Glossary of Metropolitan Broadband Terms: K-O

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This glossary of metropolitan broadband terms is drawn from a number of resources, all cited in the Orientation Resources sections of this website. Learning these terms is like learning a new language, so I urge you to jump in and start using them in conversation. Get familiar with them - try to use them in whole sentences, as in "I can't decide whether we need a WLAN or a WMAN for our town, but one things for sure, if we don't do something soon, we'll be stuck in a Hot Spot!"

Use this glossary as a reference: when you are stumped, be sure to refer back to the on-line reference sites as well. www.Wikipedia.org and www.whatis.com are two great resources. Most definitions can click through to their Wikipedia definition.

PLEASE EMAIL ME NEW TERMS THAT YOU LOOK FOR, BUT DON'T FIND IN THIS GLOSSARY.

Killer App - This term was devised to explain what happens when a computer application is so popular that it leads consumers to adopt a new technology in droves. For instance, e-mail and the Netscape web browser are described as killer apps with regard to the early days of dial-up Internet access. In more current terms, I have described VOIP, or Voice over Internet Protocol, and its accompanying voice applications and services as a Killer App for metropolitan networks.

LAN - A LAN is a Local Area Network, which is a wired or wireless network connecting two or more computers or other devices over a short distance, such as within an office or a home. Wi-Fi is a wireless LAN technology.

Luddite - The Luddites or Ludds were a social movement of English workers in the early 1800s who protested – often by destroying textile machines – against the changes produced by the Industrial Revolution that they felt threatened their jobs. The movement which began in 1811 was named after a probably mythical leader, Ned Ludd. For a short time the movement was so strong that it clashed in battles with the British Army. Harsh repressive measures by the government included a mass trial at York in 1813 that resulted in many death penalties and exiles. Since then, the term Luddite has been used to describe anyone opposed to technological progress and technological change. For the modern movement of opposition to technology, see neo-luddism

MSA - Metropolitan Statistical Area - As defined by the US Office of Management and Budget: "a county or group of contiguous counties that contain (1) at least one city of 50,000 inhabitants or more (or "twin cities" with a combined population of at least 50,000), or (2) an urbanized area of at least 50,000 inhabitants and a total MSA population of at least 100,000 (75,000 in New England)." The contiguous counties are included in an MSA if, according to certain criteria, they are essentially metropolitan in character and are socially and economically integrated with the central city. In New England, MSA's consist of towns

MSP - An MSP or Managed Service Provider is a company that manages a client's network and applications, typically over the Internet. MSPs are used when an organization finds it more cost effective to have someone else host its applications than to host them itself.

Mesh Network - In a mesh network, client devices such as wireless nodes, PCs, laptops, PDAs and other wireless devices communicate with each other, passing along a signal until it can be delivered to its destination, or in the other direction, to the Internet at an Internet gateway.

The best example of a mesh network in production is the Tropos Networks MetroMesh(TM) Architecture, which is an enhancement of Wi Fi for metropolitan-scale Wi Fi mesh networks. First, the power of the radio transmission is expanded to its FCC maximum 1 Watt (v. 100 milliWatts for typical Wi Fi), enlarging the range of the node from 300-feet to a quarter-mile. The compelling, patented enhancement, however, is to have the radios talk to each other four times/second while they configure new data paths for optimal data transfer. By hanging these self-configuring radios on street light poles, a city-wide mesh is created where the data signal is picked up by the closest radio, and then handed off to a sister radio until the signal finds its way back to an Internet gateway, usually less than three hops.

Mesh networking puts a true city-wide broadband network within reach of almost any city. Because mesh technology is adaptable to the particular needs of a city, the network design is based on size, topography, and anticipated data bandwidth requirements. Each network is custom-designed, but the equipment that comprises the network is standard, so it remains affordable - the capital costs fall between $50,000 -$100,000/square mile, which is much less than the millions needed for a wired network. Further, because the nodes are self-configuring, the cost to design these networks is contained as well. And maintenance costs are minimal with the sealed containers that enclose the radios. Finally, the rapidly changing data paths inherent in mesh networks make them very secure: even if a hacker were able to get into the transmission through the security protocol in place - a new data path would be assigned in less than a second, and the hacker would receive only a tiny portion of the transmission.

Mesh network nodes are complemented in a city-wide network by point-to-point radios and wired networks, because the technology requires a network design with sufficient numbers of "gateway nodes." These nodes have direct connection to the Internet, either through a DSL or cable Internet connection, or back over a wireless {point-to-point radio} to an Internet connection. At some point, the local area network needs to connect to the Internet.

Metcalfe's Law- Robert Metcalfe, the inventor of Ethernet technology, observed that the value of a communications system increases by the square of the number of people connected to it - in time this became known as "Metcalfe's Law," no doubt in homage to Moore's Law (see below).

Metcalfe's Law explains why networks such as the Internet have increasing returns - the larger the network, the greater the advantage to each participant on the network. Each new participant brings value to the overall system. Thus, according to Metcalfe's Law, a network with only 10 users connected to it would have a theoretical value of 100, whereas a network with 100 people connected to it would have a theoretical value of 10,000 - 10 times more participants result in 100 times more value for all participants. This equation supports the tremendous increase in utility of telephones, fax machines, the Internet, and will support metropolitan networks as they grow.

Moore's Law - Moore's Law, attributed to Gordon E. Moore, a co-founder of Intel, is the empirical observation reportedly made in the 1960s that at the rate of technological development we have experienced over the last 40 years, the complexity of an integrated circuit, with respect to minimum component cost, will double each 24 months. So far, the "law" has largely held true.

MVNO - A Mobile Virtual Network Operator provides operator services, but does not have a physical network. MVNOs purchase capacity from a facilities-based network operator to provide mobile services to customers. By licensing and reselling others' network and device infrastructure and services, MVNOs acquire the systems capability necessary to provide services and roaming.

Network Layer - Level 3 in the 7-layer OSI Model, this layer is utilized by a segment of the ISP industry comprising the companies that buy access to the physical layer pipes of telephone companies. Those companies then build nationwide TCP/IP backbones and sell access on a wholesale basis to brand layer companies. UUNET was the most successful early network layer company and sold access to brand layer companies such as Earthlink, AOL and MSN. This group of companies forms the middle layers of the OSI Model.

Network Operator - A company that provides wireless digital data services by assembling and managing the required equipment, sites, switches, lines, circuits, software, and other transmission apparatus used to provide telecommunications services.

NOC - A NOC is a Network Operations Center, the physical command center of a telecommunications network, which monitors a large network, 24 hours a day. A NOC is typically a room with monitors showing the real time, detailed status of one or more networks, and is the location of servers that run the network.

OEM - An OEM is an Original Equipment Manufacturer, a term for any company in the computer industry that makes equipment for sale through a reseller to end users, including desktop computers, laptops and networking equipment such as routers and Wi-Fi PCMCIA cards and access points. Examples of OEMs include Dell, HP, Sony, Apple, Proxim, Tropos, Linksys, Siemens, and Cisco.

OSI Model - The OSI, or Open System Interconnection, model defines a networking framework for implementing protocols in seven layers. Control is passed from one layer to the next, starting at the application layer in one station proceeding to the bottom layer over the channel to the next station and back up the hierarchy.

Posted on February 03, 2006 at 11:20 PM | Comments (0)