BYY

Backplane
A backplane is the "motherboard" of a device that provides the device's basic functionality. The backplane's design determines the basic features of a hub, switch, bridge, or router. Modules plug into the backplane to provide port interfaces or additional features. If the backplane architecture is Ethernet, Token Ring, or FDDI, it is called a shared-bus backplane because these architectures are all shared-media protocols.

Backbone
The term backbone refers to the central point of connectivity in a network. A backbone may be a piece of cable or a device such as a hub, router, or switch.

Backbone Provider
This is an organization that provides high-speed backbone service to large autonomous systems and ISPs.

Balanced Cable
Balanced cable is twisted pair cable that is attached to an electronic circuit that evens out the electronic characteristics of both wires. Unbalanced wires can create noise that interferes with transmission.

Braille
Braille is a system of printing for the blind, in which raised dots represent letters and numerals; a blind person reads by touching the dots. Computer Braille display devices use both electronic and mechanical systems to present onscreen text as horizontal rows of Braille dots.

Bandwidth
The total information-carrying capacity of a network or transmission channel is referred to as bandwidth. Bandwidth is the difference between the highest and lowest frequencies that can be transmitted across a transmission line or through a network. It is measured in hertz (Hz) for analog networks and bits per second (bps) for digital networks.

Baseband
A type of communication signal where the entire media are used to carry a single signal representing information.

Baseline
Baselining is determining the capacity and standard operating efficiency of a network. The purpose of baselining a network is to determine and document the performance for the network. Baselining identifies long-term trends in network operations and their impact on network performance. Baselining is also referred to as benchmarking.

Bindery
Bindery is a Novell NetWare (version 3.x) database that contains definitions for users, groups, and workgroups. It contains three components: objects, properties, and property data sets. Objects include logical and physical entities such as users, servers, and printers. Properties are characteristics of each object, and contain information such as addresses, rights, and passwords. Property data sets are the values assigned to the properties.

Border Gateway Protocol (BGP)
BGP is an interautonomous system routing protocol. The primary function of a BGP-speaking system is to exchange network reachability information with other BGP systems.

Brick-and-Mortar
The term brick-and-mortar refers to a physical business location, such as a traditional storefront. It also refers to the physical component, such as the shipping operation, of an online store.

Bridge
A bridge is a device that operates at the Data Link Layer of the OSI model. A bridge can connect several LANs or LAN segments. It can connect LANs of the same media access type such as two Token Ring segments, or different LANs such as Ethernet and Token Ring.

Broadband
A type of communication signal where the media can carry multiple signals representing information.

Broadcast
Broadcast is a frame addressed to all nodes.

Broadcast and Unknown Server (BUS)
BUS is a process residing in an ATM system that is a member of an emulated LAN, or LANE service. The BUS emulates the broadcast capa­bility of an 802x LAN by taking data containing multicast MAC addresses, then unicasting the data to each LE client in the same emulated LAN. The BUS also resolves MAC addresses to ATM addresses if an LE client cannot.

Broadcast Containment
The practice of creating separate broadcast domains by segmenting a network at Layer 2 or 3 is referred to as broadcast containment.

Broadcast Domain
Broadcast domain is the area of a network that receives broadcast packets. Routers, Layer 3 switches, and VLANs create network segments that are separate broadcast domains, because they do not forward broadcast packets from one segment to another.

Broadcast Frames
Broadcast frames are frames sent simultaneously to all users on a given network. The address in a broadcast frame is a special number that notifies all network devices they are to receive the frame.

Broadcast Storm
Broadcast domain is the area of a network through which broadcast packets will be forwarded. Routers, Layer 3 switches, and VLANs create network segments that are separate broadcast domains, because they do not forward broadcast packets from one segment to another.

Broadcast Traffic
This type of traffic consists of frames addressed to "all computers" (using a special destination MAC address of all 1s).

Brute-Force Attack
A brute-force attack is a security attack that tries to break a code by simply testing each possibility until it finds the right one.

Bus
There are many types of buses, including internal buses, external buses, and Network Design (LANs) that operate on bus topologies. Internal buses are buses within a PC that connect the central processor with the video controller, disk controller, hard drives, and memory.

Bursty
A network traffic pattern in which a lot of data is transmitted in short bursts at random intervals is referred to as bursty.

BusBusiness Model, Revenue Model, Profit Model
These closely related terms (often used interchangeably) generally describe what a business does and how it earns money. "Business model" generally describes what a business offers to the customer, such as retailing, information, entertainment, or services. "Revenue model" or "profit model" more closely describe how a business generates income. For example, common revenue models include direct sales, advertising-supported sales, and subscription-supported sales.

Business to Business (B2B)
B2B is a business that sells to other businesses, not to consumers.

Business to Consumer (B2C)
B2C is a retail business that sells directly to consumers.

Buy-Side
Buy-side refers to an e-commerce site that builds orders for corporate procurement.