al Communications Commission fiber distribution data interface fiber distribution interface Frequency Modulation femto quadrillionth fiber node FOIRL fiber-optic inter-repeater line frequency-shift keying fiber to the curb fiber to the home four wave mixing billion Home Box Office hybrid fiber-coaxial Hertz Industry Standard Architecture Internet protocol Joint Photographics Expert Group thousand Local Area Network LASER light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation Light Emitting Diode logical link control longware infrared region media access control metropolitan area network modified chemical vapor deposition million microelectromechanical switch mode field diameter Media Interface Connector Abbreviations micro millionth milli thousandth milliwatt midwave infrared region numerical aperture non-dispersion-shifted fiber non-return-to-zero non-return-to-zero-inversion NZDSF non-zero-dispersion-shifted fiber optical carrier Open System Interconnection outside vapor deposition private branch exchange Peripheral Component Interconnect pulse-code modulation plastic-clad silica trillionth Phase Modulation Public Switched Telephone Network Signal-to-noise ratio spot diameter Synchronous Digital Hierarchy sub-multi-assembly station management SONET Synchronous Optical Network synchronous payload envelope straight tip STS-1 Synchronous Transport Signal level 1 short-wave infrared region time division multiplexer trillion Abbreviations total internal reflections timed token protocol valid transmission timer VCSEL vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser wide area network Wavelength Division Multiplexing Team-Fly® GLOSSARY atom a particle consisting of an inner nucleus surrounded by elec- trons that circle the nucleus. attenuation a reduction of optical power as photons flow down fiber. attenuation coefficient a loss of optical power per a given length of fiber, commonly expressed in dB/km. backbone cabling cabling between telecommunications rooms. Baud a rate of signal change commonly expressed in terms of Hz. bel