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Numerical Listing|
- B-ISDN (Broadband Integrated Services Digital Network)
- A high-speed (greater than ISDN primary rate), asynchronous, time division multiplexed transmission facility, or an arrangement of such facilities, designed to provide a wide range of audio, video and data applications in the same network.
- B1
- Mandatory Labeled Security Protection. A class of computer system security defined by the U.S. Department of Defense. In a military context, B1 systems offer a higher degree of security than C2 systems by enforcing the concept of information sensitivity classifications (e.g., unclassified, confidential, secret, top secret) with corresponding user clearance requirements. B1 security has little or no relevance to commercial applications.
- Backbone Network
- A high-speed transmission facility, or an arrangement of such facilities, designed to interconnect lower-speed distribution channels or clusters of dispersed user devices.
- Backward Scheduling
- A scheduling technique where the schedule is computed starting with the due date for the order and working backward to determine the required start date. This can generate negative times, thereby identifying where time must be made up.
- Bandwidth
- 1) The range of frequencies that can be passed through a channel. A channel carrying digital information has a data rate proportional to its bandwidth. 2) The signal-to-noise ratio of a modulate signal is tested within a range of frequencies on either side of the carrier frequency. This range is also called a bandwidth. In the case of videodisks it is often 15 KHz on either side, or a bandwidth in measuring signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) often returns a different SNR, with SNR degrading as bandwidth increases.
- Basic Rate Interface (BRI)
- The Integrated Services Digital Network basic rate interface consists of two 64-Kbps data or voice channels, which are designated as B (bearer) channels. The interface also has a 16-Kbps signaling or packet-data channel designated as the D (delta) channel. The interface is, therefore, often referred to as 2B+D.
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- BASISplus
- Information Decision’s content-based retrieval/document management product.
- Battery Backup
- Provision of sufficient battery backup to enable the nonvolatile storage of data, and graceful system shutdown, in the event of a power interruption.
- Baud Rate
- A measure of the speed at which computers send data from one device to another, with higher numbers representing faster transmissions. One baud is one bit of data per second.
- BDLS (Bidirectional Loop Switching)
- The ability of fiber rings to be recovered in either of two directions, typically by using two pairs of fiber in the ring.
- Bellcore (Bell Communications Research)
- A jointly owned, financed and centrally staffed organization of the seven regional holding companies (RHCs). Among other activities, it performs testing and coordination for the procurement of much of the RHC equipment.
- Berkeley 4.2 Bsd
- The Unix version developed by the University of California at Berkeley, which dominated technical computing applications until it was merged with AT&T’s System V Unix operating system through an agreement between AT&T and Sun Microsystems. The merger was completed in System V release 4.0 (SVR4).
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- BI (Business Intelligence)
- The class of applications and tools by which end users without a high degree of computer literacy may access, analyze and act upon information. BI applications evolve from spreadsheets, executive information systems, text management systems using content-based retrieval methods, and decision support systems.
- Bill of Material
- A listing of all the subassemblies, parts and raw materials that go into a parent assembly showing the quantity of each required to make an assembly. There are a variety of formats of Bill of Material, including Single Level Bill of Material, Indented Bill of Material, Modular (Planning) Bill of Material, Transient Bill of Material, Matrix Bill of Material, and Costed Bill of Material.
- Bill of Material Processor
- Refers to the computer applications supplied by many manufacturers for maintaining, updating, and retrieving bill of material information on direct access files.
- Binary Synchronous Communications (BSC)
- A half-duplex, character-oriented data communications protocol originated by IBM in 1964. It includes control characters and procedures for controlling the establishment of a valid connection and the transfer of data. Also called bisync. Although still in widespread usage, it has largely been replaced by IBM’s more efficient protocol, Synchronous Data Link Control, which is under Systems Network Architecture.
- BIOS (Basic Input/Output System)
- The Basic Input Output System contains the buffers required to send information from a program to the hardware/desktop receiving the information.
- Bit
- Abbreviation for binary digit, the minimum unit of binary information. A bit can have only two states, on or off, which are commonly called one and zero.
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- Bitbus
- A serial, low-speed network developed by Intel Corp. in 1983 for sensor and factory level controlling devices.
- Bit Mapped
- Generally refers to the ability of device (e.g., monitor or printer) to read and display a vast number of pixels. Has an impact on quality in imaging and graphics; compare to character-oriented.
