Glossary of terms
In our industry, we tend to use a lot of acronyms, abbreviations and jargon. This list should give you a good head start if you ever encounter any. Click on the down arrow to open up the full definition or explanation of the term.
In our industry, we tend to use a lot of acronyms, abbreviations and jargon. This list should give you a good head start if you ever encounter any. Click on the down arrow to open up the full definition or explanation of the term.
ACCC
Australia Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).
AON
Active Optical Network – a general term that describes any network configuration in which Multiplexors (MUXs), either in a Central Office or a cabinet are used to connect multiple Optical Network Units (ONUs) via dark fibres. A Point to Point network is an AON with an emphasis on direct connection to each ONU, in which case each dark fibre provides a direct point-to-point physical connection between the MUX in a Central Office and each ONU.
APD
Agreed Premise Dataset
ATA
Analogue Telephoning Adapter
B2B
Business-to-Business
BA
Business Analyst
BAU
Business as usual
BG
Business Gateway – a more sophisticated form of the Residential Gateway (RG) which is described below. BGs contain extra features and often have more physical connection points, which make them more suitable to some businesses than a standard RG.
BIF
Business Industry Framework
BNG
Broadband Network Gateway – a general term for a piece of network equipment that terminates Layer 2 Services at the Service Provider part of the Network. BNGs provide Service Providers with mechanisms for management of data traffic on a per End User basis. They are described in more detail in the TR-101 standard.
BS4
Bitstream 4 (Business Services product)
CCTV
Closed-Circuit Television
CFH
Crown Fibre Holdings Limited (CFH) has been established to manage the Government’s $1.5 billion investment in the ultrafast broadband infrastructure. The Government’s objective is to accelerate the roll-out of ultrafast broadband to 75 percent of New Zealanders over ten years, concentrating in the first six years on priority broadband users such as businesses, schools and health services, plus green field developments and certain tranches of residential areas. The government’s objective will be supported by investment in partnership with the private sector, and be directed to open-access infrastructure.
CIR
Committed Information Rate, meaning the rate of data transfer committed by the LFC to be provided as a minimum to end users.
CO
Central Office – The termination point for the LFC’s Network. The Central Office is where the OLTs and/or MUXs (as applicable) are installed. Central Offices are expected to connect to at least several thousand residential and business premises.
Co-location Service
Space and associated services such as power, cooling, access, lighting etc. at the CO.
COMSOF
Layer 1 Business Company
Coverage Area Abbreviations
HAM = Hamilton
TGA = Tauranga
WAN = Whanganui
HAW = Hawera
TEA = Te Awamutu
NP = New Plymouth
CAM = Cambridge
TOK = Tokoroa
CPE
Customer Premises Equipment, such as routers or wireless modems.
CPPC
Cost per premise connected
CPPP
Cost per premise passed
CRM
Customer Relationship Management System
DF
Dark Fibre (unlit, unmanaged fibre product)
DFAS
Direct Fibre Access Services
DOCSIS 3.0
Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification – an international telecommunications standard that permits the addition of high-speed data transfer over an existing HFC network.
Downstream
Data transfer from the Internet to the user, also known as “download”.
DSL
Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) is a family of technologies that provides digital data transmission over the wires of a local telephone network.
D&O
Directors and Officers
EAS
Ethernet Aggregation Switch – a specialised piece of network equipment used to aggregate data traffic to/from many Multiplexors (MUXs) or Optical Line Terminals (OLTs). EASs provide a connection mechanism to Broadband Network Gateways (BNGs).
EOI
Expressions of Interest
Ethernet
Described by the IEEE 802.3 standards, “Ethernet” is a particular style of data traffic management and formatting for Layer 2 Services, and is increasingly being established as the dominant Layer 2 Service technology throughout the world.
EUBA
Enhanced Unbundled Bitstream Service – a regulated Layer 2 Service in the New Zealand market today.
FAT
Factory Acceptance Testing
FAT (Boxes)
Factory Acceptance Testing
FTTC / FTTN
Fibre To The Cabinet / Fibre To The Node – generic terms for broadband network architecture which deploys optical fibre to terminate in a streets cabinet or nodes up to some distance away from end-user premises, with the final connection to end-user premises typically being provided by legacy copper technology.
FTTP / FTTH / FTTB
Fibre To The Premise / Fibre To The Home / Fibre To The Business – generic terms for any broadband network architecture which deploys optical fibre all the way to the relevant end-user premise.
GEM
GPON Encapsulation Method – a mechanism for the management of data traffic transport between multiple Optical Network Units (ONUs) and an Optical Line Terminal (OLT) in a GPON network configuration.
GPON
Gigabit Passive Optical Network – a specific standard for connection of Optical Line Terminals (OLTs) to multiple Optical Network Units (ONUs) in which groups of ONUs are connected to an OLT using a shared dark fibre configuration. This is described in the ITU-T G.984 standard.
GPON Splitter
A specialised piece of network equipment that connects a single dark fibre from one side to many dark fibres on the other. It is used in the GPON network configuration to allow many Optical Network Units (ONUs) to share a single port on an Optical Line terminal (OLT) – hence the use of the word “Splitter” – splitting one dark fibre into many.
