3G: - See Third-generation services. 4G: - See Fourth-generation services. 802.11x: - A series of IEEE standards for wireless LANs, including 80211.a, 80211.b, and numerous others. Algorithm: - A step-by-step mathematical procedure for solving a problem. Anechoic: - Free from echoes and reverberations. Asset tracking: - Technology that is used to follow the physical movements of objects and people. Baby Bell: - One of the original Bell System operating companies. Bandgap: - The energy difference in a material between its nonconductive state and its conductive state. Bell System: - Refers to AT&T and its Bell operating companies, which dom- inated the U.S. telephone industry until a court-ordered breakup in 1984. Bit: - The smallest element of computer information. Bits per second (bps): - A data network speed measurement. A 10-Mbps, network, for example, has a top data transfer speed of 10 million bits per second. Telecosmos: The Next Great Telecom Revolution, edited by John Edwards ISBN 0-471-65533-3 Copyright © 2005 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. GLOSSARY Blackberry: - A line of wireless e-mail devices produced by Research In Motion. Bluetooth: - An open standard for the short-range transmission of digital voice and data between mobile devices. BPL: - See Broadband over power lines. bps: - See Bits per second. Broadband: - High-speed Internet access, faster than 56K bps dial-up service. Broadband over power lines (BPL): - An Internet access technology that use poker lines. Buckyball: - A spherical carbon molecule, also known as a "Fullerine," com- posed of 60 atoms. Buckyballs are lighter than plastic and stronger than steel. Cable modem: - A device that connects a computer to a cable television system's broadband Internet service. Carrier: - A telecommunications service provider. Cathode ray tube (CRT): - A vacuum tube that serves as a computer display. CDMA: - See Code division multiple access. CDMA 2000: - See Code division multiple access 2000. CLEC: - See Competitive local exchange carrier. Code division multi