- BLOB (Binary Large Object)
- A generic term used to describe the handling and storage of long strings of data by database management systems. Typically associated with image and video.
- BOC (Bell Operating Company)
- One of 23 Bell telephone companies whose primary business is providing local telephone service to customers. These companies were spun off from AT&T as a result of divestiture, and were reorganized into seven Bell regional holding companies (RHCs). BOCs are allowed to market, but not manufacture, telephone equipment. BOCs handle intra-LATA (Local Access and Transport Area) traffic, and are also referred to as local exchange carriers (LECs). The BOCs under their respective RHCs are:
• Ameritech — Illinois Bell, Indiana Bell, Michigan Bell, Ohio Bell and Wisconsin Bell.
• Bell Atlantic — Bell of Pennsylvania, Diamond State Telephone, Chesapeake and Potomac Company, Chesapeake and Potomac of Maryland, Chesapeake and Potomac of Virginia, and Chesapeake and Potomac of West Virginia.
• BellSouth — Southern Bell and Southeastern Bell.
• NYNEX — New York Telephone and New England Telephone.
• Pacific Telesis Group — Alascom, Pacific Telephone and Nevada Bell.
• Southwestern Bell Corp. — Southwestern Bell Telephone.
• US West — Northwestern Bell, Mountain Bell and Pacific Northwest Bell. Telecommunications services in Hawaii are provided by the Hawaiian Telephone Company, a subsidiary of GTE.
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- BONDING (Bandwidth ON Demand INteroperability Group)
- A network group created to develop common control and synchronization standards to manage high speed data on the public network. Equipment from vendors is intended to interoperate over existing Switched 56 and Integrated Services Digital Network services. Initial versions of the standard described four modes of inverse multiplexer (I-Mux) interoperability, enabling inverse multiplexers from different manufacturers to subdivide a wideband signal into multiple 56- or 64- Kbps channels, pass these individual channels over a switched digital network, and recombine them into a single high-speed signal at the receiving end.
- Bpi (Bits Per Inch)
- A measurement used to calculate the number of bits stored in a linear inch of a track on a disk, tape or other recording surface.
- BPR (Business Process Re-Engineering)
- The use of objective, quantitative methods and tools to analyze, redesign, and implement innovative business transformation processes and their supporting organization structures, performance standards, information and delivery systems and management decision-making processes to achieve dramatic improvements in financial performance, product/service quality, and customer satisfaction. Information technology is a key enabler for business process re-engineering.
- Business Process Re-Engineering Analytical Techniques
- Mathematical, graphical, logical and managerial algorithms for describing and modeling business processes, information systems and/or management decision-making systems.
- Business Process Re-Engineering Methodology
- An integrated set of management policies, project management procedures, and modeling, analysis, design and testing techniques for analyzing existing business processes and systems; designing new processes and systems; testing, simulating and prototyping new designs prior to implementation; and managing the implementation process.
- Business Process Re-Engineering Tools
- Combinations of techniques and software products that allow electronic capture, analysis, testing, simulation, reconfiguration, and persistent memory of business and systems models.
- Bps (Bits Per Second)
- A measurement used to calculate the speed of data transfer in a communications system.
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- Bridge
- A relatively simple device that passes data from one local-area network (LAN) segment to another without changing it. The separate LAN segments that are bridged use the same protocol.
- Broadband
- A general term for communications at speeds above 1.5 Mbps and usually at or above T3. The term has an analog heritage where it referred to bandwidths greater than 20 kHz. Broadband implies an analog circuit providing greater bandwidth than a voice-grade telephone line, i.e., operating at a bandwidth of 20 KHz or higher. Broadband channels are used for many communications applications, including high-speed voice and data communications, radio and television broadcasting and some local-area networks.
- BRS Search
- Content-based retrieval product from BRS Software Products, McLean, Va.
- Buoyancy Effect
- The explosion in the number of applications and application providers caused by the increase in the ease of applications development that arises from the increasing robustness and standardization of base platforms and middleware.
- Bus
- 1) In data communications, a network topology in which stations are arranged along a linear medium (e.g., a length of cable). 2) In computer architecture, a path over which information travels internally among various components of a system.
- Bypass
- Any of several configurations of alternative transmission arrangements whose purpose is to avoid the local telephone company switched network. "Service" bypass involves using the telephone company’s own (cheaper) facilities, while "facilities" bypass involves privately owned fiber or radio transmission.
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- Byte
- A group of eight bits handled as a logical unit.
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