Alcatel-Lucent OmniPCX Enterprise

Communication Server
Voice over IP

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Alcatel, Lucent, Alcatel-Lucent and the Alcatel-Lucent logo are trademarks of
Alcatel-Lucent. All other trademarks are the property of their respective
owners.
The information presented is subject to change without notice.
Alcatel-Lucent assumes no responsibility for inaccuracies contained herein.
Copyright 2007 Alcatel-Lucent. All rights reserved.

The CE mark indicates that this product conforms to the following Council
Directives:
- 89/336/CEE (concerning electro-magnetic compatibility)
- 73/23/CEE (concerning electrical safety)
- 1999/5/CE (R&TTE)

 


  


Chapter 1
Overview


Overview .................................................................................................... 1.1

Chapter 2
Detailed description




VoIP Overview ......................................................................................... 2.1

IP Network and the Alcatel-Lucent OmniPCX Enterprise CS . 2.1
Voice Processing on IP ........................................................................ 2.2







Coding with/without Compression. ........................................................... 2.3

Coding with/without Silence Suppression ................................................ 2.3
Framing (Packet Assembly) ....................................................................... 2.3
Echo Cancellation ....................................................................................... 2.4
Transfer of Voice Flows .............................................................................. 2.5
Modem/Fax/Data Calls .......................................................................... 2.6









  


Quality of Service ................................................................................... 2.6

Connection of the Com Server with the Media Gateways ....... 2.6
The H.323 Gateway Function of the Alcatel-Lucent OmniPCX
Enterprise CS ........................................................................................... 2.7
Alcatel-Lucent IP-Phones .................................................................... 2.8
Configuring IP Devices ........................................................................ 2.9

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Summary Table ...................................................................................... 2.10

Chapter 3
Call restriction configuration





Document Purpose ................................................................................ 3.1

Call Admission Control on the Same Node. ................................. 3.1
Restriction by Configuring IP Boards ............................................. 3.1
Restricting Calls by VPN Overflow .................................................. 3.2

Chapter 4
Glossary




















0-2

A ................................................................................................................... 4.1
B ................................................................................................................... 4.2
C ................................................................................................................... 4.3
D ................................................................................................................... 4.4
E .................................................................................................................... 4.5
F .................................................................................................................... 4.6
G ................................................................................................................... 4.6
H ................................................................................................................... 4.7
I ..................................................................................................................... 4.8
J ................................................................................................................... 4.10
K .................................................................................................................. 4.10
L ................................................................................................................... 4.10
M .................................................................................................................. 4.11
N .................................................................................................................. 4.12
O .................................................................................................................. 4.12
P ................................................................................................................... 4.12
Q .................................................................................................................. 4.14

  


  












  


R .................................................................................................................. 4.14
S ................................................................................................................... 4.15
T ................................................................................................................... 4.16
U .................................................................................................................. 4.17
V ................................................................................................................... 4.17
W ................................................................................................................. 4.18
X ................................................................................................................... 4.18
Y ................................................................................................................... 4.18
Z ................................................................................................................... 4.18

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1
1.1

Overview
The architecture of the Alcatel-Lucent OmniPCX Enterprise Communication Server has been
designed to use the IP network to support voice and signaling.
The advantages of using the IP network are:
-

The same support can be used for both the computer and telephone networks, thus
providing reduced costs and a simplified installation process.

A standard protocol is used, thus allowing standard terminals to be connected (notably,

H323 and SIP terminals).

     

   


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2
2.1

VoIP Overview
On an ISDN network, voice is digitized and transported on a channel (or Time Slot) in the form
of a continuous flow of bits. The channel is reserved when the call is set up. Transfer rate is
guaranteed.
On an IP network, voice is digitized and possibly compressed, and then transformed into
datagrams by the encoder/decoder. These datagrams are then transmitted over the IP
network. At reception, voice is extracted from the messages and the digital flow reconstituted
before being sent to the recipient.

Figure 2.1: Transmission over ISDN and IP Networks

The part of an IP network that is "inside" a company is often supported by an Ethernet
network. Ethernet is a competitive type network and voice frames compete with the frames of
other applications (file transfer, etc.).
The Ethernet network guarantees neither data transfer time (delay) nor data integrity. This is
also the case for the entire IP network, where losses and delay depend on saturation and the
communication supports used.
Ethernet network throughput (rate) may vary (10 Mb/s, 100 Mb/s, 1 Gb/s).

2.2

IP Network and the Alcatel-Lucent OmniPCX Enterprise CS

With the Alcatel-Lucent OmniPCX Enterprise CS, the IP network is used:
-

To connect the Com Server to the Media Gateways.

To interconnect the Media Gateways.

To establish a link with VoIP devices: Alcatel-Lucent IP-Phones, Alcatel PCMM, H.323
terminals and gateways, SIP terminals.

Set up an ABC link over IP between two Alcatel-Lucent OmniPCX Enterprise CSs.

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Figure 2.2: Example of IP Network Use

There are two main standards used to manage VoIP calls, both are supported by the
Alcatel-Lucent OmniPCX Enterprise CS:
-

H.323: used for ABC links over IP and for calls with H.323 terminals and gateways.

SIP (Session Initiation Protocol): used for calls with SIP phones or gateways.

The H.323 and SIP standards differ with respect to signaling exchanges. For voice transport,
both use RTP (Real Time Protocol) and voice is coded using the G711, G723.1 or G729
algorithms (see below).

2.3

Voice Processing on IP
Several processing operations are performed on voice calls:
-

Coding:
With or without compression.
With or without silence suppression.

Packet assembly.

Echo cancellation.

The manner in which these processing operations are performed may affect:

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The bandwidth used by a call.

Voice quality.

Various configuration operations must be performed to achieve the desired compromise: see
the module Direct RTP in network - Coding configuration.

2.3.1

Coding with/without Compression.

Coding is ensured by "Codecs", also referred to as "Audio codecs", supported by GD, GA and
INT-IP boards and by IP-Phones and PCMM equipment. These circuits are programmable.
The administrator configures the processing standard to be applied. Standards available
include:
-

G711, no compression, call rate is then 56 or 64 kbit/s, according to the case. They accept
the "A" or "" law. G711 is recommended when there is no bandwidth problem, on a LAN
for example.

G723.1 and G723.1 Appendix A (with silence suppression), call rate is then 6.3 kbit/s.
Audio quality is slightly lower than that of the public phone network.

G729 Annex A and G729 Annex A & Annex B (with silence suppression), call rate is then 8
kbit/s. Audio quality is similar to that of the phone network.

A default type of compression (G723.1 or G729A) is managed by the PCX. If the default
compressor is not appropriate for a specific access or set, G711 type processing (without
compression) may be locally imposed for this access.

2.3.2

Coding with/without Silence Suppression

To reduce voice rate (also referred to as "bandwidth") yet further, the Codecs have a voice
activity detector that allows no data to be transmitted during pauses (silences) in a
conversation. This process would result in total silence at the receiving end. This would be
unpleasant for the listener. To avoid this problem, they incorporate a "background noise
generator" that gives the user the impression that he is using a standard phone line. This
"noise" is also referred to as "comfort noise".
On average, silence suppression enables a coefficient of 2 to be gained in transmitted bit rate.

2.3.3

Framing (Packet Assembly)

Before being sent over the IP network, multimedia (voice) data is assembled in packets.
Framing is the packet assembly frequency interval. For example, a framing value of 30 ms
means that a voice packet is sent every 30 ms.

