Category: Networking Acronyms

Fast Ethernet Any of a number of 100-Mbps Ethernet specifications. Fast Ethernet offers a speed increase 10 times that of the 10BaseT Ethernet specification while preserving such qualities as frame format, MAC mechanisms, and MTU. Such similarities allow the use of existing 10BaseT applications and network management tools on Fast Ethernet networks. Based on an [...]

E1 Wide-area digital transmission scheme used predominantly in Europe that carries data at a rate of 2.048 Mbps. E1 lines can be leased for private use from common carriers. Compare with T1. E3 Wide-area digital transmission scheme used predominantly in Europe that carries data at a rate of 34.368 Mbps. E3 lines can be leased [...]

D channel Data channel. Full-duplex, 16-kbps (BRI), or 64-kbps (PRI) ISDN channel. Compare with B channel. datagram Logical grouping of information sent as a network layer unit over a transmission medium without prior establishment of a virtual circuit. IP datagrams are the primary information units in the Internet. The terms cell, frame, message, packet, and [...]

CA  Certification authority. Entity that issues digital certificates (especially X.509 certificates) and vouches for the binding between the data items in a certificate. CA certificate [Digital] certificate for one CA issued by another CA. Call-back a mechanism to place a call to a pre-defined or proposed location (and address) after receiving valid ID parameters. CAR [...]

backbone Part of a network that acts as the primary path for traffic that is most often sourced from, and destined for, other networks. bandwidth The difference between the highest and lowest frequencies available for network signals. The term also is used to describe the rated throughput capacity of a given network medium or protocol. [...]

10BaseT 10-Mbps baseband Ethernet specification using two pairs of twisted-pair cabling (Categories 3, 4, or 5): one pair for transmitting data and the other for receiving data. 10BaseT, which is part of the IEEE 802.3 specification, has a distance limit of approximately 328 feet (100 meters) per segment 100BaseFX A 100-Mbps baseband Fast Ethernet specification [...]