HDLC) of the International Organization for Standardization, for managing synchronous, code-transparent,serial-by-bit information transfer over a link connection. Transmission exchanges may be duplex, or half-duplex over switched or nonswitched links. The configuration of the link connection may be point-to-point, multipoint, or loop.
Synchronous Transmission: The transmission of data which involves sending a group of characters in a packet. This is a common method of transmission between computers on a network or between modems. One or more synchronous characters are transmitted to confirm clocking before each packet of data is transmitted. Compare to Asynchronous Transmission.
Systems Network Architecture (SNA): The description of the
logical structure, formats, protocols, and operational sequences for transmitting information units through, and controlling the configuration and operation of, networks.
T
TCP/IP: A set of communication protocols that support peer-to- peer connectivity functions for both local and wide area networks.
T Carrier: The generic name for a digitally multiplexed carrier system. In the North American digital hierarchy, a T is used to designate a DS (digital signal) level hierarchy. Examples: T1 (DS1) is a 1.544 M bps 24-channel designation. In Europe, T1 is called E1. The T Carrier system was originally designed for transmitting digitized voice signals, but has since been adapted for digital data applications.
T1: A digital transmission link capable of 1.544M bps. T1 uses two pairs of normal UTP, and can handle 24 voice conversations, each digitized at 64 Kbps. T1 is a standard for digital transmission in the U.S., Canada, Japan and Hong Kong. T1 is the access method for high-speed services such as ATM, frame relay, and SMDS. See also T Carrier, T1 line and FT1.
T1 Channel Tests: A set of diagnostics that vary by carrier, used to verify a T1 channel operation. Can include Tone, Noise Level, Impulse Noise Level, Echo Cancelers, Gain, and Crosstalk testing.
T1 Framing: To digitize and encode analog voice signals requires 8000 samples per second (twice the highest voice frequency of 4000 Hz). Encoding in an 8-bit word provides the basic T1 block of 64 Kbps for voice transmission. This “Level 0 Signal, as its called, is represented by “DS-0”, or Digital Signal at Level 0. 24 of these voice channels are combined into a serial bit stream (using TDM), on a frame-by-frame basis. A frame is a sample of all 24 channels; so adding in a framing bit gives a block of 193 bits (24x8+1=193). Frames are transmitted at 8000 per second (the required sample rate), creating a 1.544M (8000x193=1.544M) transmission rate.
T1 Line: A digital communications facility that functions as a 24-channel pathway for data or voice transmission. A T1 line is composed of two separate elements: the Access element and the Long Haul element.
T1 Mux: A device used to carry many sources of data on a T1 line. The T1 mux assigns each data source to distinct DS0 time slots within the T1 signal. Wide bandwidth signals take more than one time slot. Normal voice traffic or 56/64 Kbps data channels take one time slot. The T1 mux may use an internal or external T1 DSU; a “channel bank” device typically uses an external T1 CSU.
Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Program (TCP/IP): A multi-layer set of protocols developed by the US Department of Defense to link dissimilar computers across dissimilar and unreliable LANs.
Terminal: The screen and keyboard device used in a mainframe environment for interactive data entry. Terminals have no “box”, which is to say they have no file storage or processing capabilities.
Terminal Adapter (TA): An ISDN DTE device for connecting a non-ISDN terminal device to the ISDN network. Similar to a protocol converter or an interface converter, a TA connects a non-ISDN device between the R and S interfaces. Typically a PC card.
Tie line: A dedicated circuit linking two points without having to dial a phone number (i.e., the line may be accessed by lifting the telephone handset or by pushing a button).
Time-Division Multiplexing (TDM): Division of a transmission
