TCP/IP
Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol – This is the most common type of communication protocol for the internet and other similar networks. TCP and IP are the oldest protocols in use today.

UDP
User Datagram Protocol – This protocol is used for streaming audio and/or video. It is very efficient because it does not use error checking or sort packets of data. This protocol is most commonly used in DNS servers and VoIP phone systems.

SNMP
Simple Network Management Protocol – This is a component of the Internet Protocol Suite and manages the “health” of the network. This can notify a network administrator of any condition that could jeopardize the health of the network.

DHCP
The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is a computer networking protocol used by hosts (DHCP clients) to retrieve IP Address assignments and other configuration information. DHCP uses a client-server architecture. The client sends a broadcast request for configuration information. The DHCP server receives the request and responds with configuration information from its configuration database. In the absence of DHCP, all hosts on a network must be manually configured individually which is time consuming and prone to errors. (This is NOT good for DVR’s or IP cameras/devices.)

MAC Address
In computer networking, a Media Access Control address (MAC address) is a unique identifier assigned to most network devices or network interface cards (NICs) by the manufacturer for identification, and used in the Media Access Control protocol sub-layer. If assigned by the manufacturer, a MAC address usually encodes the manufacturer’s registered identification number. Although intended to be a permanent and globally unique identification, it is possible to change the MAC address on most of today's hardware, an action often referred to as MAC spoofing.

POE
Power over Ethernet – This is a standard that is still under development to allow power to be sent from a POE compatible switch to a POE compatible device. In theory, this eliminates the need to power the device at its location or run a separate power supply.

UTP
Unshielded Twisted Pair – This is a category of wiring primarily used for data and communications. A very common example is Cat5e cable.

Static/Dynamic IP
A static IP address does not change. A Dynamic IP address works on a lease (determined by the IP address issuer) and can change at any time. Most cable modems and DSL providers generally assign Dynamic IP addresses for their users.

802.11
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) created three 802.11 standards to cover wireless networks, a, b and g. 802.11b was first, slowest and least expensive of the three. 802.11b transmits at 2.4 GHz and can handle up to 11 Mbps, averaging 7 Mbps but dropping to as low as 1 or 2 Mbps if there is a lot of interference. 802.11a was next, operating at 5 GHz and can handle up to 54 Mbps (although 30 Mbps is more typical). 802.11g is a mix of both worlds, operating at 2.4Ghz (giving it the cost advantage of 802.11b) but it has the 54 Mbps speed of 802.11a. 802.11n utilizes new technology to increase speed and distance. Speeds, in optimal conditions, can reach 100Mbps and higher.

Bandwidth/Speed and Storage
The number of bits used to transmit data. For consistency, here are the most common bandwidth units:

• bps – bits per second, also known as baud
• kbps – kilobits per second
• Mbps – Megabits per second
• Gbps – Gigabits per second
• KB – kilobyte
• MB – megabyte
• GB – gigabyte

CIF
Common Intermediate Format – a set of standard video formats used in videoconferencing, defined by their resolution. The original CIF is also known as Full CIF (FCIF).

• 4CIF resolution: 704 x 480 (NTSC)
• Full D1 resolution: 720 x 480 (704 x 480 effective pixels)
• 2CIF resolution: 704 x 240 (NTSC)
• CIF resolution: 352 x 240 (NTSC)
• QCIF resolution: 176 x 120 (NTSC)

HD/Megapixel Resolution

• 1280x720 = 0.9MP HDTV 720p
• 1280x1024 = 1.3MP
• 1600x1200 = 2MP
• 1920x1080 = 2.1MP HDTV 1080p
• 2048x1536 = 3MP
• 2592x1944 = 5MP
• 3648 x 2752 = 10MP

CODEC
Software that can compress a video source (encoding) as well as play compressed video (decompress).

JPEG
Joint Photographic Experts Group. It is also an ISO/IEC working group, but works to build standards for continuous tone image coding. JPEG is a glossy compression technique used for full-color or gray-scale images by exploiting the fact that the human eye will not notice small color changes. While JPEG is a standard, MJPEG is completely proprietary – implemented by different manufacturers in various incompatible ways.

MPEG
Moving Picture Experts Group. MPEG is an ISO/IEC working group, established in 1988 to develop standards for digital audio and video formats. There are five MPEG standards being used or in development. Each compression standard was designed with a specific application and bit rate in mind, although MPEG compression scales well with increased bit rates.

MPEG-1
Designed for up to 1.5 Mbps. Standard for the compression of moving pictures and audio. This was based on CD-ROM video applications, and is a popular standard for video on the Internet, transmitted as .mpg files. Level 3 of MPEG-1 is popular for audio and is known as MP3.

MPEG-4/H.264
H.264/MPEG-4 AVC is a block-oriented motion-compensation-based codec standard developed by the ITU-T Video Coding Experts Group (VCEG) together with the ISO/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG). It was the product of a partnership effort known as the Joint Video Team (JVT). The ITU-T H.264 standard and the ISO/IEC MPEG-4 AVC standard (formally, ISO/IEC 14496-10 - MPEG-4 Part 10, Advanced Video Coding) are jointly maintained so that they have identical technical content. H.264 is used in such applications as Blu-ray Disc, videos from YouTube and the iTunes Store, DVB, SBTVD, direct-broadcast satellite television service, cable television services, and real-time videoconferencing.

CAT-6
CAT-6 is an Ethernet cable standard defined by the Electronic Industries Association and Telecommunications Industry Association (commonly known as EIA/TIA). CAT-6 is the 6th generation of twisted pair Ethernet cabling. CAT-6 cable contains four pairs of copper wire and unlike CAT-5, utilizes all four pairs. CAT-6 supports Gigabit (1000 Mbps) Ethernet and supports communications at more than twice the speed of CAT-5e, the other popular standard for Gigabit Ethernet cabling. As with all other types of twisted pair EIA/TIA cabling, CAT-6 cable runs are limited to a maximum recommended run rate of 100m (328 feet). CAT-6 comes at a significantly higher price tag than CAT-5 or CAT-5e, and today's applications simply can't take advantage of CAT-6's better performance. However, if wiring a home or building for the long term, one may still consider using CAT-6.

Port Forwarding
Port forwarding is sometimes referred to as port mapping. It is the act of forwarding a network port from one network node to another. This is used to allow outside access to a private IP address (inside a LAN) from the outside via a NAT enabled router.