Glossary

Call detail records contain information about the numbers that were called from a particular phone, the duration of the call, the date and time of the calls, and the cell site information for cell phones.

CAT5

refers to thinkness and quality of wiring

CCTS

The CCTS (Commission for Complaints for Telecom - Television Services) https://www.ccts-cprst.ca/ is an idependent entity and was created by the CRTC as an industry funded group created to act as an arbritrator of complaints against telecom and television service providers.

characters

Any letter, number, space, punctuation mark, or symbol that can be typed on a computer.

cloud services

term for anything that involves delivering hosted services over the Internet

Conference Bridge

A conference bridge allows you to add a group of people to participate in a phone call. Collaboration is what keeps a company fresh and innovative. This feature offers employees the opportunity to listen to instructions and express opinions. Together, you can enhance your business, products, and customer experience.

CPU

Central Processing Unit, acts as a computer brain.

CRTC

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission

desktop

The desktop is the primary user interface of a computer.

DID

Direct Inward Dial (Number) - a telephone number often assigned to reach an individual directly. The term may refer to the action of dialing a DID or the DID number.

DNS

Domain Name Server

DSS

A Direct Station Selection (DSS) key is used on a phone or sidecar to allow monitoring and/or direct dialing of an extension. These keys can also often be programmed as one touch dials for external numbers as well. Sometimes they are referred to as Busy Lamp Field (BLF) keys.

EHS

Electronic Hook Switch

encryption

the process of encoding information in a way that hackers and others who are unauthorized cannot read it, but that authorized people can.

ESN

Electronic Serial Number

FAQ

An F-A-Q (or pronounced) "fak" is used to indicate both a single frequently asked question as well as a list of such questions. Some people pluralize the work pronouncing "FAQs" like "fax".

FTP

File Transfer Protocol is a method of transferring files over the Internet between a server and a local computer.

FXO

Foreign eXchange Office interface.

FXS

Foreign eXchange Subscriber interface.

GPS

Global Positioning System

HDD

Hard Disk Drive or Hard Drive is the device normally used for local storage of the operating system and user data on a PC.

HTML

Hyper Text Markup Language

HTTP

HyperText Transfer Protocol

HTTPS

HyperText Transfer Protocol (Secure)

I.T

Information Technology (sometimes written as IT and often replacing IS for Information Systems).

IMEI

International Mobile Equipment Identity

iOS

Apple's operating system.

IP

Internet Protocol - a larger protocol encompassing TCP, UDP, etc.

ISP

Internet Service Provider - the company providing connectivity to the Internet.

LAN

Local Area Network

losing carrier

The telephone service provider that a client is transferring from.

MAC

MAC Address is a Media Access Control address or "hardware" address associated with a network interface.

Microsoft Exchange

corporate email platform

Microsoft Exchange Server

Mail server, calendaring software, and contact manager.

modem

A device that connects a network to the Internet.

NAC

Network Adaptor Card

NERC

National Emergency Response Centre

NIC

Network Interface Card

operating system

"OS" software that communicates with the hardware and allows other programs to run.

optical fiber

A transparent fiber made of glass (silica) or plastic. It is flexible and a little thicker than a strand of human hair. It's main function is to transmit light between the two ends of the fiber.

originator

The originator in VoIP telephony is the point where the call is initiated.

P2P

Peer to Peer - may refer to any client computer to computer connection but often referring to the use of specific protocols such as BitTorrent.

PBX

Private Branch EXchange

PIM

Personal Information Management

ping

Packet Internet Groper/Gopher

platform

A place to launch software.

plenum

The air handling space between walls, under structural floors, and above drop ceilings, which can be used to route intra-building cabling.

POC

Point of Contact

PoE

Power over Ethernet

POF

Point of Failure

PoP

Point of Presence

POP3

Post Office Protocol Version 3

POTS

Plain Old Telephone Service

power cycle

To power cycle a device means to turn it off and turn it back on again.

PPN

Peer To Peer Networking

proxy bypass list

A list of sites that have been allowed for browsing on the server.

PVC

Permanent Virtual Circuit

RAS

Remote Access Server

RDBMS

Relational Database Management System

RDP

Remote Desktop Protocol

remote desktop

Enables you to view another computer's desktop on your computer.

RFO

Reason For Outage

RIM

Research In Motion

ring group

A list of extensions that may be rang together or in sequence.

router

A device that forwards data packets between computer networks, creating an overlay internetwork. Routers are like traffic directors of the Internet.

RTP

Real-time Transport Protocol.

RTS

Request To Send

SBC

Session Border Controller

server

Special computer used for central storage and data processing.

SIP

SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) is a protocol used to initiate voice and/or video conversations over the internet.

SMTP

Simple Mail Transfer Protocol

SQL

Structured Query Language- standard language for accessing and manipulating databases

SSD

Solid-State Drive

STML

Simple Text Markup Language

STP

Secure Transfer Protocol

TCP

Transmission Control Protocol - part of IP - based on stateful sessions for reliable communication.

terminator

Termination refers to the routing of VoIP telephone calls to the called party or "endpoint."

All VoIP calls have an originator and a terminator, the origination point being where the call is initiated (the caller) and the termination point being where the destination of the call is (the one being called).

thin client

A small low powered computer intended for connecting to a server.

UDP

User Datagram Protocol - part of the IP protocol - based on messages - less reliable than TCP but better suited to real time data such as VoIP.

Unlimited Call Attendants

An auto attendant is an automated answering service used with a business phone system that directs inbound calls to the right person or department. An example of an auto attendant would be when you called a company, and you are directed to use your keypad to reach the desired department.

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