Brief Glossary of Network
Terminologies and Abbreviations
- ATM
- Asynchronous Transfer Mode - High-speed transmission technology suitable for voice, data and video.
- Backbone
- A high-speed line or series of connections that forms a major pathway within a network.
- bps
- Bits Per Second - a measurement of how fast data is moved from one place to another. A "28.8 modem" can move 28,800 bits per second.
- Ethernet
- A very common protocol of networking computers in a LAN that operates over twisted-pair or coaxial cable at 10 Mbps. Fast Ethernet is a 100 Mbps implementation of the Ethernet standard.
- FDDI
- Fiber Distributed Data Interface - A standard for transmitting data on optical fiber cables at a rate of around 100 Mbps. ie: the campus FDDI ring
- FDDI site
- There are 8 sites on the campus FDDI ring. Each site consists of 4 main parts: a patch panel, a UPS (Uninterupted Power Supply), an FDDI router, and an FDDI concentrator, which explains why all the sites look basically the same.
- Gateway
- The technical meaning is a hardware or software set-up that translates between two dissimilar protocols.
- LAN
- Local Area Network - A computer network limited to the same area, usually the same building or floor of a building.
- Proxy
- A computer or software package that acts like a firewall, separating networks for security purposes.
- Router
- A special-purpose computer (or software package) that handles the connection between 2 or more networks. Routers spend all their time looking at the destination addresses of the packets passing through them and deciding which route to send them on.
- T-1
- A leased-line connection capable of carrying data at 1.544 Mbps.
- TCP/IP
- Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol - The suite of protocols that defines the Internet.
- Termserv
- Terminal Server - A special purpose computer that has places to plug in many modems on one side (UofA modem pool), and a connection to a LAN or host machine on the other side.
To see a definitive Internet glossary containing these and many more definitions, see The ILC Glossary.
- http://www.ualberta.ca/~nos/tour/UAnetdiagrams
- http://www.ualberta.ca/~nos/tour
- http://procyon.cc.umanitoba.ca/
- http://www.ots.utexas.edu:8080/ethernet/