Telos Zephyr Xstream - Manual (Page 357)

USER’S MANUAL
Appendix 10 – Glossary 345
Appendix 10: Glossary
You’ll get better results from the Telco if you understand, and speak, the lingo! We have tried
to include the typical acronyms used by Telco personnel. We’ve put the definition under the
most commonly used acronym. The most up‐ to‐ date version of this glossary is available at the
Telos web site www.telos‐ systems.com
AMI Alternate Mark Inversion. A T1 line coding method. This is the older of the two commonly
available. See line coding, T1. See Also B8ZS.
ANI – Automatic Number Identification A system, originally designed for use by Interexchange
carriers (IECs), that transmits the “billed party number” along with a call. Note that the billed
party number is not necessarily the number of the line placing the call. ANI predates SS7 and can
operate with analog as well as digital trunks. See also CLID and Caller ID.
Asynchronous Data A form of serial data communication that is not clocked. To keep the bit
stream synchronized, start and stop bits are added, which cuts down on throughput. RS‐ 232
computer data is commonly asynchronous data. In contrast to synchronous data.
B Channel ‐ Bearer Channel. One of the multiple user channels on an ISDN circuit. Used to carry
user’s data; i.e. coded audio data in the case of Zephyr or ZephyrExpress.
B8ZS‐ Bipolar 8 (with) Zero Substitution. A T1 line coding method. This is the more modern line
coding method of the two commonly available. See Line Coding, T1. See also AMI
Bearer Channel See B Channel
Behind the PBX This is our own term, and refers to when one privately owned phone system is
tied to another privately owned phone system. The most common application is when a key
system is connected to analog ports of a PBX. When it involves one PBX behind another, it is a
limited Tandem application. See Tandem Switch and Tandem Tie Trunk Switching below.
Bell Labs. The basic research facility that was AT&T’s primary research facility. Bell Labs was
originally part of Western Electric and was spun off with Lucent Technologies when AT&T was
broken up in 1984. Many very important discoveries were made at Bell Labs including the
transistor, communications theory, and radio astronomy. The future of Bell Labs seems bleak at
the time of this writing.
Bell Operating Company. See BOC. See also RBOC.
Bellcore‐ BELL COmmunications REsearch. See Telcordia. The research and development
organization owned by the RBOCs. Bellcore represents the RBOCs in developing standards for
Telco equipment and in testing equipment compliance to those standards. Bellcore also offers
educational and training programs open to all interested parties. Now Telcordia. See Telcordia
BERT ‐ 1) Bit Error Rate Test A test for digital lines which involves looping a data path and
sending a test pattern. Data returning is compared to the sent data to check for errors.
Depending on the “Test Pattern” used, BERTs may or may not uncover problems. A line, which
only has occasional problems, will need a BERT of sufficient time duration to catch that
intermittent problem. A five minute BERT of an ISDN BRI circuit will only catch severe problems.
2) Bit Error Rate Tester The test equipment used to perform a Bit Error Rate Test.