Technology Glossary

Wireless
802.11(a/b/g/n/ac): or IEEE 802.11 is a set of standards for implementing wireless local area network (WLAN) computer communication in the 2.4, and 5 GHz frequency bands. They are created and maintained by the IEEE LAN/MAN Standards Committee (IEEE 802). The base current version of the standard is IEEE 802.11-2007. These standards provide the basis for WiFi wireless networks. More information can be found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11.
- 802.3(af/at): Standards for Power over Ethernet. 802.3af delivers 48V DC up to 15W. 802.3at delivers 48V DC up to 30W. 802.3at is also known at PoE+ (Power over Ethernet Plus).
- AP: Acronym for “Access Point” – Provides a bridge between Ethernet wired LANs and the wireless network. Access points are the connectivity point between Ethernet wired networks and devices (laptops, hand-held computers, point-of-sale terminals) equipped with a wireless LAN adapter card.
- Band: Refers to radio frequency bands or defined ranges of frequencies. Current WiFi technology works in 2 bands. Dual-Band refers to both of these bands. See “Channel” below.
- BSSID: Acronym for “Basic Service-Set IDentifier.” Is the physical address of a wireless access point radio interface for a particular SSID. See SSID below.
- Cat 5e, Cat 6, Cat 6A: Standardized categories of twisted pair ethernet cable.
- Channel: In the 802.11 definition, a channel represents a specific frequency in the 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz wireless bands. In North America, channels 1, 6, and 11 are the only three non-overlapping channels available in the 2.4 GHz band. In Canada, the 5 GHz band can include between 8 and 38 non-overlapping 20 MHz channels in up to 4 bands, depending on what equipment is connecting to the network.
- DFS: Acronym for “Dynamic Frequency Selection.” Access points automatically select frequency channels with low interference levels. Also mandated in the 5470-5725 MHz U-NII band for radar avoidance
- dB: The decibel (dB) is a logarithmic unit that indicates the ratio of a physical quantity (usually power or intensity) relative to a specified or implied reference level.
- dBi: as above but for “decibels-isotropic” – the usual unit of measure for the ratio as compared to a hypothetical lossless antenna.
- dBm: Is an abbreviation for the power ratio in decibels (dB) of the measured power referenced to one milliwatt (mW). It is used in radio, microwave and fiber optic networks as a convenient measure of absolute power because of its capability to express both very large and very small values in a short form.
- DSSS: Acronym for “Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum,” is a method of spread spectrum modulation for digital signal transmission over the airwaves. In direct sequence spread spectrum, the stream of information to be transmitted is divided into small pieces, each of which is allocated across to a frequency channel across the spectrum. A data signal at the point of transmission is combined with a higher data-rate bit sequence (also known as a chipping code) that divides the data according to a spreading ratio.
- Duty Cycle: is the measure of the fraction of the time a signal is transmitting, or the amount of available time occupied by a single transmission.
- Ethernet: The family of computer networking technology used in Local Area Networks (LANs).
- MiMo: Acronym for “Multiple input, Multiple output” is an antenna technology in which multiple antennas are used for sending or receiving data at the same time to increase communications speeds or minimize errors.
- mW: (milliwatt) abbreviation for one one-thousandth of a watt. 1mW = 0dBm; 10mW = 10dBm.
- OFDM: Acronym for “Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing.” A digital transmission technique that uses a large number of carriers spaced apart at slightly different frequencies. First promoted in the early 1990s for wireless LANs, OFDM is used in many wireless applications including WiFi, WiMAX, LTE, ultra-wideband (UMB), as well as digital radio and TV broadcasting in Europe and Japan. It is also used in land-based ADSL. Although frequency division multiplexing (FDM) implies multiple data streams, orthogonal FDM carries only one data stream broken up into multiple signals. Hundreds or thousands of carriers, known as “subcarriers,” are used for a single data channel.
- RF: Acronym for “Radio Frequency.”
- SNR: Acronym for “Signal-to-Noise Ratio” – The ratio of the level of an RF signal, to the level of the background noise on the same frequency.
- SSID: Acronym for “Service Set Identifier” – A string of up to 32 characters identifying a wireless network.
- STP: The Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) is a network protocol that ensures a loop-free topology for any bridged Ethernet local area network.
- VLAN: A virtual local area network, virtual LAN or VLAN, is a logical grouping of hosts or the network resources connected to a administratively definable switch port with a common set of requirements that communicate as if they were attached to the same broadcast domain, regardless of their physical location.
