Networking

The term payload, when used in the context of networking or telecommunications, is the data carried inside of a packet (or other network protocol data units like frames or segments).

A smart home is a residence that uses internet-connected devices to enable the remote monitoring and management of appliances and systems, such as lighting and heating.

A service-level agreement (SLA) is a contract that specifies what the service provider is responsible for.

In information security, challenge-response authentication is a type of authentication protocol where one entity presents a challenge or question, and another entity provides a valid response to be authenticated.

An acceptable spam report rate is a metric set for how many of a company's marketing or status emails are reported as spam, also known as "junk mail," or unsolicited bulk messages sent through email.

Viber is a VoIP and instant messaging application with cross-platform capabilities that allows users to exchange audio and video calls, stickers, group chats, and instant voice and video messages.

A radio access network (RAN) is the part of a telecommunications system that connects individual devices to other parts of a network through radio connections.

Small cell is an overarching term for wireless network base stations with a low radio frequency power output, footprint and range.

Dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) is a technology that puts together -- multiplexes -- data signals from different sources so they can share a single optical fiber pair while maintaining complete separation of the data streams.

An e-textile is a fabric developed with electronics in it to enable conductivity.

A silly putty sensor is a sensing device made of G-putty, a polysilicone polymer infused with graphene.

G-putty is a polysilicone polymer infused with graphene. Polysilicone polymer is better known as Silly Putty®, a stretchy, moldable product sold in toy stores.

Wireline communication (also known as wired communication) is the transmission of information over a physical filament. Alternatively, communication technologies that transmit information over-the-air (OTA) are called wireless.

Interconnection is a strategy for ensuring that businesses can privately, securely and directly exchange digital information. An important goal of interconnection is to enable extremely high bandwidth exchanges with the lowest possible latency, at the lowest cost.

Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit is a free utility IT can use to determine whether or not its infrastructure is prepared for a migration to a new operating system, server version or cloud-based deployment.

An optical (photonic) network transmits information as optical rather than electronic signals: It uses light, not electrical currents, to convey data.

Tiered storage is a way to assign different categories of data to various types of storage media with the objective of reducing the total cost of storage.

Dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) is a technology that puts together -- multiplexes -- data signals from different sources so they can share a single optical fiber pair while maintaining complete separation of the data streams.

SSH, also known as Secure Shell or Secure Socket Shell, is a network protocol that gives users, particularly system administrators, a secure way to access a computer over an unsecured network.

Tiered storage is a way to assign different categories of data to various types of storage media with the objective of reducing the total cost of storage.

Storage at the edge is the collective methods and technologies that capture and retain digital information at the periphery of the network, as close to the originating source as possible.

IoT security is the technology area concerned with safeguarding connected devices and networks in the internet of things (IoT).

A radio access network (RAN) is the part of a telecommunications system that connects individual devices to other parts of a network through radio connections.

The 3GPP, also known as the 3rd Generation Partnership Project, is a collaborative project between a group of telecommunications associations with the initial goal of developing globally applicable specifications for third generation (3G) mobile systems.

Software-defined networking (SDN) is a network architecture that aims to make data center networks agile and flexible.

A smart home hub is hardware or software that connects devices on a home automation network and controls communications among them.

In a network, a switch is a device that channels incoming data from any of multiple input ports to the specific output port that will take it toward its intended destination.

Full HDTV, also referred to as ultra-HD, true HDTV, and 1080p, is a television (TV) display technology specification that surpasses the quality over the original 720p high-definition television (HDTV) technology specification, providing an image resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels.

A carbon footprint is the measure of the environmental impact of a particular individual or organization's lifestyle or operation, measured in units of carbon dioxide.

A smart home hub is hardware or software that connects devices on a home automation network and controls communications among them.

Least cost routing (LCR) is a process that allows telecommunications providers to select the lowest cost carrier for bandwidth provision for their voice communications.

A radio access network (RAN) is the part of a telecommunications system that connects individual devices to other parts of a network through radio connections.

Communication service provider (CSP) is the broad title for a variety of service providers in broadcast and two-way communications services.

Wideband audio, also known as HD voice, is a cellular technology that utilizes a wider frequency spectrum to achieve greater voice quality during phone calls.

Shared Call Appearance (SCA) is the sharing of a VoIP phone number across multiple devices in different locations.

Bring your own bandwidth (BYOB) is a voice communications service in which a business purchases the voice services only and uses their own internet connection from their existing internet service provider (ISP) to host the voice service.

IoT security is the technology area concerned with safeguarding connected devices and networks in the internet of things (IoT).

A virtual private network (VPN) is a technology that creates a safe and encrypted connection over a less secure network, such as the internet.

Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) trunking is a service offered by a communications service provider that uses the protocol to provision voice over IP (VoIP) connectivity between an on-premises phone system and the public switched telephone network (PSTN).

Fronthaul, also known as mobile fronthaul, is a term that refers to the connection of the C-RAN, a new type of cellular network architecture of centralized baseband units (BBU), at the access layer of the network to remote standalone radio heads at cell sites.

Small cell is an overarching term for wireless network base stations with a low radio frequency power output, footprint and range.

Z-Wave is a wireless communication protocol used primarily in smart home networks, allowing smart devices to connect and exchange control commands and data with each other.