Glossary Terms - "B"

Bandwidth on Demand
A concept in which the user can call up more bandwidth as the application warrants. It enables users to pay only for the bandwidth they use, when they use it.

Baud Demand
A unit of signaling speed equivalent to the number of discrete conditions or signal elements per second. Multiple bits may be used to characterize individual parameters within one baud (i.e., 9600 bits per second at a rate of 2400 baud = 4 bits per each baud.)

B channel
Message-bearing 64 Kbps digital channel specified in the ISDN standards. B channels are used for digital transmission of high speed data and video. This channel carries the customer traffic where the “D” channel carries control information.

Bell Atlantic
One of the seven Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs) resulting from divestiture, covering the MidAtlantic region of the U.S., and comprised of Bell of Pennsylvania, Diamond State Telephone, The Chesapeake and Potomac Companies, and New Jersey Bell.

Bellcore (Bell Communicaztions)
The organization established at AT&T divestiture, representing and funded by the BOCs and RBOCs, for the purpose of establishing telephone network standards and interfaces (includes much of what had been Bell Laboratories.)

BellSouth
One of the seven Bell Regional Operating Companies (RBOCs) resulting from divestiture, covering the Southeastern U.S., and comprised of South Central Bell and Southern Bell.

Bell System
Prior to Jan. 1, 1984, an aggregate term for AT&T encompassing 24 Bell operating companies providing local exchange phone service, the AT&T Long Lines Division providing long distance connections, an equipment manufacturing arm known as Western Electric, and a research and development arm known as Bell Laboratories. The Bell System was broken up by the AT&T divestiture.

Binary Information Unit or Binary Digit (BIT)
The smallest unit of digital information. A single digit number in "base-2", either a 0 or a 1. Bandwidth is usually measured in bits-per-second (bps).

Blocking
A PBX term referring to the prevention of any station from receiving a connection because all possible paths in the network are in use.

BOC. Bell Operating Company (RBOC)
One of the 22 local exchange telephone companies that prior to the Jan. 1, 1984 breakup of the Bell System comprised the arm of AT&T providing local telephone services. BOCs provide about 80% of the nation's local exchange telephone subscribers with service.

BPS
Bits Per Second. The transmission speed of most modems is measured in baud or bps. Bps is literally the number of bits sent by the modem every second. (i.e., a 9600 bps modem.)

Bridge
A device that connects two LANs. Bridges function at the data link layer of the OSI model, and provide protocol-independent forwarding of data between the two networks.

Bridge Tap
An undetermined length of wire attached between the normal endpoints of a circuit that introduces unwanted impedance imbalances for data transmission (also called bridging tap or bridged tap.)

Broadband
In general data communications, a channel with a bandwidth greater than that of voiceband (e KHz.) In ISDN, channels supporting rates above the primary rate (1.544 or 2.048 Mbps.)

Broadband Network
A network capable of transporting voice, interactive full-motion video, and data services. A narrowband network carries significantly less information than a broadband network. Narrowband applications include traditional telephone service, electronic mail, paging services, and faxes.

Busy Signal
An audible or visual signal that indicates the called number or transmission path is unavailable (usually at 60 impulses per second for standard remote station busy and 120 impulses per second for all paths busy at local PBX or C.O.)

B8ZS (Bipolar 8- Zero Substitution)
A technique used to satisfy the ones density requirements of digital T-carrier facilities in the public network while allowing 64 Kbps clear channel data. Strings of eight consecutive zeroes are replaced by an eight-bit code representing two intentional bipolar pulse violations (000V10V1.)

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