Glossary ToIP/VoIP

A

A6000 : Interactive voice response enabling the execution of customized scenarios based on configurable criterions. The A6000 is delivered with a Java API in order to execute advanced services.

ACD7000 : Intelligent call dispatcher that redirects the incoming calls to a specific pool of agents according to criterions (skills of agents, availability, DID numbers, etc).

Administration : All the M2Msoft products are administrable from a secured web interface with specific access rights from administrators.

Agent : In telesecretary agency, the agent is playing the role of a secretary for his final clients by welcoming the callers on the behalf of them.

Agent Panel : An operator graphic console enabling the real-time vision of the calls in the holding line , the access to the directory and the dialer.

Alaw : It is one of the two standard algorithm (Alaw/Ulaw) of the voice numerisation, based on the PCM, used in telephony.

Analogical : Transport and data storage process born with the electricity. The variations are continuous and bounded to fix limits without levels.

Android : Open Operating system for smartphones, tablets and PDA, bought by Google in 2007.

API : Programming interface provided with every M2Msoft product. It is based on process, functions and classes classified in a software library. It aims to develop new services to plugin on the standard functionalities.

Archiving : The term is employed for the communications records done with a GR4600 that can be archived (saved and classified) from a user web page.

Authentication : Every user/admin web interfaces of the M2Msoft products are secured and request an authentication.

Autocom (or PBX) : Manage the establishment of the communications (temporary links) between various posts and the external ones, automatically.

Autoprovisioning : Automatic update of the software and the configuration of the phones in a company from a central console (web interface). The autoprovisionning allows to gain time.

B

Billing : For a service provider, it is important to be able to establish in detail all the telephonic flow of its clients  to establish billing states. The function is associated to the Prepaid solution of M2Msoft.

BLF (or Busy Lamp Field) : Enables to quickly know the status of the other phones connected to the IPBX thanks to a light on the IP phone.

Box : The VoIP solutions can be embedded. In that case, they are integrated to servers (rack 1U/2U or silent box as a Set Top Box for offices).

BRI (or Basic Rate Interface) : Is an access interface, called basic, for the PSTN network (the second one is the PRI). The BRI can also be named as T0 and is mostly deployed in small and medium companies. It consists of two B channels (64K) and one D channel (16K) for the signal.

C

C and C++ : Programming languages. C++, created in 1980, aimed to improve its predecessor, the C language to which the object management has been added. The M2Msoft API are on Java, or C/C++.
 
C3000 : Audio and video conferencing bridge developed by M2Msoft enabling to connect various participants in one or various virtual meeting rooms, opened, on demand or preprogrammed.

Calls : In a call center, there is incoming and outcoming calls. The second ones correspond to big marketing campaigns.

Calls forwarding : This function of the IPBX enables to resend the incoming calls on the vocal box, on another post or the mobile of the person. They can occur in case of no-answer, busy, no reachable, inconditionnaly.

Calls transfer : Functionality of the IPBX, the transfer enables to redirect a call to another terminal during a communication. It can be blind or not.

CDR (or Calls Details Records) : Recording of data containing the information on one and various calls (origin, destination, duration of call, etc).

Channels : The requested outflow for the data transfer is cut into two using channels in a dynamic way, only opened when the application needs it.

Chairman : He has various missions before, during and after the conference. He is in charge of the administration, the management of data sharing, the participants and will have to establish post conference's summaries.

Ciphers: Algorith for encryption or decryption that converts information into cipher or code.

Click To Talk : Web function enabling an user to directly enter in communication via a simple click on an object.

CLIP (or Calling Line Identification Presentation) : This function allows to display the caller number on the screen of his correspondant's phone.

CLIR (or Calling Line Identification Restriction) : Conversely to the CLIP function, the CLIR enables to hide the caller's number.

Clustering : Corresponds to a group of independant servers running as a one and only server.

Codecs : Hardware or software setting up a process of compression or decompression of a numerical signal in order to avoid a too important amount of resources or memory.

Comes and goes : During a double call, this IPBX functionality enables to simultaneously switch from a correspondent to another.

