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Beacon Interval
- The frequency interval of the beacon, which is a packet broadcast by
a router to synchronize a wireless network.
Bit
– A binary digit. The value—0 or 1—used in the binary numbering system. Also, the
smallest form of data.
Boot
– To cause the computer to start executing instructions. Personal computers
contain built-in instructions in a ROM chip that are automatically executed on startup.
These instructions search for the operating system, load it, and pass control to it.
Bridge/Router-
A device that can provide the functions of a bridge, router, or both
concurrently. Bridge/router can route one or more protocols, such as TCP/IP and/or
XNS, and bridge all other traffic.
Broadband
- A data-transmission scheme in which multiple signals share the bandwidth
of a medium. This allows the transmission of voice, data, and video signals over a single
medium. Cable television uses broadband techniques to deliver dozens of channels over
one cable.
Broadcast Domain
- Defines the set of all devices which will receive broadcast frames
originating from any device within the set. Broadcast domains are normally bounded by
routers.
Browser
- A browser is an application program that provides a way to look at and
interact with all the information on the World Wide Web or PC. The word “browser”
seems to have originated prior to the Web as a generic term for user interfaces that let
you browse text files online.
Buffer
- A storage area used for handling data in transit. Buffers are often used to
compensate for differences in processing speed between network devices.
Byte
- The fundamental unit that a computer uses in its operation. It is a group of
adjacent binary digits, usually 8, often used to represent a single character.
Cable Modem
- A device that connects a computer to the cable television network,
which in turn connects to the Internet. Once connected, cable modem users have a
continuous connection to the Internet. Cable modems feature asymmetric transfer rates:
around 36 Mbps downstream (from the Internet to the computer), and from 200 Kbps to
2 Mbps upstream (from the computer to the Internet).
Caching
– 1. Speeds information processing by storing information from a transaction to
use for later transactions. 2. Storing or buffering data in a temporary location, so that the
information can be retrieved quickly by an application program.
Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA) -
A method of data
transfer that is used to prevent
data loss in a network.
Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Detection (CSMA/CD)
-A channel access
mechanism wherein devices wishing to transmit first check the channel for a carrier. If
no carrier is sensed for some period of time, devices can transmit. If two devices
transmit simultaneously, a collision occurs and is detected by all colliding devices, which
subsequently delays their retransmissions for some random length of time. CSMA/CD
access is used by Ethernet /IEEE 802.3 and HomePlug.
CAT 3
- ANSI/EIA (American National Standards Institute/Electronic Industries
Association) Standard 568 is one of several standards that specify “categories” (the
singular is commonly referred to as “CAT”) of twisted pair cabling systems (wires,
junctions, and connectors) in terms of the data rates that they can sustain. CAT 3 cable
has a maximum throughput of 16 Mbps and is
usually utilized for 10BaseT networks.