Glossary of the Top Telecom Terms

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Our world continues to become more interconnected than ever due to the innovative advancements in telecommunications. All types of industries are collaborating to deliver disruptive technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and smart homes – making it crucial for those beyond the telecom space to understand this high-tech terminology. Each of our lives are influenced by our ability to connect with others, whether you work in finance, recruiting, manufacturing, healthcare, or even agriculture. Something as simple as Wi-Fi is a tool delivered by the telecom industry that we all need to do our jobs, no matter the field. According to market analysis, the telecom industry is predicted to grow 5.4% annually between 2021 and 2028. That’s a faster growth rate than the automotive, construction, insurance, and agriculture industries! No wonder it’s been hard to keep up with the ever-changing telecom terms.

To shed some light on this industry jargon and bring you up to speed on some recent advancements, Blue Signal created a glossary of the most common and useful telecom terms. These telecom terms will help you better understand what goes into keeping us all connected – and possibly provide some knowledge to help you stand out with a future client or employer. Read on to learn about 5G, VPNs, TCP/IP, and more. For the full list of 80+ telecom terms, click the link below to download our guide.

Top 20 Telecom Terms:

  1. 3G/4G/5G: Third-, fourth-, and fifth-generation wireless capabilities that allow for faster and broader access to information and services via mobile devices.
  2. Bandwidth: The range of frequencies in a communication channel. Analog communications measure bandwidth in Hertz, whereas digital communications use bits per second (bps).
  3. Broadband: A high-capacity transmission technique that allows for the communication of a large amount of information over a wide range of frequencies.
  4. Carrier: Vendor of transmission services operating under terms defined by the FCC as a common carrier. Owns a transmission medium and rents, leases, or sells portions for a set tariff to the public via shared circuits. (AT&T, Sprint, MCI, Ameritech, etc.)
  5. Fiber Optic Cable: Glass strands used to transmit light signals for cell phone and Internet connections. These cables allow for connection speeds 10 to 100 times faster than copper wire.
  6. Firewall: A barrier device placed between two separate networks. A firewall can be implemented in a single router that filters out unwanted packets or it can use a variety of technologies in a combination of routers and hosts. Today, many firewalls combine filtering functionality with Network Address Translations (NAT) functions.
  7. Gateway: A network element that performs conversions between different coding and transmission formats. The gateway does this by having many types of commonly used transmission equipment and/or circuits from different carriers to provide a means of interconnection.
  8. Local Area Network (LAN): A group of computer and peripheral devices that are connected in a limited area such as a school, laboratory, home, or office building.
  9. Network: Any connection of two or more computers that enables them to communicate. Networks may include transmission devices, servers, cables, routers, and satellites. The phone network is the total infrastructure for transmitting phone messages.
  10. Open Network Architecture (ONA): The overall design of a carrier's basic network facilities and services to permit all users of the basic network, including enhanced service providers, to interconnect to basic network functions on an unbundled and "equal access" basis.
  11. Private Branch Exchange (PBX): A private telephone exchange that serves a particular organization or business and has connections to the public telephone network. Newer PBXs have features that allow for data and video communications as well as voice.
  12. Radio Frequency (RF): A measurement representing the oscillation rate of electromagnetic radiation spectrum, or electromagnetic radio waves, from frequencies ranging from 300 GHz to as low as 9 kHz. With the use of antennas and transmitters, an RF field can be used for various types of wireless broadcasting and communications.
  13. Router: A device or setup that finds the best route between any two networks, even if there are several networks to traverse. Like bridges, remote sites can be connected using routers over dedicated or switched lines to create WANs.
  14. Small Cell: An umbrella term used to describe a miniature radio access point (AP) or wireless network base station with a low radio frequency (RF) power output, footprint, and range. They enhance cellular network coverage and capacity in areas where use demands are the highest.
  15. Switch: A mechanical or solid-state device that opens and closes circuits, changes operating parameters, or selects paths for circuits on a space or time division basis.
  16. Telecommunications: Communicating over a distance. Use of wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic channels to transmit and receive signals for voice, data, and video communications.
  17. Transmission Control Protocol/Internetworking Protocol (TCP/IP): A protocol developed to allow dissimilar devices to communicate across many kinds of networks.
  18. Virtual Private Network (VPN): VPN modules create closed secure tunnels for communication between two firewalled LANs. VPN technology is a common approach used today for providing secure communications over IP networks.
  19. Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP): Telephone services provided over broadband Internet connections rather than traditional phone networks.
  20. Wide Area Network (WAN): An important computer network that is spread across a large geographical area. WAN network systems could be a connection of a LAN that connects with other LANs using telephone lines and radio waves.
Blue Signal's Glossary of Common Telecom Terms

As this global tech trend advances, the telecom industry will continue to be involved in all things that keep us connected. Impacting all different types of industries, it’s more important now than ever to stay up to speed on what these telecom terms mean.

Whether you’re trying to stay relevant in your current field, or are looking to break into a new career path, Blue Signal has the resources to help. Our recruiters are specialized in their industries and understand the importance of knowledge-share across these diverse fields. Reach out today to learn more about how you can stand out in your industry and reach your career goals.

