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Canadian ICT Information and Programs
· Broadband for Rural and Northern Development Pilot Program provides funding through a competitive process to bring publicly available broadband access to Canadian communities.
· Canadian ICT Sector Regional Report, published in February 2003, provides 1999 Information Communications and Technology from a Regional Perspective.
· Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association is the authority on wireless issues, developments and trends in Canada. It represents cellular, PCS, messaging, mobile radio, fixed wireless and mobile satellite carriers as well as companies that develop and produce products and services for the industry.
· Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission is an independent agency responsible for regulating Canada's broadcasting and telecommunications systems.
· Community Access Program is an Industry Canada initiative to provide schools, community centres and libraries with affordable Internet access.
· Connecting Canadians: Government of Canada is a federal initiative to make Canada the most connected country in the world, and offers links, tools, articles, etc. to help communities become more connected.
· Fednor's Connectedness supports projects that will improve telecommunications infrastructure throughout northern Ontario.
· Industry Canada is the federal department responsible for helping to build a dynamic and innovative economy. It provides links to programs, services and information.
· Information and Communication Technology is a website that promotes Canadian ICT industry strengths to foreign investors.
· Regional Networks for Ontario is an organization of communities working to enhance the quality, availability and use of telecommunications and electronic application services in Ontairo.
· Smart Communities is a Canadian federal initiative to foster the use of information and communication technologies in new and innovative ways.
· Strategis is a Canadian Business and Consumer Site that provides information on how to start a business, use electronic commerce, exploit technology opportunities, etc.
· Telecommunications Standards Advisory Council of Canada provides information to the public on the work of TSACC, and serves as a portal to its telecommunications and information technology standards activities.
Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
· Geomatics Industry Association of Canada (GIAC) is the only national business association dedicated to serving the geomatics industry in Canada.
· GIS Lounge provides links to careers, maps, mobile GIS, programming, etc.
· GIS Portal is one of the top web sites for Geographic Information Systems (GIS) industry information.
· Ontario Geomatics Firms is an alphabetical list of registered firms.
· Understanding GIS is a thorough description of what GIS is.
· Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA) a non-profit organization for the use and integration of spatial information technologies to solve challenges in government agencies and improve the quality of life in urban and regional environments.
Tools
· Bandwidth Speed Calculator
· Mobile/Cell Phone Networks of the World
· World Telephone Numbering Guide
Useful Glossary and Acronyms
|
Access Line |
A line assigned to a specific telephone number that connects a customer's phone or related instrument to a central office. |
|
Access Point |
A device that connects wireless network interfaces to a wired network. Each access point can serve multiple users within a defined network. |
|
American National Standards Institute (ANSI) |
A national coordinator of voluntary standards activities, and an approval organization and clearinghouse for consensus standards in the United States that works closely with international organizations for the development and approval of international standards. |
|
Asynchronous Digital Subscriber Line (ADS) |
A general name for an evolving high-speed transmission technology originally developed by Bellcore and now standardized by ANSI |
|
Bandwidth |
A measure of the volume of data that can flow through a communications link: also known as throughput. The carrying capacity of the users' connection or server connection. It is commonly measured in bits or bytes per second (bps). |
|
Base Station |
A fixed device, a mobile radio transceiver (transmitter/receiver) that talks to a person or gets a landline phone network, public or private. |
|
Baud Rate |
A measure of the speed of data transmission between computer and other devices, measured in bits per second. |
|
Broadband Network |
A network capable of transporting voice, interactive full-motion video and data services. A narrowband network carries significantly less information than a broadband network. Narrowband applications include traditional telephone service, electronic mail, paging services and faxes. |
|
Client/Server |
A software system is said to have a client/server architecture when there is a central process (server) which accepts requests from multiple user processes (clients). |
|
Community Access Point (CAP) |
A computer or similar intelligent device (kiosk or digital interactive television) that is used to provide access to information facilities (e.g. the Internet or closed information services) and is located so that it can be used relatively freely by members of local communities. |