2.3.3.1

Framing and Bandwidth

The bandwidth used depends on packet transmission frequency. The relative "weight" of
protocol (IP/UDP/RTP) headers increases as framing interval decreases: for an example, see
table: Example for G729 .
table 2.1: Example for G729

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Framing (ms) Voice data

(bytes)

IP/UDP/RTP
header
(bytes)

IP datagram
(bytes)

Relative
header
weight (%)

Rate (kb/s)

20

20

40

60

66

24

40

40

40

80

50

16

One solution for reducing the bandwidth required for VoIP is to reduce packet transmission
frequency, i.e. increase the framing interval.
The Alcatel-Lucent OmniPCX Enterprise CS allows IP board (INT-IP, GD, GA board) framing
interval to be configured. Possible values are given in table: Framing Configuration .
Algorithm

table 2.2: Framing Configuration

Voice rate (kb/s)
Framing (ms)
Voice data (bytes) IP rate (kb/s)

G711

64

G729

G723.1

2.3.3.2

6.3

20

160

80

30

240

75

20

20

24

30

30

19

40 (from R6.0)

40

16

30

24

17

Impact on Voice Quality

Increasing IP transmission framing interval has two consequences:
-

End-to-end transit time is increased.

Voice quality drops off more quickly if a packet is lost: packet loss results in a larger
quantity of data being lost.

These two effects are felt more sharply the more framing interval is increased. The maximum
acceptable value is determined by making objective and subjective measurements of voice
quality.

2.3.3.3

Negotiation Mechanism
For a call between an IP board and an H.323 device, framing value is negotiated. Each device
communicates its framing value. For the IP board, this value is configured in Alcatel-Lucent
OmniPCX Enterprise CS system options (see the module Direct RTP in network - Coding
configuration VoIP Framing). The lowest of the two values is used.
This mechanism may result in a lower framing transmission value being used than that
configured on the Alcatel-Lucent OmniPCX Enterprise CS.
For a call between an IP board and an IP-Phone, the framing value configured in system
options is used.

2.3.4

Echo Cancellation
For VoIP calls, the various voice processing operations (compression/decompression, packet
assembly) and network transit time result in a delay that may cause a troublesome echo.
Compression boards and IP-Phones have their own specific echo cancellation feature.

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For GIP6, GIP6A, MCV8, and MCV24 boards, the maximum echo cancellation value is 32ms.
For GIP4-4, GIP4-1, MADA1, and MADA3 boards, maximum echo cancellation value is
128 ms as of R7.0 (64 ms in R6.2 and lower).

2.3.5

Transfer of Voice Flows

Voice flows are transferred on the IP network, except when devices are connected to the same
Media Gateway.
On Common hardware, the interface with the IP network is ensured by the GA or GD boards.
On Crystal hardware, the interface with the IP network is ensured by the INT-IP A or INT-IP B
boards.
The compressors are provided by daughterboards installed on these boards, as shown in
table: Compressors on IP boards .
Hardware
Common hardware

Crystal hardware

table 2.3: Compressors on IP boards

IP boards
Daughterboards
GD
GA

INT-IP A
INT-IP B

MADA1 (from R6.0): 8 comp. max.

MADA3 (from R6.0): 24 comp. max.
MCV24: 21 compressors max.
MCV8: 7 compressors max.

1 GIP6 board: 28 comp. max.

2 GIP6 boards: 56 comp. max.
1 GIP6A board: 7 comp. max.
2 GIP6A boards: 14 comp. max.
1 GIP4-4 board (from R6.0): 30 comp.
max.
2 GIP4-4 boards (from R6.0): 60 comp.
max.
1 GIP4-1 board (from R6.0): 8 comp. max.
2 GIP4-1 boards (from R6.0): 16 comp.
max.

In some cases, depending on the devices communicating, voice (RTP flow) does not transit
via the Media Gateways. When two devices use the same compression algorithm, RTP flow
may be direct. Only the signaling is processed by the PCXs (see module Direct RTP in
network - Detailed description).

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In the above figure, the voice flow between the two IP-Phones does not transit via the Media
Gateways, but is directly routed between the terminals.
In the same way, as of R7.0, the voice flow between an Alcatel VoIP device and an H.323
terminal or between two H.323 terminals can also be set up in direct mode.

2.4

Modem/Fax/Data Calls
As well as voice calls, the following types of call are possible:
-

Group 3 fax calls using Fax Relay over IP.

Two protocols are used:
Proprietary T.38 protocol for calls between OmniPCX 4400 or Alcatel-Lucent OmniPCX
Enterprise CS nodes
Standard T.38 protocol for fax over IP calls with non-Alcatel-Lucent OmniPCX
Enterprise CS H.323 gateways, such as the OmniPCX Office, and H.323 and SIP
terminals from other manufacturers
Maximum speed for fax relay over IP calls is 9600 bits/s. For more information, see:
module Fax over IP - Overview.

From R5.1.2, transparent modem/fax/data calls between INT-IP/GA/GD boards (see the
module Modem, fax and data transparency over IP - Overview):
Within the same node (or the same domain) for transparent modem/fax calls.
Over an entire ABC network for transparent data calls.

Note:
If transparent modem/data calls are enabled (configuration option), fax relay calls between INT-IP/GA/GD
boards cannot be made. However, calls with H.323 devices are still made in fax relay mode.

2.5

Quality of Service
As the IP network supports both voice and data devices, mechanisms have been developed to
give precedence to voice frame transfer (voice frames must be transferred in real time) over
data frame transfer and to separate voice and data flows.
Such mechanisms are defined by the following standards:
-

802.1p: Specifies the marking of level 2 frames of the ISO model to enable IP devices to
process them according to the desired priority. High priority frames (voice) are processed
by level 2 devices before low level frames (data).

802.1Q: Allows a VLAN (Virtual LAN) number to be configured to separate voice flows
from data flows. The principle used is to configure two separate VLANs, one containing
VoIP devices and the other data devices. Each VLAN domain represents a broadcast
domain. For example, a broadcast message transmitted by an IP-Phone is only broadcast
within the IP-Phone's VLAN and will not be received by data devices (PCs) as these
belong to a different VLAN.

Diffserv: Allows a priority level to be assigned to level 3 frames of the ISO model.

For more information on configuring Quality of Service, see the module 802.1p/Q and VLAN Overview.

2.6

2-6

Connection of the Com Server with the Media Gateways

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In the case of a Com Server on a CS board or Appliance Server, the link with the Media
Gateways is over IP. From the Com Server side, there is an inter-shelf link over IP, the Com
Server being the main shelf (shelf 0) and the Media Gateway being the peripheral shelf.
On a Common Hardware IP Media Gateway, the link is established on the GD board (rack
controller board).
On a Crystal IP Media Gateway, the link is established on an INT-IP B or IOIP board. There
may be one or two INT-IP B boards: one in the main (active) position and the other in the
backup position.

A Com Server hosted on a CPU5, CPU6, or CPU7 (from R6.0) board is linked with the boards
of the main ACT via C1 link, and a group of shelves may be connected via a wired link (RT2,
INTOF). There may also be remote Crystal or Common Hardware IP Media Gateways over IP
(see module Topology - Overview).

2.7

The H.323 Gateway Function of the Alcatel-Lucent OmniPCX

Enterprise CS
A gateway is used to interconnect two networks using different protocols, e.g. an IP network
and a telephone network behind the PCX.
The H.323 gateway function of the Alcatel-Lucent OmniPCX Enterprise CS allows:
-

An IP link to be set up between two PCXs on the same ABC network.

Another H.323 gateway to be reached (for example: the IP board of an OmniPCX Office or
the H.323 gateway of another manufacturer).

An H.323 terminal to be reached.

Important:

In releases R5.1.1 and lower, the H.323 gateway function only supports voice and fax calls
(proprietary fax and T38 fax). Data calls (modem, TA and minitel) are not supported.

From R5.1.2, ABC links over IP support transparent data calls.

The H.323 gateway function is ensured by GA, GD, and INT-IP A boards. Exchanges are
performed in compliance with the H.323v2 standard.

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H.323 calls are made using the E164 numbering scheme (standard dialing). E164 numbers
are translated into IP addresses, either:
-

Internally on the PCX, via speed dialing numbers.

