General Terms
Application Service Provider - Web-based delivery of software to replace stand-alone software such as e-mail programs, accounting software, etc.
Backbone - The part of a network with the greatest capacity and which carries the heaviest traffic. For example, MCI and other large telcos make up the backbone of the Internet.
Bandwidth - The capacity of a network or transmission system.
There are different measurements of bandwidth depending upon the specific
transmission system.
Blogs - Web logs or blogs are a type of Web content typically created by independent writers (although some reporters for media companies create blogs on newspaper or magazine sites). Some are personal journals; others resemble newsletters or columns. Often, they contain links to other sources of content.
Buffering
- If content cannot be streamed in real time, a distributor often sends part of
the content into the buffer of a user's PC, before the video can be played.
The user must wait during this time (sometimes, this is called
pre-loading).
Digital
Ad Insertion - The use of digital
editing technology to insert advertising in programming.
This may include inserting a sign in the background of a sporting event
or placing a can of soda next to an actor in a situation comedy.
Digital Radio - Over-the-air broadcast or cable radio that uses a compressed digital format for transmission. Digital radio effectively increases the capacity of a transmission channel. It also can accommodate data as well as audio transmission.
Digital Television (DTV)
- Over-the-air or cable television that uses a
compressed digital format for transmission.
Digital television supports HDTV,
or high-definition television, and/or additional channels that can be
transmitted in the same bandwidth as a single channel analog signal.
Edge Server - Location of a server with video content at a cable headend, DSL central office or other point near end users. This bypasses the Web itself and can ensure a higher level of transmission speed. Companies such as Akamai have implemented networks of edge servers around the country.
Exchanges - Online locations where companies gather to buy and sell goods and services from one another, often via auctions.
HDTV
(High Definition Television) - HDTV
provides a higher resolution picture and better sound quality than the NTSC
standard that was introduced more than fifty years ago.
There are different levels of HDTV, e.g., 1080i and 720p.
Interactive
Television
- Television programming that allows viewers to participate in some way.
This may involve voting for who should be eliminated from a contest,
picking the next action on a program, or choosing from a menu of content
options. The return signal from
homes may be via a touchtone telephone, the Web or directly over a two-way cable
system.
Internet Telephony - A method of sending voice over the Internet. It is also called Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP).
Network Speed Detection - Software that automatically detects an end user's access speed to the Web. It can be used to adjust the transmission speed of content or inform a user if he/she will be able to access video content in a reasonable time frame.
Nod - A point where devices and equipment connect to a network. A Nod typically serves a specific group of households or end users.
Player - Software on an end-user's computer that decodes and decompresses audio or video streaming content, e.g., Real Player, Windows Media Player and Apple Quick Time.
PVR (Personal Video Recorder)
- Also called DVRs (Digital Video Recorders) or Tivo (a specific brand of PVR
that is often used as the generic name for all PVRs).
PVRs have similar functionality to VCRs but they are much easier to use.
Satellite
Radio - A radio service sent via
satellite to cars, homes and public locations for subscribers who have special
radios that can receive the signal. There
are two satellite radio services in the
Telecommuting
- Working from home or another location outside the regular workplace.
3G
Cellphones - So-called "third
generation" cellphones. A
general term used to describe cellphones with advanced features that use a
higher capacity transmission network.
User
Interface (UI) - A user interface is
the graphical display and accompanying hardware that allows a person to use a
system, for example the home page and navigation options of a Web site or the
onscreen options and remote control for DVDs.
Videophones
- Enhanced telephones that transmit pictures as well as voice.
Videophones generally involve one person at each end of a call.
When groups interact with other groups over two-way audio/video systems
it is generally called video teleconferencing.
Transmission Terms
Analog
Transmission - In analog communications such as radio and
television broadcasting throughout most of the 20th century, information is
transmitted by modulating a continuously varying electronic signal such as a
radio carrier wave.
Broadband
Web - Transmission over
high-speed Web connection, typically 128kbps or higher, via DSL, cable modem or
satellite. Approximately 25 percent
of US households (50 percent of households with Web access) access the Web over
a broadband connection, as of fall 2004.
Common Carrier - A company that provides communication services, usually under license from the government, to all service providers on a non-discriminatory basis. Common carriers do not control the content that they transmit.
Data Broadcast - Over-the-air broadcast in part of a digital channel or in the VBI of an analog channel to PCs. Can transmit IP or proprietary encoded data.