Handover Port Identififier
An as-yet-to-be-determined information tag than can be used for identifying a physical network point at which the LFC’s Layer 2 Service is “connected” to the network equipment that is owned and operated by a Service Provider.
HCC
Hamilton City Council
HEDON
Hamilton Education Network
HFC
Hybrid fibre-coaxial – a broadband network which combines optical fibre and coaxial cable. HFC has been commonly deployed globally by cable TV operators since the early 1990s, and in New Zealand by TelstraClear in Wellington and Christchurch.
HFN
Hamilton Fibre Network
HOP
Handover Connection Port
H&S
Health and Safety
ICT
Information Communication Technology
ITF
Integrated Test Facility
ITP
Invitation to Participate in the partner selection process for the ultrafast broadband initiative.
JV
Joint venture
KPI
Key Performance Indicators
LAN
Local Area Network
Layer 1 Services (L1)
Services that operate at Layer 1 of the Open Systems Interconnection Model of network architecture. Layer 1 is normally associated with passive fibre optic network infrastructure. Often known as “dark fibre” or “unlit” services.
Layer 2 Services (L2)
Services that operate at Layer 2 of the Open Systems Interconnection Model of network architecture. Layer 2 is normally associated with active fibre optic network infrastructure (the electronics that light fibre). Often known as “lit” services.
LFC
Local fibre company
LI
Lawful intercept
LTE
Long-term evolution (e.g. 4G wireless network)
MBIE
Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment
MBPS
Mbps stands for millions of bits per second or megabits per second and is a measure of bandwidth (the total information flow over a given time) on a telecommunications medium. Depending on the medium and the transmission method, bandwidth is also sometimes measured in the Kbps (thousands of bits or kilobits per second) range or the Gbps (billions of bits or gigabits per second) range.
MTI
Medical treatment injury
MUC or MDU
Multi-unit complex. Sometimes also referred to as MDU or Multi-dwelling unit
MUX
Multiplexor – a general term used to describe a piece of network equipment that terminates many dark fibres in an Active Optical Network (AON) configuration, and is installed in centralised locations within the LFC business.
NDP
Network Deployment Plan
NIPA
Network Infrastructure Project Agreement
NNI
Network-to-network interface
NOC
Network Operations Centre
NPAT
Net profit after tax
NPDC
New Plymouth District Council
ODN
Optical Distribution Network – The physical fibre and optical devices that distribute signals to users in a telecommunications network.
OLT
Optical Line Terminal – a general term for a specialised piece of GPON network equipment that terminates many dark fibres and is installed in centralised locations within the LFC Network. An OLT terminates the dark fibres from many Optical Network Units (ONUs).
ONU
Optical Network Unit – a general term for a specialised piece of network equipment that terminates a single dark fibre and is located at the End User premises.
OSS / BSS
Operational Support Systems / Business Support Systems
PABX
Private Automated Bureau Exchange
P-BIT
Priority bit(s) – a data traffic priority value between 0 and 7 set in the 3-bit tag field of the C-VLAN-ID and/or S-VLAN-ID fields (both of these fields can carry P-bit values).
POI
Point of interconnect
PwC
PricewaterhouseCoopers
QA
Quality Assurance
RAG Rating
Red, amber, green risk assessment
RFP
Request for Proposal
RFS
Ready for service
RGW
Residential Gateway – a mass produced piece of network equipment (often referred to as “the customer’s modem”) which sits in the home or office, connects to the Layer 2 Service on one side, and to the End User’s equipment (PCs, telephones, etc) on the other.
RSP
Retail Service Providers – this is the description for internet service providers that residential and business customers connect with to access broadband services.
SAU
Special access undertaking
SLA
Service Level Agreement
TCF
Telecommunication Carriers Forum
TCO
Total Cost of Ownership
TDL
Telecommunications Development Levy
U2000
Network Management System name
UAT
User Acceptance Testing
UBA
Unbundled Bistream Access
UCLL
Ubundled Copper Local Loop
UFB
Ultra-fast broadband. Broadband is a technology that allows data to be transmitted at high speeds between the internet or applications on computers in the ‘cloud’ and your computer or mobile phone. It allows a greater volume of data to be transmitted much more quickly than dial-up internet because it can handle a greater range of frequencies – or, in geek speak, a higher ‘bandwidth’. This is where the term ultrafast broadband comes from.
UFF
Ultrafast Fibre Ltd – our company name prior to becoming Tuatahi First Fibre on 1 November 2022.
Upstream
Data transfer from the user to the internet; also known as “upload”
WAN
Wide Area Network – a computer network covering a broad area, typically crossing metropolitan, regional, or even national boundaries.
WEL
WEL Networks Ltd – WEL is the fifth largest electricity distribution company (by number of connections) in New Zealand. Its core business is the provision of electricity distribution services to the Waikato. The business has nearly 200 staff, a turnover of $96 million and a total asset value of $426 million. WEL Networks has one shareholder, the WEL Energy Trust, a community trust that represents the interests of the local community.
WNL
Waikato Networks Ltd – Waikato Networks Limited is a special purpose vehicle which was created by WEL Networks in the course of negotiations, with which to partner in the creation of a Local Fibre Company (UFF). They are carrying out the operational aspect of installing fibre to key areas of the central North Island.
WSA
Wholesale Services Agreement
WWTP
Waste water treatment plant
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