Or, by using a gatekeeper, that may be external or internal to the PCX.

For more information about:

2.8

How to configure a link over IP, see the module ABC link through IP - Overview.

How to declare an H.323 terminal and a gatekeeper, see the module H323 : terminals,
gateway, gatekeeper - Detailed description.

Alcatel-Lucent IP-Phones
There are several families of Alcatel-Lucent IP-Phones:
-

2-8

IPTouch sets:
Alcatel-Lucent IP Touch 4008 Phone (from R7.1):
Phone - Hardware description
Alcatel-Lucent IP Touch 4018 Phone (from R6.1):
Phone - Hardware description
Alcatel-Lucent IP Touch 4028 Phone (from
4028/4038/4068 Phone - Hardware description
IP Touch 4038 (from R6.0): see the module IP
Hardware description.
IP Touch 4068 (from R6.0): see the module IP
Hardware description.

see module IP Touch 4008/4018

see module IP Touch 4008/4018
R6.1): see module IP Touch
Touch 4028/4038/4068 Phone Touch 4028/4038/4068 Phone -

Mobile IP Touch (MIPT) sets:

Alcatel-Lucent Mobile IP Touch 300: see module Wireless LAN - Mobile IP Touch
(MIPT) Sets
Alcatel-Lucent Mobile IP Touch 600: see module Wireless LAN - Mobile IP Touch
(MIPT) Sets

IP-Phones V2 (e-Reflexe sets):

A4010-IP: see the module 4010 IP set - Hardware description.
A4020-IP: see the module 4020 IP set - Hardware description.

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A4035-IP: see the module 4035 IP set - Hardware description.

IP-Phones V1 and V1S: an UA3G (4020 or 4035) set combined with a TSC-IP V1 or
TSC-IP V1S adapter (see the module TSC-IP V1 (4098RE) - Hardware description and the
module TSC-IP V1S (4098FRE) - Hardware description).

Type of IP-Phone

table 2.4: Alcatel-Lucent IP-Phones

Set name
Alcatel-Lucent IP Touch 4008 Phone
Alcatel-Lucent IP Touch 4018 Phone

IP Touch

Alcatel-Lucent IP Touch 4028 Phone

Alcatel-Lucent IP Touch 4038 Phone
Alcatel-Lucent IP Touch 4068 Phone

Mobile IP Touch (MIPT)

Alcatel-Lucent Mobile IP Touch 300

Alcatel-Lucent Mobile IP Touch 600
A4010-IP

IP-Phones V2 (e-Reflexe)

A4020-IP
A4035-IP
A4022F (A4020+TSC-IP V1S)

IP-Phones V1S

A4037F (A4035+TSC-IP V1S)

A4022 (A4020+TSC-IP V1)

IP-Phones V1

A4037 (A4035+TSC-IP V1)

For more information on using Alcatel-Lucent IP-Phones, see the module IP-Phones Overview.

2.9

Configuring IP Devices
All IP devices have IP settings: IP address, subnetwork address, router address.
These settings can be configured:
-

Dynamically: the settings are automatically assigned by a DHCP server: used for
IP-Phones, for example.

Statically: the settings are entered manually: used (for example) for a GD board, always
used for a GA board (the settings are assigned by configuring the board on the PCX).

The DHCP server is a device on which are configured the IP address ranges available to
devices requesting them and other information (e.g. TFTP server address) used to initialize
devices.
The DHCP server may be:
-

External: for example, a DHCP server on a Windows PC (NT4 or 2000).

Internal: the Com Server has its own DHCP server, that may be enabled or disabled (see
the module DHCP server - Detailed description).
table 2.5: Alcatel IP Equipment Configuration (Dynamic/Static)

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Dynamic configuration

Static configuration

GD board

Yes

Yes (by V24, UA set or telnet)

GA board

No

Yes (by configuring board Ethernet

settings)

INT-IP B

Yes

Yes (by V24)

INT-IP A

No

Yes (by configuring board Ethernet

settings)

IP-Phones

Yes

Yes (via the set supervisor menu at

initialization)

Summary Table
table 2.6: Implementation of the Different Functions by PCX Components
OmniPCX Media
ACT Media Gateway
Com
Gateway
Server
GA
GD
INT-IP A INT-IP B
H.323 Gateway (internode link
and link to H.323 equipment)

SIP Gateway

Signaling transfer for IP-Phones

IP compression for H.323, SIP,

and IP-Phones
Remote IP link

2-10

x1
x

Transparent modem/data (from

R5.1.2)

In back up mode only

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3
3.1

Document Purpose
This document describes the different parameters used to restrict VoIP calls to match network
bandwidth.

3.2

Call Admission Control on the Same Node.

Object name: IP Domain, attribute: Domain Max Voice Connection
This parameter is used to restrict the number of calls between devices on the same node.
Communications taken into account by Call Admission Control are:
-

Communications between legacy sets (i.e. IP phones and/or compressors on IP boards)

As of R6.1, communications between a legacy set and a SIP set

As of R7.1, if the option is enabled, communications between two SIP sets: see module
SIP - Call Admission Control (CAC)

Note:
Up to R7.0, all communications between a legacy set and an H.323 or SIP set are considered as extradomain call. As of R7.1, the IP domain of H.323 and SIP sets is taken into account.

Example: a remote Media Gateway is accessible via a 128 kbit/s leased link. In order to
maintain acceptable call quality, we want to restrict the number of calls to two on the link. To
do this:
-

In domain 1 parameters, extra-domain calls are restricted to 2.

In domain 0 parameters, the parameter is left at -1 (no control)

Figure 3.1: Restricting the number of extra-domain calls

3.3

Restriction by Configuring IP Boards

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Object name: Shelf > Board, attributes: No. of Compressors for Gateway and No. of
Compressors for IP Devices
These two parameters are used to assign certain board compressors to the Gateway H.323
function and others to calls to IP-Phones and Media Gateways.
Example: to take into account the bandwidth of the link between nodes 1 and 2, the number of
calls is restricted to 5. On the boards which support the logical link, the maximum number of
compressors for the gateway function is configured at 5.

Figure 3.2: Assigning compressors on IP boards

Restrictions:
-

If "direct RTP in network" is enabled, compressor allocation is dynamic and call restriction
on the logical link cannot be performed using these two parameters. In this case, the sum
of the two parameters defines the total number of compressors that can be simultaneously
used on the board.

If the same board supports links to several nodes, the restriction can only be applied
globally to outgoing calls from a node and not according to direction.

Caution:
The time slots of the IP trunk group T0/T1/T2 access must never be modified.

3.4

Restricting Calls by VPN Overflow

Object name: Inter-Node Links > VPN Overflow, attribute: Maximum number of IP calls
See also the module VPN overflow - Detailed description Limiting VPN calls.
The maximum number of IP calls on a VPN hop may be configured to restrict the number of
calls between two given nodes as inter-node calls are performed by VPN overflow.
Example: with 3 nodes interconnected by ABC links on IP.
Between the node 1 network and the node 2 network, the IP link is restricted to 5 calls.
Between the node 1 network and the node 3 network, the IP link is restricted to 10 calls.
There is no direct IP link between the IP networks of nodes 2 and 3.
To take into account these constraints, the number of calls on the logical links is restricted by

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configuring the maximum number of calls by VPN hop, as shown in the figure below.

Figure 3.3: Restricting calls by VPN overflow

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4
4.1

10Base T
A variant of Ethernet, connecting stations via twisted pair cabling (shielded or unshielded) wiring at
10Mbps.

10Base F
A variant of Ethernet which runs on optical Fiber (mono-mode or umti-mode) at 10 Mbps.

100Base TX
A variant of Ethernet which runs on Category 5 unshielded twisted pair wiring at 100Mbps. This is one version of Fast Ethernet.

