Glossary of Terms

cradle

The depression in the base of your telephone where the handset is placed when not in use.

DHCP server

A service provided by a device on the network that assigns network addresses to other devices, such as your telephone and computer. This avoids having to go to each and every device to manually assign an addresses to it.

firewall

A device that protects one network from another, such as protecting a corporate network from the Internet.

FTP

File Transfer Protocol

hang up

If your telephone is in speakerphone mode, "hang up" means to press SPEAKER/HEADSET; otherwise, it means to put the handset back in the cradle so that (more importantly) the switchhook is depressed. In either case, pressing the HNGUP softkey also hangs up.

idle

The handset is in the cradle, your telephone is not in speakerphone mode, and there are no incoming calls. Also, the LCD displays Ready when your telephone is idle.

IM

Instant Message

IP

Internet Protocol

IVR

Interactive Voice Response

LAN

Local Area Network

LCD

Liquid Crystal Display.

LED

Light Emitting Diode. A semiconductor used as a visual indicator.

MGCP

Media Gateway Control Protocol. Defined in IETF RFC 3435.

NAT

Network Address Translation. A service provided by a device on the network, such as a router, that allows several devices to share a single public network address.

network address

IP address. Uniquely identifies a device on the network. Used for routing information to that device.

offhook

The handset is not in the cradle or your telephone is in speakerphone mode. To "go offhook" means to take your telephone out of its idle state—to remove the handset from the cradle or press SPEAKER/HEADSET.

Power-over-Ethernet

Providing power over the network cable that is also being used for data communcation. The standard for this is defined in IEEE 802.3af.

registrar

see SIP registrar

SIMPLE

SIP for Instant Messaging and Presence. A standard that describes how to provide instant-messaging and presence services using SIP. The requirements for this standard are defined in IETF RFC 2779.

SIP

Session Initiation Protocol. This is the call-control protocol used by your telephone.

SIP proxy server

A device on the network that acts on behalf of your telephone, translating and routing call-control messages.

SIP registrar

A device on the network that manages user-location information.

SIP URI

Analogous to a telephone number, e.g., sip:rhood@example.net. In fact, a URI may contain what at least appears to be a telephone number, e.g., sip:+14085550100@172.16.0.222.

speakerphone mode

The speaker and microphone in the base are being used instead of the equivalent components in the handset.

switchhook

The mechanical switch located in the cradle that detects whether the handset is in use.

TFTP

Trivial File Transfer Protocol

Voice over IP

see VoIP

VoIP

Voice over Internet Protocol. This is a relatively new telephone technology where voice and control signals are transmitted over an IP, or Internet Protocol, packet-switched network. This makes more efficient use of network resources and allows more sophisticated features than traditional telephone technology, where audio is transmitted over a circuit-switched network.

WAN

Wide Area Network

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