C - Definitions

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  • C

    campus network

    A campus network is a proprietary local area network (LAN) or set of interconnected LANs serving a corporation, government agency, university or similar organization.

  • CAPWAP (Control and Provisioning of Wireless Access Points)

    CAPWAP (Control and Provisioning of Wireless Access Points) is a protocol that enables an access controller to manage a collection of wireless termination points.

  • carrier cloud

    A carrier cloud is a cloud computing environment that is owned and operated by a traditional telecommunications service provider.

  • carrier-to-noise ratio

    In communications, the carrier-to-noise ratio, often written as CNR or C/N, is a measure of the received carrier strength relative to the strength of the received noise.

  • CBRS (Citizens Broadband Radio Service)

    Citizens Broadband Radio Service, or CBRS, is the set of operational rules given to a slice of the shared wireless spectrum and the technologies used in that spectrum.

  • CCNA certification

    Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) is a technical certification that Cisco offers for early-career networking professionals.

  • CDMA (Code-Division Multiple Access)

    CDMA (Code-Division Multiple Access) refers to any of several protocols used in second-generation (2G) and third-generation (3G) wireless communications.

  • CDN (content delivery network)

    A CDN (content delivery network), also called a content distribution network, is a group of geographically distributed and interconnected servers.

  • chatty protocol

    A chatty protocol is an application or routing protocol requiring a client or server to wait for an acknowledgment before transmitting data again.

  • CIDR (Classless Inter-Domain Routing or supernetting)

    CIDR (Classless Inter-Domain Routing or supernetting) is a method of assigning IP addresses that improves the efficiency of address distribution and replaces the previous system based on Class A, Class B and Class C networks.

  • circuit switching

    Circuit switching is a type of network configuration in which a physical path is obtained and dedicated to a single connection between two endpoints in the network for the duration of a dedicated connection.

  • Cisco Certified Entry Networking Technician (CCENT)

    Cisco Certified Entry Networking Technician (CCENT) is a now-retired certification offered by Cisco, as part of their certification program.

  • Cisco Enterprise Agreement (EA)

    Cisco Enterprise Agreement (EA) is a software buying program that digitizes and simplifies license management for Cisco suite customers.

  • Cisco IOS (Cisco Internetwork Operating System)

    Cisco IOS (Internetwork Operating System) is a collection of proprietary operating systems (OSes) that runs on Cisco hardware devices, including Cisco Systems network devices, routers and network switches.

  • Class of Service (CoS)

    Class of Service (CoS) is a way of managing traffic in a network by grouping similar types of traffic -- such as email, streaming video, voice over IP and large document file transfer -- together and treating each type as a class with its own level of network service priority.

  • client-server

    Client-server is a relationship in which one program, the client, requests a service or resource from another program, the server.

  • Clos network

    A Clos network is a type of nonblocking, multistage switching network used today in large-scale data center switching fabrics.

  • cloud radio access network (C-RAN)

    Cloud radio access network (C-RAN) is a centralized, cloud computing-based architecture for radio access networks.

  • coaxial cable

    Coaxial cable is a type of copper cable specially built with a metal shield and other components engineered to block signal interference.

  • coded orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (COFDM)

    Coded orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (COFDM) is a telecommunications modulation scheme that divides a single digital signal across 1,000 or more signal carriers simultaneously.

  • cognitive radio (CR)

    Cognitive radio (CR) is a form of wireless communication in which a transceiver can intelligently detect which communication channels are in use and which ones are not.

  • collision in networking

    In a half-duplex Ethernet network, a collision is the result of two devices on the same Ethernet network attempting to transmit data at the same time.

  • committed information rate (CIR)

    Committed information rate (CIR) is the guaranteed rate at which a Frame Relay network will transfer information under normal line conditions.

  • computer hardware

    Computer hardware is a collective term used to describe any of the physical components of an analog or digital computer.

  • computer network

    A computer network is a group of interconnected nodes or computing devices that exchange data and resources with each other.

  • conductance

    Conductance is an expression of the ease with which electric current flows through materials like metals and nonmetals.

  • connectionless

    In telecommunications, connectionless describes communication between two network endpoints in which a message can be sent from one endpoint to another without prior arrangement.

  • control plane (CP)

    The control plane is the part of a network that carries signaling traffic and is responsible for network routing.

  • CPRI (Common Public Radio Interface)

    CPRI (Common Public Radio Interface) is a specification for wireless communication networks that defines the key criteria for interfacing transport, connectivity and control communications between baseband units (BBUs) and remote radio units (RRUs), which are also called remote radio heads (RRHs).

  • CRC-4 (Cyclic Redundancy Check 4)

    CRC-4 (Cyclic Redundancy Check 4) is a form of cyclic redundancy checking -- a method of checking for errors in transmitted data -- that is used on E1 trunk lines.

  • crosstalk

    Crosstalk is a disturbance caused by the electric or magnetic fields of one telecommunication signal affecting a signal in an adjacent circuit.

  • CSMA/CA (Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Avoidance)

    CSMA/CA (Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Avoidance) is a protocol for carrier transmission in 802.11 networks.

  • CSU/DSU (Channel Service Unit/Data Service Unit)

    A CSU/DSU (Channel Service Unit/Data Service Unit) is a hardware device about the size of a modem. It converts a digital data frame from local area network (LAN) communication technology into a frame appropriate for a wide area network (WAN) and vice versa.

  • customer premises equipment (CPE)

    Customer premises equipment (CPE) is telecommunications and information technology equipment kept at the customer's physical location rather than on the service provider's premises.

  • customer proprietary network information (CPNI)

    Customer proprietary network information (CPNI) in the United States is information that telecommunications services -- such as local, long-distance and wireless telephone companies -- acquire about their subscribers.

  • What is a cloud-native network function (CNF)?

    A cloud-native network function (CNF) is a service that performs network duties in software, as opposed to purpose-built hardware.

  • What is Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) certification?

    Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) certification is a series of technical certifications for senior networking professionals who design, build, implement, maintain and troubleshoot complex enterprise networking infrastructures.

  • What is Cisco Performance Routing (PfR)?

    Cisco Performance Routing (PfR) is a way of sending network packets based on intelligent path control.

  • What is cloud networking?

    Cloud networking is a type of IT infrastructure in which the cloud hosts some or all of an organization's networking resources.