Glossary

A

ACB	Agent Communications Broker—formerly known as the Base Object and Base Services library. Contains the Agent Manager and Monitor (AMM) (formerly APP object) and communicates via the Local Agent Communication Service (formerly SSIO) to agents and inbound and outbound communication managers.
ACD	Automatic Call Distribution—A system for automatically routing multiple calls coming in on a single phone number.
ACDM	Automatic Call Distribution Messaging—When a message is delivered to a subscriber's mailbox from either the primary line or the ACD line, a request is sent out by the system to turn on the message waiting light on the subscribers primary line as well as the subscriber's private ACD phone line.
Administration	Encompasses the various features that can be programmed into a phone system.
Agent	A process that can be a server, a client, or both.
Agent Instance	A single execution of a particular agent. Many agent instances run simultaneously in the network.
AIN	Advanced Intelligent Network—a term promoted by Telcordia (Bellcore) to describe the telephone network. AIN is enabled by the SS7 protocol and is constantly evolving. The network is used to set up and tear down calls, as well as to provide "intelligent services" which affect calls.
A-law	A companding technique commonly used in Europe. A-law is standardized as a 64-kilobit/second codec in ITU-T G.711.
AMIS-A	Audio Messaging Interchange Specification (Analog)—A series of standards to address the problem of networking and inter-networking voice mail systems from different vendors. AMIS-A allows voice mail systems integration.
ANI	Answer Number Indication. The number of the calling party.
API	Application Programming Interface—A library of function calls (subroutines) that allows application developers to access a body of functionality in a uniform and consistent way.
ASR	Automatic Speech Recognition—used to define a method of a computer recognizing human voice patterns that match a specific format or sound. This pattern is then matched against stored vocabularies to determine language pronunciation.

B

Back End Servers

Cisco software interfaces to a suite of third party standards-based servers. This is a collective term for such servers. These servers are shared resources and include:

Directory Servers
Messaging Servers
Paging Servers

Broadcast Messaging

The ability to send messages using dynamically generated broadcast lists.

C

Call Detail Record (CDR)	A term used to describe log records for calling services. This includes such information as where the call originated, what the start time was, to whom the call was made, what time the call ended, etc.
CAS	Channel Associated Signaling. In E1 applications, timeslot 16 is used to transmit CAS information. Each frame's timeslot 16 carries signaling information (ABCD bits) for two of the B channel timeslots. In T1 applications, robbed low order bits from each timeslot form ABCD bits.
Central Message Store	Specialized free-form textual database used by the MTA to store received messages for all users with accounts on that MTA; the MUA retrieves messages from the message store.
CLEC	Competitive Local Exchange Carrier.
CMA	Call/Media Control Agent—also known as the TNT server. Provides call and media services, H.323 and XGCP resource management, call channel resources, run-time control, and asynchronous support. Operates in a scarce resource model.
CO	Central Office—a telephone company facility which connects subscriber lines to the switching equipment.
Codec	Coder-Decoder—transforms analog voice into digital bit stream and vice-versa.
COI	Community of Interest—group of subscribers on a virtual uOne system.
Companding	A contraction for compressing and expanding—the process of compressing the amplitude range of audio samples for economical transmission, then expanding them to original size at the receiving end.
Configuration	A process for setting parameters, attributes, and tunables to ensure the proper operation of hardware and software.
COS	Class of Service—A grouping of otherwise unrelated subscribers that is assigned a defined set of privileges and features.
CPE	Customer Premises Equipment—Terminating equipment—such as terminals, telephones, and modems—supplied by the telephone company or the subscriber, installed at the customer sites, and connected to the telephone company network.