|
Customer Provided Equipment (CPE) |
Originally, it referred to equipment on the customers' premises, which had been bought from a vendor who was not the local phone company. Now it simply refers to telephone equipment/key systems |
|
Domain Name |
The unique name that identifies an Internet site. Domain Names always have 2 or more parts, separated by dots. The part on the left is the most specific, and the part on the right is the most general. A given machine may have more than one Domain Name but a given Domain Name points to only one machine. |
|
Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) |
A generic name for a family of evolving digital services to be provided by local phone companies to their local subscribers. Such services go by different names and acronyms. This is the HSA technology used by Bell Sympatico High Speed Internet Services. Customer accesses the Internet through a DSL modem. |
|
DSIP |
Data Services Improvement Program |
|
Ethernet |
A local area network, using a bus topology that provides reliable high-speed communications (maximum of 10 million bits per second) in a limited geographic area (e.g., office complex, university complex). |
|
FedNor |
Industry Canada, Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario |
|
Fibre Optics |
Technology based on thin filaments of glass or other transparent materials used as the medium for transmitting coded light pulses that represent data, image and sound. Fibre optic technology offers extremely high transmission speeds. Wire line telecommunications medium. Digital signals in the form of modulated light that travel long distances on strands of fibre made of pure glass. |
|
Firewall |
A combination of hardware and software that separates a Network into two or more parts for security purposes. |
|
Geocode |
The process of identifying the coordinates of a location given its address. For example, an address can be matched against a street network to determine the location of a home. |
|
Geographic Data |
The locations and descriptions of geographic features. The composite of spatial data and descriptive data. |
|
Geographic Database |
A collection of spatial data and related descriptive data organized for efficient storage and retrieval by many users. |
|
Geographic Information System (GIS) |
An organized collection of computer hardware, software, geographic data and personnel designed to efficiently capture, store, update, manipulate, analyze and display all forms of geographically referenced information. |
|
Hardware |
The physical components of a computer system-the computer, plotters, printers, terminals, digitizers and so on. |
|
High Speed Access (HSA) |
Access from the customer's premises to the network. Examples include DSL, high-speed cable, WiFi, etc. |
|
Hybrid Fibre-Coax (HFC) |
A telecommunications cable in which optical fibber cable and coaxial cable constitute different portions of a network carrying broadband content (such as video, data and voice). |
|
HRDC |
Human Resources Development Corporation |
|
ICT |
Information and Communication Technology |
|
Internet Protocol (IP) |
Part of the TCP/IP family of protocols describing software that tracks the Internet address of nodes, routes outgoing messages and recognizes incoming messages. Used in gateways to connect networks at OSI network Level 3 and above |
|
Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) |
ISDN comes in two basic flavours - Basic Rate Interface (BRI), which is 144,000 bits per second and designed for the desktop, and Primary Rate Interface (PRI) which is 1,544,000 bits per second and designed for telephone switches, computer telephony and voice processing systems |
|
Internet Service Provider (ISP) |
A vendor who provides direct access to the Internet. The ISP also usually provides a core group of Internet utilities and services like E-mail, News Group Readers and sometimes weather reports and local restaurant reviews. |
|
Last Mile |
Interchangeable with Local Loop, the technology that connects the customer premise to the Access Point. |
|
Level Two Access |
Describes an access to a network that is architected to be open and accessible by any company or alternative telecommunications service provider, including regional ISPs. |
|
LIO |
Land Information Ontario |
|
Local Area Network (LAN) |
Data communications technology that connects computers at the same site. Computers and terminals on a LAN can freely share data and peripheral devices, such as printers and plotters. LANs are composed of cabling and special data communications hardware and software. |
|
Local Exchange Carrier |
Local carriers are responsible for the "last mile" of all connections to the internet. When a customer purchases a circuit through a Tier 1 carrier (IXC), the carrier sends the LEC an order to provision a connection from the closest Central Office to the customer's premise. The IXC and the LEC must also arrange connectivity between the carrier's POP and the LEC's CO. |
|
Local Loop |
Interchangeable with Last Mile, the technology that connects the customer premise to the Access Point. The high-speed telephone circuit that is set up between the local telephone company and the customer's premise. |
|
Megabits per Second (Mbps) |
