ABBREVIATION DICTIONARY Networks and Telecommunications/Electronics --> B

B

B Channel
A B channel is a 56-kbps or 64-kbps channel that carries user data on a line using ISDN D-channel signaling. For information on ISDN D-channel signaling, see the entry for ISDN D-channel signaling.







B channel Bearer channel
A 64Kbps channel that is part of an ISDN Basic Rate Interface.







B-Channel Bundling
A B-channel is a "bearer" channel, one of the fundamental components of the ISDN interface. The B channel is circuit-switched and can carry 64,000 bps of voice or data in either direction. Bundling is based on Digital Speed Interpolation (DSI), a technique used to squeeze more voice conversations onto a single line. Speech is sliced up so that bits are transmitted only when someone is speaking. In T-1 multiplexing, bundles consisting of 4 bits, can represent 11 channels of 32 Kbps compressed data, and are treated as an entity with an attached signaling delta channel.







B-ISDN
Broadband-Integrated Services Digital Network. B-ISDN is a very high-speed data service, providing data transmission at rates higher than T1 or E1.







B-STDX
A Lucent family of broadband packet switches for the next-generation public network. The B-STDX switches combine frame relay, IP, ATM, SMDS, and ISDN technology in one manageable platform.







B8ZS
Binary Eight Zero Suppression. An encoding scheme for transmitting data bits over T1 transmission systems.







BBS Bulletin board system
A computer service that allows users to conduct discussions, upload or download files, and post announcements. The World Wide Web is superseding most BBSs because it provides wider, cheaper access to information.







BECN
Backward Explicit Congestion Notification







BERT
See Bit Error Rate Test.







BGP
Border Gateway Protocol version 4







BGP Border Gateway Protocol
A routing protocol for exchanging network reachability information among autonomous systems of a network.







BONDING
Bandwidth ON Demand Interoperability Group A consortium of over 40 data communications equipment vendors and service providers who are joined together to create a standardized inverse multiplexing protocol so that inverse multiplexers from different vendors can interoperate. Also refers to the resultant specification, sometimes known as the "BONDING specification."







BORSCHT
An acronym to describe the functions required in any telephone line card: Battery supply, Overvoltage protection, Ringing current, Supervision, Coding, Hybrid conversion, and Testing.







BRI
Basic Rate Interface An ISDN subscriber line, consisting of two 64 kbit/s B channels, or "bearer" channels, and one 16 kbit/s D channel, used for both data and signaling purposes.







Back-to-back Connection
A link in which the output of the sending device is connected directly to the input of the receiving device.







Backbone
The part of the communications network intended to carry the bulk of the traffic.







Backbone Network
A network with a central cabling scheme linking it to other networks. Hosts on networks linked to the backbone can communicate with one another.







Backbone Router
Routers designed to be used to construct backbone networks using leased lines. Typically do not have any built-in digital dial-up WAN interfaces. Typical manufacturers include Cisco, Wellfleet, 3Com, CrossCom, etc.







Background Diagnostics
Tests that run continuously to provide the current operating status for all active switches.







Backup
The process of creating a copy of computer data on an external storage medium, such as a floppy disk, tape, or external hard drive. If the external storage medium is remotely located, some form of data communications channel must be established between sites.







Bandwidth
The information-carrying capacity of a communications channel measured in bits-per-second for digital systems or in megaHertz for analog systems.







Bandwidth on Demand
A concept in digital communications that enables users to request additional network bandwidth as the application warrants, allowing them to pay for only the bandwidth they use.







Bandwidth-on-demand
Reduces costs by automatically determining whether a second ISDN B channel is necessary during data transfer. For example, the Pipeline unit evaluates the percent of usage on a single ISDN B channel (in a data transfer). If the utilization exceeds 90% for a specified length of time, the Pipeline unit automatically brings up the second B channel to speed up the transfer. Then it reverts back to one B channel when two are no longer necessary. The DBA (dynamic bandwidth allocation) protocols are MPP and BACP.







Banner
The text that first appears when a user logs into the terminal server.







Base
In microelectronics, a component of a transistor which serves as the middle layer of the 3-layer silicon sandwich--the transistor. The base works as a faucet between the emitter and collector, controlling the current moving through the three layers.
See for more info.







Base Station
In cellular communications, an installation, located within a cell that houses the equipment needed to set up and complete calls on cellular phones, i.e. FM radio transmitter and receiver, antenna, and computer. The base station works with the subscriber's handset and the Mobile Switching Center to complete a call.







Base Station Controller
In cellular communications, the component that supervises the functioning and control of multiple Base Transceiver Stations and acts as a small switch.







Base Transceiver Station
In cellular communications,the component that consists of all radio transmission and reception equipment, it provides coverage to a geographic area, and is controlled by a Base Station Controller.







Baseband
A transmission scheme in which the signal is sent in its native format, without modulation to a higher frequency carrier.







Baseband Network








Basic Rate Access or Basic Rate Interface (BRI)
The ISDN standard that allows two circuit-switched B bearer channels of 64 Kbps each plus one packet switch D data channel at 16 Kbps to be carried over a single copper cable.







Baud
A unit of speed for data communications, equal to the number of times per second a signal is altered. Baud is popularly called bit rate.







Baud Rate
The number of times per second the signal changes on transmission line. Commonly the transmission line uses two signal state (e.g. two voltages), making baud rate equal to the number of bits per second that can be transferred.







Bellcore
Bell Communications Research. Focuses on standards, procedures and research and development of interest to the RBOCs. Now called Telcordia.







