[B]

Background bit error ratio (BBER) – (1) The ratio of the number of bits in error to the total number of bits received, exclusive of error bursts, over a special measurement period. (2) The error performance of the system under normal operation and does not include error bursts caused by line switching, maintenance, activity, etc. [An end-to-end BBER is not specified for digital private line because of the varying error distribution of access connection.]

Background errors – Errors that occur during the normal operation of the system. They generally occur one at a time or a few at a time.

Backup – The provision, logical or physical, of facilities to speed the process of restart and recovery following failure. Facilities may include duplicated files of transactions, periodic dumping of core or backing storage contents, duplicated processors, storage devices, terminals, telecommunications hardware or the switches to effect a changeover.

Band – (1) The range of frequencies between two defined limits. (2) In reference to WATS, one of the six specific geographic service areas as defined by Sprint.

Bandwidth – (1) The difference between the top and bottom limiting frequencies of a continuous frequency band. (2) Indicates the information-carrying capacity of a channel. Analog transmission usually expressed in kHz or MHz; digital transmission, bps, Mbps. Fiber-optic bandwidth is usually given as its capacity to transmit information in a specific time period for a specific length. (e.g. 10 Mbps/KM.) (3) Expressed in different measurements depending on transmission type.

Bar-code scanner – (1) Optical character reader. A device used to read bar-codes by means of reflected light, such as the scanners that read the Universal Product Codes on supermarket products.

Basic telecommunications access method (BTAM) – An access method that permits read/write communications with remote devices.

Baud - (1) A unit of signaling speed. (2) A unit of data transmission speed measured in bits per second. [The speed in baud is the number of discreet conditions or signal elements per second. If each event represents only one bit condition, then baud is the same as bits per second.]

Baud rate - A measure of signaling speed in data communications that specifies the maximum number of signal elements transmitted each second. [Over dial-up telephone lines, 300 and 1200 baud are most common. For most purposes, at slow speeds, a baud rate is the same as the speed in bits per second. Baud rate is the same as bit rate if all bits have the same length.]

Bell Operating Company (BOC) - Any of the 22 local Bell telephone companies owned by AT&T before divestiture. The independent BOCs provide primary access to Sprint and other interexchange carriers. See RBOC.

BETA test – The stage at which a new product is tested under actual usage conditions. The purpose of beta testing is to locate and correct potential problems before consumer marketing begins. Follows Alpha Testing.

Bid – (1) An attempt to gain control over a line in order to transmit data. (2) Usually associated with contention style of sharing a single line among several terminals. [Non-uniform time-outs at each terminal for reinstituting a bid if the line is busy give assurance that each terminal can have access to the line.]

Billing contact – Departmental Staff who will receive billing information

Billing cycle – A recurring period of time between traffic cut-off dates which precedes customer billing. Cycles are typically 30 days.

Binary – A number system based upon twos rather than tens and that uses only two characters, zero (0) and one (1).

Binary digit – Unit of information in two-level digital notation which may be 0 or 1. A member selected from a binary set.

Binary synchronous transmission (BSC or bisync) - (1) Data transmission in which synchronization of characters is controlled by timing signals generated at the sending and receiving stations. (2) A half-duplex, character-oriented data communications protocol. Contrast with asynchronous transmission.

Bipolar – Literally, having two poles. An input signal is bipolar when one electrical voltage polarity represents a logically true input and its opposite polarity represents a logically false input. Contrast with unipolar.

Bit – (1) The smallest unit of coded information. (2) A pulse whose presence or absence indicates data. Abbreviation for binary digit.

Bit duration - (1) Equivalent to the time that it takes one encoded bit to pass a point on the transmission medium. (2) In serial communications, a relative unit of time measurement used for comparison of delay times where the data rate of a transmission channel can vary (for example propagation delay, access latency).

Bit rate or bandwith – The rate at which bits (binary digits) are transmitted over a communications path. Normally expressed in bits per second (bps). [The bit rate is not to be confused with the data signaling rate which measures the rate of signal elements being transmitted.]

Bit transfer rate – The number of bits transferred per unit time, usually expressed in bits per second (bps).

Bit-oriented – Describes a communications protocol or transmission procedure where control information is encoded in fields of one or more bits; oriented toward full-duplex link operation.