Celebrating International Women’s Day

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Blue Signal has a 43% gender balance.

Happy International Women’s Day to all those change-makers in our industry. Here at Blue Signal, we have sought to build a diverse workforce since our inception, and we now have a 43% gender balance across the company. This is significantly higher than the tech industry average of 29%.

Our company is passionate about advancing gender equality and the empowerment of women in tech. #HireBlue to think equal, build smart, and innovate for change. Thanks to the ladies of Blue Signal who consistently inspire change, champion innovation, and motivate us to continually improve in our roles.

 

#hireblue #internationalwomensday #recruiters #iwd #womenintech 

Unified Communications Industry Predictions for 2018

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The unified communications industry has been very fluid over the past few years. Although the industry is maturing, people’s communication habits continue to evolve as social media and personal technology habits shift.

The major challenges of the unified communications industry are also shifting. Customers (and employees) struggle with overflowing inboxes and are less willing to pick up the phone. Cold-calling has lost much of its popularity. Employees want communication platforms that are intuitive and natural. And there are the challenges of drawn-out meetings, technology that doesn’t work, and ROI.

 

Prediction #1: Improved interoperability and security in hybrid platforms

For most companies, it just doesn’t make sense to use a single tenant solution. Not only is it expensive to build a custom platform and host on-premises applications, but companies feel restricted by the big purchase. In an agile market, companies need to be able to change strategies fast. Hybrid solutions have been common for a while, but there will be a more “modular” approach to UCaaS hybrid environments in the future. Unified communications providers will be able to close more deals and keep customer loyalty if they can provide a set of plug-and-play modules that fit their customers’ unique business needs.

Hybrid cloud - unified communications technology

As more and more technology crowds onto our desks and into our devices, interoperability will be even more important. It is mission-critical for unified communications features to function seamlessly in BYOD and hybrid environments.

This interoperability will come with beefed-up security features to protect against data loss, data corruption, and targeted breach attacks. As cybersecurity attacks rise, companies are becoming more open to spending serious money on data security.

 

Prediction #2: Technology that is natural to use — not just user-friendly

Many UCaaS platforms are easy to use, but not all are natural to use. They don’t match the way that people intuitively use other software and technology in their day-to-day life.

Just because features are new or high-tech, doesn’t mean they’re necessary or useful. Recently, a major Unified Communications hardware manufacturer launched a new advertising campaign for videoconferencing hardware to address the problem of low user engagement, which means a high added cost to the business.

Making UC technology low-effort is only half the battle. Tech giants like Facebook and Apple have created the expectation that all software has a sleek, streamlined UI/UX (user interface/experience). Thanks to these companies, a bad user interface is a show-stopper. User experience is a top consideration for UC technology companies, alongside functionality.

 

Prediction #3: Shift from “feature-rich” to “rich features”

Most features on smartphones, TVs, and other electronics never get used. People get used to using their devices a certain way and don’t branch out. The same goes for unified communications technology. Developing new features is expensive and time-consuming. As the UCaaS market continues to heat up, companies will focus on delivering a few high-quality features that users actually want. Cutting down on the overwhelming number of unnecessary features is the next logical step.

There will be a boost in features to support mobile users and telecommuters, who are becoming more common in the workforce. The unified communications industry relies heavily on remote employees, and customers will be loyal to platforms that support this model.

 

Prediction #4: Data-driven decisions that are actually data-driven

Many companies already consider themselves to be “data-driven,” but the quality of data and the subsequent conclusions based on it is often questionable. Engagement tracking and big data analysis are becoming more commonplace, with simpler tools so that companies don’t need to hire a data scientist to get results. These powerful data tracking tools are helping companies make smart decisions more easily, and based on better data and better insights.

 

 

Prediction #5: CPaaS will be a major UC disruptor

CPaaS is “communications platform as a service,” and includes communication apps such as B2C text messaging, human and bot chat platforms, and other real-time communications applications. UC features in this category include instant-messaging apps like Skype, WhatsApp, and Slack, which have exploded in popularity as a response to overflowing email inboxes. IM applications will continue to grow and most likely eventually totally replace intraoffice email.

Technical support is another department likely to pick up on CPaaS fast. Video-enabled IT support, live 24/7 assistance, and real-time chats are an easy, low-cost solution to common IT problems, and they make the IT department’s job easier.

UCaaS - unified communications predictions

Prediction #6: Smart bandwidth usage for UC apps

Not all UC apps are created equal in terms of data usage. Bandwidth-heavy UC applications like video-streaming can seriously slow down a user’s system, or even the whole network. Smart application integrated platforms reduce the load by taking bandwidth away from inactive applications and funnel it towards the ones in use. This improves the efficiency of the entire system and boosts software speeds. In advanced UCaaS software, this can even occur in totally cloud-based applications.

 

Breakdown in communication is one of the top causes for the failure of relationships, so it comes as no surprise that breakdowns in communication in the workplace are one of the top threats to revenue, productivity, and competitiveness. Unified communications is the technology that helps companies to solve communication problems in the workplace. As our ways of communicating evolve, the UCaaS industry will evolve with us.

Need help with your Unified Communications hiring? Contact us here.