A measurement of bandwidth. One megabit is 1,048,576 bits. |
|
MEOI |
Ministry of Enterprise Opportunity and Innovation |
|
MEST |
Ministry of Energy and Science Technology |
|
MNR |
Ministry of Natural Resources |
|
Multipoint Wireless Local Loop (MWLL) |
A system that connects subscribers to the public switched telephone network (PSTN) using radio signals as a substitute for copper for all or part of the connection between the subscriber and the switch. In Greenstone, the MWLL system will use WiFi technology. |
|
Network |
A combination of transmission facilities and switching capacity that allows users to communicate with other users of linked facilities. Examples: local exchange telephone networks, cellular wireless networks, cable television networks, CAP networks, and private facility-based networks. |
|
Network Node |
The endpoints and connecting points of network links, for example, intersections and interchanges of a road network, the confluence of streams in a hydrologic network, or switches in a power grid. |
|
Networking Protocols |
Software that provides a communication gateway (link) allowing the exchange of data between various networking systems. Protocols are a fixed set of rules used to specify the format of an exchange of data. |
|
NOHFC |
Ministry of Northern Development and Mines, Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation |
|
OC3 |
A transfer speed of fibre optic networks conforming to the SONET standard. OC3 has a transfer rate of up to 155 Mbps. |
|
OC12 |
A transfer speed of fibre optic networks conforming to the SONET standard. OC3 has a transfer rate of up to 622 Mbps. |
|
OMAF |
Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food |
|
Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) |
The only nationally accepted framework of standards for communication between different systems made by different vendors. International Standards Organization (ISO)'s major goal is to create an open systems networking environment where any vendor's computer system, connected to any network, can freely share data with any other computer system on that network or a linked network. |
|
Permanent Virtual Circuit (PVC) |
A virtual circuit used to establish a long-term connection between data terminal equipments. |
|
Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) |
A hand held device that combines computing, telephone/fax and networking features. It can take the form of handheld computing devices, mobile computers, tablet PCs, etc. |
|
Point to Point |
A dedicated circuit between two customer locations. Point-to-point circuits do not connect directly to the internet but provide an exclusive connection for a company between two offices. |
|
Point of Presence (POP) |
A location where a network can be connected to, often with dial up phone lines. Therefore, if an Internet company says they will soon have a POP in Belgrade, it means that they will soon have a local phone number in Belgrade and/or a place where leased lines can connect to their network. |
|
Portal |
Usually used as a marketing term to describe a Web site that is or is intended to be the first place people see when using the Web. Typically, a "Portal site" has a catalogue of web sites, a search engine or both. A Portal site may also offer email and other service to entice people to use that site as their main "point of entry" (hence "portal") to the Web. |
|
RCBN |
Regional Community Based Network |
|
Router |
Carriers may provide routers to terminate circuits at the customer site. Routers may be purchased or leased, and may be installed by the carrier or the customer. Some carriers do not offer routers except on special promotions, meaning that customers will normally need to purchase and configure their own router for these carriers. Other carriers are willing to fully manage the router, including updating router configurations as needed. |
|
Smart Community |
A community that has made a conscious effort to use information technology to transform life and work within its region in significant and fundamental, rather than incremental, ways. |
|
Spatial Data |
Information about the location and shape of, and relationships among, geographic features, usually stored as coordinates and topology. |
|
Synchronous Optic Network (SONET) |
A family of protocol and fibre optic transmission rates, with the flexibility to transport many digital signals with different capacities. |
|
T1 |
A leased-line connection capable of carrying data at 1,544,000 bits-per-second. At maximum theoretical capacity, a T-1 line could move a megabyte in less than 10 seconds. That is still not fast enough for full-screen, full-motion video, for which you need at least 10,000,000 bits-per-second. T-1 lines are commonly used to connect large LANs to the Internet. |
|
T3 |
Is the next step up from a T1 line as T2 was bypassed. T3 is close to 30 times faster as a T1 (1.54 mps) line and moves data at 44.73 megabits per second in both upload and download modes. |
|
TCP/IP |
Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol: the basis of the Internet. Each device using TCP/IP has an address (called an IP address). |
|
Virtual Private Network (VPN) |
A network constructed by using public wires and wireless technology to connect to access nodes. |
|
Wide Area Network (WAN) |