Digital Transmission
- In digital transmission, the continuously varying signals of pictures and
sound are converted into discrete values represented in binary form by 0s and
1s. These bits of information are
then sent as a series of on-off pulses by varying the phase, frequency or
amplitude of carrier waves.
Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) -
A satellite television service
that transmits directly to a home where it is picked up by a small receiving
dish. DBS competes with cable
systems.
Digital
Subscriber Line (DSL) - a high speed
digital telephone line that can support broadband Web service or enhanced
telephones with high-speed data.
Downloading
- Transmission of content to a user's hard drive in non-real time, for later
viewing. It overcomes the problem of
low access speeds but downloading can take a long time for certain types of
content such as high resolution video.
Headend
- The central hub of a cable TV system, where signals are received from many
sources (e.g., satellite and over-the-air) and sent out to cable subscribers.
Intranet - Transmission of Web content to a closed user group such as employees in a company or students and faculty at a college. Often, intranets have high speed transmission, e.g., via a T-1 line. Also, access can be restricted.
Extranet - A private wide are network (WAN) using the Internet to link businesses with suppliers, customers and other organizations that they deal with regularly.
Multicasting - Sending data, audio or video simultaneously to a number of end users. Data Broadcasting (noted above) is one form of multicasting.
Narrowband Web - Dial-up access to the Web at speeds of 56kbps or lower. Approximately 50 percent of US households with Web access subscribe to a narrowband Web service provider, as of fall 2004.
Satellite
IP - High speed transmission of Web
content from a satellite to a user's PC. Return
signal (upstream) can be via a regular telephone line (at much lower speeds) or
an upstream satellite signal (at much higher speed).
Upstream via satellite is just beginning.
Satellite signals can also be used by content distributors to bypass the
regular Web and send video to an edge server at a cable headend or DSL central
office.
Short
Messaging Service (SMS) - Also called
text messaging. Short text messages
(generally, the length of messages is restricted) using a cellphone or two-way
pager.
Streaming - A method of transmitting audio or video content in real time over the Web.
Switch - A devise that determines where to send incoming data or voice traffic, then routes it to its destination.
Virtual Private Network (VPN) - a private network created within a public network through the use of encoding, passwords and other ways to limit access.
Wide
Area Network (WAN) - Whereas a local
area network (LAN) creates a private network within a limited space such as a
building, a wide area network (WAN) creates a network that spans many buildings
and can cross wider geographic areas.
Wi-Fi
- A high-speed wireless network that provides access to the Internet, generally
within a limited range (e.g., 300 feet) of the transmission equipment.
Wi-Max
- A more powerful version of Wi-Fi that can provide wireless Internet access
over wider geographic location such as a city.
Ways To Package Information or Programming
DSL
Multicast - Continuously streamed, join in progress, video streams delivered by
DSL to broadband PCs. Full screen,
near video quality. It may be
continuous video or looped programming.
Electronic
Books (e-Books) - Books that are
stored and displayed electronically on a personal computer or special eletronic
tablets.
Electronic Program Guide (EPG) - An interactive listing of television programs and channels. The user controls what channel and time of day information is displayed through special keys on a remote control.
IP PPV - Video streaming content on a pay-per-view basis. Requires DSL or cable modem service to be viable.
Microchannels - Specialized package of video content played from servers, supported with HTML text and navigation. Programming can be continuously streamed or played on-demand.
Online Syndication - Audio or video distributed through third party syndication. Can be barter or cash. Requires Internet rights.
Premium Online Syndication - Subscription on a monthly basis to content over the Internet using a media player. For example, Real Networks now offers premium online syndicated video.
Self Hosted On-Demand Streaming - A content provider places video programming on a server within its facilities or leases space on a server. Users access the content over the Web by clicking on links at the content provider's Web site. The content is streamed on-demand in real time or with some delay - if the end user does not have a high-speed connection to the Web.
Video-on-Demand (VOD) - Programming that resides on a server at a cable system and which can be accessed at any time by individual households. VOD requires a two-way cable plant and special set-top boxes that can retrieve programming. Typically, a household has the same control over VOD content as they have with a VCR tape, e.g., they can fast forward or rewind. VOD content may be free as part of a digital cable tier, rented by the individual program (e.g., $3.99 to view a movie for 24 hours), or marketed for all content on a channel per month (e.g., a household may pay an extra $5 per month for HBO On Demand and view any movie offered that month whenever they want).The latter is called Subscription-Video-on-Demand (SVOD).
Virtual Channels - On-demand video delivered via Web-based portal. User selects from video schedule, has full player control, can open HTML links and text.