T

T for Telecom

abbreviation / acronyms	term	definition
T1		This is a data transfer system that transfers digital signals at 1.544 megabits per second (quite a bit faster than a 56K modem, which maxes out at around 0.056 Mbps).
T2		One of several types of digital voice lines defined in the U.S. T-carrier system. A T2 line has a transmission capacity of up to 6.312 megabits per second.
T2L	TRANSISTOR-TRANSISTOR LOGIC	A logic gate family that provides higher-speed and higher-power than the obsolete DTL logic family.
T3		A T3 line actually 30 times faster, supporting data transfer rates of 44.736 megabits per second.
T4		A communications line capable of carrying digitized voice signals at up to 274.176 megabits per second, as defined in the T-carrier system
T5		240 T1 lines, which can carry 5760 voice channels or up to 400.352Mbps worth of data.
t-commerce	television commerce	interactive TV capabilitu, including VOD movie rentals and games
TACACS	Terminal Access Controller Access Control System	Developed by Cisco Systems, it is standard security protocol used in authenticating the identity of a computer or device seeking remote access to privileged data (such as that behind a firewall).
TAE	text analysis engine	A software component that is responsible for discovering and representing context and semantic content in text.
TAO	Track at Once	A method of writing data to a CD-R or CD-RW disc on a track by track basis. Recording can be paused between writing tracks, unlike Disc at Once, which requires an uninterrupted full-disc recording.
TAPI	Telephony Application Programming Interface	A number of IT companies, led by Microsoft and Intel, have collaborated to design a common Windows graphical user interface for telephony and a Telephony Application Programming Interface (TAPI).
tar	Tape ARchive	A compression format commonly used in the transfer and storage of files on UNIX computers (.tar).
TAXI	Transparent Asynchronous Transmitter/Receiver Interface	Encoding scheme used for FDDI LANs as well as for ATM. Supports speeds of up to 100 Mbps over multimode fiber. TAXI is the chipset that generates 4B/5B encoding on multimode fiber.
Tb	terabit	For processor storage, real and virtual storage, and channel volume, 2 to the power of 40 or 1 099 511 627 776 bits. For disk storage capacity and communications volume, 1 000 000 000 000 bits.
TB	TeraByte	1024 gigabytes, 1,099,511,627,776 bytes
Tbps	terabits per second	A trillion bits per second.
TBR	Technology Business Research	specializes in providing in-depth and timely insights within the computer, software, telecom, mobility, and professional services industries. http://tbri.com/
TCA	Transaction Cost Analysis	Methodology that can be used to measure the cost of individual shopper operations such as registering, browsing, searching a catalog, adding an item to a shopping cart, checking out, and so on
TCAP	Transaction Capabilities Application Part	from ITU-T recommendations Q.771-Q.775 or ANSI T1.114 is a protocol for SS 7 networks.
TCB	trusted computing base	everything in a computing system that provides a secure environment. This includes the operating system and its provided security mechanisms, hardware, physical locations, network hardware and software, and prescribed procedures.
TCG	Trusted Computing Group	Group that develops and promotes open, vendor-neutral, industry standard specifications for trusted computing building blocks and software interfaces across multiple platforms. See also https://www.trustedcomputinggroup.org/
tcl	Tool Command Language	portable interpreted computer language designed to be easy to use.
TCQ	Tagged Command Queuing	SCSI feature to allow multiple I/O requests
TCO	total cost of ownership	the complete cost of owning and using a machine during its useful life, including not only the cost of the machine itself, but also maintenance, repairs, and consumable supplies such as ink and paper.
TCS	Tata Consultancy Services Telecommunications Systems	Inida-based IT services, business solutions, and outsourcing company. www.tcs.com wireless communications provider in U.S. http://www.telecomsys.com
TCP	Test Coordination Procedure Transmission Control Protocol	Set of rules to coordinate test process between lower tester and upper tester. Enables lower tester to control operation of upper tester. May, or may not, be specified in abstract test suite. A connection-oriented protocol that transmits data in byte streams. Data is transmitted in packets called TCP segments, which contain TCP headers and data.
TCP/IP	Transmission Control/Internet Protocol	This is used for communications across interconnected networks and is being increasingly deployed to connect diverse computer architectures and platforms, both between enterprises and within enterprises. TCP operates at Layer 4 (the transport layer) of the OSI stack. IP operates at Layer 3 (the network layer) of the OSI stack.
TCU	transmission control unit	A communication control unit whose operations are controlled solely by programmed instructions from the computing system to which the unit is attached.
