Glossary of Terms | Office of Administration

ANALOG TELECOMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM: Analog is considered a legacy telecommunications technology that older systems were founded on, and provided the basis for the original technology used to make phone calls. There will still be a few places over the next few years that will require this for a particular location.
CALL CONTROL: Call control decodes addressing information and routes telephone calls from one end point to another. It also creates the features that can be used to adapt standard switch operation to the needs of users. Common examples of such features are Call Waiting, Call Forward on Busy, and Do Not
Disturb.
COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY NETWORK INFRASTRUCTURE: As the State‟s backbone technology network, the communications infrastructure provides the capability for all state employees to securely communicate via voice, video, and web collaboration technologies. As the state continues to expand the use of using Unified Communications (UC), it will continue to make investments to allow for greater use of a single converged resource.
DATA: Distinct pieces of information, usually formatted in a special way. Data can exist in a variety of forms - as numbers or text on pieces of paper, as bits or bytes stored in electronic memory, or as facts stored in a person‟s mind.
EMAIL: A method of exchanging digital messages across the Internet or other computer networks.
FAX: Short for facsimile, a fax is a document sent over a telephone line.
INSTANT MESSAGING (IM) (CHAT): As a type of communications service, IM enables an individual to create a private chat room with another individual in order to communicate in real, or instantaneous time over the Internet, analogous to a telephone conversation but using text-based, not voice-based, communication. Typically, the instant messaging system alerts a user whenever somebody on their private list is online. The user can then initiate a chat session with that particular individual.
MEETING PLACE: Integrating audio, video, and web conferencing capabilities, Meeting Place allows users to facilitate remote or virtual meetings from their desktop computer or laptop.
MOBILITY: Mobility will extend rich-call control capabilities from one‟s primary workplace desk phone to any location or device of choice. Some of the key business benefits include:
Improve mobile worker reach-ability and responsiveness through Single BusinessNumber Reach (or single number reach), Single Business Voicemail, and Personalized Access Lists. Maintain business continuity by seamlessly transitioning extended business calls from desk phone to mobile phone and vice versa. Improve access to features while user is away from their desk phone. Reduce mobile communications expenses through Mobile Voice Access and transition extended business calls from mobile phones to desk phones at work
PRESENCE: The ability to detect the electronic presence of other users who are connected to the Internet, through a personal computer (PC) or mobile device, and whether they are available in real time.
REAL-TIME COMMUNICATION: Occurs immediately or instantaneous. This term is used to describe a number of different computer features, such as: Instant Messaging (chat), Presence Information, Telephony (including IP telephony) and Video Conferencing.
SECURITY: Refers to techniques for ensuring that data stored in a computer cannot be read or compromised by any individual without authorization. Most security measures involve data encryption and passwords.
SINGLE NUMBER REACH: A single phone number used to be reached wherever and on whichever device of choice. The device could be an office telephone, cell phone, home phone or other.
SPEECH RECOGNITION: Converting spoken words to text, speech recognition applications include voice user interfaces such as voice dialing (i.e. “Call home”), call routing (i.e. "I would like to make a collect call"), search (i.e. find a podcast where particular words were spoken), simple data entry (i.e. entering a credit card number), preparation of structured documents (i.e. a radiology report), speech-to-text processing (i.e. word processors or emails), and aircraft (usually termed Direct Voice Input).
TELEPRESENCE: A term used to describe a set of technologies, such as high-definition audio, video and other interactive elements that enable people to feel or appear as if they were present in a location which they are not physically in. Also often described as a virtual meeting or meeting place.
TEXT MESSAGING: Sending short text messages to a device such as a cellular phone, PDA, or pager. Text messaging is used for messages that are no longer than a few hundred characters. The term is usually applied to messaging that takes place between two or more mobile devices.
UNIFIED COMMUNICATIONS (UC): Occasionally referred to as integrated communications, Unified Communications (UC) is typically used by businesses, and encompasses a broad range of technologies and applications that have been designed, sold and supported as a single communications platform, or as one entity. A UC system generally enables organizations to use integrated data, video, and voice in one supported product. UC systems typically include the means to integrate real-time or near real-time unified messaging, collaborative and interactive systems. For example, a single user can access a variety of communication applications such as e-mail, text, video, fax, voice, and others through a single user mailbox. Additionally, UC has expanded to incorporate collaboration and other interactive systems such as scheduling, workflow, instant messaging and voice response systems.
UC also provides integration through multiple devices. For example, many service features, options, and user accounts are as readily available to a user from their PDA, laptop or other wireless device, as if they were using their desktop PC.
VIDEO CONFERENCING: A set of interactive telecommunication technologies which allow two or more locations to interact via two-way video and audio transmissions simultaneously. Videoconferencing differs from videophone calls in that it is designed to serve a conference rather than individuals. It is an intermediate form of video telephony.
VOICE: The new UC system will allow users to utilize several different communication methods including mobile devices, laptops, soft phones, and desktop tools as needed. A converged system of UC also
enables the State to choose the method of communications for our business partners and better communicate with constituents.
VOICEMAIL: A centralized system of stored telephone messages that can be retrieved later, the term „voicemail‟ is also used more broadly to denote any system of conveying a stored telecommunications voice message, including using an answering machine.
VOICE OVER INTERNET PROTOCOL (VOIP OR VOICE OVER IP): VoIP refers to communication services - voice, facsimile, and/or voice-messaging applications - that are transported via the Internet, rather than the public stitched telephone network. Other terms frequently encountered and often used synonymously with VoIP are: IP telephony, Internet telephony, voice over broadband (VoBB), broadband telephony, and broadband phone.
WIRELESS: The transfer of information over a distance without the use of enhanced electrical conductors or "wires". The distances involved may be short (a few meters as in television remote control) or long (thousands or millions of kilometers for radio communications).