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Telecommunications Abbreviations Dictionary: A-I J-Z

LAN - Local Area Network
LCA - Local Calling Area
LCR - Lowest Cost Routing
LNP - Local Number Portability - allows phone numbers to be ported (moved) from one carrier to another, for example from a landline phone to a cell phone or a VoIP phone.
LTE - Long Term Evolution - a 4G wireless technology using flat IP architecture developed within the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standards organization. It has lower latency than the 3G technology. Verizon Wireless has decided to use LTE in it's future plans to complement it's existing CDMA network.
M2M - Machine-to-machine, for example cellular M2M communications. Typical applications are utility meter reading and vehicle tracking and diagnostics.
M2M - Month to Month - normally large Telecommunications contracts start with a term between 1 and 3 years, sometimes 5 years; once that initial term is up, a contract may be renewed or it may go to a M2M arrangement.
MBE - Mid-Band Ethernet
MDU - Multi-Dwelling Unit - apartment buildings.
MEF - MetroEthernet Forum
MLPPP - MultiLink Point-to-Point Protocol
MMDS - Multichannel Multipoint Distribution Service aka Microwave Multipoint Distribution Services - A digital line of sight wireless broadcasting and communications system that works in the 2.1-2.7 GHz range. It is licensed by the FCC and can be used to transmit data and phone services over 30 mile distances.
MMR - MeetMe Room - room at a Collocation Center in which carriers connect to ports that connect to customers rack equipment. MMRs are required because carriers have no access into the room where the customer racks are located.
MNP - Mobile Number Portability
MoCA - Multimedia over Coax Alliance
MoU - Memorandum of understanding
MPLS - Multi-protocol Label Switching - IETF standard used to prioritize traffic to avoid network congestion or failures. Today, QoS doesn't carry over from one network to another. Once MPLS is widely deployed, it promises to not only accomplish this QoS carryover but to introduce advanced QOS. MPLS offers the ability to integrate voice, video and data across a common platform giving appropriate priority to each using CoS. It can replace ATM, Frame Relay, and Hosted VPN offerings.
MPOE - Minimum Point of Entry - Main Phone Closet or Box - typically in the basement or on the first floor.
MSAP - Multi-Service Access Platform.
MSPP - Multiservice Provisioning Platform.
MSSP - Managed Security Service Provider
MTNS - MultiTransport Network Service
NAC - Network Access Control
NAT - Network Address Translation
NGN - Next-Generation Networks
NIC - Network Interface Card - Card used in a PC to connect to a network.
NIU - Network Interface Unit
NNI - Network-to-Network Interface
OCN - Operating Carrier Number
OLPC - One Laptop Per Child - project whose goal is to bring inexpensive computing resources to children in the developing world.
ONT - Optical Network Terminal - terminal that supports a number of customers.
OSPF - Open Shortest Path First
PBB-TE- Provider Backbone Bridging - Traffic Engineering - Emerging IEEE standard for Ethernet transport which provides enhancements known as PBT.
PBT - Provider Backbone Transport - Ethernet enhancement which can allow control of data paths in a large carrier network.
PBX - Private Branch Exchange
PL - Private line
PNG - Portable Network Graphics - graphics format offering advantages of JPEGs (such as true-color support) and GIFs (such as lossless compression) plus new capabilities such as varying degrees of transparency.
PON - Passive optical network
POP - Point of Presence
PoS - Packet over Sonet
POTS - Plain Old Telephone System - The telephone system that runs on the PSTN.
P-OTS - Packet Optical Transport System - combines the functionality of SONET/SDH, Ethernet and WDM/ROADM
PPP - Point to Point Protocol
PS/ALI-Private Switch/Automatic Location Identification - ability to identify the phone within an organization from which a 911 call was placed.
PSAPs - Public safety answering points - Points at which 9-1-1 calls are answered.
PSTN - Public Switched Telephone Network -the international telephone system based on copper wires carrying analog voice data on circuit-switched telephone networks. Also, known as the POTS.
PtP - Point-to-Point - usually refers to a dedicated circuit run between two points.
