Glossary
N
Network: A group of computers connected by cables or other means and using software that enables them to share equipment, such as printers and disk drives to exchange information.
Node: Any point within a network which has been assigned an address.
O
OHCI (OpenHCI): Open Host Controller Interface Specification for USB. All transfers on the USB are initiated by the host system’s host controller. The host controller is responsible for controlling traffic on the USB and can be appropriately programmed to transfer data to and from USB devices. This is typically a PCI device that can be programmed to run a given schedule of transfers on the USB and bus master the results into memory for processing by the host software. There are currently two standards for host controllers: OpenHCI (OHCI or Open Host Controller Interface) and UHCI (Universal Host Controller Interface). Both these standards define register level interfaces of the host controller to PCI bus. Bandwidth allocation over the USB is software managed and is done by the programming of the host controller.
Office Channel Unit - Data Port
Off Premise Extension (OPX): An extension or phone that terminates in a location other than that of the PBX. Commonly used to provide a corporate member with an extension of the PBX at home.
Ones Density: The measure of the number of logical 1s on a T1 line compared to a given total number of bits on that line; used for timing information in data recovery in AMI and B8ZS.
Open Shortest Path First (OSPF): A hierarchical Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP) routing algorithm for IP that is a proposed standard for the Internet. OSPF incorporates
Outage: The measure of the time during which a circuit is not available for use due to service interrupt. Outage is the complement of circuit “availability” (100% minus % available = % outage).
Out of Frame (OOF): A T1 alarm condition that is logged on the loss of 2, 3 or 4 of 5 consecutive FT framing bits.
P
Packet: 1. In data communication, a sequence of binary digits, including data and control signals, that is transmitted and switched as a composite whole. The data, control signals and, possibly, error control information are arranged in a specific format. 2. Synonymous with data frame. 3. In TCP/IP, the unit of data passed across the interface between the Internet layer and the link layer. A packet includes an IP header and data. A packet can be a complete IP datagram or a fragment of an IP diagram. 4. In X.25, a data transmission information unit. A group of data and control characters, transferred as a unit, determined by the process of transmission. Commonly used data field lengths in packets are
128 or 256 bytes. 5. The field structure and format defined in the CCITT X.25 recommendation.
Packet Assembler/Dissembler (PAD): Used by devices to communicate over X.25 networks by building or stripping X.25 information on or from a packet.
Packet Data: The information format (“packetized”) used for
Packet Mode: Refers to the switching of chunks of information for different users using statistical multiplexing to send them over the same transmission facility.
Parity bit: An extra bit attached to each byte of synchronous data used to detect errors in transmission.
Permanent Virtual Circuit (PVC): A connection between two endpoints dedicated to a single user. In ISDN, PVCs are establised by network administration and are held for as long as the user subscribes to the service.
Physical Unit (PU): The component that manages and monitors the resources (such as attached links and adjacent link stations) associated with a node, as requested by an SSCP via an SSCP- PU session. An SSCP activates a session with the physical unit in order to indirectly manage, through the PU, resources of the node such as attached links. This term applies to type 2.0, type 4, and type 5 nodes only.
Pipe: A logical abstraction representing the association between an endpoint on a device and software on the host. A pipe has several attributes; for example, a pipe may transfer data as streams (Stream Pipe) or messages (Message Pipe).
Plug and Play (PnP): A technology for configuring I/O devices to use
Point of Presence (POP): The central office’s end points of the long distance carriers.
Polling: Asking multiple devices, one at a time, if they have any data to transmit.
Port: Point of access to or from a system or circuit. For Universal Serial Bus, the point where a Universal Serial Bus device is attached.
Primary Rate Interface (PRI): Used on ISDN. In North America, and Japan, PRI is one 64Kbps D channel and 23 B channels. Elsewhere, it is one D channel and 30 B channels.
Primitive: An abstract representation of interaction across the access points indicating that information is being passed between the service user and the service provider. The OSI Reference Model defines four types of primitives: Request, Indication, Response and Confirm.
Private Branch Exchange (PBX): A phone exchange located on the customer’s premises. The PBX provides a circuit switching facility for phone extension lines within the building, and access to the public phone network. See also “Exchange”.
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