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Appendix A

Glossary

Application Programming Interface; a library of function calls that allow an application developer to access functionality in a uniform and consistent way.

American Standard Code for Information Interchange; a standard used for numeric representation of alphanumeric characters.

Communications Processor

Communication Processor; a separate processing engine that offloads processing from the main CPU of a system to another CPU that is specialized for a certian task. For TX hardware environments, the CP allows the system to offload Communications/Protocol processing onto the TX board.

A host-based utility that provides a user interface to the KERNEL. This utility presents a line-oriented operator console to any CP. See also CP, KERNEL.

Utility program which downloads the executable code and configuration data onto the TX board.

Software which translates the application commands into the code required by the device.

Dynamic Link Library; a library of software object modules that can be loaded and accessed on demand.

A local area network hardware, communication, and cabling standard. Ethernet is synonymous with 10Base-T.

The PC on which an application runs. Also used to designate a computer with full two-way access to a network such as local area network or the Internet.

See inter-board communication (IBC) link.

inter-board communication (IBC) link

A dedicated Ethernet link that connects a mated pair of boards. The IBC link allows the boards to exchange signaling messages and state information. See also Ethernet, mated pair.

International Telecommunications Union

Internet Protocol; part of the TCP/IP family of protocols, it describes software that tracks the Internet address of nodes, routes outgoing messages, and recognizes incoming messages.

Internet Protocol address; a unique 32-bit number that identifies a specific TCP/IP host on the Internet, normally expressed as four bytes in decimal format (for example, 128.122.40.227). Every machine that is on the Internet has an IP address.

International Telecommunications Union; an international standards body for telecommunications.

The operating system loaded onto a Communications Processor on a TX board.

Management API; an API that enables an application to perform management operations on an SS7 task. A MAPI generally allows status, statistics, and control operations.

A pair of signaling boards deployed in a redundant signaling configuration.

Natural MicroSystems Corporation.

A point of connection into a network.

Nippon Telephone and Telegraph; The major Japanese local and long-distance telephone company.

The provisioning of extra or spare signaling links, boards, or nodes which can take over the responsibilities of similar components in the case of a failure or maintenance outage. The redundant components may be deployed in an active load-sharing arrangement (such as signaling links) or in a spare, or standby, arrangement. See also SS7.

A bit mask that specifies a subset of a destination point code to be matched against the routing table when seeking a route for either an inbound or outbound message.

Signaling System 7; an out-of-band signaling system that provides fast call setup (using circuit-switched connections) and transaction capabilities for remote database interactions.

In the health management environment, a non-redundant single board configuration.

A sub-identifier for a signaling point, supported by the SCCP protocol. An application using the SCCP service can register to receive messages sent only to a particular SCCP subsystem at their point code. Several applications can make simultaneous use of the SCCP data "pipe."

A software operation taking place on a board rather than on the PC host.

Natural MicroSystems' product line of telephony and signaling hardware/software.

A utility that collects and displays alarm messages from all tasks on a TX board.

A utility that coordinates with the Health Management Interface (HMI) to support all features of the Health Management functionality.

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