PTT - Push-to-talk
PVC - Permanent Virtual Circuit
PVR - Personal Video Recorder
QoS - Quality of Service
RAN - Radio Access Network
RFID - Radio frequency identification
RSS - Rich Site Summary, RDF Site Summary, or Really Simple Syndication - all of these refer to the same thing - RSS is a commonly accepted XML standard platform, a format for syndicating news and the content of news-like sites. With RSS a webmaster can instantly deliver information
RTP - Real Time Protocal
SBC - Session Border Control
SBC - Session Border Controller - SBCs offer security and quality in the deployment of next generation communications services and architectures such as FMC, IMS and VoIP.
SDR - single-data rate - normally applied to DRAM
SDRAM - synchronous DRAM
SDSL - Symmetric Digital iSubscriber Line - the download and upload speeds (bandwidths) are the same as opposed to ADSL.
SIM - Subscriber Identity Module - Removable SIM cards in cell phones allow phones to be instantly activated, interchanged, swapped out and upgraded simply by inserting or removing a SIM card. In the USA, only GSM cell phones use SIM cards.
SIP - Session Initiation Protocol
SLA - Service level agreement
SMS - Short Message Service - text messaging - sending short messages to and from mobile phones.
SMS/800- 800 Service Management System - the operations support system used to maintain North American toll free call processing records, toll free number availability, and toll free number reservation status.
SSE - Simple Sharing Extensions - a specification that extends RSS from unidirectional to bidirectional information flows.
SSL - Secure Socket Layer
SWC - Serving Wire Center
T-MPLS - Transport MPLS
T1 - DS1 (as opposed to DSL) - highly reliable voice or data service - see T1 Service Glossary for more info.
TDM - Time Division Multiplexed
TDMA - Time Division Multiple Access - a wireless technology using TIA/EIA IS-136 protocol that allows multiple cell phones to share bandwidth.
tfn - Toll Free Number
TN - Telephone Number
TRS - Telecommunications Relay Service - link between telephone users and people who use text telephones (aka TTYs).
UBR - Unspecified Bit Rate - an ATM bandwidth-allocation service that uses available bandwidth with no guaranteed throughput level.
UC - Unified Communications
UDP - User Datagram Protocol
UMA - Unified Mobile
UMTS - Universal Mobile Telecommunications System - a third-generation (3G) cell phone technology that is being developed into a 4G technology. Theoretically, it can support data transfer rates up to 14 Mpbs depending on the implementation.
UNE - Unbundled Network Element - defined by the Telecommunications Act of 1996 as any "facility or equipment used in the provision of a telecommunications service," as well as "features, functions, and capabilities that are provided by means of such facility or equipment." The most important UNE to most CLECs is the local loop, or "last mile", which gives CLECs access to the ILEC's customers.
UNI - User Network Interface.
UWB - Ultrawideband - a short range transmission alternative to Bluetooth.
VBR - Variable Bit Rate
VCC - Voice Call Continuity
VDSL - Very high speed DSL.
VLAN - Virtual LAN
VOD - Video on Demand.
VoIP - Voice over Internet Protocol - Method of providing voice or phone service via internet connections
VoWLAN - Voice-over-WLAN
VPLS - virtual private LAN service - A Layer 2 service offering any-to-any connectivity and a full mesh.
VPN - Virtual Private Network - classic VPN uses IPsec to encrypt transmissions for connections made over the Internet.
WAN - Wide Area Network
Web 2.0 - Web 2.0 is sort of an attitude or an approach to the World Wide Web. It generally refers to a second generation of services available on the web that lets people collaborate and share information online. Examples of Web 2.0 are Wikipedia, Flickr, Google Maps, Del.icio.us, Google AdSense, Yahoo's new My Web 2.0, 43 Things, and blogs and wikis in general.
WEP - Wired Equivalent Privacy - a security protocol meant to safeguard wireless packet transmissions that is inferior to WPA.
WIC - WAN Interface Card - A router has a WIC per T1 in a bonded T1.
Wi-Fi - Wireless Fidelity, a set of standards known as 802.11
WiMax - Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access
WLAN - Wireless LAN
WPA - Wi-Fi Protected Access - a security protocol meant to safeguard wireless packet transmissions that is defined in standard 802.11i and that is superior to WEP.
XML - Extensible Markup Language - XML is a simple, very flexible text format derived from SGML. Originally designed to meet the challenges of large-scale electronic publishing, XML is also playing an increasingly important role in the exchange of a wide variety of data on the Web and elsewhere.

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