100Base FX
A variant of Ethernet which runs on optical Fiber (mono-mode or multi-mode) at 100 Mbps.

1000Base T
A variant of Ethernet, connecting stations via twisted pair cabling at 1 Gigabit.

1000Base LX
A variant of Ethernet, connecting stations via Long-wawe optical fiber at 1 Gigabit

1000Base SX
A variant of Ethernet, connecting stations via Short-wawe optical fiber at 1 Gigabit

802.x
The set of IEEE standards defining LAN protocols

AAL
ATM Adaptation Layer Corresponds to a service-dependant sublayer of the dala-link layer. The AAL accepts data from different applications and provides it to the ATM layer in 48 bytes payload segments. AALs
differs depending on the service required : e.g Constant Bit Rate or Variable Bit Rate. The ITU recommends four types of AALs : AAL1, AAL2, AAL3/4, AAL5.

AAL1
ATM adaptation layer 1 used for connection oriented, delay-sensitive service requiring constant bit rate like
voice.

ACELP
Algebraic-Code-Excited Liner Pediction Analog to digital coding providing good voice quality at only 8 kb/s.
Has been standardized by the ITU in G729 as CS-ACELP.

Access Control Method

This is the main distinguishing feature between different LAN technologies. It regulates each workstation's
physical access to the cable (transmission medium), and determines the order in which nodes gain access
so that each user gets efficient service. Access methods include token passing, which is used in token ring
and FDDI, and Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection (CSMA/CD), which is employed by
Ethernet and Fast Ethernet.

ACL
Access Control Lists Rules for packet filters (typically routers) that define which packets to pass and which
to block.

Access Router
A router that connects your network to the external Internet. Typically, this is your first line of defense
against attackers from the outside Internet. By enabling access control lists to this router, you'll be able to
provide a level of protection for all of the hosts behind that router, effectively making that network a
DMZ instead of an unprotected external LAN.

ADPCM
Adaptative Differential Pulse Code Modulation Analog to digital coding providing high-quality digital signals
at 32 kb/s or 16 kb/s.

ADSL

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Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line By using the latest technology in DSP, bitrates of over 8 Mb/s
(downstream) and 800 Kb/s (upstream) are possible over the existing telephone network. The telephone
traffic and the Internet traffic are separated by a filter allowing simultaneous use of the telephone and the
Internet service.

AH
Authentication Header Part of the IPSec protocol suite. It is the header used in IPSec-compliant IP packets
to carry authentication data permitting verification of the sending party.

ANT
ADSL Network Termination (ADSL Modem)

Application-Level Firewall
A firewall system in which service is provided by processes that maintain complete TCP connection state
and sequencing. Application level firewalls often re-address traffic so that outgoing traffic appears to have
originated from the firewall, rather than the internal host.

ARP
Address Resolution Protocol Used to translate an IP address to an ethernet physical address.

ARPA :
Advanced Research Project Agency

ASP
Application Service Provider

ATM
Asynchronous Transfer Mode A high speed, connection-oriented switching and multiplexing technology for
transmitting information across a WAN or a LAN. ATM divides information into fixed-length cells of 53 bytes
capable of transmitting different types of traffic simultaneously, including voice, video, and data. Fixedlength cells allows cell processing to be done by the hardware, thereby reducing transit delays.

4.2

Backbone
LAN or WAN connectivity between subnets across a high-speed network. Fiber optic cable is often used.

BACP
Bandwith Allocation Control Protocol Is the associated control protocol for BAP.

Bandwith reservation
Process of assigning or allocating bandwith to users or applications in a network based on priority in order
to make the best use of available bandwith.

BAP
Bandwith Allocation Protocol Can be used to manage the number of links in a multi-link bundle. BAP
defines datagrams to coordinate adding and removing individual links in a multi-link bundle, as well as specifying which peer is responsible for various decisions regarding managing bandwith during a multi-link connection.

BAS
Broadband Access Server

Bastion Host
A system that has been hardened to resist attack, and which is installed on a network in such a way that it
is expected to potentially come under attack. Bastion hosts are often components of firewalls, or may be
outside web servers or public access systems.

BGP
Border Gateway Protocol BGP4 is a replacement for older EGP Based on RFC 1771

BOD
Bandwith on Demand

BOOTP
Like DHCP, BOOTP provides an IP address to a client and also a file name in order to boot with TFTP.

BRAS

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Broadband RAS (idem as BAS)

BRI
Basic Rate Interface ISDN interface composed of two B channels and one D channel. A throughput of up to
128Kb/s is possible.

Broadcast
A service in which information is sent from a central source to multiple destinations.

4.3

Cable modem
Via the cable network, bitrates up to 10Mb/s (downstream) and 28..768 Kb/s (upstream) are possible.

CAR
Commited Access Rate CAR, a function of CISCO switch routers , allows static banwith management by
limiting the amount of bandwith consumed on a link by any given application . Provides a minimum or a
maximum bandwith for a specific type of traffic flow.

CAS
Channel Associated Signaling A type of in-band trunk signaling.

CBQ
Class-Based Queuing Is a public-domain scheme which divides all user traffic into categories and assigns
bandwith to each class. The classes themselves can be established by configuring CBQ by combinations of
IP address, protocols such as TCP or UDP and ports that represent the applications such as file transfer,
Web access and so on.

CCP
Compression Control Protocol

CCS
Common Channel Signaling A type of out-of-band trunk signaling (for example, using Primary Rate Interface) in which a control channel carries signaling for separate voice and data channels. In CCS signaling is
passed in messages.

CDDI
Copper Distributed Data Interface

CELP
Code Excited Linear Prediction An analog to digital voice coding and compression scheme used in transmission of voice over data networks.

CGI
Common Gateway Interface

CHAP
Challenge-Handshake Authentication Protocol Is a more secure procedure for connecting to a system than
the PAP. It avoids the password to be sent over the link as in PAP.

CIDR
Classless Inter-Domain Routing Based on RFC 1519

CIR
Commited Information Rate Average rate of information transfer a subscriber (for example the network administrator) has stipulated for a Frame Relay PVC.

Circuit Switching
A method of communication whereby a circuit is held open and maintained only while the sender and recipient are communicating. This is different from a dedicated circuit which is held open regardless of wether
data is being sent or not, and different from a datagram / connectionless network, in which data flows
without establishing a connection.

CLNS
Connection Less Network Services This type of service allows information to be transferred over a network
without having to set up and end-to-end connection before information is sent.

CODEC

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Coder-decoder Technique of transforming analog voice into a digital bitstream and vice versa; also used to
indicate the compression type (for example, G.729 CODEC).

CONS
Connection Oriented Network Services A connection-oriented service in a network is one in which a connection has to be set up between the source and destination before the communication can proceed.

COPS
Common Open Policy Services Being standardized by the IETF, aims to manage multiple network equipments from a central policy server.

CoS
Class of Service In the 802.1p specification, COS uses 3 bits in the LAN frame header to assign seven priority levels to LAN frames. Cos levels can be mapped to IP type of service (ToS) levels or supported in
routers with a number of other mechanisms.

CPE
Customer Premises Equipment Is the end-user's home equipment. It can concern residential users or corporate users.

CSMA/CD
Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection A contention-based network access method in which
any computer may attempt to communicate at any time. Since there is no centralized force controlling the
medium, a device must first sense wether or not the medium is in use. If the medium is unused, the device
then transmits. If two computers sense that a channel is open and transmit at the same time, the result is a
collision, after which there is a random pause determined individually by each transmitting machine. Each
machine then senses the line again and, if it is available, retransmits.

CRC
Cyclic Redundancy Check Error checking technique

CRM
Customer Relationship Management

CRTP
Compression for RTPheader CRTP is a hop by hop compression similar to TCP header compression.
CRTP reduces the IP/UDP/RTP header to 2-4 bytes.

4.4

Datagram
A form of packet switching in which the packets that make up a conversation do not all take the same path
through the network, thus improving the robustness and security of the network.