Bit map – A matrix of dots, all of the same density, that form an image.

Bits per second (bps) – The rate at which data transmission (binary digits) is measured. See bit rate.

Black box – A generic term used to identify functional equipment segments, as opposed to circuitry, that make up each segment of a telecommunications system.

Block – A string of records, words or characters treated as a logical entity. Blocks are separated by interblock gaps, and each block may contain one or more records.

Block error rate test (BLERT) - (1) In data communications testing, the ratio between the total number of blocks transmitted in a given message and the number of blocks in that message received in error. (2) A measure of the quality of a data transmission.

Block length – A measure of the size of a block, usually specified in units such as records, words, computer words or characters.

Blocked calls – All attempted calls that are not connected. Two most common reasons for non-connections: all lines to the central offices are in use; all connecting paths through the PBX/switch are in use.

Blocking – (1) Engineering principle involving average time a user will wait while a call searches for the most economical route; opposed to queuing where a call waits for the most economical route. (2) Inability to establish a new call because of the inaccessibility of facilities in the system being called. Measured under grade of service using “P” factor.

Booting – Technique for loading a program into a computer’s memory in which the program’s initial instructions direct the loading of the rest of the program. Usually, a few manual instructions must be entered on a keyboard, or a switch implemented to initiate the process.

Bootstrap loader – An input routine in which simple preset computer operations are used to load instructions that in turn cause further instructions to be loaded until the complete computer program is in storage. [The term refers to the system "pulling itself up by its bootstraps."]

Break – (1) To interrupt the sending of a message and take control of the circuit at the receiving end. (2) An interruption in continuity.

Breakout box – A device that allows access to individual points on a physical interface connector for testing and monitoring.

Breakout panel – A breakout box mounted as a component in some larger device.

Bridge, bridging – Equipment and techniques used to match circuits to each other ensuring minimum transmission impairment. [Bridging is normally required on multipoint data channels were several local loops or channels are interconnected.]

Broadband - (1) A transmission facility having a bandwidth of greater than 20 kHz and, therefore, capable of higher-speed data transmission. (2) Analog transmission technique used with data and video transmissions that provides multiple channels for users through frequency division multiplexing.

Broadcast – Transmission to a number of receiving locations simultaneously. [Normally associated with a multidrop line, where a number of terminals share the line]
buckets – (1) In Sprint billing software, an electronic file or folder in which records are kept until invoice processing occurs. (See Suspense File.) (2) In data, a storage unit.

Buffer – (1) A high-speed area of storage that is temporarily reserved for use in performing the input/output operation into which data is read or from which data is written. (2) Used to accumulate data into blocks of sufficient size to be handled efficiently by a processor or terminal. Synonym: I/O area.

Bug – (1) A mistake or malfunction. (2) A program defect or error. [In 1946 Grace Hopper detected a problem with an Eniac computer at the University of Pennsylvania. Investigation uncovered an insect lodged within the computer causing the malfunction. Hopper's exclamation, "There's a bug in the computer," coined a new word for computer error.]

Building distribution frame (BDF) – The location in a building where equipment attaches a number of cables from the LDF’s

Bulletin board – An electronic message center accessible through computer-aided communication lines.

Burst – A sequence of signals in data communications counted as one unit in accordance with some specific criterion or measure.

Burst errors – Bits or signals lost due to such problems as line switching or multiplex switching. [Typically involves a few thousand errors or lost bits at a time.]

Bus – (1) A heavy conductor, or group of conductors, to which several units of the same type of equipment may be connected. (2) A path or channel for transmitting electrical signals and data, usually between a computer and peripheral equipment.

Busy - Call condition in which transmission facilities are already in use. Synonym: off-hook condition.

Busy hour – (1) The peak 60 minutes during a business day when the largest volume of communications traffic is handled. (2) When phone lines are most in demand and/or most used.

Busy tone – A single tone that is interrupted at 60 ipm (impulses per minute) rate to indicate that the call’s terminating location is already in use.

Byte – (1) The representation of a character. (2) A group of eight bits makes a byte. Typically a 16-bit “word” is itself divided into two bytes for handling. (3) Unit of measurement used to rate storage capacity of disks; usually the smallest addressable unit of information in a data store or memory. One thousand bytes is a kilobyte; one million bytes is a megabyte.