D

DAP	Distributed Agent Platform—the middleware upon which all the agents perform their functions. In a more generic context, it may also refer to the collective platform as well as the gateway, gatekeeper, and back end servers.
DID	Direct Inward Dial—a service of a LEC that provides a block of telephone numbers for calling into a company's PBX. Using DID, a company can offer its customers individual phone numbers for each person or workstation within the company without requiring a physical line into the PBX for each possible connection. In Europe, referred to as DDI.
Directory Server	Stores COS data, subscriber profile data, authentication information, and application specific data. Currently, the LDAP protocol is supported for access to the directory server. See Back End Servers.
DNIS	Dialed Number Identification Service. A feature of 800 and 900 lines that provides the number the caller dialed. DNIS allows one trunk group to service multiple applications, thus requiring fewer phone lines. For example, you could give one 800 number to callers in New York, one to callers in Chicago, and one to callers in LA. With DNIS, one trunk could be used to answer all those calls, playing a different, customized recording for each number called.
DNS	Domain Name Server. A computer that translates domain names into IP addresses.
Domain	A group of nodes managed by a single DNS server.
DS-0	A 64 Kbit/sec full duplex digital channel. A T1 line interface has 24 DS-0s. A DS-0 typically carries a voice call.
DSP	Digital Signal Processor.
DTMF	Dual Tone Multi Frequency. The paired high- and low-frequency tones which make up touch tone dialing

E

E1	Wide-area digital transmission scheme. E1 is the European equivalent of a T1 line. The E1's higher clock rate (2.048 MHz) allows for 32 64 Kbps channels, which include one channel for framing and one channel for either CAS or D-channel information.
E1 R2 CAS	Euro-1 Channel Associated Signaling protocol
E-Mail Client	See MUA.
E-Mail Server	See MTA.
Escalation File	Temporary file that is created when logging cannot proceed normally due to a transient problem.

F

FaxPrint	If fax services are enabled, the FaxPrint application allows subscribers to send fax messages from their mailboxes to a fax machine or a fax mailbox.
FIFO	First-in, first-out. In data communication, FIFO refers to a buffering scheme in which the first byte of data entering the buffer is the first byte retrieved from the buffer. In telephony, FIFO is a queuing scheme in which calls are processed in the order received.
FPIM	Fax Profile for Internet Mail—an Internet protocol used to exchange fax messages between systems of different vendors.
FQDN	Fully Qualified Domain Name —The full name of a system, consisting of its local host name concatenated with its domain name.

G

Gatekeeper	Optional component that acts as a controller for an H.323 zone of devices that use H.323 and are connected via IP. The main control services provided are address translation and bandwidth control.
Gateserver	The server that contains DAP and application agents involved in providing unified messaging service.
Gateway	The component that connects the gateservers and gatekeepers with the PSTN.
GSM	Global System for Mobile Communications—Global standard for digital cellular communications worldwide. Most popular in Europe.

H

H.225.0	Media stream packetization and synchronization for visual telephone on a non-guaranteed quality of service LANs. Defines H.323 call control signaling, RAS, and RTP/RTCP media transfer.
H.245	Conference Control protocol governing operation of an H.323 entity, including capabilities exchange, opening and closing of logical channels, preference requests, flow control messages, and general commands and indications.
H.323	Recommendation from the ITU that sets standards for multimedia communications over IP networks. It also addresses call control, multimedia management, and bandwidth management.
H.450	A series of supplementary services for H.323, including call transfer and call diversion.
Hunt Group	A series of telephone lines organized in such a way that if the first line is busy, the next line in sequence will be accessed. This continues until an available line is found.

I

ILEC	Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier—An ILEC (incumbent local exchange carrier) is a telephone company in the U.S. that was providing local service prior to the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
IMAP	Internet Message Access Protocol—UNIX server protocol allowing users to scan message headers, download selected messages, and administer e-mail folders. See Back End Servers.
ISDN	Integrated Services Digital Network. ISDN is a communications protocol, offered by telephone companies, that permits telephone networks to carry data, voice, and other traffic.
ISP	Internet Service Provider
ITU	International Telecommunications Union—Established by the United Nations, with membership from virtually every world government. Three primary goals are defining and adopting telecommunications standards, regulating use of the radio frequency spectrum, and furthering world-wide telecommunications development.
IVR	Interactive voice response. Consists of applications using voice prompting and digit collection to provide a service.