TD-SCDMA	Time division-synchronous code division multiple access	China's home-grown 3G standard for cellular networks.
TDC A/S	Tele-Denmark Communications	former telecom monopoly in Denmark. It is now privatized. Thus, it is the biggest company in all aspects of telecommunication in Denmark with landline, mobile, Internet, VHF maritime borderline-radio etc.
TDD/TTY	Tone Dialing for the Deaf/Teletype	a method by which the hearing impaired can type messages over normal phone lines using special equipment. Many ISPs have a TDD/TTY for technical support.
TDDM	target distributed data manager	In a distributed data management network, programming support that translates the DDM requests received from a source system into data management or SQL requests on the target (or remote) system.
TDK	Tokyo Denki Kagaku	English: Tokyo Electric and Chemicals. a Japanese company which manufactures electronic materials, electronic components, and recording and data-storage media http://www.tdk.com/
TDL	time differential linking	software detecting account takeovers, new account fraud and e-commerce fraud
TDM	time division multiplexing	a data, voice and video communications technique that multiplexes several low-speed signals into one high-speed transmission channel by allocating brief, interleaved time periods to each signal.
TDR	Time Domain Reflectometry	used to pinpoint flaws and problems in underground and aerial wire, cabling, and fiber optics.
TE	Traffic Engineering	TE is Cisco MPLS term
TEC	Tivoli Enterprise Console Thermoelectric Cooler	An IBM system and network monitoring product. TEC collects event information from a variety of system and application resources, correlates the information to determine detect problems and performs automated problem resolution. Thermoelectric Cooler
TED	Technology Entertainment and Design Tiered Electronic Distribution Torrent Episode Downloader Tunnel Endpoint Discovery	TED is a global set of conferences owned by the private non-profit Sapling Foundation, formed to disseminate "ideas worth spreading." http://www.ted.com/ TED is Novell ZENWorks term TED stands for Torrent Episode Downloader http://www.ted.nu/ TED is Cisco term
TEHO	tail end hop off	Call in a private network which is carried over flat rate facilities (intermachine trunks or IMTs) to the switching node closest to its destination and is connected into the public network as a local call.
TEI	Total Economic Impact	forrester term, a highly customized methodology that helps IT professionals make better, more cost-effective decisions regarding the selection of technology vendors. http://www.forrester.com/TEI
Telco	telephone company	It generally refers to the local-exchange carrier (LEC)
telematics	telecommunications and informatics	the broad industry related to using computers in concert with telecommunications systems. This includes dial-up service to the Internet as well as all types of networks that rely on a telecommunications system to transport data.
telephony	Telephone technology	The conversion of sound into electrical signals, its transmission to another location, and its reconversion to sound, with or without the use of connecting wires.
Telnet	telephone network protocol	The command and program used to login from one Internet siteto another. The telnet command/program gets you to the login: prompt of another host.
TEM	telephone expense management	TEM tools facilitate the control of acquisition, operation and support of corporate telecom assets and network services. The coverage typically includes voice and data communications as well as cell phones.
TERM	technology-enabled relationship management	The concept of forming one enterprisewide view of the customer across all customer contact channels. It is a complex area, requiring complex solutions to problems of integration, data flow, data access and marketing strategy.
TESS	Transaction Events and Statistics Server	CA APM software
TETRA	Terrestrial Trunked Radio	a set of standards developed by the ETSI that describes a common mobile radio communications infrastructure throughout Europe.
texel	Texture Element	The smallest element of a textured 3D surface. Pixels make up 2D surfaces, but texels make up the surfaces that cover textured 3D objects.
TFRC	TCP-Friendly Rate Control	a congestion control mechanism designed for unicast flows operating in an Internet environment and competing with TCP traffic.
TFS	Team Foundation Server Three Finger Salute	Productive and effective solution for managing change across organizations of all sizes. It enables you to securely manage all project artifacts and source code in one repository Refers to the Control-Alt-Delete key combination used to reboot older versions of Windows and DOS or to bring up the task manager in newer versions.
TFT	Thin Film Transistor	These transistors are used in high-quality flat panel liquid-crystal displays (LCDs). TFT-based displays have a transistor for each pixel on the screen.
TFTP	Trivial File Transfer Protocol	a set of conventions that transfers files between hosts using minimal protocol.
TGT	ticket-granting ticket	A ticket that a principal passes to the ticket-granting server when a service ticket is requested. A ticket that allows access to the ticket granting service on the key distribution center (KDC).