DES: Data Encryption Standard

A symetric encryption algorithm. DES uses a 56-bit key. DES has the advantage that is is easily implemented in hardware but its keyspace may not be large enough for continued use.

DHCP
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol DHCP offers dynamic configuration of IP address and related information (subnet mask, default router,). It is an extension of Bootp. DHCP provides safe, reliable, and simple
TCP/IP network configuration, prevents address conflicts, and help conserve the use of IP addresses
through centralized management of address.

Diffserv
Differentiated Services Basically, the idea is to assign different priorities to different flows based on their
Quality of Service needs. To achieve this, the differentiated service approach employs a small, well-defined
set of building blocks from which a variety of services may be built. In particular, a small bit-pattern in each
IP packet, in the Ipv4 TOS (the Type Of Service byte has been redefined as the DS byte) byte is used to
mark a packet to receive a particular forwarding treatment, or per-hop behaviour, at each network node.

DLC
Data Link Control

DMZ

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Demilitarized Zone A demilitarized zone is a computer host or small network inserted as a neutral zone
between a company's private network and the outside public network. It prevents outside users from getting
direct access to a server that has company datas. Typically, a DMZ is an IP network segment that contains
resources available to Internet users such as Web servers and FTP servers.

DNS
Domain Name Service Domain Name System Is the way that Internet Domain names are located and
translated into IP addresses. A domain name is a meaningful and easy-to remember handle for an Internet address. The Internet user's PC contacts the DNS server which is located at the ISP premises.

DSL
Digital Subscriber Line A protocol that can carry digital signals at a higher rate across twisted-pair cabling.

DSLAM
DSL Access Multiplexer

DTE
Data Terminal Equipment

DTMF
Dual-Tone Multifrequency

Dual Homed Gateway

A dual homed gateway is a system that has two or more network interfaces, each of which is connected to
a different network. In firewall configurations, a dual home gateway usually acts to block or filter some or all
of the traffic trying to pass between the networks.

DWDM
Dense Wawelength Division Multiplexinhg

4.5

E1
Wide-area digital transmission scheme used predominantly in Europe that carries data at a rate of 2.048
Mbps using 30 64-Kbps digital channels for voice or data, plus a 64-Kbps channel for signaling and a
64-Kbps channel for framing. E1 lines can be leased for private use from common carriers.

E.164
The ITU-T recommendation for assignment of international telecommunication numbering, which is an evolution of traditional telephone numbers.

EGP
Exterior Gateway Protocol

EIR
Excess Information Rate

Encapsulation
The technique used by layered protocols in which a layer adds header information to the protocol data unit
(PDU) from the layer above.

Encryption
The process of converting information from an easily understandable format (plain text) into apparent random gibberish (ciphertext) by the use of well-defined rules and calculations known as algorithms or cipher
to ensure the privacy and confidentiality of information. The reverse process is decryption.

Ethernet
The most common layer-two protocol used in LAN's. Ethernet is a 10Mbps CSMA/CD standard originally
developped by Xerox to run on thick coaxial cabling. It has evolved and now runs primarily on twisted pair
cabling.

ESP
Encapsulating Security Payload Payload format used in IPSec compliant IP packets to carry encrypted and/
or authenticated data, thereby preventing sniffing on the network between communicating nodes.

ETSI
European TelecommunicationS Standard Institute

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Extranet
An Extranet is an intranet which has been extended to include a company's suppliers, partners and customers. They will lay the foundations for a major expansion of electronic commerce.

4.6

FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions

FDDI
Fiber Distributed Data Interface

FEC
Forward Error Correction

Firewall
A firewall is a set of related programs, located between the intranet and the Internet, that protects the resources of a private network from users and/or from other networks. This firewall grants people from the
company access to the Internet, but prevents that people from the Internet get access to the companies resources. In particular, a H323 firewall is very complex, because it allows H323 connections to be made
(signaling and RTP/RTCP connections) between a component located on the private network and another
one connected to the Internet or other network, in order to provide for example VoIP public connection.

FoIP
Fax over IP is a service enabling standard G3 fax machines to communicate over the IP packet network instead of the PSTN.

FR
Frame Relay An ITU standard for the interface to a public frame-switching network designed to provide
high-speed frame transmission with minimum delay across the wide area. It operates at data-link layer level
and handles multiple virtual circuits using HDLC encapsulation between connected devices. Is used in public and private networks, gradually replacing X25 and leased-line networks.

FRAD
Frame Relay Access Device

Frame
A variable-length layer-two protocol entity containing address and other control information, plus data.

FTP
File Transfer Protocol Is a standard protocol within the TCP/IP protocol suite, which is the simplest way to
exchange files between computers.

4.7

Gatekeeper
The gatekeeper is an optional element. However, if a gatekeeper is present, it is mandatory that H323 endpoints (terminals, gateways, MCU) make use of the services offered by gatekeepers. Basically, the gatekeeper is a kind of andpoint manager. The gatekeeper services basically include address translation, admission control, bandwith control and zone management. It can be also in charge of theH323 call signaling
acting as a call signaling proxy for the terminals.

Gateway
In an internetworking context, the gateway can provide many services, including translation between signaling procedures or between codecs ; in such a case, it will perform call set-up/release and call control on
both the IP side and the other.

G.711
The recommendation G.711 from the ITU is based on PCM technique at a sampling rate of 8kHz. The frequency bandwith that is used is 300Hz- 3.4 kHz. This is generally used in speech coding to restrict captured bandwith to a factor where voice signals are mainly present. Each sample is coded with 8 bits(in
Europe) or with 7 bits(in the US), which produces respectively a 64kbps or 56kbps bit stream.

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G.723.1
The G723.1 recommendation targets very low bit rates. G723.1 is a dual rate coder (5.3kbps or 6.4kbps)
based on ACELP for the low-rate coder and based on MP-MLQ for the high rate coder. The bandwith is
3.1kHz in both cases. The lower bit rates has smaller quality than the higher one but provides systems designers with additional flexibility.

G729a
The G729a recommendation targets very low bit rate. This is one of the most recent and promising codecs
standardized by the ITU. This belongs to the G729 family. As such, this is a competitor to G723.1. This is
based on CS-ACELP and produces a 8 kbps bit stream from a 3.1 kHz bandwith. The bit rate is slightly
higher than G723.1, but the delay is significantly lower.

GIF
Graphics Interchange Format

GRE
Generic Routing Encapsulation

GSM
Global System for Mobile

4.8

H225
Performs the signalling for call control. Defines a much larger set of capabilities than those used in systems
concerned only with voice traffic. H225 itself uses messages defined in H245 to establish and terminate individual logical channels for audio. H225.0 corresponds to the RAS signaling function (see H323 RAS).

H235
Securisation and authentication of recording sequences for H323 Gatekeeper.

H323
An ITU standard for multimedia communication (voice, video and data) over connectionless networks that
do not provide a guaranteed quality of service such as IP based network. It addresses call control, media
management, and bandwith management for point-to-point and multipoint conferences. It refers to a set of
other standards (H.245, H.225.0, and Q.931) to describe its actual protocol.

H323 RAS
Registration, admission, and status. The RAS signaling function performs registration, admissions, bandwidth changes, status, and disengage procedures between the VoIP gateway and the gatekeeper.

H450
This corresponds to the supplementary services associated to H323 version 2 (similar to QSIG).

HDLC
High-Level Data Link Control A bit-oriented synchronous data-link layer protocol developed by ISO. HDLC
specifies a data encapsulation method on synchronous serial links using frame characters and checksums.

HTML
Hypertext Markup Language. A form of page description language used in the World Wide Web.

HTTP
Hypertext Transfer Protocol Is the set of rules for exchanging files (text, graphic images, sound video, and
other multimedia files) on the Web. Relative to the TCP/IP suite of protocols, HTTP is an application protocol.