Commutation of voice : During a conference, the C3000 is able to detect the voice and to commute the video flow on it.

Conferencing bridge: Enable to connect various participants in one or more virtual meeting rooms such as the C3000 by M2Msoft that offers the opportunity to make audio and video conferences.

CSV (or Comma Separated Values) : Opened informatic format that represents values that are separated by commas. A CSV file is a text file. All the flow statistics with the M2Msoft products can be exported at a CSV format.

CTI (or Computer-Telephony Integration) : It is about numerical convergence; applications using computing programs and telephonic ones such as screen pop-up from a graphic concole (Agent Panel).

D

Directory : The directory is a specific database with information about people or companies, classified in a hierarchical way. Normalized by the LDAP protocol enabling to make requests by an unique mean. The directory can be centralized between various entities. This service is offer with the IPBX by M2Msoft.

DHCP (or Dynamic Host Configured Protocol) : In order to simplify the network administration, the DHCP protocol will specify an IP address to a computer connecting to the network, in a dynamic way.

DID (or Direct Inward Dialing) : All the employees in a company can be joined directly from the outside. One or more telephonic lines provided by the service provider will be associated to a range of linked numbers.

Discrete listening : Offered functionality with the following products; C3000, GR4600 and ACD7000, the discrete listening is transparent and enables to participate to a communication even if the other ones do not know about it.

DoS (ou Denial of Service) : One of the most common VoIP attack. With this kind of attack, the machine cannot answer to any command of its user. In case of an attack to numerous machines in the same time, it is a DDoS (distributed denial of service).

DSS1 (or Digital Subscriber Signalling System No1) : Also known as Euro-ISDN, the DSS1 is an European standard used for the PSTN network as a digital signal protocol.

DTMF (or Dual Tone Multi Frequency) : Audio signal used in the modern telephony and generated by pulse keys.

E

Ecosystem : All the telephonic posts compatible with SIP and H.323, supported by the M2Msoft IPBX.

Embedded : The M2Msoft solutions can be integrated to electronic cards, in that case they are embedded.

Encryption : Aims to increase the confidentiality by making a communication, indescribable.

F

Fax2Mail and Mail2Fax : Integrated service to the G4000 solution enabling to transform the faxes into emails and emails into faxes.

Firewall : Such as the VGUARD100, a firewall is a protection system that aims to separate the private and the public networks.

G

G4000 : VoIP/PSTN gateway enabling to rely the various VoIP systems to the traditional ones.

G.711 : Audio compression norm based on the Alaw. It is considerated as the basic transport of voice on PSTN network.

G.723 : Rigorously the norm is defined by the ITU-T G.723.1 but a confusion is done with a former norm with the same name. Consequently the term 'G.723' is common. Adapted for the human voice compression, this codec is usually employed for the audio conference and the telephony over IP.
 
G.729 : This data compression norm doesn't use a lot of bandwidth so it is really adapted to Voice over IP. But its use is under licensing.

Gatekeeper : Associated to the H.323 norm, the gatekeepers are central managers on the network, taking care of the voice and fax over IP functionalities and of the multimedia applications via two main tasks; adresses translation and the access control to the network.

GR4600 : Recorder of communications over IP with archivingand consultation of recording from a web portal and a telephonic post.

H

H.225 : Sub-standard of the H.323, H.225 is handling the signal of calls.

H.245 : Protocol that manages the media flows on the H.323 channels.

H.261 : Obsolete today, this norm was linked to the video compression. Its successor is the H.264 norm.

H.263 : This recommandation in the video encoding has been integrated in the SIP and H.323 visioconferencing protocols.

H.264 (or AVC) : High definition codec for video coding linked to MPEG-4 norm. The encoding of the H.264 is under licensing.

H.323 : A VoIP norm that englobes protocols, voice, video and data, enabling the signal, the codec negociation and the information transport. This norm is also used for public telephony over IP offers.

Historical : Every incoming, outcoming or missed calls can be seen from the web interface of the M2Msoft web interface. The CDR can be exported at a CSV format.

