182
Glossary
Gigaset SX763 WLAN dsl / eng / A31008-M707-R131-8x-7619 / glossary.fm / 23.10.2008
Sc
ha
bl
on
e 20
05_
07
_27
Network
A network is a group of devices connected in wired or wireless mode so that they can
share resources such as data and peripherals. A general distinction is made between
local networks (
LANs
) and wide-area networks (
WANs
).
Network adapter
The network adapter is the hardware device that creates the connection between a net-
work component and a local network. The connection can be wired or wireless. An Eth-
ernet network card is an example of a wired network adapter. The Gigaset PC Card 108
and the Gigaset USB Adapter 108 are examples of wireless network adapters.
A network adapter has a unique address, the
Public IP address
The public
(also known as the global IP address) is a network component's
address on the
. It is assigned by the
. Devices that cre-
ate a link from a LAN to the Internet, such as the Gigaset SX763 WLAN dsl, have a public
and a
PBX
Private Branch Exchange
PBX is the English acronym for a public branch exchange, which allows connection and
configuration of extensions and telephone functions.
Port
Data is exchanged between two applications in a network across a port. The port
number addresses an application within a network component. The combination of
/port number uniquely identifies the recipient or sender of a data packet within
a network. Some applications (e.g. Internet services such as HTTP or FTP) work with
fixed port numbers; others are allocated a free port number whenever they need one.
Port forwarding
In port forwarding, the Gigaset SX763 WLAN dsl directs data packets from the
that are addressed to a particular
to the corresponding port of the appropriate net-
work component. This enables servers within the local network to offer services on the
Internet without them needing a
See also:
PPPoA
Point-to-Point Protocol over ATM
PPPoA is a
for connecting network components in a local Ethernet network to
the
via an ATM network.