- VoWLAN: Acronym for “Voice over Wireless LAN” is the use of a wireless broadband network according to the IEEE 802.11 standards for the purpose of vocal conversation. In essence, it’s VoIP over a Wi-Fi network.
- WLAN: Wireless LAN.
Networking
- IP: Acronym for “Internet Protocol”.
- IPv4 and IPv6: Two different form of IP where v4 uses a 32-bit address and v6 a 128-bit.
- LAN: Acronym for “Local Area Network.” A system that links together electronic office equipment, such as computers and word processors, and forms a network within an office or building.
- GBIC: Acronym for “GigaBit Interface Converter.” A module for network switches which converts electrical signals to optical for long-distance transmission. Allows connections to fibre-optic cables.
- HSRP: Acronym for “Hot Standby Router Protocol” is a Cisco proprietary redundancy protocol for establishing a fault-tolerant default gateway, and has been described in detail in RFC 2281.
- ICMP: Acronym for “Internet Control Message Protocol.” ICMP is one of the core protocols of the Internet Protocol Suite. It is chiefly used by the operating systems of networked computers to send error messages indicating, for example, that a requested service is not available or that a host or router could not be reached.
- QoS: Acronym for “Quality of Service”. The ability to provide prioritization of packets over a network.
- OSPF: Acronym for “Open Shortest Path First,” is an adaptive routing protocol for Internet Protocol (IP) networks. It uses a link state routing algorithm and falls into the group of interior routing protocols, operating within a single autonomous system (AS). It is defined as OSPF Version 2 in RFC 2328 (1998) for IPv4.
- PoE/PoE+: Acronym for Power over Ethernet. A system of delivering electrical power along with data on twisted pair Ethernet cabling.
- STP: Acronym for “Spanning Tree Protocol”
- MSTP: Acronym for “Multiple Spanning Tree Protocol”
- RSTP: Acronym for “Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol”
- PVST+: Acronym for “Per VLAN Spanning Tree Plus,” a Cisco proprietary protocol which permits a spanning tree instance per VLAN.
- VPN: Acronym for “Virtual Private Network”. An extension of a private network across a public network so that data between two remote points appears to be directly connected.
- DMVPN: Acronym for “Dynamic Multipoint Virtual Private Network”. A type of dynamic tunnel VPN supported by Cisco and other routers.
- MPLS: Acronym for “Multiprotocol Label Switching”. A form of network which directly connects data in short paths rather than full addresses.
- BGP: Acronym for “Border Gateway Protocol”.
- ACL: Acronym for “Access Control List”. A simple list for authenticating objects in a system.
- NAT: Acronym for “Network Address Translation”. A method of translating IP addresses when routing between networks, usually to route a private IP behind an Internet connection.
- SIP: Acronym for “Session Initiation Protocol”. A communications protocol used to control voice and video calls.
- RTP: Acronym for “Real-time Transport Protocol”.
- NHRP: Acronym for “Next Hop Resolution Protocol”. A protocol used in routing networks.
- SSH: Short for “Secure Shell”.
- Teredo and ISATAP: Tunneling pseudo-interfaces for converting IPv6 to use on IPv4 networks.
- IETF: Acronym for “Internet Engineering Task Force”. See ietf.org.
General
- Active Directory (AD): Microsoft’s implementation of LDAP for Windows domain networks.
- LDAP: Acronym for “Lightweight Directory Access Protocol”. An application protocol for directory services.
- OU: Acronym for “Organizational Unit”.
- GP and GPO: Acronyms for “Group Policy” and “Group Policy Object”.
- PCI: Acronym for “Payment Card Industry”.
- DMZ: Short for “Demilitarized Zone”. A term for a segregated computer network, usually for hosting publicly accessible Internet services.
- ISM: Stands for “Industrial, Scientific and Medical”.
- NEMA: Acronym for “National Electrical Manufacturers Association. This association develops technical standards for enclosures used to protect sensitive devices. See www.nema.org for more information.
- NLA: Acronym for “Network Level Authentication”. A security technology used in Remote Desktop connections.
- EICAR: Acronym once meant “European Institute for Computer Antivirus Research“. Former organization now know as “European Expert Group For IT-Security” but is still found at eicar.org.
- SLA: Acronym for “Service Level Agreement”.
- ISACA: Acronym once meant “Information Systems Audit and Control Association” but now standalone. Association for knowledge and practices for information systems. See isaca.org.
- COBIT: Short for “Control Objectives for Information and Related Technologies”. A good-practice framework for IT professionals.
- PCI-DSS and PII: Acronyms for “Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard” and “Personal Identifiable Information”. A standard for organizations that handle credit cards and their mandatory data protection.