Holding line : The incoming calls, managed by the ACD7000 are on the holding line of the agent graphic console in a call center. The customization of the musics on hold is possible.

Home automation : Various technologies such as telecommunications are a part of the home automation. Associated to thecomputing, the biulding physics and the electronic, they aim to automate and to centralize various applications in a house (opening and closing of doors, heater starter, etc).

HTTPS (or Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secured) : Secured version of the client-server communication protocol, http, the 'S' is referering to the TLS or SSL encryption protocols.
The administration interfaces of the M2Msoft products are in HTTPS.

I

iLBC (or Internet Low Bitrate Codec) : Open-source voice codec, it is adapted to VoIP applications. In general, the transport protocol of the encapsulations is RTP. iLBC is handled by the M2Msoft products.

In-band : The opposite of the « out of band ». The in-band signal corresponds to the data sending in a common channel (the one already used for the voice). All the participants can hear the information.

Interception of calls : Enables to intercept an incoming call from another phone (through DTMF code or via a click on the busy line if the phone supports this function).

Interoperability : Main characteristic of the S5000 IPBX by M2Msoft and other solutions of the range, the interoperability is the capacity of systems to work with others, enabling an easy deployment.

IP (or Internet Protocol) : The IPv4 norm allows to manage 4 billions of IP addresses but will be replaced by the IPv6 in a near future. This one handles addresses on 128 Bits (32 for its predecessor) and avoids the use of a NAT. Nevertheless, its deployment is still weak because of a wide use of IPv4 in the private environments.

IP Address : An unique identification address of a computer connected to the communication network. It consists of four numbers from 0 to 255 and separated with dots.

IPBX : Such as the S5000 by M2Msoft, the IPBX is a system that handles the whole or a part of the communications in a company through internet (IP) or locally on the LAN and WAN networks. Based on the SIP protocol, it provides services of administrative telephony (comes and goes, transfers, interruption of calls, calls on hold,...).

ITU (or International Telecommunication Union) : United nations agency that is responsible for issues that concern information and communication. It was founded in 1865 as the International Telegraph Union.

J

Java : Programming language with an object orientation and compatible with the majority of the market OS.

L

LAN (or Local Area Network) : Local network (small geographic area) relying various computers through the same technology.

LRQ (or Location ReQuest) : For systems employing the H.323 norm, there is a need to locate the terminals on the network. The gatekeepers will send messages between them, using the LRQ. As soon as a searched phone is in a gatekeeper, this one will resend a LCF (or Location Confirmation).

M

M5000 : Voice over IP messaging system enabling to affect a vocal box per user of a telephony service, over IP or not.

MAC Address : Unique identification of a computer on the local network, the MAC address is fixed by the manufacturer.

Mail2Fax : Functionality offered with the G4000 enabling to transform email into fax.

Material : The M2Msoft products can be integrated on rack servers (1U or 2U for big capacities) or not (Set Top Box, silent box for an office environment).

Mobility : A new important need in the world of business that M2Msoft has anticipated by offering products completely secured and mobile.

Modem : A communication equipment employed in analogical systems, modems are transforming the numerical data received into analogical ones for the internet connexion for instance.

MTP (or Media Termination Point) : Intermediary of media flow integrated in the Softwitch and IPBX of M2Msoft.

Multicast (or multi-diffusion) : A transmitter is displaying messages to a group of receivers on a network that owns participants' private address and its proper IP address of class too.

MWI (or Message Waiting Indicator) : LED light that switches on when the owner has a new message on hold.

N

NAT (or Network Address Translation) : Translation of network addresses by a router in order to group all the private addresses  in one and only public address that can be seen from the outside. It also avoids to be limited by the IPv4 norm. It is compound of reserved tables.

Numerical : Conversely of the analogical, the information is not translated in a brutal way but through defined values, called discrete ones (a following of numbers for instance).

O

Out-of-band : Conversely to the 'in-band', this signal is corresponding to the sending of data in another channel than the one used for the voice, the communication participants do not have access to the information.

Open Source : Software with license that satisfy one of more following criterions: source code publication, free redistribution, modification authorized, not specific to one product, any restrictions linked to other softwares.

