145
D
Glossary
10BASE-T
A designation for the type of wiring used by Ethernet networks
with a data rate of 10 Mbps. Also known as Category 3 (CAT 3)
wiring.
See also data rate, Ethernet
.
100BASE-T
A designation for the type of wiring used by Ethernet networks
with a data rate of 100 Mbps. Also known as Category 5 (CAT 5)
wiring.
See also data rate, Ethernet
.
ADSL
Asymmetric
Digital
Subscriber
Line
The most commonly deployed "flavor" of
DSL for home users.
The term asymmetrical refers to its unequal data rates for
downloading and uploading (the download rate is higher than the
upload rate). The asymmetrical rates benefit home users
because they typically download much more data from the
Internet than they upload.
analog
Of data, having a form is analogous to the data's original
waveform. The voice component in DSL is an analog signal.
See
also digital
.
ATM
Asynchronous
Transfer
Mode
A standard for high-speed transmission of data, text, voice, and
video, widely used within the Internet. ATM data rates range
from 45 Mbps to 2.5 Gbps.
See also data rate
.
authenticate
To verify a user’s identity, such as by prompting for a password.
binary
The "base two" system of numbers, that uses only two digits, 0
and 1, to represent all numbers. In binary, the number 1 is
written as 1, 2 as 10, 3 as 11, 4 as 100, etc. Although expressed
as decimal numbers for convenience, IP addresses in actual use
are binary numbers; e.g., the IP address 209.191.4.240 is
11010001.10111111.00000100.11110000 in binary.
See also bit,
IP address, network mask
.
bit
Short for "binary digit," a bit is a number that can have two
values, 0 or 1.
See also binary
.
bps
bits per second
bridging
Passing data from your network to your ISP and vice versa using
the hardware addresses of the devices at each location. Bridging
contrasts with routing, which can add more intelligence to data
transfers by using network addresses instead. The Neobit
1012VAcan perform both routing and bridging. Typically, when
both functions are enabled, the device routes IP data and
bridges all other types of data. See also
routing
.
broadband
A telecommunications technology that can send different types
of data over the same medium. DSL is a broadband technology.
broadcast
To send data to all computers on a network.
DHCP
Dynamic
Host
Configuration
Protocol
DHCP automates address assignment and management. When
a computer connects to the LAN, DHCP assigns it an IP address