or signaling and voice sig- nals. The M lead (derived from "mouth") transmits ground or battery to the distant end of the Glossary EAP (Extensible Authentication Protocol) circuit, while incoming signals are received as either a grounded or open condition on the E (derived from "ear") lead. EAP (Extensible Authentication Protocol) A protocol that enables various external authentication methods-digital certificates, usernames and passwords, secure tokens, and SO on-to be incorporated into wireless security environments. earth station An assemblage of communications equipment, including signal generator, transmitter, receiver, and antenna, that receives (and usually transmits) signals to/from a com- munications satellite. Also called a ground station. EBCDIC (Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code) A character set that consists of 8-bit code characters and is widely used for exchanging data between computer sys- items. It has 256 possible combinations: 17 are used for control purposes; 96 are used for text characters; and the remaining code combinations are unassigned. eBIP (e-business infrastructure provider) A provider that saves small businesses time and money with Web-based solutions for human resources, accounting, marketing, group collab- oration, and other services. Ebps (exabits per second) 1 billion Gbps, or 1 billion billion bps. E-carrier A time-division-multiplexed, digital transmission facility that operates at an aggregate data rate of 2.048Mbps and above. E-carrier is a PCM system that uses 64Kbps for a voice channel. E-0 is the basic increment of the PDH hierarchy; it is a single channel with a capacity of 64Kbps. E-1, 32 channels are multiplexed into one 2.048Mbps E-1 digital channel, also referred to as G.703; 30 channels are used for information, and 2 channels are reserved for signaling and control. Other E-carrier levels are E-2 (8.488Mbps over 128 channels), E-3 (34.368Mbps over 512 channels), E-4 (139.246Mbps over 2,048 channels), and E-5 (565.148Mbps over 8,192 channels). echo A wave