Specifications

Glossary
Address
A coded representation of the origin or destination of data.
Attenuation
Signal power loss through equipment, lines or other transmission
devices. Measured in decibels.
AWG
The American Wire Gauge System, which specifies wire width.
Balanced
A transmission line in which voltages on the two conductors are
equal in magnitude, but opposite in polarity, with respect to
ground.
Bandwidth
The range of frequencies passing through a given circuit. The
greater the bandwidth, the more information can be sent through
the circuit in a given amount of time.
Bipolar
Signaling method in E1/T1 representing a binary “1” by alternating
positive and negative pulses, and a binary “0” by absence of
pulses.
Bit
The smallest unit of information in a binary system. Represents
either a one or zero (“1” or “0”).
Bridge
A device interconnecting local area networks at the OSI data link
layer, filtering and forwarding frames according to media access
control (MAC) addresses.
Buffer
A storage device. Commonly used to compensate for differences
in data rates or event timing when transmitting from one device to
another. Also used to remove jitter.
Byte
A group of bits (normally 8 bits in length).
Cell
The 53-byte basic information unit within an ATM network. The
user traffic is segmented into cells at the source and reassembled
at the destination. An ATM cell consists of a 5-byte ATM header
and a 48-byte ATM payload, which contains the user data.
Channel
A path for electrical transmission between two or more points.
Also called a link, line, circuit or facility.
Circuit Emulation
Service
New technology for offering circuit emulation services over
packet-switched networks. The service offers traditional TDM
trunking (at n x 64 kbps, fractional E1/T1, E1/T1 or E3/T3) over a
range of transport protocols, including Internet Protocol (IP), MPLS
and Ethernet.
Clock
A term for the source(s) of timing signals used in synchronous
transmission.
Data
Information represented in digital form, including voice, text,
facsimile and video.