L

LACS	Local Agent Communication Service—formerly known as SSIO. An internal form of communication that allows ACB components and agents to communicate with each other. The components act as subsystems that pass pre-defined messages through the LACS, which switches and queues messages between the subsystems.
LDAP	Lightweight Directory Access Protocol—a software protocol for enabling clients to locate organizations, individuals, and other resources such as files and devices in a network, whether on the Internet or on a corporate intranet. LDAP is a "lightweight" (smaller amount of code) version of DAP (Directory Access Protocol), which is part of X.500, a standard for directory services in a network.
LEC	Local Exchange Carrier.
LIP	Lightweight Internet Person.
Local Message Store	Used by a MUA program to hold messages for the user(s) of that MUA. Usually organized into folders managed by the user, and typically located (physically) on the computer running the MUA.
LogRemover	An application that periodically purges or moves specified files on the gateservers according to a configurable set of rules.
Logging Subsystem	A part of ACB (the LOGSUB process) that is responsible for log-message disposition processing. The Logging Subsystem handles remote message transmission, message storage, and fault recovery. Messages can be stored in local log files or on a central logging host.

M

Maintenance	The use of various techniques and tools that allow the system to run continuously and efficiently, e.g., LogRemover.
Messaging Server	The storage location for all forms of messages in a uOne system. Currently, the IMAP and SMTP protocols are used by uOne for accessing and sending messages to the messaging server.
MGCP	Media Gateway Control Protocol—Protocol that helps bridge the gap between circuit-switched and IP networks. A combination of Internet Protocol Device Control (IPDC) and Simple Gateway Control Protocol (SGCP). MGCP allows external control and management of data communications devices, or "media gateways" at the edge of multiservice packet networks by media gateway controllers known as call agents.
MIB	Management Information Base—A collection of logical names of information resources residing in a network and pertaining to the network's management.
MIB-II (or MIB-2)	Refers to a broader number of SNMP monitoring objects defined via SNMP within RFC 1213.
MIME	Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions—A set of extensions to the SMTP message syntax (RFC 822) allowing various file types to be attached to text mail. MIME also defines support for a rich text format (NOT Microsoft RTF).
MTA	Message Transfer Agent. The internal component of an e-mail delivery system, responsible for mail collection from and distribution to MUAs, and relay of mail between e-mail post offices. Also called e-mail server.
MUA	Mail User Agent—Primary entry and exit point for an e-mail system. Also called an e-mail client.
Mu-law	The PCM voice coding and companding standard used in Japan and North America. An 8 KHz PCM algorithm yielding a raw 64 Kbps transmission rate.
MWI	Message Waiting Indicator. Indicates that there is a message waiting somewhere for the owner of the phone. The indicator may be a light on the phone or stutter dial tone.
MWI_Notify	An application that receives notification records from MWI_PassOff and sends these records via LACS to MWI_OnOff. See Notification Server.
MWI_OnOff	An application that turns on, but not off, the Message Waiting Indicators (such as MWI lights on a telephone and stutter dial tone) or sends a notification page. (The "Off" is in the name for historical reasons.) See Notification Server.
MWI_PassOff	An application that receives notification records for e-mail, voice, and fax messages from MWI_PlugIn via a FIFO and sends these records to MWI_Notify via a TCP connection.
MWI_PlugIn.so	A library used to create a notification record for each e-mail, voice, or fax message for each recipient of the message, and send the notification records to MWI_PassOff.

N

Network Management Station	A workstation used to monitor a network (typically via SNMP and other management protocols).
Network Protocol	Set of rules defining the syntax and semantics of commands and possible responses exchanged between two or more computers on a network, including the order in which the commands can be specified.
Notification Server	Server which runs the ACB and application agents including MWI_OnOff, MWI_Notify, and/or SMS_Notify.
Notify.so	A library used to send a copy of an e-mail to a notification server (for example, using SMS notification).
NTP	Network Time Protocol. The recommended protocol for synchronizing the time of day on nodes in the uOne network.

O

OAMP

Operations, Administration, Maintenance, and Provisioning.

