Knowledge Base

Below is an alphabetized listing of some common VoIP related acronyms:

ACD
Automatic Call Distributor (ACD): Also known as Automated Call Distribution, is a function that distributes incoming calls to (a specific group of) agents. Using this function, the PBX is able to inform incoming calls about queue statistics such as the average waiting time.

API
Application Programming Interface: An interface provided by a software application to allow communication by other programs. This interface allows for requests for service to be made by other computer programs, and/or to allow data to be exchanged between computer systems.

CDR
Call Detail Records: A Call Detail Record is the computer record produced by a PBX containing details of a call that passed through it.

CPE
Customer Premise Equipment: Any equipment located on the customer's side of a demarcation point (the point that distinguishes where the service provider's equipment ends and where the customer's begins.)

CRM
Customer Relationship Management: The group of systems and practices (methodologies, strategies, software and web-based capabilities) that encompass a business's management of its customers.

CTI
Computer Telephony Integration: Technology that allows interactions on a telephone and a computer to be integrated or coordinated. CTI encompasses all contact channels (voice, email, video, fax etc.)

DID
Direct Inward Dialing: The number assigned to a VoIP user that allows that user to connect to the old PSTN Networks around the world.

DMARC
Demarcation Point: The point that distinguishes where the service provider's equipment ends and where the customer's begins. For practical purposes, this is the point where a telco hands control or responsibility of a line to the customer.

IVR
Interactive Voice Response: A computerized system that allows a person to select an option from a voice menu or otherwise interface with a computer system by speaking.

LSP
Local Service Portal: The LSP is used to manage all aspects of a PBX. Management functions are available depending on the credentials used to login to the PBX. There are three login levels: end-user, local-administrator and administrator.

NAT
Network Address Translation: A process in which the source or destination of an IP packet is re-written as it passes through a firewall or router. This is usually done to allow multiple hosts behind a firewall or router to access the Internet via a single public IP-address

OSS
Operational Support Systems: Applications that report on usage trends for performance evaluation and capacity planning purposes.

POTS
Plain Old Telephone System: Refers to the services available to analog phones prior to the introduction of digital technology.

PSTN
Public Switched Telephone Network: The world's public circuit-switched telephone networks. The PSTN is largely governed by technical standards created by the International Telecommunication Union.

SBC
Session Border Control: A device used in VoIP networks. SBCs are put into the signaling and media path between calling and called party. The SBC acts as if it were the called VoIP phone and places a second call to the called party. This means that both signaling traffic and media traffic (voice, video etc) cross the SBC. With that capability, SBCs can function as firewalls, protocol transcoders, bandwidth managers, etc.

SIP
Session Initiation Protocol: A protocol and standard for initiating, modifying, and terminating a multimedia (voice, video, etc) interactive session. SIP was accepted in 2000 as the 3GPP signaling element and a permanent element of IMS architecture.

SPP
Service Provider Platform: The SPP allows service providers to easily manage all high level aspects of virtual PBX and/or local PBX servers.

UM
Unified Messaging: The integration of email, fax, voice, video, etc. into a single in-box, accessible from a variety of different devices. Unified Messaging generally integrates telephone-based voice mail and is accessible via conventional or cellular phones.

VPN
Virtual Private Network: A private communications network usually used within a company or group of companies to communicate over a public network. VPNs are typically encrypted with various grades of cryptography.

W3C
World Wide Web Consortium: A consortium of member organizations, staff, and the public that aims at developing standards for the World Wide Web.

WSDL
Web Services Description Language: An XML format published for describing web services. Phrased differently, WSDL is an XML format used to allow machine-to-machine interactions over a network.

XML
eXtensible Markup Language: A W3C-recommended general-purpose markup language for creating special-purpose markup languages, capable of describing different types of data. In other words, XML is a method of describing data that is primarily used to facilitate data sharing across different systems. Programs can modify and validate documents based in XML without prior knowledge of their form.