HTTPS
Is a Web protocol developped by Netscape and built into many browsers that encrypts and decrypts user
page requests as well as the pages that are returned by the Web server. HTTPS is really just the use of the
Secure Socket Layer as a sublayer under the regular HTTP application layer.

Hub
The center of a star topology network or cabling system. Typically used in older Ethernet and token ring
networks. A device connected to a hub receives all the transmissions of all other devices connected to that
hub. Hubs are now being replaced in many cases by LAN switches.

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IAD
Integrated Access device

IAP
Internet Access Provider The IAP is responsible for the access between the user and the ISP. Towards the
user, the IAP can use for example the PSTN or ADSL. Towards the ISP, the typical network can be the
PSTN or Frame Relay. When a user connects to an IAP, it is up to the IAP to find out to which ISP the user
belongs.

ICMP
Internet Control Message Protocol Is the error and control message protocol used by the Internet protocol
family. In particular, ICMP manages the ECHO/REPLY message (ping).

IDRP
Interdomain Routing Protocol

IEEE
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

IEEE 802.1p
An IEEE standard for prioritizing time-critical flows and filtering multicast traffic to contain traffic in layer-two
networks. The 802.1p header includes three bits for prioritization, allowing for eight priorities to be established.

IEEE 802.1Q
An IEEE standard for providing a virtual LAN capability within a campus network, used in conjunction with
IEEE LAN protocols such as Ethernet and token ring.

IEEE 802.2
A data link standard outlining how basic data connectivity over cable should be set up. Used with the IEEE
802.3, 802.4 and 802.5 standards.

IEEE 802.3
The IEEE's specification for Ethernet, including both physical cabling and layer-two protocol.

IEEE 802.3ad
Specifies link aggregation

IEEE 802.4
Specifies the Tken Bus protocol

IEEE 802.5
Specifies the Token Ring protocol

IEEE 802.11b
Direct sequence standard for WLAN in the 2,4 GHz frequency range. Maximum throughput is 11Mbit/s

IETF
Internet Engineering Task Force Task force consisting of over 80 working groups responsible for developing Internet standards.

IGMP
Internet Group Management Protocol Is used in case of multicast streams

IGP
Internal Gateway Protocol

IGRP
Interior Gateway Routing Protocol

IIS
Internet Information Server

IKE
Internet Key Exchange Part of the IPSec protocol suite. IKE is the current IPSec standard for SA rules negotiation, key management and key exchange.

IMAP4

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Internet Message Access Protocol 4 With IMAP, you view your e-mail at the server as though it was on
your client computer. An e-mail message deleted locally is still on the server. E-mail can be kept on and
searched at the server. Nethertheless, applications using IMAP sometimes include a synchronize function
to download new mails onto a PC and to upload new mails towards a mail-server.

Internet
The Internet is a global information system constructed by interconnecting thousands of networks which are
logically linked by a global system of unique addresses based on the Internet protocol (IP). It supports communications using the TCP/IP suite in order to provide public or private high level services.

Intranet
The term intranet refers typically to a corporate network which uses the same technology that is behind the
Internet. Intranets can run over private WAN networks or public networks such as the Internet.

IP
Internet Protocol The layer-three protocol used in TCP/IP set of protocols which support the Internet and
many private networks. IP provides a connectionless datagram delivery service for transport-layer protocols
such as TCP and UDP. IP provides also features for addressing, type-of-service specification, fragmentation and reassembly, and security. IP is defined in RFC 791.

IPv4
Currently used IP version.

IP v6
the proposed next generation standard for IP addresses, incorporating IPSec security features and other
additions. Ipv6 addresses are 128 bits wide.

IP addressing
Each computer (known as a host) has at least one address that uniquely identifies it from all other computers on the Internet.
IPv4 addresses are coded on 4 bytes.
IP v4 addressing supports fives different network classes : - Class A : range 0.0.0.0 to 127.255.255.255 :
for large networks - Class B :range 128.0.0.0 to 191.255.255.255 : for intermediate size networks - Class C
: range 192.0.0.0 to 223.255.255.255 : for small networks - Class D : range 224.0.0.0 to 239.255.255.255 :
reserved for multicast groups - Class E : range 240.0.0.0 to 247.255.255.255 : reserved for future use
Private adresses which are not routed by the Internet : - range 10. 0.0.0 to 10.255.255.254 - range
172.16.0.0 to 172.31.255.254 - range 192.168.0.0 to 192.168.255.254

Unicast address
the packet is addressed to only one host

Multicast address
special type of address (hostid of all 1's). In this case all hosts connected to the network will accept the
packet.

IP Precedence
IP Precedence allows three of the ToS bits in the IP header to be set with the values 0 through 7. This ranking determines the priority of the packet flow as it leaves one network for another, with 7 being the highest
priority.

IPCP
IP Control Protocol Used within PPP, to negotiate for IP, the IP compression, IP address, etc

IPSec
Internet Protocol Security A set of extensions to IP adding security services. The suite consists of protocols
for an authentication header (AH), encapsulating security payload (ESP) and a key management and exchange protocol (IKE)

IP Spoofing
An attack whereby a system attempts to illicitly impersonate another system by using its IP network address.

IPX
Internetwork Packet Exchange NetWare network layer (Layer 3) protocol used for transferring data from
servers to workstations. IPX is similar to IP.

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IS
Information Systems

ISDN
Integrated Services Digital Network A communication protocol offered by telephone companies that permits
telephone networks to carry data, voice, and other traffic.

ISAKMP
Internet Security Association and Key Management Protocol A framework negotiation protocol on top of
which IKE is designed.

ISO
International Standards Organization

ISP
Internet Service Provider An ISP is a company which provides connectivity to the Internet and network services, most commonly for users who are accessing the Internet via the telephone network. Typical services
are : access to the Web, e-mail, webspace for homepages, newsgroups

IT
Information Technology

ITSP
Internet Telephony Service Provider

ITU
International Telecommunication Union An international body of member countries whose task is to define
recommendations and standards relating to the international telecommunications industry. The fundamental
standards for ATM have been defined and published by the ITU (previously CCITT).

4.10

Jitter
A short term timing deviation It'is one of the three major concerns when carrying Voice over IP. It corresponds to the variation in the delay between packets.

4.11

4.12

L2F
Layer 2 Forwarding Is a protocol that allows corporations to extend their own corporate network through
private tunnels over the public Internet. L2F is a proposed standard sponsored by CISCO systems.

L2TP
Layer Two Tunneling Protocol Is a standard that combines the best features of two existing tunneling protocols : CISCO's L2F and PPTP.

LAC
L2TP Access Concentrator

LAN
Local Area Network A group of computers and other devices dispersed over a relatively limited area and
connected by a communication link that enables any device to interact with any other on the network. The
LAN corresponds to the network inside the enterprise.

LANE
LAN Emulation

LAP
Link Access Protocol

LAP-B
Link Access Procedure Balanced

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LCP
Link Control Protocol Used by PPP for the negociation of the communication parameters : authentication
method, maximum receive unit,

LDAP
Lightweight Directory Access Protocol Protocol for access to directory services managed by a directory
server. Informations about hosts, users (e.g. authentication, access information), traffic handling policy
(QoS) can be managed by a directory server.

LL
Leased Line

LLC
Logical Link Control

LLC/SNAP :
Logical Link Control / Sub-Network Access Protocol

LNS
L2TP Network Server

4.13

MAC
Medium Access Control

MAC address
The layer-two address of a LAN device

MAN
Metropolitan Area Network

MAPI
Messaging Application Programming Interface

MC
Multipoint controller

MCU
Multipoint Control Unit This aims at supporting conferences between three or more H323 endpoints. It may
handle the media streams between end-points in a multi-cast approach.

