ATA | Analog Telephony Adapter
A device that converts analog voice signals (traditional telephone) to digital signals, which can then be transmitted over the Internet (VoIP).
CDR | Call Detail Record
Details about a specific call that includes origination, destination, day/time and duration.
DHCP | Dynamic Host Control Protocol
A client/server protocol that network administrators use to dynamically distribute IP addresses from a central point to each computer or device on a network.
DID | Direct Inward Dialing
A service that allows a company to give individual phone numbers to each person within its PBX system.
DNS | Domain Name System
A naming system for computers, services or other resources connected to the internet. Most often, it translates domain names to numerical IP addresses.
DSL | Digital Subscriber Line
Phone technology that allows a broadband internet digital connection to be carried over ordinary copper phone lines.
DTR | Data Transfer Rate
The speed that data can travel from one device to another. Generally measured in megabits or megabytes per second.
ISDN | Integrated Services Digital Network
A telephone system for digital transmission of voice and data over ordinary telephone copper wires.
ITSP | Internet Telephony Service Provider
A provider that uses your Internet connection to deliver telephone service.
IVR | Interactive Voice Response
Love or hate them, IVRs allow a computer to interact with humans using a telephone keypad or by speech recognition. Companies generally choose IVR systems when they receive large call volumes and need help with call flow.
LAN | Local Area Network
A computer network that links devices in a local area, such as a home, office, or group of buildings.
LNP | Local Number Portability
The ability to keep a phone number when switching to another telephone provider.
NAT | Network Address Translation
A method to use one public IP address to connect to the Internet and a set of local IP addresses to identify each PC or device in the local network.
PBX | Private Brand Exchange
A private telephone switching system used within a company. Users share a number of outside lines for making external phone calls.
POTS | Plain Old Telephone Service
A traditional analog phone line which was standard telephone service from 1876 to 1988.
PSTN | Public Switched Telephone Network
The world’s circuit-switched telephone networks.
RTP | Real Time Transport Protocol
A network protocol for delivering audio and video over IP networks.
SIP | Session Initiation Protocol
A communication protocol for Internet conferencing, telephony, and instant messaging. It is a request-response protocol, dealing with requests from clients and responses from servers.
SIP Trunking | Session Initiation Protocol Trunking
The use of VoIP to facilitate the connection of a PBX to the Internet.
TCP/IP | Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol
A set of rules (protocol) over how information should be packed, sent and received over the internet.
VoIP | Voice over Internet Protocol
The transmission of voice over the Internet as digital packets rather than the traditional analog voice of the PSTN.
WLAN | Wireless Local Area Network
Communication between two or more computers, within a limited area, using radio communication to accomplish the same functionality that a wired LAN has.