3Ware 2000 Annual Report Download - page 12

10 2000
AMCC
ADM (ADD/DROP MULTIPLEXER) A SONET/SDH term for a
device that can either insert or drop DS-1, DS-2 and DS-3
channels or SONET signals into/from a SONET bit stream.
ATM (ASYNCHRONOUS TRANSFER MODE) Very high-speed
transmission technology. ATM is a high-bandwidth, low-
delay, connection-oriented, packet-like switching and multi-
plexing technique.
ATE (AUTOMATED TEST EQUIPMENT) Equipment that is used
for the comprehensive testing of ICs, printed circuit boards
and electronic systems. Generally, ATE equipment requires
ICs that operate at faster speeds and have more precise
timing than the ICs being tested.
BICMOS A process that combines the speed of bipolar tech-
nology with the low power capability of CMOS technology.
BIPOLAR A process technology that employs silicon as the
substrate upon which to fabricate circuits. The circuits are
based on fast-switching bipolar transistor structures.
CMOS (COMPLEMENTARY METAL OXIDE SEMICONDUCTOR)
A process technology that employs silicon as the substrate
upon which to fabricate circuits. The CMOS integrated cir-
cuit design is based on MOS Field Effect Transistor (FET)
structures. CMOS technology offers low power consump-
tion and small component dimensions.
DATA COMMUNICATIONS The transfer of encoded informa-
tion over electrical or optical transmission systems
between points.
DWDM (DENSE WAVELENGTH DIVISION MULTIPLEXING)
A high-speed means of increasing the capacity of SONET
fiber-optic transmission systems through the multiplexing of
multiple wavelengths of light.
DS (DIGITAL SERVICE)A hierarchy of digital signal speeds
used to classify the capacities of lines and trunks. The fun-
damental speed level is DS-0 (64 kilobits per second) and
the highest is DS-4 (about 274 million bits per second).
FIBRE CHANNEL A set of standards developed by ANSI
(American National Standards Institute). Fibre Channel pro-
vides a practical and inexpensive means of rapidly transfer-
ring data between workstations, mainframes, supercomput-
ers, desktop computers, storage devices, displays and
other peripherals.
FRAMER A device that adjusts the timing of the receiver com-
ponent to coincide with that of the receiving framing signals.
GIGABIT ETHERNET A local area network standard used for
connecting computers, printers, workstations, terminals,
servers, etc. within the same building or campus. Gigabit
Ethernet operates over coaxial and fiber optic cable at
speeds of 1.25 Gbps.
Gbps Gigabits per second.
MAPPER A device that assigns a logical association of one
set of values, such as addresses on one network, with
quantities or values of another set, such as devices on
another network.
G LOSSARY
MIXED-SIGNAL IC Monolithic ICs that contain both digital and
analog circuitry.
OC-3,-12,-48,-192 (OPTICAL CARRIER LEVEL-3,-12,
-48,-192) A SONET optical signal. SONET data rates of
155 Mbps, 622 Mbps, 2.5 Gbps and 9.6 Gbps, respectively.
PHY PHYsical, as in physical specifications. OSI Physical
Layer: The physical layer provides for transmission of cells
over a physical medium connecting two ATM devices. This
layer is comprised of two sublayers: PMD (see below) and
TC (Transmission Convergence).
PMD (PHYSICAL MEDIA DEPENDENT)The sublayer defining
the parameters at the lowest level, such as speed of the
bits on the media.
RAID (REDUNDANT ARRAY OF INEXPENSIVE DISKS) Several
disk drives placed in a single housing. Data can be written
over the disk drives in such a way that if one or more of the
drives is lost, all data will be retained.
SILICON Traditional semiconducting material used for
fabricating ICs.
SiGe(SILICON GERMANIUM) A process technology that
employs a Germanium-doped silicon substrate upon which
to fabricate circuits. This enables much higher data rates
than are possible with traditional silicon processes.
SAN (STORAGE AREA NETWORK) A short-distance data com-
munications network used to link elements within a storage
environment.
SDH (SYNCHRONOUS DIGITAL HIERARCHY)A set of standard
fiber optic–based serial standards very similar to SONET used
throughout the world except in North America and Japan.
SONET (SYNCHRONOUS OPTICAL NETWORK) SONET is an
optical interface standard used in North America and Japan
that allows interoperability of transmission products from
multiple vendors very similar to SDH. The standard speci-
fies a family of fiber-optic transmission rates from 52 Mbps
to 10 Gbps, created to provide the flexibility needed to
transport many digital signals with different capacities and
to provide a design standard for manufacturers.
STS (SYNCHRONOUS TRANSPORT SIGNAL) The electrical
equivalent of SONET OC level. The signal begins as electri-
cal and is converted into optical prior to presentation to the
fiber optic medium.
TELECOMMUNICATIONS The transmission, reception and the
switching of signals, such as electrical or optical, by wire,
fiber or electromagnetic means.
TDM (TIME DIVISION MULTIPLEX) A technique for transmit-
ting a number of separate data, voice and/or video signals
simultaneously over one communications medium by quick-
ly interleaving a piece of each signal one after another.
WDM (WAVELENGTH DIVISION MULTIPLEX) A technique in
fiber-optic transmission for multiplexing light wavelengths in
order to increase the capacity of the system.