Operations

In the context of the uOne environment, the ability to install and initially configure software to provide a functional unified messaging system. The installation script and quick configuration are two examples of tools that assist in this process. Maintenance and troubleshooting of the unified messaging system are additional components included in the scope of operations.

P

Paging Server	Routes pages for a subscriber to the appropriate paging service provider so that the subscriber is paged. Cisco currently supports both SMTP paging and the SNPP paging protocol. See uOne Back End Servers Reference Manual.
Parameter	An input which is bound to a value and affects the operation of hardware and software. Certain parameters can affect ACB, all agents, or all agents of a certain type. A parameter often has a default value which can be changed via a parameter setting.
PBX	Private Branch Exchange. Privately owned telephone switch.
Personal Access	Formerly known as SNA. Allows uOne subscribers to have a single personal number for logging into the system as well as for receiving incoming messages.
PMA	Formerly known as SAWI. Personal Messaging Administration. Web interface used by subscribers to administer their own options.
POP3	Post Office Protocol version 3. The most common protocol used by MUAs to retrieve mail from a central message store (messaging server). Most commercial Internet Mail post office products include a POP3 server. IMAP is typically a better choice than POP3 for unified messaging.
POTS	Plain Old Telephone Service. Basic telephone service supplying standard single line telephones, telephone lines, and access to the Public Switched Telephone Network.
PRA	Primary Rate Access. A Canadian term synonymous with ISDN PRI.
PRI	Primary Rate Interface. PRI is an ISDN interface providing primary rate access to the network. Primary rate access consists of a single 64 Kbps D channel plus 23 T1 or 30 E1 B channels for voice or data.
Provisioning	The act of supplying services to and enabling features for a subscriber.
PSTN	Public Switched Telephone Network. PSTN refers to the global telephone network.

Q

Q.931

Call signaling protocol used in ISDN for setup and termination of calls.

Quiesce

To render inactive. Agents must be quiesced before they can be stopped safely.

R

RADIUS	Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service. Protocol for authenticating modem and ISDN connections and for tracking connection time.
RAS	Registration, Admission, and Status. The protocol used between H.323 endpoints and a gatekeeper.
RDNIS	Redirected Dialed Number Identification Service. A number that originates as a DNIS but is redirected in the call process before uOne accepts the call. RDNIS is usually a person's desk phone number and DNIS is typically the uOne system's number.
Resident Subsystems	Critical subsystems of ACB, including: ICM (server) OCM (client) AMM
Robbed Bit Signaling	A form of CAS used in the T1 protocol using A and B bits for passing signaling information in-band to and from each side of the T1, where the bits are taken from the least significant bits of data of each voice channel. Signaling is limited to ringing, hook state, wink, and pulse digit dialing. ISDN offers more rich signaling features, utilizing common channel signaling.
RPC	Remote Procedure Call—An external form of communication that allows a client to invoke a procedure in a server. The RPC programming interface is built into each ACB's OCM and ICM subsystem to provide external communication among DAP hosts.
RSVP	IETF specification that allows applications to request dedicated bandwidth.
RTP/RTCP	Real-time Transport Protocol/Real-time Transport Control Protocol. IETF specification for transporting audio and video streams. Allows applications to synchronize and stream audio and video information. RTP sessions are established between gateservers and gateways across the IP network.
RTSP	Real-time Streaming Protocol. Proposed standard for controlling streaming data over an IP network.

