Glossary - Compaq LP8000-F1 User Manual

ALPA Arbitrated Loop Physical Address. The address of a fibre channel node in an
arbitrated loop.
Arbitration The process of selecting one respondent from a collection of several
candidates that request service at the same time.
b/s (or bps) Bits per second. The number of energy pulses passing a given point in a
transmission medium in one second; raw transmission speed before
encoding.
Bandwidth A measure of the information-carrying capacity of an optical fiber,
normalized to a unit of MHz km. This term is used to specify capacity of
multi-mode fibers only. (For single-mode fibers, use dispersion). The
difference between the highest and lowest frequencies in a specific range of
frequencies.
Baud A unit of signaling speed equal to the number of signal intervals per second,
which might or might not be equal to the data rate in bits per second. The
encoded bit rate per second.
BIOS Basic Input/Output system. Software coded into the computer chips to
accomplish various tasks.
Boot BIOS Software coded into the chips on the HBA. A special program used to boot
and control the computer.
Broadband In data transmission, it denotes transmission facilities capable of handling
frequencies greater than those required for high-grade voice
communications. The higher frequency allows the carrying of several
simultaneous channels.

Glossary