Glossary: Useful IP Terms

DOCSIS 1.1: The next generation of Data Over Cable
Service/Interoperability Specification guidelines, which is expected to contain
quality-of-service features that are needed to prioritize voice packets and to allow for
packet fragmentation.

Gatekeeper: Also called the call-management system, a
server that handles the addressing between the IP network and individual telephone
numbers, and that initializes call setups.

Gateway: A server that converts IP packets back into
standard analog streams for the public switched telephone network.

Internet Protocol: A Department of Defense standard
protocol designed for use in interconnected systems of packet-switched communications
networks.

MTA: Multimedia-terminal adapters, or MTAs, will be the
mechanism by which IP-voice packets are sent and received across the network from the
home. MTAs are expected to incorporate today's cable-modem and set-top box functions with,
perhaps, videophone features.

PacketCable: A Cable Television Laboratories Inc.
effort to establish specifications for the delivery of voice and video services over a
packet-data network.