A layman’s guide to IT acronyms and names
Network – I am talking about the IT network
NOT business networking! A collection of IT devices like PCs and Printers etc
that can talk to each other.
LAN – Local Area Network – The computer
network in your office/school/factory and on your campus.
WLAN – Wireless Local Area Network (Not
to be confused with a WAN below). A Wireless LAN is a Local network like the
above, but via wireless signals like you have at home if you have wireless
internet.
WiFi – Same as WLAN.
AP, Access Point or Wireless Access Point
– These are the devices that supply the wireless signals for your wireless
network, at home they are often incorporated into your internet router. If they
are not part of the router then they need to be plugged into a wired network.
Router - Sounds like Rooter not Rowter
which is how the Americans tend to say it. This device converts your internet
signal to an Ethernet network (see below for Ethernet). Can also be used to
split networks but that gets too deep for this page!
Firewall – A clever bit of kit that is
set up by clever people to help stop nasty people getting on to your network,
some routers have these built in.
WAN – Wide Area Network – The network beyond
your office/school/factory and on your campus, the internet could be seen as a
WAN.
SoHo – Small office, Home office – Some
devices are described as “suitable for SoHo” this means a small number of
network users.
G3 and G4 – Data connections to the
internet from your mobile service provider such as Vodafone, 3, EE etc. On your device you may see G changing to E or
H, E and H are slower versions of the same thing.
The Cloud – This is disk space
somewhere in the world where you can store and retrieve your personal data via
the internet, this can be via 3G or 4G through your mobile device or just
through the standard internet at your home or office. Things like Google Drive,
Apple Cloud, Drop Box are cloud services, there are many others.
Server – This is the large PC that
probably runs your office IT systems and sits in a cupboard or corner (or if
you are a large outfit a computer room), you may have more than one server in
your office for different IT functions.
Switch – Now this can get a bit confusing
as there are Data switches and Voice/Telephone switches. The Server, internet
router and the rest of the computers will be plugged in to this. The
Voice/Telephone switch will have the phones plugged it to it.
Port – This normally refers to the
connection on the switch that the network or phones plug in to. You will also sometimes
hear people refer to the structured cabling “wall port”, that being the socket
on the wall for the network.
VoIP – Voice over Internet Protocol –
Referring to switches above, some Telephone systems now use the Data network to
run the Telephones either on a separate Data switch or the same one that is
used by the rest of the network.
Ethernet – The network protocol that
nearly all networks use to transmit data to PC’s and other devices, 40 years
old on 23rd May 2013! Invented by Xerox.
PoE – Power over Ethernet – Some
devices that use Ethernet like VoIP phones, CCTV cameras and WiFi Access Points
are often situated where it is inconvenient to get mains power to so PoE was
developed to power these devices via 48 Volts DC. You always need a network
cable to them so why not use it to power them as well!
Structured Cabling – The cabling within
the building that allows Ethernet to transmit the data required by the network
and so allow all the different services run. You can run all sorts of services
over this cable including Ethernet, Voice, Video, VoIP, Fax and others. You should
look your office and think “how many different services do I need on each desk”,
a PC, a Phone maybe a Laptop or printer, so in this case 3. That is the least
you should install per desk in this case. These cables are wired back to a
central point where all your services are for you to connect them into your
Structured Cabling System. It means you can have any service wherever you like
in the building as long as there is a Structured Cabling Socket available.
UTP/FTP/STP – Structured cabling types
are often referred to by these acronyms. They refer to the construction of the
cable –
UTP =
Unshielded Twisted Pair
FTP = Foil
Shielded Twisted Pair
STP =
Shielded Twisted Pair
There are a
few other acronyms, however these are the ones you are most likely to hear. In
simple terms most offices are cabled using UTP i.e. unshielded cable. Shielded,
FTP or STP may be used in secure or electrically noisy environments, however it
is crucial that any shielded cable is earth properly.
RJ45 – This is the common name for the
connectors used in structured cabling, they look a bit like a BT socket but are
a different shape, the plug is usually clear plastic as opposed to the white BT
plug and has 8 pins. Your broad band plug is a smaller, very similar looking,
clear plastic plug called an RJ11,
please do not plug this into a structured cabling RJ45 socket as it will damage
the pins as it is a different shape.
Category 5e (Also known as Class D: up to 100 MHz) – Is a structured cabling standard
that allows the transition of data up to 1Gigbit/second up to 90 meters
Category 6 (Also known as Class E: up to 250 MHz) - Is a structured cabling standard
that allows the transition of data up to 1Gigbit/second up to 90 meters but can
offer better quality services if you wish to transmit video or other higher
frequency services.
Category 6A (Also known as Class EA: up to 500 MHz) - Is a structured
cabling standard that allows the transition of data up to 10Gigbit/second up to
90 meters.
Category 7 (Also known as Class F: up to 600 MHz) - Is a structured cabling standard
that allows the transition of data up to 10Gigbit/second and possibly beyond,
up to 90 meters.
Fibre Optic Cabling – Very fine strands
of glass that transmit Data signals. While BT use miles of the stuff in the
street within the office environment it
will typically be used to connect buildings together on a campus site or to connect two
areas of the network that are over 90 meters away as fibre can run the same
protocols as copper but over much longer distances. It is also immune from
Electro Mechanical Interference.
Armoured Cable or SWA cable – This is a
cover over any type of cable that needs robust mechanical protection. It
consists of steel braids running the full length of the cable. SWA stands for Steel Wired Armoured.