TiB	tebibyte	1,099,511,627,776 bytes. 1024 gibibytes
TI	Texas Instruments	a manufacturer of semiconductors and computers, headquartered in Dallas, Texas. Jack S. Kilby developed the first working integrated circuit (“silicon chip”) at TI in 1958, making it possible to miniaturize electronic equipment to a degree far beyond earlier expectations
TIES	time independent escape sequence	provides a means to switch between command mode and data mode on an analog modem. TIES is an alternate method to the Heatherington escape sequence. TIES was developed by a group of modem manufacturers in 1991.
TIFF	Tag Image File Format	A de facto standard format for bit-mapped image files.
TIP	Telepresence Interoperability Protocol	Cisco-developed, mechanism to deal with multiscreen environments
TISPAN	Telecoms & Internet Converged Services & Protocols for Advanced Networks	TISPAN is a standardization body of ETSI, specializing in fixed networks and Internet convergence.
TKIP	Temporal Key Integrity Protocol	A data encryption technology.
TLB	translation lookaside buffer	The translation lookaside buffer or address translation cache is small piece of associative memory(1) within a processor which caches part of the translation from virtual addresses to physical addresses.
TLD	Top Level Domain	The last (right-hand) part of a complete Domain Name. There are a large number of TLD's, e.g. .biz, .com, .edu, .gov, .info, .int, .mil, .net, .org, and a collection of two-letter TLD's corresponding to the standard two-letter country codes, e.g., .us, .ca, .jp, etc.
TLI	Transport Layer Interface	An interface that is to supersede the socket-based interprocess communications mechanisms as the way to access transport services. Modeled after the industry standard ISO Transport Service Definition
TLL	Task Library Language	In IBM Tivoli environment, a programming language used to define a task library.
TLM	Transportation Lifecycle Management	Manhattan Associates' TMS product that is capable of handling many of the needs of users with complex transportation requirements
TLP	Transactional Licensing Program	Adobe Open Options makes it easy for organizations of all sizes to get the benefits of volume ordering through the TLP
TLS	Transport Layer Security	A protocol designed to secure the privacy of communications over the Internet. It is defined in request for comment 2246 from the Internet Engineering Task Force.
TOA	time of arrival	A technique that uses to triangulation to determine the geographic position of mobile devices, such as cell phones. The position is determined by comparing the different times that a signal broadcast by the device arrives at various sites
TMHES	Trend Micro Hosted Email Security	Trend Micro e-mail security SaaS offering
TMP file	temporary file	Temporary files are generated by applications and should be deleted automatically by the application that created them when they are no longer required - unfortunately this frequently does not happen so temporary files can tend to build up over time.
TMRS	traffic measurement and recording systems	A computer-generated report with usage information of telephone systems; usually includes trunk utilization, outages, queuing time and the need for additional common equipment.
TMS	Threat Management System transportation management system	Symantec™ DeepSight™ TMS provides actionable intelligence covering the complete threat lifecycle, from initial vulnerability to active attack. https://tms.symantec.com/ transportation management system
TNC	Trusted Network Connect	an open architecture for NAC
TNEF	Transport Neutral Encapsulation Format	Format for converting a set of MAPI properties into a serial data stream. Primarily used by transport providers that need to encode MAPI message properties for transmission through a messaging system that does not support those properties directly
TNS	Transaction Network Services	leading global provider of data communications and interoperability solutions. http://www.tnsi.com/
TOD	Tool on Demand time-of-day	feature of some versions of the AOL software allows us to update portions of the client software on your computer without you having to upgrade to a completely new version. A timing device that counts units of time based on the starting point of 00 hours, 00 minutes, and 00 seconds on January 1, 1900.
TOE	TCP/IP Offload Engine	a technology used in NICs to offload processing of the TCP/IP stack to the network controller.
ToS	Type Of Service	A field within an IP header which can be used by the device originating the packet, or by an intermediate networking device, to signal a request for a specific QoS level
TOSLink	Toshiba Link	A standard optical connection for digital audio.
TPF	Transaction Processing Facility	A high-availability IBM system designed to support transaction-driven applications.
TP-MIC	Twisted-Pair Media Interface Connector	Connector jack at end user or network equipment that receives twisted pair plug.
TPM	Transactions Per Minute Trusted Platform Module	The amount of database transactions a server can do in a minute’s time. This method of measurement is often used to compare high-powered database servers with multiple processors. A component on the PC motherboard that is specifically designed to enhance platform security above-and-beyond the capabilities of today’s software.
TPMs	transaction processing monitors	enterprise application platforms
TPS	transactions per second Transaction Process System	a measurement used to determine how many transactions have been processed in one second in transaction-oriented systems. a type of IS that collects, stores, modifies and retrieves transaction of an organization.
