Some of the basic telco reference guide to define some often used industry terms. 

Access: The term Access has several meanings, but generally refers to a physical circuit connecting last mile locations; most typically, a user’s end-location(s) to a carrier(s).

Bandwidth: Identifies the capacity of a single connection by measuring its maximum speed within one-second increments; the larger the bandwidth, the more capacity and the higher the cost.  The table below is a comparison at just how fast is ‘fast’. 

Bandwidth Table:

Definition of Units of Measurement

bit= smallest unit of digital information, i.e. ones & zeros
byte= a set of bits
bps= bits per second
Kbps= kilobits per second =1000 bits per second
Mbps = Million bits per second =1,000,000 bits per second
Gbps = Gigabits per second = 1,000,000,000 (one billion) bits per second
Tbps = Terabits per second = 1,000,000,000,000 (one trillion) bits per second

Carrier: A provider of many telecom services and solutions.  They may be metropolitan, regional or global and typically offer physical circuits and branded services that are transported over them. 

Carrier Hotel: After deregulation, the telecommunication wholesale market was partitioned, effecting the long haul, last mile and service sectors of the business.  This breakup created thousands of new entrants into the arena that fueled opportunities for new types of data centers who valued network proximity in addition to standard environmental services such as space, power and cooling.  These locations, branded ‘Carrier Hotels’, promote the notion that services and networking solutions must operate collectively.  Carrier hotels, typically owned and operated by real estate backed firms, are ‘network neutral’, and provide the flexibility for any single buyer to connect to any single seller.  These facilities allow carriers to reduce the number of access connections required to reach networking partners 

Carrier Neutral: The ability to choose from among the best solutions without being constrained by any single network and having no preference for one provider over another. 

Carrier Nodes: Carrier Nodes are best described as network switching equipment; they may also be referred to as a point-of-presence (POP), which is a component of a network backbone.  Carrier Nodes may or may not reside in a carrier hotel.

Circuit: A physical connection spanning two or more locations.  Circuits are available in many bandwidths and usually connect a customer to a carrier(s) network.  As a rule of thumb, a circuit is the physical connection while ‘bandwidth’ is the capacity it is capable of.

Last-Mile Access: Last Mile Access or simply ‘Last Mile’ is the physical connection between the user’s location and a local carrier.  Also referred to as Access, Circuit, or a Local Loop (also see ‘Access’).

Meet-Me-Room: Passive, common areas within Carrier Hotels where physical interconnections of every speed and media type are supported between buyers and sellers. 

Non-Facility based carrier: A network provider that does not operate a network of their own, and instead resells the circuits and services they offer from other providers without capital costs.  Also referred to as ‘resellers’. Intelletrace (www.intelletrace.com) is one of the leading company of this kind.

On-Net Building: A building where one or more carrier(s) has extended to, and incorporated onto their network.  Depending on multiple factors including proximity to a carrier’s equipment and tenant demographics, a building may be on-net to many or very few carriers. 

Network Access: Depending on the application, this is the ability to access either the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) or the ‘Internet Cloud’. Network Access options vary widely by location and market. 

Service Provider: A carrier (LEC, IXC, ISP, ASP) offering both physical transport and varied, branded services.

Telecommunications Network Integrator (TNI): Leveraging the flexibility and control of the carrier hotel model while incorporating the operational efficiencies of a carrier operator, a TNI bridges the gap within and between carrier networks.  They offer optimal, collective solutions beyond the scope, and dependency of any single network. 

Tier 1, 2, and 3 Markets:A categorization of metropolitan areas by tiers using population density as the benchmark.  In the US, cities with populations over three-million are considered Tier 1; between one and three million are Tier 2 and between one-half and one million are considered Tier 3.