's not the problem. It's a symptom of more deep-seated malfunction in the practice of human behavior. Any reasonably objective and not neces- sarily disinterested observer would see there are several issues in the Practical IP and Telecom for Broadcast Engineering and Operations Copyright © 2004 by Fred Huffman. All rights of reproduction in any form reserved. PRACTICAL IP AND TELECOM FOR BROADCAST ENGINEERING AND OPERATIONS situation described. At the top of the list of issues is this simple fact: these good people weren't listening to each other. Therefore, they couldn't possibly absorb what was being said on the other side and had no chance at reaching a common understanding of and resolution of their age-old common problem(s). Well, maybe they tried, but it was an unsuccessful, feeble attempt at best, to define and reach a common understanding of the term outage. Far too often lack of progress in such encounters is simply because the participants use words and phrases that have different meanings to each other, or they use differ- ent words and phrases to mean the same thing and don't realize it. This chapter begins to solve problems and challenges dealing with Internet and Telecom facilities, networks, and services such as those mentioned previously. It introduces key concepts, defines basic terms, and suggests a process that will enable the reader to organize and successfully manage an organization's assets and expenditures for communications equipment and services. It covers the following major topics: Definition of content and content transport The program content food chain The migration from analog to digital content transport Description of the functions of a network interface device Commonly misused and misunderstood acronyms and terms A survey of current and applicable standards From the perspective of dealing with communications network sub- ject matter, you will find it advantageous to limit what you say or write, and be precise and clear about it. The most critical parts of your work with internal