Glossary of Common Terms

Updated April 2015

Backbone - The part of a network that interconnects all sites on the network and, therefore, handles the majority of the network traffic. Any connection from any site on our network to any other site must traverse the backbone, which is why it employs the highest-speed transmission paths in the network. Smaller networks are attached to the backbone through the node sites by means of additional circuits and network devices, such as routers.

Bandwidth/high bandwidth - transmission capacity of an electronic pathway such as a communications line. Network bandwidth is described in terms of how much data can move across the network within a given amount of time and is typically measured in bits per second (bps). The “high” in “high bandwidth” is always relative to current norms for different circumstances. E.g. a High Bandwidth Backbone is today 100Gbps or more, while a High Bandwidth connection to one’s home would be 100Mbps to 1Gbps.

“Bandwidth” and “speed” are often used interchangeably, although “bandwidth” is generally considered a more precise term.

Broadband – high-speed (or high bandwidth) Internet access that allows users to access the Internet and Internet-related services at significantly higher speeds than those available through home or consumer Internet access services. Transmission is digital, meaning that text, images, and sound are all transmitted as “bits” of data. Capacity/high capacity - is the complex measurement of the maximum amount of data that may be transferred between network locations over a link or network path. Also, known as throughput. “High” is again relative to current norms and measured in bits per second (bps).

CalREN – California Research and Education Network - a multi-tiered, advanced network-services infrastructure especially designed to serve research and education. CalREN is operated, implemented and designed by CENIC.

CENIC – Corporation for Education Network Initiatives In California – a not-for-profit corporation created by educational institutions in California to design, implement, and operate CalREN, the California Research and Education Network, a high-bandwidth, high-capacity Internet network that is especially designed to meet the unique requirements of these communities, and to which the vast majority of the State's research and education institutions are connected.

Charter Associate/Member – an education segment that has governance responsibilities for CENIC through seats on CENIC's Board of Directors, which sets the direction for CalREN. Current Charter Associates are: University of California, California State University, California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office, California Department of Education, and three private universities (Caltech, Stanford and USC).

Co-location - refers to the way IT equipment and resources are located or installed. This usually refers to the networking hardware resources owned by an organization, often located outside the organization's physical premises and "co-located" with other organizations' hardware, usually through a commercial service provider.

Commercial networks/carriers – any entity engaged in the business of providing telecommunications services that are regulated by the Federal Communications Commission or other governmental body.

Commodity Internet/consumer Internet - or Internet - is the basic logical network that underlies most on-line communications through email, social media, and Web sites. Generally, a commodity Internet connection provided by a commercial network/carrier offers no content, application protocols, destination restrictions, or quality-of-service controls.

Consumer-level speed - refers to the service that is commonly available and used to connect homes to the Internet. The bandwidth (speed) varies widely but is generally in the range of 1.5Mbps to 100Mbps. It is also generally asymmetric, in that there is much higher speed provided to the home than from the home, because the consumer is generally viewed as consuming digital content rather than producing it.

Content creation – process of producing digital content.

CTF – the California Teleconnect Fund – is a public purpose program administered by the California Public Utilities Commission to advance universal service by providing a 50% discount on select communications services to schools, libraries, hospitals and other non-profit organizations.

Customer premise equipment – (CPE) - refers to a telecommunications hardware device located on the telecommunication customer's premises for the purpose of establishing service.

Digital content – products available in digital forms. Common digital products are Web pages, movies, music, and books.

Enterprise Internet – generally refers to the type of Internet connection that a large company or University employs. These are considered to be high bandwidth and the capacity is the same in both directions—e.g. 10Gbps into the enterprise and 10Gbps out of the enterprise would be common today.

E-rate – common term for the Schools and Libraries Program under the federal Universal Services Fund. It provides discounts of up to 90 percent to help eligible schools and libraries in the United States obtain affordable telecommunications and Internet access. Discounts for support depend on the level of poverty and the urban/rural status of the population served and range from 20 percent to 90 percent of the costs of eligible services.

Fiber/fiber-optic cable - Fiber optic technology converts electrical signals carrying data to light and sends the light through transparent glass fibers about the diameter of a human hair. Fiber transmits data at speeds far exceeding current Consumer speeds, typically by tens or even hundreds of Mbps.

Gbps/gigabits – a transmission speed. One bit is the smallest unit of measure for data transmission. 1Gbps = 1,000 Mbps or 1,000,000, kbps. Head-end equipment/site – refers to the equipment/place on a campus or in a building used by a service provider to connect to a customer.

Intranet - is a secure and private enterprise network that shares data and application resources via Internet Protocol (IP). An Intranet differs from the Internet, which is a public network.

ISP – Internet service provider – an organization that provides access to the Internet. Connections are provided in various forms such as cable, digital subscriber lines or fiber to name a few.

Last mile connection – includes both the external connection from a library’s router or switch to a node on the CalREN backbone.

Leased circuits – are network connections between two physical points leased from commercial providers.

Mbps – Megabits per second - is a transmission speed. 1000 Mbps = 1 Gbps

NOC – network operation center – is a central location from which network administrators manage, control and monitor one or more networks. The overall function is to maintain optimal network operations across a variety of platforms, mediums and communications channels.

Node site – is a point of intersection/connection within a network.

Optronics – Electronics that supports fiber optic cable.

Peering - is a relationship between Internet service providers (ISP) in which they share a direct network instead of routing traffic through the Internet. Peering is either done directly between the ISPs or through a centralized peering exchange. Peering allows for very fast traffic at low cost because the ISPs connect directly to each other, which means that network service providers (NSPs) do not need to be paid for providing access to the Internet backbone.

Routers – A router is a device that receives data packets from one network and sends them to other networks based on information contained in the packets themselves.

Library-Specific Terms:

Jurisdiction - a county, city and county, city, or any district that is authorized by law to provide public library services and that operates a public library.

Outlet/branch – A physical site used for public library service and operated by a jurisdiction under authority of an Education Code provision to provide public library service.

Library cooperative system - means a public library system that consists of two or more jurisdictions entering into a written agreement to implement a regional program in accordance with the CLSA, and which was designated a library system under the Public Library Services Act of 1963 or was a successor to such a library system.

CLSA – California Library Services Act - specifically designed to assist and encourage interlibrary cooperation among California’s public libraries and is administered by the 13-member California Library Services Board.