TPV	Third Party Vendor	supplier that provides services to the primary service provider that has signed the large projects management or outsourcing agreement with the client.
TR	Terminal Ready	This light is illuminated when your computer has turned on the RS-232 (serial) interface. Sometimes this light will not come on until you have loaded your communications software into memory.
tracert	traceroute	Traceroute is a tool the maps the route a packet takes from the local machine to a remote destination.
Transceiver	Transmitter/Receiver	A Device that receives and sends signals over a medium. In networks, it is generally used to allow for the connection between two different types of cable connectors, such as AUI and RJ-45.
TRIP	Telephony Routing over Internet Protocol Token Ring Interface Processor	Discovery and exchange of IP telephony gateway routing tables between providers High-speed interface processor on the Cisco 7000 series routers. The TRIP provides two or four Token Ring ports for interconnection with IEEE 802.5 and IBM Token Ring media with ports independently set to speeds of either 4 or 16 Mbps.
Triple DES / TDES	Triple Data Encryption Standard	A variant of Data Encryption Standard (DES). It uses three different DES keys, in sequence, to encrypt a file
TRM	Teradata Relationship Manager	Teradata MCCM product
TRS	Tip, Ring, Sleeve (cable)	An analog cable used to connect audio devices. It typically comes in 1/4″ and 1/8″ diameters.
TRUE	task-related user exit	A user exit program that is associated with specified events in a particular task, rather than with every occurrence of a particular event in CICS processing
TS	Terminal Server / Services	(Microsoft Windows) Terminal Server.
TS-CAL	Terminal Services—Client Access License	a license allowing more than the minimum number of users to access a Windows server through REMOTE DESKTOP.
TSF	Text Services Framework	Simple and scalable framework that enables advanced text input and natural language technologies for applications
TSIG	Transaction Signature	a computer networking protocol used by the DNS as a way to authenticate updates to a dynamic DNS database.
TSM	Tivoli Storage Manager trusted service manager	Protects data from hardware failures and other errors by storing backup and archive copies of data on offline storage a new role introduced in the value chain to provide a single point of contact for all service providers wanting to put their applications onto NFC phones. The TSM would have a master key to the secure element and would manage the secure downloads.
TSN	The Sierra Network	also called ImagiNation Network (INN), an early online multiplayer gaming system. Developed by Sierra On-Line in 1989, and first available to the public in 1991.
TSO	Time Sharing Option	Multitasking system for IBM MVS operating system
TSOP	Thin Small Outline Package	One of several packaging options for AMD flash devices.
TSR	Terminate and Stay Resident	program usually loaded automatically on startup, which remains in memory to provide particular functions such as connection to a network or protection against viruses.
TSRM	Tivoli Service Request Manager	IBM's IT service desk product
TSV	Tab Separated Value (file)	a plain-text file that includes lines of fields (strings of characters) that are separated from each other by single tab stops.
TTP	trusted third party	A trusted entity that vouches for the identity of the sender or receiver of information in a security system. In PKI security, the role of trusted third party is played by a certification authority
TTL	Time To Live	used when a "ping," or a request for a response, is sent to another computer, such as a server. The TTL represents the number of hops, or servers in different locations, the request can travel to before returning a failed attempt message. The time interval in seconds that an entry can exist in the cache before the name server discards it.
TTL	Transistor Transistor Logic	A specific method of wiring a digital circuit using bipolar transistors.
TTS	Text-To-Speech	A term used in voice processing. The computer "reads" the text out aloud. The technology is used extensively for blind people.
TTY	TeleTypewriter	This term refers to a means of sending data one character at a time. The TTY interface is often used by dumb terminals to communicate with mainframes.
TUCOWS	The Ultimate Collection of Winsock Software	well known for its popular website directory of shareware, freeware, and demo software packages available to download. http://www.tucows.com/
TUP	Telephone User Part	provides conventional PSTN telephony services across the SS7 network. TUP was the first layer 4 protocol defined by the standards bodies and as such did not provision for ISDN services.
TUR	trunk utilization report	A computer printout detailing the traffic on a trunk.
TVO	total value of opportunity	A Gartner-developed model that brings a number of factors together to derive the business value of IT investments, thereby providing a basis for IT decision making.
TVT	ThinkVantage Technology	Lenovo branding for proprietary software.
TWA	transaction work area	a work area for a given task.