P

PABX : In enterprises, the PABX is managing the internal and external communication in an automatic way. If it is done via IP, it is called an IPBX.

Packets : Encapsulated data (or datagrams) in transit on the IP network.

Packet switching : Router in charge of the packet switching on a network. The method is based on the extraction of the network prefix of the packet's destination address and the analysis of it in order to transmit it to the network aside that has the same prefix on its tables.

Personnal Assistant : Functional feature of the M5000, messaging server, the Personnal Assistant enables to multiply the choices while a message is let on the vocal box of a correspondant (redirection to the cellphone, to a colleague phone, etc...).

PCM (or Pulse Code Modulation) : In Voice over IP systems, this technic consists on the numerisation

POE (or Power Over Ethernet) : Electric power and data are grouped in a same Ethernet wire enabling to install devices without plugs (IP phones, printers, etc).

Prepaid : A M2Msoft solution for service providers who want to offer a service of prepaid communications. The application is fully configurable , offering a real-time supervision interface, detailled billing, the management of users on database and the precise definition of communications costs.

Prepaid cards : Payment instrument that can be used with the Prepaid service to access to telephony services that doesn't request to open a new accound or to suscribe to a service provider offer.

PRI (or Primary Rate Interface) : PSTN access interface (also called T2 or E1 in Europe). The access consists of 30 B channels for the voice and 1 D channel (64Kbits) for the signal. It allows to establish much more concurrent calls than with a BRI and is mostly deployed in large companies.

Protocol : Each type of communication contains its own specificities that are a set of rules, grouped as a protocol.

PSTN (or Public Switched Telephone Network) : Conversely to the traditional network and its predecessor, the PSTN enables to transport numerical data (voice, video, data) for services. The PSTN is limited to the number of channels and to its interfaces (BRI or PRI).


Q

QoS (or Quality Of Service) : In order to optimize the network management, the QoS is corresponding to the transit of a type of flow in the best conditions possible (outflow, delay, availability, rate of packets loss).

QSIG : PSTN packet allowing to interconnect PABX from different brands.

R

Rack : Enable to stack electronic and computing devices thanks to its metal slide mechanism. M2Msoft products are integrated on 1U (1,75 inches) or 2U (3,5 inches) rack servers.

Redundancy : In order to ensure another security in case of a sysfunction, various servers are installed instead than one.

RFC (or Request For Commands) : Documents that describe the technicity of the Internet and the computing devices, written by experts and checked by the all community.

Routings : On the telephonic network, electronic data and transport, the messages transmissions mechanisms are done through specific rules between hosts (sender and receiver) and via routers (transmission intermediaries). Thanks to the routing tables, the routers get the informations of their neighbours of the same type and can then transmit messages.

RTP (ou Real-time Transfer Protocol) : The real-time sending of data implies a bad quality (picture and sound). The RTP protocol avoids that by taking in charge the media flow and dialing each sequency of the IP packet in order to get the initial order and to ensure a high quality (VoIP, web conferencing, streaming). It only works with UDP.

S

S5000 : IPBX for enterprise or softswitch for service providers, the S5000 by M2Msoft has all the advanced functionalities of voice and video and VAS applications.

SBC (or Session Border Controller) : Deployed in VoIP networks, the SBC is in charge of the signal and the media flow from the launching to the end of the call. The SBC will reinforce the security, the QoS and the admission controlat the VoIP sessions. It is not only a firewall but also allow an automatic NAT.

Service providers : Telecom service providers for clients (public and companies), they base their products on Softswitch systems that handle large capacity of concurrent calls (such as the S5000 Softswitch).

SIP (or Session Initiation Protocol) : Normalized, standard and open protocol, it is in charge od the establishment, the modification and the end of a media session but doesn't handle the data transmission (that can be done with every protocol). More and more deployed, it is replacing the H.323 norm.

SIP account (or SIP Trunk) : User account provided by the IP provider to start Voice over IP communications from an IPBX. The SIP protocol enables to use a same account on every compatible equipment.

