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A
ADSL
ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) is a technology for transmitting
digital information at high bandwidths on existing phone lines. Unlike
regular dialup phone service, ADSL provides a continously-available
connection. ADSL is asymmetric in that it uses most of the channel to
transmit downstream to the user and only a small part to receive information
from the user. ADSL simultaneously accommodates analog (voice) information
on the same line. ADSL is generally offered at downstream data rates
from 512 Kbps to about 6 Mbps.
Algorithm
is a procedure or formula for solving problems
Analog
Analog refers to electronic transmission accomplished by adding signals
of varying frequency or amplitude to carrier waves of a given frequency
of alternating electromagnetic current. Broadcast and phone transmission
have conventionally used analog technology. A modem is used to convert
analog to digital information to and from your computer.
ASP Application Service Provider
In lieu of purchasing software, servers, computers and hiring IT staff,
companies can rent some or all of their resources from a service provider
- an ASP. Software applications such as resource planning, personnel,
accounts and customer service applications can be rented. The major
factor is that these services are provided via the Internet.
Asynchronous
Refers to processes that proceed independently of each other until one
process needs to "interrupt" the other process with a request. Using
the client- server model, the server handles many asynchronous requests
from its many clients. The client is often able to proceed with other
work or must wait on the service requested from the server.
ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode)
A dedicated-connection switching technology that organizes digital data
into 53-byte cell units and transmits them over a physical medium using
digital signal technology. Individually, a cell is processed asynchronously
relative to other related cells and is queued before being multiplexed
over the transmission path. Because ATM is designed to be easily implemented
by hardware (rather than software), faster processing and switching
speeds are possible. The prespecified bit rates are either 155.520 Mbps
or 622.080 Mbps. Speeds on ATM networks can reach 10 Gbps.
Authentication
Determines a user's identity, as well as determining what a user is
authorized to access, eg a financial database or a support knowledgebase.
The most common form of authentication is user name and password, although
this also provides the lowest level of security. VPNs use digital certificates
and digital signatures to more accurately identify the user.
B
C
Cable and Cable Modem
Cable allows receiving data at about 1.5 Mbps. This data rate far exceeds
that of the prevalent 28.8 and 56 Kbps telephone modems and the up to
128 Kbps of ISDN and is about the data rate available to subscribers
of Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) telephone service.
A cable modem has two connections: one to the cable wall outlet and
the other to a PC or to a set-top box for a TV set. Although a cable
modem does modulate between analog and digital signals, it is a much
more complex device than a telephone modem. It can be an external device
or it can be integrated within a computer or set-top box. Typically,
the cable modem attaches to a standard 10Base-T Ethernet card in the
computer. In addition to the faster data rate, an advantage of cable
over telephone Internet access is that it is a continuous connection.
Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol (CHAP)
A method of security on PPP links, where to establish a link peers must
exchange a password or plain text "secret
Cryptography
A process associated with scrambling plaintext (ordinary text, or cleartext)
into ciphertext (a process called encryption), then back again (known
as decryption). Cryptography concerns itself with four objectives:
1) Confidentiality (the information cannot be understood by anyone for
whom it was unintended)
2) Integrity (the information cannot be altered in storage or transit
between sender and intended receiver without the alteration being detected)
3) Non-repudiation (the creator/sender of the information cannot deny
at a later stage his or her intentions in the creation or transmission
of the information)
4) Authentication (the sender and receiver can confirm each other's
identity and the origin/destination of the information) Procedures and
protocols that meet some or all of the above criteria are known as cryptosystems.
D
DCS
Direct Connection Services is a feature set that is pre-installed
into ePipe units fitted with serial ports. DCS provides application-level
control over ePipe's serial ports from programs running on Windows NT/2000
and UNIX systems. DCS also allows faxing from the desktop, direct-dial
access for mobile workers and network printing. An activation key must
be purchased from Stallion to activate this feature.
Digital Certificate
A digital certificate is an electronic means of establishing your credentials
when doing business or other transactions on the Web. It is issued by
a certification authority (CA). It contains your name, a serial number,
expiration dates, a copy of the certificate holder's public key (used
for encrypting and decrypting messages and digital signatures), and
the digital signature of the certificate-issuing authority so that a
recipient can verify that the certificate is real. Some digital certificates
conform to a standard, X.509. Digital certificates can be kept in registries
so that authenticated users can look up other users' public keys.
DES (Data Encryption Standard)/ Triple DES
Data Encryption Standard (DES) is a widely-used method of data encryption
using a private (secret) key that was judged so difficult to break by
the U.S. government that it was restricted for exportation to other
countries. There are 72,000,000,000,000,000 (72 quadrillion) or more
possible encryption keys that can be used. For each given message, the
key is chosen at random from among this enormous number of keys. Like
other private key cryptographic methods, both the sender and the receiver
must know and use the same private key. DES applies a 56-bit key to
each 64-bit block of data. The process can run in several modes and
involves 16 rounds or operations. Although this is considered "strong"
encryption, many companies use "triple DES", which applies three keys
in succession.
Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)
A technology for enabling high speed information transfer to end users
over ordinary copper telephone lines. xDSL refers to different variations
of DSL, such as ADSL, HDSL, iDSL and RADSL. DSL offers data download
rates up to 6 Mbps, dependant on the variant supplied and distance from
the nearest DSL service provider's exchange. Distance limitations are
generally around the 4 mile mark and apply to the actual cable length
from the exchange to the end user premises.
E
Encapsulation
Where data is inserted into a different kind of packet so the original
packet is hidden. It incorporates aspects of encryption.
Encryption
Prevents any non-authorized party from reading or changing data. The
level of protection provided by encryption is determined by an encryption
algorithm. In a brute-force attack, the strength is measured by the
number of possible keys and the key size. For example, a Triple-Data
Encryption Standard system (3 DES) uses 112-bit or 168-bit keys and,
based on currently available processing power, is virtually immune to
brute-force attacks. Business to Business VPNs (Extranets) share sensitive
data with multiple organizations, so demand the highest level of security.
This requires public key encryption and/or secure key exchange, both
of which are designed to eliminate the risk of the key becoming known
to an unauthorized party.
End to End Bonding (E2B)
E2B establishes a peer-to-peer relationship between the ePipe
gateways controlling the multiple Internet connections at each site.
It creates an aggregate tunnel (based on a bundle of all the Internet
connections) through the Internet between systems needing to communicate.
E2B controls bundling, and hence bandwidth, at the user sites
and can determine the number of connections that a peer has.
Ethernet
Ethernet is the most widely installed local area network technology.
The most commonly installed Ethernet systems are called 10BASE-T, providing
transmission speeds up to 10 Mbps. Fast Ethernet LANs, 100BASE-T, provide
transmission speeds up to 100 Mbps.
Extranet
provides limited external access to certain resources on an organization's
corporate network.
F
Firewall
A firewall is a set of related programs, located at a network gateway
server, that protects the resources of a private network from users
from other networks. Basically, a firewall, working closely with a router
program, filters all network packets to determine whether to forward
them toward their destination. A firewall is often installed away from
the rest of the network so that no incoming request can get directly
at private network resources. There are a number of firewall screening
methods. A simple one is to screen requests to make sure they come from
acceptable (previously identified) domain names and IP addresses. For
mobile users, firewalls allow remote access in to the private network
by the use of secure logon procedures and authentication certificates.
Frame Relay
Frame relay is a telecommunication service designed for cost-efficient
data transmission for intermittent traffic between local area networks
(LANs) and between end-points in a wide area network (WAN). Frame relay
is based on the older X.25 packet-switching technology which was designed
for transmitting analog data such as voice conversations. Unlike X.25
which was designed for analog signals, frame relay is a fast-packet
technology, which means that the protocol does not attempt to correct
errors. When an error is detected in a frame, it is simply "dropped."
(thrown away). The end points are responsible for detecting and retransmitting
dropped frames.
G
H
I
IETF
The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is the body that defines
standard Internet operating protocols such as TCP/IP
Intelligent Internet Bonding (I2B)
I2B operates over standard dial-up connections and can bond 2 to 8 connections
transparently into a wider pipe. I2B enables faster Web browsing
and more simultaneous file downloads.
Internet Key Exchange (IKE)
To properly establish a third party's identity, Internet Key Exchange
(IKE) and Public Key Encryption are often used. This involves the use
of public and private keys to sign packets and unlock encryption algorithms.
IKE also supports automatic key refresh, which further improves security.
Internet Protocol (IP)
See TCP/IP
Internet Protocol Security (IPSec)
ISP
Internet Service Provider
Intranet
IP
The protocol, or method, used in communicating data from one computer
to another across the Internet. It is simply a delivery method. Each
computer on the network, both private and public, is allocated a unique
address (an IP number) in much the same manner as an address written
on an envelope to identify the intended recipient of conventional mail.
IP forwards each data packet based on the destination address (the IP
number); individual packets may be routed differently.
ISDN
Integrated Services Digital Network is a service offered by most
telephone carriers for the transmission of voice and data.
J
K
L
Local Area Network (LAN)
LANs are typically high speed networks that connect computers, printers
and other network devices together.
M
Modem (Modulator/Demodulator)
A modem converts digital signals from a computer or other digital device
to analog signals (modulates) for transmission over PSTN lines. It converts
incoming analog signals back to digital signals (demodulates) for the
receiving computer or other digital device.
Multilink PPP (ML-PPP)
A standard method of splitting and recombining datagrams across
multiple logical data links to provide scalable bandwidth. Designed
for direct connections, ML-PPP has major deficiencies when used to connect
two sites through the Internet to create a scalable VPN connection.
N
Network Address Translation (NAT)
Network Address Translation (NAT) allows computers on a private network
to access the Internet without requiring their own global (public) Internet
address. NAT modifies outgoing network packets so that the return address
is a valid Internet host (usually the address of the ePipe itself).
Return (incoming) packets have their destination address changed back,
and are relayed to the client host, thereby protecting the private addresses
from public view.
