Index - A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z A-Z
WATS AGGREGATOR - A brokering billing agent having an arrangement to obtain volume discounts from common carriers for the totality of WATS services used by multiple firms; need not be the operator of a switching system.
WAVEGUIDE - Physical transmission medium using boundaries of conductors to guide electromagnetic signals; widely used in microwave radio since WWII; closely akin to fiber optic light guide operations.
WAVELENGTH DIVISION MULTIPLEXING (WDM) - Essentially FDM for fiber optic lines (wavelength is simply the inverse measure of frequency), using optical prisms to combine and separate different optical streams at each end of an intercity line; fiberoptic capacities are readily overbuilt to double original size by this means.
WIDE AREA TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICE (WATS) - WATS permits customers to make (OUTWATS) or receive (INWATS) long-distance calls and to have them billed on a bulk rather than individual call basis. The service is provided within selected service areas, or bands, originally by means of dedicated WATS Access Lines (WAL) directly connected to the public telephone network at WATS-billing equipped central offices. The dedicated access line operation permits inward or outward service, but not both. Recent evolution permits WATS connection via regular user local PSTN dial lines.
WIDEBAND - A term applied to facilities or circuits where bandwidths are greater than that required for one voice channel; sometimes inaccurately called "broadband" in the common carrier sense of the term.
WINDOWING - 1.) A split screen in some data CRT displays, permitting display of two events simultaneously; 2.) a technique in (mostly PC) data communications protocols that permits the sender to run ahead in transmission, backing up to resend if the receiver signals an error in a recently-sent block; closely akin to "Go Back N" in IBM's SDLC.
WIRE CENTER - The physical structure that houses one or more central office switching systems; the place in a locality at which local distribution cabling focuses.