TWAIN	technology without an interesting name	a protocol for delivering graphical images from a scanning or imaging device to application software. see www.twain.org
TWX	Teletypewriter Exchange Service	A data communications service provided by the AT&T Corporation using teletypewriter stations connected to phone lines, for access to other TWX stations. TWX supports both ASCII and Baudot coded machines.
TX	Transmit / Transmission	The act of uploading or sending data.
TXT	Trusted eXecution Technology	Hardware extension to some of Intel's microprocessors and respective chipsets, intended to provide users and organizations (governments, enterprises, etc.) with a higher level of trust while accessing, modifying or creating sensitive data and code
TXT record	Text record	A DNS record type that stores a text string for a response to a DNS query.
	Tablet PCs	Tablet PCs were brought to market to address the low use of laptop computers in meetings and the slowing of laptop adoption in the enterprise. They are designed to be closer to the pad and pencil that are the standard for note taking.
	tag	In Web pages, tags indicate what should be displayed on the screen when the page loads.
	tagged	Tagged is a social networking site based in San Francisco, California, United States, founded in 2004. http://www.tagged.com/
	Tandems	Switches that consolidate traffic, reduce trunk group requirements, and switch interoffice traffic.
	Tangible User Interfaces	the user controls digital information and processes by manipulating physical, real-world objects that are meaningful in the context of the interaction.
	Telematics	Blend of telecommunications and informatics (another term for IT). This area of research studies the interrelationships between different communications engineering fields
	term license	A type of software agreement wherein the customer pays maintenance fees for use of the software over a specified term and, unless the license is renewed, has no right to use the software after the term expires.
	terminal	Simple device at which data can be entered or retrieved from a network. Generally, terminals have a monitor and a keyboard, but no processor or local disk drive.
	tethering	enables your cellular telephone or similar Internet-enabled mobile device to connect other devices such as netbooks, laptops or PDAs to the Internet. Mobile phones that offer tethering typically connect to other devices via Bluetooth or a USB cable in order to provide them with Internet access.
	Thick (or fat) client	Thick clients, also called heavy clients, are full-featured computers that are connected to a network.
	Thin Client	A type of client/server computing where applications are run, and data is stored, on the server rather than on the client. Because the applications are executed on the server, they do not require client-resident installation, although the GUI and some application logic may be rendered to the client.
	thread	In Mach, the unit of CPU utilization. A thread consists of a program counter, a set of registers, and a stack pointer.
	Throughput	The volume of work or information flowing through a system. In data communications, the total traffic between stations over a period of time. A measure of the amount of information transmitted over a network in a given period of time.
	timeout	Event that occurs when one network device expects to hear from another network device within a specified period of time, but does not. The resulting timeout usually results in a retransmission of information or the dissolving of the session between the two devices.
	token	Frame that contains control information. Possession of the token allows a network device to transmit data onto the network. The basic syntactic unit of a computing language. The basic textual units that are indexed by enterprise search.
	Torrent	A method of making data available for download over the internet, where the recipient of data is expected to make the data available to others for download from their PC, rather than all users downloading from a central server.
	traceroute	Program available on many systems that traces the path a packet takes to a desti- nation. It is used mostly to debug routing problems between hosts. A traceroute protocol is also defined in RFC 1393.
	traffic	The messages or calls that flow through the circuits or equipment on a communications network. The four Switched Access capacity traffic types are originating, terminating, voice data and SwitchNet 56.
	tree	A hierarchical collection of nodes that can have an arbitrary number of references to other nodes. A data structure whose elements are linked in a hierarchical fashion.
	Triple Play	The combined offering of voice, video, and data over one line.
	Trojan Horse	A computer program is either hidden inside another program or that masquerades as something it is not in order to trick potential users into running it. The term "Trojan Horse" comes from a possibly mythical ruse of war used by the Greeks sometime between 1500 and 1200 B.C.
	TrueType	A technology for outline fonts that is built into all Windows and Macintosh operating systems. Outline fonts are scalable enabling a display device to generate a character at any size based on a geometrical description.
	trunk	A line which runs between two switches or swiching systems which are generally found in Central Offices and/or PBXs. Individual channels or circuits that can be grouped. This is the smallest denominator for a network facility.
	tunnel / tunneling	A communication channel created in a computer network by encapsulating a communication protocol's data packets in (on top of) a second protocol that normally would be carried above, or at the same layer as, the first one.
	Tunnel Broker	In computer networking terminology, a tunnel broker is the phrase used to describe a service that provides a network tunnel.
	Tweak	When you modify a certain piece of hardware for better performance, it is often referred to as "tweaking" it.
	Twisted Pair	Two copper wires twisted to cancel their own radio frequency interference to reduce noise on the circuit.