Bend radius
The radius either a coaxial or fiber cable can be bent before broken, more typically it is the radius of the cable can be bent before the signal being carried is effected.







Best Effort
A bit in the asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) cell header, specifying that the network attempts to deliver traffic in excess of the limits of the traffic contract. However, there are no guarantees that traffic will be delivered.







Best-effort Packets
Packets delivered to the best of the network’s ability, after the requirements for delivering the guaranteed packets have been met.







Binary
A numbering system that has two as its base: the digits 0 and 1. all data input into a computer consists of 0's and 1's, which are called binary digits or bits. By contrast, the universal numbering system is the decimal system, which has 10 as its base.







Binary Data
Data in the form of zeroes and ones.







Binary Mode
The Telnet 8-bit binary option. You can run X–modem and other 8-bit file transfer protocols using this mode. In 8-bit binary mode, the Telnet escape sequence does not operate. The Telnet session can close only if one end of the connection quits the session. If you are a local user not connected through a digital modem, the remote-end user must quit. A user can override the binary setting on the Telnet command line.







Bit
Contraction of the term "BInary digiT." The smallest unit of information a computer can process, representing one of two states (usually indicated by "1" and "0").







Bit (Binary Digit)
A single digit, either a 0 or 1, in the binary numbering system. The smallest unit of information (represented by the presence or absence of an electronic pulse) that the computer recognizes. Term originated by John Tukey of Bell Laboratories.







Bit Error Rate (BER)
A measure of transmission accuracy expressed as the ratio of bit errors received to bits sent. A common voice and data BER benchmark is 10-9 or one error in a billion.







Bit Error Rate Test
A test to determine the percentage of received bits in error compared to the total number of bits received. Usually expressed as a number to the power of 10.







Bit Inversion
A method of turning data 1s into 0s and data 0s into 1s. Bit inversion applies only to calls between codecs. In some connections, you need to invert the data to avoid transmitting a pattern that the connection cannot handle. If you apply bit inversion, you should do so on both sides of the connection.







Bit Rate
The number of bits that travel over a connection per second.







Bonding
In microelectronics, the process of connecting wires from the leads on the package to the bonding pads on the chip.







Boot Programmable Read-Only Memory (Boot PROM)
A boot PROM is a chip mounted on a printed circuit board. The chip provides executable boot instructions to a computing device.







Booting
The start-up process for a computer. During boot-up, the computer searches for the operating system, loads it and passes control to it so that computer can begin operating.







Bps
Bits per second. Actually a nested acronym, meaning binary digits per second.







Branch Office
A smaller remotely located office separate from corporate headquarters facilities.







Bridge
A device or setup that connects and passes data, voice, or video between two network segments, based on the destination field in the packet header. The Pipeline 25 is a learning bridge, because it passes all packets to the next network segment (the ISDN line), and builds a table to identify the destination addresses that are local and remote. After learning the addresses on both sides of a network, the bridge passes only packets for the remote network. (Contrast with router).







Bridge Table
A bridging table identifies destination addresses known to exist in a network. It is built dynamically by a learning bridge as it passes data in a network. (See bridge.)







Bridging versus Routing
Bridging is the process of passing packets to another network segment without regard to the network operating system. Bridged packets are passed to the data link layer of the OSI model, as opposed to routed packets, which are delivered to the network layer. In an environment where diverse network operating systems exist, such as between Appletalk and NetWare, a bridge can move data between the networks, but cannot deliver packets all the way up through the network; routing can deliver packets to discreet addresses in the network.







Broadband
A communication network or channel capable of carrying large amounts of information.







Broadband Integrated Services Digital Network (BISDN)
The capability to integrate any type of communications signals (voice, data, image, or multimedia) and carry them over a single broadband channel of 150 megabits per second, and above.







Broadband Network
A network that enables a device to transmit a large amount of information (including voice, data, and video) on the same cable over long distances.







Broadband Service Unit (BSU)
A BSU is a broadband WAN device that consolidates wide-area asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) access for a combination of video, voice, and LAN-based data traffic.







Broadcast
To send information over a data communications network to two or more devices simultaneously.







Broadcast Address
A special address reserved for sending a message to all stations in a network.







Broadcast Network
A network in which the router sends packets to all users, whether they appear on subscription lists or not. In an Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) topology, a broadcast network is any network that has more than two OSPF routers attached and can address a single physical message to all of them.







Broadcast Packet
A packet containing a broadcast address which indicates that all connected hosts receive the message.







Broadcast Packets
Packets that are sent to all network nodes.







Brouter
A networking device that combines the functionality of a bridge and a router.







Browser
A software program for navigating and viewing the World Wide Web.







Buffer
A portion of computer memory that holds data while it's being processed. Buffers are created to hold some amount of data from each of the files in a program that will be read or written by the central processing unit.







Bundle
A group of physical links, such as multiple asynchronous lines, or multiplexed links, such as Multilink Protocol (MP), Multilink Protocol Plus (MP+), X.25, or frame relay connections. The links in a bundle can be of different types, such as dial-up asynchronous and nailed-up synchronous connections.







Burst Mode
A method of transmitting data. When a device uses burst mode, it collects and sends data in a single high-speed transmission, rather than one character at a time.







Bursty
Refers to data that is transmitted in short spurts. Traffic over a local area network is usually bursty. .







Bus
A path for signals transmitted between a computer’s CPU and other hardware devices.







Busy Hour Call Completion
A measurement of telephone traffic determined by the network's most active hour and used to gauge system capacity.







Byte
8 bits of data, also called an octet.