S

S.100	An industry standard architecture and API methodology providing computer telephony functionality.
SAWI	Obsolete term; replaced by PMA.
Scarce Resource Model	An architectural model that embodies efficient utilization of expensive computing resources in a system.
Server	A computer program that provides services to other computer programs in the same computer or in other computers. The computer in which a server program runs is often called a server, even though that computer may contain a number of server and client programs.
SGCP	Signalling Gateway Control Protocol. A UDP based protocol for managing endpoints and connections between endpoints in signaling gateways. The call agent uses SGCP to control the signaling gateways.
SIP	Session Initialization Protocol. Offers many of the same architectural features as H.323, but relies on IP-specific technologies such as DNS. It also incorporates the concept of fixed port numbers for all devices and allows for the use of proxy servers.
SMDI	Simplified Message Desk Interface. An out-of-band communications channel over which voice messaging information is passed from a switch or an adjunct (voice bridge, etc.) to a voice messaging service. Inbound SMDI data includes ANI, RDNIS, and call type (busy, no answer, etc.), whereas outbound SMDI includes Message Waiting Indication (MWI) information. Currently SMDI is dealt within the CMA by an SMSI resource that sends outbound SMDI data over an SMDI link. This link is an RS232 connection on a serial port. Inbound SMDI is not needed because H.225.0 provides such data. SMSI and SMDI are interchangeable terms meeting BellCore specification TR-NWT-000283 (SMDI, Generic Performance Requirements, and Generic Requirements). See SMSI.
SMPP	Short Message Peer-to-Peer. A protocol used widely by wireless providers. This protocol is used as the input method into wireless systems for SMS messages.
SMS	Short Messaging Services. A generic term for a wide array of services which provide "short" text and/or graphical messaging with wireless devices.
SMSI	Simplified Message Station Interface See SMDI.
SMTP	Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. Application-level protocol involved with the transmission and reception of electronic mail. An SMTP server (or daemon) is the software which implements the protocol.
SNMP	Simple Network Management Protocol. The Internet standard protocol developed to manage nodes on an IP network.
SNPP	Simple Network Paging Protocol. The Internet protocol developed to send pages to pagers.
SNR	Single Number Reach. Allows uOne to attempt to connect a caller to a subscriber by calling a configured sequence of phone numbers. This is transparent to the caller.
SS7	Signaling System 7. The protocol used to communicate between components of the AIN. The SS7 protocol is used to set up and tear down phone calls as well as to enable "intelligent" services. The SS7 network is a completely physically separate network from the phone network used to transmit voice data.
Streaming	Playing sound or video in real time as it is downloaded over the Internet as opposed to storing all the media in a local file first and then playing the media.
Switch	Any kind of telephone switching system. A switch is a software-controlled processor complex that interprets dialing pulses, tones, and keyboard characters and makes the proper interconnections within the system and external to the system. A switch provides voice/data communications services, including access to public and private networks, for telephones and data terminals on a customer's premises.

T

T1	Digital WAN carrier facility. T1 transmits DS-1 formatted data at 1.544 Mbps through the telephone-switching network using AMI or B8ZS line coding. T1 is the North American equivalent of an E1 carrier.
TAP/IXO	Telocator Access Protocol. A one-way protocol that allows a paging server to talk to a pool of modems and make a paging request to the paging service provider.
TCL	Tool Command Language. A lightweight, embeddable scripting language.
Telecom Object (TEL)	Obsolete term. See CMA.
TIFF	Tag Image File Format. Internet Fax uses TIFF to encapsulate fax data.
TNPP	Telocator Network Paging Protocol. A protocol used to send paging messages from terminal to terminal on LANs and WANs over a wire circuit.
Token	A string which either resides in a column of a table or is specified as a search value in a column of a table. In a search, the following token matching rule applies: two tokens match if, once the search token string is truncated to the same length as the table token string, the resulting strings are identical.
Trap	A mechanism that is part of the SNMP which allows an SNMP agent to send alarms automatically for certain events to an SNMP manager. For instance, a trap is commonly sent when a uOne process terminates unexpectedly.
TTS	Text-to-speech. Term used to describe the conversion of text strings into human sounding wave-forms to be delivered for consumption by the human ear.

U

UMAWI	Obsolete term. See UMSA.
UMSA	Unified Messaging System Administration. A PC Web-based tool for maintaining subscriber and administrative account information.
uOne	Cisco's unified messaging system. Formerly known as UM Plus and Unified Messaging Plus.
URL	Uniform Resource Locator. An identifier used to locate content in the IP network.

V

VPIM

Voice Profile for Internet Mail. A protocol used to exchange voice and fax messages between systems of different vendors using Internet (RFC 822) e-mail and MIME.

X

XGCP

X Gateway Control Protocol where X is either S for signaling or M for media. See MGCP and SGCP .

Table of Contents

Glossary