O
P
Packet
A logical group of data. A packet includes a header, which contains
addressing and other control information, and the payload (user data).
Data travelling through any network is broken up into packets.
(Point of Presence) PoP
A PoP (Point-of-Presence) is the location of an access point to the
Internet. A PoP necessarily has a unique Internet (IP) address. Your
Internet Service Provider (ISP) has a point-of-presence on the Internet.
A POP usually includes routers, digital/analog call aggregators, servers,
and frequently frame relay or ATM switches.
(Point to Point Tunneling Protocol) PPTP
PPTP is a protocol (set of communication rules) that allows corporations
to extend their own corporate network through private "tunnels" over
the public Internet. Effectively, a corporation uses a Wide-Area Network
(WAN) as a single large local area network. A company no longer needs
to lease its own lines for wide-area communication but can securely
use the public networks. This kind of interconnection is known as a
virtual private network (VPN). PPTP is known as a Layer 2 VPN and provides
per-session authentication and optional encryption of data (MPPE). PPTP
is built into Microsoft's Dial-up Networking, which is included with
Windows 95, 98, NT and 2000. It is the easiest and most common method
of establishing a connection for casual VPN access.
Protocol
A protocol is a set of communication rules the end points in a telecommunication
connection use when they send signals back and forth. Protocols exist
at several levels in a telecommunication connection. There are hardware
telephone protocols. There are protocols between the end points in communicating
programs within the same computer or at different locations. Both end
points must recognize and observe the protocol.
Proxy
A gateway that relays one Internet session to another.
Public Key
Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)
Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN)
Also know as Plain Old Telephone System, this refers to the world's
collection of interconnected public telephone networks designed primarily
for voice traffic.
Q
R
RADIUS(Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service)
A client/server protocol and software that enables remote access servers
to communicate with a central server to authenticate dial-in users and
authorize their access to the requested system or service. RADIUS allows
a company to maintain user profiles in a central database that all remote
servers can share. It provides better security, allowing a company to
set up a policy that can be applied at a single administered network
point. Having a central service also means that it's easier to track
usage for billing and for keeping network statistics. Created by Livingston
(now owned by Lucent), RADIUS is a de facto industry standard used by
Ascend and other network product companies and is a proposed IETF standard.
Remote Access
A broad term referring to the accessing of (usually) data from a
remote location, usually by a single user.
Router
A device that determines the next network point to which a data packet
should be forwarded enroute toward its destination. The router is connected
to at least two networks and determines which way to send each data
packet based on its current understanding of the state of the networks
it is connected to. Routers create or maintain a table of the available
routes and use this information to determine the best route for a given
data packet.
S
SIA
Secure Internet access is a feature set that is pre-installed into all
ePipe units and is active by default. Secure Internet Access provides
secure, scalable Internet access for an entire organization (scalable
bandwidth is only available with units that allow more than one Internet
connection).
SRA
Secure Remote Access is a feature set that is pre-installed into all
ePipe units. SIA enables remote workers to access the head office network
through the Internet from their PCs using Microsoft VPN adapter. PPTP
is used to establish a secure link between the remote worker are the
central office network. An activation key must be purchased from Stallion
to activate this feature.
Small to Medium Business (SMB)
Generally accepted term referring to businesses larger than the "small
office-home office" (SOHO) and the larger corporations. One definition
by the European Union defines an SME as a legally independent company
with no more than 500 employees.
SSV
Site to Site VPN is is a feature set that is pre-installed into all
ePipe units. SSV provides an IPSec-based secure, scalable Virtual Private
Network between two multiple remote sites (scalable bandwidth is only
available with units that allow more than one Internet connection).
An activation key must be purchased from Stallion to activate this feature.
T
T1
A dedicated point to point, high capacity digital service capable of
transmitting data at speeds up to 1.544 Mbps. Offers 24 channels, each
at 64 Kbps, allowing carriers to offer Fractional T1 - an arbitrary
number of 64 Kbps channels at a commensurate cost.
T3
A dedicated point to point, very high capacity digital service capable
of transmitting data at speeds up to 45 Mbps. Comprised of 672 channels,
each at 64 Kbps.
TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol)
TCP & IP are the protocols emerging from the design to make a network
robust and automatically recover from any device or phone line failure.
TCP/IP allows the construction of very large networks with little central
management.
TCP is responsible for verifying the correct delivery of data from
end to end, TCP supports IP by detecting errors or lost data, triggering
retransmission until the data is correctly and completely received.
TCP also reassembles the received data packets in their original sequence.
U
V
Virtual Private Network
A private communications network existing within a shared or public
network platform (i.e. the Internet).
W
Wide Area Network (WAN)
WANs are networks that span the distance between buildings, cities and
even countries. WANs are LANs connected together using wide area
network services from telecommunications carriers and typically use
technologies such as standard phone lines (called POTS (Plain Old Telephone
Service) or PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network)), ISDN (Integrated
Services Digital Network), Frame Relay, ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode)
or other high speed services.
X
Y
Z
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