A computer network that spans a relatively large geographical area. A WAN typically consists of two or more LANs. |
|
Wi-Fi |
Short for wireless fidelity and is meant to be used generically when referring of any type of 802.11 network, whether 802.11b, 802.11a, dual-band, etc. |
Common Carrier Technology
|
Carrier Technology |
Speed |
Physical Medium |
Application |
|
GSM mobile telephone service |
9.6 to 14.4 Kbps |
RF in space (wireless) |
Mobile telephone for business and personal use |
|
High-speed circuit-switched data service (HSCSD) |
Up to 56 Kbps |
RF in space (wireless) |
Mobile telephone for business and personal use |
|
Regular telephone service (POTS) |
Up to 56 Kbps |
Twisted-pair |
Home and small business access |
|
Dedicated 56Kbps on Frame Relay |
56 Kbps |
Various |
Business e-mail with fairly large file attachments |
|
DS0 |
64 Kbps |
All |
The base signal on a channel in the set of Digital Signal levels |
|
General Packet Radio System (GPRS) |
56 to 114 Kbps |
RF in space (wireless) |
Mobile telephone for business and personal use (available in 2000) |
|
ISDN |
BRI: 64 Kbps to 128 Kbps
PRI: 23 (T-1) or 30 (E1) assignable 64-Kbps channels plus control channel; up to 1.544 Mbps (T-1) or 2.048 (E1) |
BRI: Twisted-pair
PRI: T-1 or E1 line |
BRI: Faster home and small business access
PRI: Medium and large enterprise access |
|
IDSL |
128 Kbps |
Twisted-pair |
Faster home and small business access |
|
AppleTalk |
230.4 Kbps |
Twisted pair |
Local area network for Apple devices; several networks can be bridged; non-Apple devices can also be connected |
|
Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE) |
384 Kbps |
RF in space (wireless) |
Mobile telephone for business and personal use (available in 2001) |
|
Satellite |
400 Kbps (DirecPC) |
RF in space (wireless) |
Faster home and small enterprise access |
|
Frame relay |
56 Kbps to 1.544 Mbps |
Twisted-pair or coaxial cable |
Large company backbone for LANs to ISP
ISP to Internet infrastructure |
|
DS1/T-1 |
1.544 Mbps |
Twisted-pair, coaxial cable, or optical fibre |
Large company to ISP
ISP to Internet infrastructure |
|
Universal Mobile Telecommunications Service (UMTS) |
Up to 2 Mbps |
RF in space (wireless) |
Mobile telephone for business and personal use (available in 2002) |
|
E-1 |
2.048 Mbps |
Twisted-pair, coaxial cable, or optical fibre |
32-channel European equivalent of T-1 |
|
T-1C (DS1C) |
3.152 Mbps |
Twisted-pair, coaxial cable, or optical fibre |
Large company to ISP
ISP to Internet infrastructure |
|
IBM Token Ring/802.5 |
4 Mbps (also 16 Mbps) |
Twisted-pair, coaxial cable, or optical fibre |
Second most commonly-used local area network after Ethernet |
|
DS2/T-2 |
6.312 Mbps |
Twisted-pair, coaxial cable, or optical fibre |
Large company to ISP
ISP to Internet infrastructure |
|
Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) |
512 Kbps to 8 Mbps |
Twisted-pair (used as a digital, broadband medium) |
Home, small business, and enterprise access using existing copper lines |
|
E-2 |
8.448 Mbps |
Twisted-pair, coaxial cable, or optical fibre |
Carries four multiplexed E-1 signals |
|
Cable modem |
512 Kbps to 52 Mbps
(see Key and explanation) |
Coaxial cable (usually uses Ethernet); in some systems, telephone used for upstream requests |
Home, business, school access |
|
Ethernet |
10 Mbps |
10BASE-T (twisted-pair); 10BASE-2 or -5 (coaxial cable); 10BASE-F (optical fibre) |
Most popular business local area network (LAN) |
|
IBM Token Ring/802.5 |
16 Mbps (also 4 Mbps) |
Twisted-pair, coaxial cable, or optical fibre |
Second most commonly-used local area network after Ethernet |
|
E-3 |
34.368 Mbps |
Twisted-pair or optical fibre |
Carries 16 E-l signals |
|
DS3/T-3 |
44.736 Mbps |
Coaxial cable |
ISP to Internet infrastructure
Smaller links within Internet infrastructure |
|
OC-1 |
51.84 Mbps |
Optical fibre |
ISP to Internet infrastructure
Smaller links within Internet infrastructure |
|
HSSI |
Up to 53 Mbps |
HSSI cable |
Between router hardware and WAN lines
Short-range (50 feet) interconnection between slower LAN devices and faster WAN lines |
|
Fast Ethernet |
100 Mbps |
100BASE-T4 (twisted pair); 100BASE-TX (twisted pair); 100BASE-FX (optical fibre) |
Workstations with 10 Mbps Ethernet cards can plug into a Fast Ethernet LAN |
|
FDDI |
100 Mbps |
Optical fibre |
Large, wide-range LAN usually in a large company or a larger ISP |
|
T-3D (DS3D) |
135 Mbps |
Optical fibre |
ISP to Internet infrastructure
Smaller links within Internet infrastructure |
|
E4 |
139.264 Mbps |
Optical fibre |
Carries 4 E3 channels
Up to 1,920 simultaneous voice conversations |
|
OC-3/STM-1 |
155.52 Mbps |
Optical fibre |
Large company backbone
Internet backbone |
|
E5 |
565.148 Mbps |
Optical fibre |
Carries 4 E4 channels
Up to 7,680 simultaneous voice conversations |
|
OC-12/STM-4 |
622.08 Mbps |
Optical fibre |
Internet backbone |
|
Gigabit Ethernet |
1 Gbps |
Optical fibre (and "copper" up to 25 meters) |
Workstations/networks with 10/100 Mbps Ethernet will plug into Gigabit Ethernet switches |
|
OC-24 |
1.244 Gbps |
Optical fibre |
Internet backbone |
|
SciNet |
2.325 Gbps (15 OC-3 lines) |
Optical fibre |
Part of the vBNS backbone |
|
OC-48/STM-16 |
2.488 Gbps |
Optical fibre |
Internet backbone |
|
OC-192/STM-64 |
10 Gbps |
Optical fibre |
Backbone |
|
OC-256 |
13.271 Gbps |
Optical fibre |
Backbone |
|
