Bits - Short for binary digit, the smallest unit of information on a machine. The term was first
used in 1946 by John Tukey, a leading statistician and adviser to five presidents. A single bit can
hold only one of two values: 0 or 1. Information that is more meaningful is obtained by
combining consecutive bits into larger units. For example, a byte is composed of 8 consecutive
bits.

BRI - Short for Basic-Rate Interface, the basic ISDN configuration, which consists of two Bchannels that can carry voice or data at rate of 64Kbps, and one D-channel, which carries call control information.

Bridges – Devices that filter packets between LANs by making a simple forward/don’t forward
on each packet they receive from any of the networks they are connected to.

Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection (CSMA/CD) – An element defined by
the IEEE 802.3 specification. It is an access method that is used by stations connected to an
Ethernet LAN. In this method each station contends for access to the shared medium.

Coaxial Twisted Pair Cable - A type of cable that consists of two independently insulated wires
twisted around one another. One wire carries the signal while the other wire is grounded and
absorbs signal interference. Twisted-pair cable is used by older telephone networks and is the
least expensive type of local-area network (LAN) cable. Other types of cables used for LANs
include coaxial cables and fiber optic cables.