MGCP
Media Gateway Control Protocol

MIB
Management Information Base

MLPPP
Multi Link Point to Point Protocol Allows to use multiple independent channels (links) to create a virtual
single bundle. Based on RFC 1990.

MIME
Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions

MOS
Mean Opinion Score

MP-MLQ
MultiPulse-Maximum Likelihood Quantization

MPLS
Multi Protocol Label Switching Protocol being defined by the IETF to allow IP packets to be switched in an
efficient manner using different types of link layer protocols (e.g. ATM). It is an optimization of the classical
IP routing. MPLS attaches labels to IP packets which enables routers and switches to forward traffic
based on information in the labels, rather than inspecting the different fields deep within each and every
packet.

MPOA

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Multi Protocol Over ATM

MPPP
Multi-link PPP It provides bandwith aggregation from multiple links, including analog and ISDN, to get a
higher communication throughput.

MTU
Maximum Transfer Unit The maximum packet size, in bytes, that a particular interface can transmit. Example 1.5Kbytes bytes on Ethernet, 4 Kbytes on FDDI.

4.14

NAS
Network Access Server NAS are devices composing a POP. They can be connected to different kind of
networks and interfaces such as PRI, BRI, ATM, Ethernet A point-to-point connection is established
between the Internet user and the NAS which will route the packets to the correct interface.

NAT
Network Address Translation Is the translation of an IP address used within one network to a different IP
address known within another network. Typically, a company maps its local inside network addresses to
one or more global outside IP addresses and unmaps the global IP addresses on incoming packets back
into local IP addresses. It allows to share a single address between multiple equipments, and to connect
them all to the Internet at the same time.

NCP
Network Control Protocol Used within PPP to negotiate the network protocol options.

NetBEUI
Network Bios Extended User Interface In charge of transport functions (level 4 ofOSI model). Used in particular in case of IBM PC networks.

NetBIOS
Network Basic Input/Output System

NFS
Network File System

NMC
Network Management Centre

NNTP
Network News Transfer Protocol Is the predominant protocol used by computers (servers and clients) for
managing the notes posted on Usenet newsgroups.

NTP
Network Time Protocol NTP is a UDP-based protocol used for synchronizing a set of network clocks using
a set of distributed clients and servers. Implementation is based on RFC 1305. Simple NTP is documented
in RFC 2030.

4.15

OSI
Open Systems Interconnection

OSPF
Open Shortest Path First Routing protocol based upon the Link State Algorithm Each router actively test the
status of its link to each of its neighbors, send this information to its neighbors , which then propagate it.

4.16

Packet
A packet is the basic unit of transmission under IP. Data streams are broken into packets by the transmitting machine, passed through the network and then reassembled at the receiving end.

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Packet filtering
The ability of a bridge, router or gateway to limit propagation of packets between two or more interconnected networks.

Packet switching
A communications method in which variable-length packets are individually routed between hosts.

PAP
Password Authentication Protocol Is a procedure used by PPP servers to validate a connection request.
Passwords are sent in clear text without security and the originator can make repeated attempts to gain access. For these reasons a server that supports CHAP will offer to use that protocol before using PAP.

PAT
Port Address Translation

Payload
Refers to the portion of a packet following the header.

PCM
Pulse Code Modulation

PDU
Protocol Data Unit

PLC
Packet Loss Compensation

PoP
Point of Presence The node at which an ISP connects a subscriber to the Internet. To give individual access at the lowest rate possible, dial-in facilities (a POP) are installed by the Internet Service Provider (ISP)
in every telephone area. A POP consists of one or more NAS.

POP3
Post Office Protocol version 3 Is the most recent version of a standard protocol for receiving e-mail. POP3
is a client-server protocol in which e-mail is received and held for you by your Internet server. This protocol
includes commands to login, logout, fetch messages and deletes messages. The point of the POP is to
transmit the E-mails from the E-mail server towards the user s PC to be read later.

Port Number
Fields of the TCP and UDP header which identifies the source and destination application program . Is
coded on 2 bytes.

POTS
Plain Old Telephone Set (System) The basic telephone service supplying standard single-line telephones,
telephone lines, and access to the public switched telephone network.

PPP
Point to Point Protocol An Internet protocol which is used to connect serial terminal devices, usually over
dial-up lines. PPP (Point-to-Point Protocol) is a protocol for communication between two computers using a
serial interface. PPP is a full-duplex datalink protocol that can be used on various physical media, including
twisted pair or fiber optic lines or satellite transmission. It uses a variation of High Speed Data Link Control
(HDLC) for packet encapsulation. The PPP protocol handles : error detection, support of multiple protocols
(IP, IPX, ), dynamic IP address, authentication of the user.

PPPoA
PPP over ATM

PPPoE
PPP over Ethernet Primarily deployed in DSL environments. Allows authentication, control of the connection in case of a connection to an ISP through Ethernet. PPPoE leverages existing Ethernet infrastructures
to allow users to initiate multiple PPP sessions within the same LAN.

PPTP
Point to Point Tunneling Protocol Is a layer 2 tunneling protocol based on PPP that allows corporations to
extend their own corporate network through private tunnels over the public Internet. PPTP is a proposed standard sponsored by Microsoft and other companies.

PQ

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Priority Queuing

PRI
Primary Rate Interface ISDN interface composed of 30 B channels and one D channel. A throughput of up
to 2Mb/s is possible.

Proxy
A software agent that acts on behalf of a user. Typical proxies accept a connection from a user, make a decision as to whether or not the user or client IP address is permitted to use the proxy, perhaps does additional authentication, and then completes a connection on behalf of the user to a remote destination.

PSQM
Perceptual Speech Quality Measurement

PSTN
Public Switched Telephone Network

PVC
Permanent Virtual Circuit

4.17

QoS
Quality of Service Quality of service means the ability of networks to guarantee and maintain certain performance levels for each application, according to the specified needs of each user. It will consist in a special type of treatment applied to a flow of traffic or for a certain user e.g. Regarding VoIP, Quality of service
will help to reduce transit delay, jitter and ensure bandwith needs.

4.18

RADIUS
Remote Authentication Dial-in User Service Is a client/server protocol based on UDP and software that enables remote access servers to communicate with a central server to authenticate dial-in users and authorize their access to the requested system or service. RADIUS provides a central location for storing informations like : authentication attributes, configuration data for establishing a WAN connection for an incoming
call, dialout information, static routes and filters, accounting information, security information. Developped
to better manage large serial line and modem pools. The client/server model supports security via PAP,
CHAP, UNIX login, and other authentication schemes, such as challenge/response systems.

RARP
Reverse Address Resolution Protocol Used to translate an ethernet physical address into an IP address.

RAS
Registration Admission and Status This is defined in H225.0. It performs registration, admission, bandwith
changes, status and disengage procedures between H323 endpoints of a zone and the gatekeeper responsible for that zone.

RAS
Remote Access Service/Server

RED
Random Early Discard Method which relies on rules based on probability to instruct a router to begin dropping packets when established queuing thresholds are crossed.

RFC
Request For Comment

RIB
Routing Information Base

RIP
Routing Information Protocol Based upon the Distance Vector protocol. Each router sends all or some portion of its routing table but only to its neighbors. Each router updates its routing table based on the vector of
these distances (hop counts) that it receives from its neighbors.

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Router
A layer-three device responsible for making decisions regarding which of several paths network traffic will
follow. To do this, it uses a routing protocol to gain information about the network, and algorithms to choose
the best route based on several criteria (known as routing metrics). Routers interconnect subnets.

RSA
The original and best-known asymmetric encryption scheme where one key (the public key) and one algorithm is used to encrypt data and another key (the private key) and another algorithm are used for decryption.