Smartphone : A mobile phone with classical functions and advanced ones of a PDA (apps to download on a marketplace). The main OS of the market ar the iOS of Apple, Android from Google, RIM Blackberry and Windows Phone.

Softphone : Software with a telephone interface to call from a computer, a tablet or a VoIP smartphone.

Softswitch : Calls controller, it is the smart software part of the telephonic commutator. The S5000 Softswitch connects the clients' equipements and the telecom access, controls the communications and enable to operate a high quality service (redundancy, management of the flow optimizations).

SpeechToText (or STT): Analysis of the voice and retranscription as a text file that can be used with a computer.

SQL (or Structured Query Language) : Computing language enabling to operate on database (research functions, adding, modification, delete).

Stack : Principle of the LIFO (Last In, First Out), that data are stacked. M2Msoft has developed its own communication layers based on VoIP stacks.

STT : SpeechToText

Supervision : All the M2Msoft products have a secured administration interface with advanced supervision functions (historical of the work per agent, recording of calls, current calls, discrete listening, state of the agent, CDR, etc).

Syslog : Network protocol centralizing all the events' journal on the network to quickly find the dysfunctions.

T

T.120 : Norm englobing all the different protocols involved in the real-time communications and multipoints (multimedia conferencing, games, multiusers environments).

T.37 : Data transfer protocols for telecopies enabling the transformation of the fax into email.

T.38 : Procedure of telecopies' sendings on the IP network.

TCP (or Transmission Control Protocol) : Reliable transfer protocol with acknowledgments and packets' cutting. TCP IP is a set of protocols for the management of information flow on the network.

Tcpdump : Packets' analyser enabling to check the flow (on Linux).

Telephone subscription : Numerous service providers are offering subscriptions for VoIP solutions i, public or private environments. A global VoIP solution consists of the equipment (IPBX) and the telephone subscription.

Text to Speech (or TTS) : Computing process to transform any type of text into artificial voice.

Timestamp : Every event is linked to a date and a time. The GR4600 will automatically timestamp the recorder communications.

TLS (or Transport Layer Security) : Protocol enabling to secure the exchanges on the Internet via encryption  of data. Its predecessor is the SSL protocol.

Transcoding : Transformation of the coding format (codec) of an audio or video file.

TTS : TextToSpeech.

U

UDP (or User Datagram Protocol) : Same mission than the TCP protocol, UDP does not give any insurance on the delivery of the packets.

U-law (or mu-law) : Mostly employed in the USA and in Japan, it is the equivalence of the ALaw in Europe.

V

Videophones : IP phone with the video functionality.

Vocal box : Usually the vocal box or the messaging is unique per user. The M5000, messaging server also allows to share boxes and to add a Personal Assistant.

VoIP (or Voice over IP) : Technology allowing to communicate some voice through the Internet with the data packets transfer (numerical voice fragments) in order to ensure a telephony over IP service.

VoIP attacks : The main risks are linked to the vulnerability of the telephonic system and the IP network such as intrusions, listening, identity theft or service denials. There are three types of attacks; physical attacks, applications attacks and the ones on the network layers. The VGUARD100 is a firewall that protects the system against these attacks.

VoIP/PSTN gateway : Enables the connection between the traditional telephony network and the IP systems in order to enjoy the advanced services of VoIP with the conservation of the classic telephonic lines. The G4000 by M2Msoft is a VoIP/PSTN gateway.

VPN (or Virtual Private Network) : Virtual network, in extension of the local one, enabling to transmit in a secure way some information to every members through a tunneling (encryption of the data from the entrance and the exit of the tunnel).

W

WAN (or Wide Area Network) : Network covering a wide geographic area (country or continent).

Wifi (or WIreless FIdelity) : Wireless technology enabling the establishment of local networks and based on the IEEE (802.11) norm.

Wrapper JNI (Java Native Interface) : Programming framework that enables Java code to call or be called by native applications.

X

XML (or eXtensible Markup Language) : Computing language enabling to make a model of the data taking care of the hierarchy in order to enable the exchange of information in an understandable way.