RSVP
Resource reservation Protocol RSVP is a QoS signalling protocol for the Internet. It reserves a portion of
the output link in each router along the path of a flow for a particular application. It delivers QoS requests to
all nodes along the path (s) of the flows and establish /maintain state of the requested service. RSVP also
includes provisions for constraining packet delay and guaranteeing bandwith availability , but on a managed
corporate IP network, only the prioritization feature needs to be used. RFCs : 2210, 2209, 2208, 2207,
2206, 2205

RTP/RTCP
Real-time Transport Protocol / Real-time Transport Control Protocol This provides the media stream packetization and synchronization for all data networks.

4.19

SA
Security Association In the IPSec protocol suite, a dedicated secure virtual connection between two nodes.

SDH
Synchronous Digital Hierarchy

Serial delay
Serial delay results when a delay sensitive packet (voice in our case) is stuck in a buffer behind a packet
that has already begun to be sent. All links in a WAN operate in a serial manner.
Thus the delay sensitive traffic must wait until the packet has passed. The delay variation introduced by this
serial delay depends on the maximum length of the packet (long packets results in less link overhead but
maximizes serial delay)
Thus the delay sensitive traffic must wait until the packet has passed. The delay variation introduced by this
serial delay depends on the maximum length of the packet (long packets results in less link overhead but
maximizes serial delay)
There are 2 ways to deal with serial delay : the data size can be limited (Maximum Transmission Unit size)
the speed of the link can be raised

SIP
Session Initiation Protocol IETF standard for VoIP systems.

SLA
Service Level Agreement

SMTP
SimpleMail Transfer Protocol SMTP is used by an E-mail server to transmit an E-mail to the destination Email server. In most cases, the user will use a PC to retrieve his/her mail from the server using usually
POP3 or IMAP.

SNA
Systems Network Architecture

SNMP
Simple Network Management Protocol Is a protocol used for network management. The Network Management Center contains an SNMP-manager. The objects to be managed contain an SNMP-agent and a Management Information Base (MIB). The manager can read from and write into this database. The agent can
also send 'traps' towards the manager to report alarms. Summarized, this protocol can be used to handle
Fault, Performance, Security and Configuration Management.

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SSL
Secure Socket Layer Is a program layer created by Netscape for managing the security of message transmissions in a network. It is used by secure protocols such as HTTPS.

STA
Spanning Tree Algorithm It's task is to construct a non-looping topology by deciding not to use certain of the
links in the network.

Subnet
A portion of a network in which all stations share a common subnet address.

Subnet Mask
Used to subdivide a network into subnets. Defines the number of bits borrowed for the subnet address. The
mask is 32 bits long. Example : 255.255.255.0
Internet routers use only the network id of the destination address to route traffic to a subnetted environment. Routers within the subnetted environment use the extended-network-id (network id + subnet id) to
route traffic between the individual subnets.

SVC
Switched Virtual Circuit

4.20

T120
Data conference protocol

T30
Procedures for document facsimile transmission in the general switched telephone network

T37
Procedures for batch or Store and Forward Group 3 facsimile communication over IP networks. Built on
TCP and SMTP.

T38
Procedures for real-time Group 3 facsimile communication over IP networks. Built on UDP in Fax relay
mode.

TCP
Transmission Control Protocol This is a reliable connection oriented protocol that allows the error free delivery of a byte stream. Large packets are segmented into smaller ones and are resequenced at the final destination if necessary. Flow control makes sure that the receiving side is not overloaded.

TCP /IP
The various protocols which support the Internet and many private networks.

Telnet
Is the way you can access someone else's computer, assuming they have given you permission. With telnet, you log on as a regular user with whatever privileges you may have been granted to the specific applications and data on that computer.

TFTP
Trivial File Transfer Protocol Is a protocol used to transfer files and has been implemented on top of UDP.
In general, it is used to download binary and data files.

ToS
Type of Service An 8-bit field within the IP header which can be used by the device originating the packet,
or by an intermediate networking device, to signal a request for a specific QoS level. The ToS field is redefined in DiffServ.

TTL
Time To Live. The TTL indicates the maximum amount of time a diagram is allowed to remain in the network (usually, the maximum number of hops through routers).

Tunneling
Tunneling is a technique whereby information is encapsulated in a protocol that allows the information to
pass through a larger stream of information without fear of interference. Effectively, tunneling creates a

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secure means to transport information among other information. It is becoming a popular method of creating virtual private network interconnection over common media such as the Internet.

Trafic shaping
This applies at access devices to prevent a huge burst of traffic from congesting the backbone network.
Shaping involves accepting a burst from an input device, buffering the traffic and then smoothing out
the flow so that the burst is distributed over a long period of time, a time period based on configuration
parameters.

4.21

UDP
User Datagram Protocol The UDP protocol is an unreliable connectionless protocol which is widely used for
client/server request/reply applications where the prompt delivery is more important than the accurate delivery.

URL
Universal Resource Locator To retrieve an HTML page from a remote host, a user will enter a link in his
browser. This link is called a URL.

4.22

V.34/V.34bis
V.34 is a standard, approved by the ITU, for transmitting data to modems. V.34bis provides up to 33.6kbps
of fallback to 31.2 kbps or V.34 transfer rates (28.8Kbps or fallback to 24 Kbps and 19.2 Kbps and backwards compatibility with V.32 and V.32bis).

V.90
Is a standard approved by the ITU for transmitting data downstream to modems at 56Kbps. 56Kbps transmission technologies exploit the fact that most telephone company offices are interconnected with digital
lines.

VAD
Voice Activity Detection In Voice over IP (VOiP), voice activation detection (VAD)is a software application
that allows a data network carrying voice traffic over the Internet to detect the absence of audio and conserve bandwidth by preventing the transmission of "silent packets" over the network.

VLAN
Virtual Lan In a VLAN, individual devices are assigned membership in a group that has connectivity only to
each other and whose traffic does not mix with other traffic as it crosses backbone networks, distant
switches and shared hubs. Many of these groups or VLAN's may coexist on the same network infrastructure. VLAN also allows to reduce the broadcast domain to the ports belonging to the VLAN. 802.1Q
provides virtual LAN capability whereas 802.1p provides prioritizing time-critical flows. The 802.1p header
includes three bits for prioritization, allowing eight priorities to be established.

VoIP
Voice over IP Is the voice carrying on IP network

VPIM
Voice Protocol over Internet Messaging

VPN
Virtual Private Network A Virtual Private Network enables to send data between two hosts across a shared
or public internetwork (ex the Internet) in the same way as in case of a point-to-point private link. It corresponds to extend an Intranet (Home/remote workers or LAN-to-LAN connection)
It gives the appearance and benefits of a private network, including continuous availability and reliability.
VPN offers the following properties : 1encapsulation of the private data authentication of the VPN connection to be established data encryption to ensure the confidentiality of the data over non-secure networks
A VPN uses a protocol like PPTP, L2TPor IPSec.

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VRPP
Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol

4.23

WAIS
Wide Area Information System Is an application layer protocol which can be used to look for information in
a large number of documents.

WAN
Wide Area Network This corresponds to a network outside the business, and one that is accessible (such
as the Internet, and an Intranet Extension)

WFQ
Weighted Fair Queuing WFQ applies to the bandwith an application receives on an output link :
Traffic is assigned a priority Priority influences which traffic is transmitted first on a congested pipe
It has no impact on a non-congested pipe.

WINS
Windows Internet Naming Service

WLAN
Wireless LAN

WRED
Weighted Random Early Discard Is a variation of RED. A pure RED router just randomly selects packets to
drop when some buffer threshold is reached independently from the priority of the packet. WRED tries to
identify the low-priority traffic and randomly discard those packets when congestion occurs.

WWW
World Wide Web A worldwide network of interconnected computer servers which allow users to access information rapidly and easily via the Internet.

4.24

X25
ITU standard which was the first international standard for packet switching. Covers only the bottom three
layers of the OSI Model.

XML
eXtensible Markup Language

4.25

4.26

Zone
A collection of H323 terminals, Gateways and MCUs managed by a single Gatekeeper.

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