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In-band signaling

Generally, any signaling transmission that takes place within a range of frequencies that are normally used only for data transmission. Instead of using separate control and data channels, control information is transmitted using a portion of the data channel. If a separate control channel is used, the service is called out-of-band signaling.

For example, in-band signaling is used in switched 56 services, in which a 64-Kbps digital communication link has 8 Kbps set aside for control signaling. This is sometimes referred to as "robbed-bit signaling" because the 8-Kbps bandwidth is "robbed" from the data channel for handling control functions such as wide area network (WAN) link synchronization. T1 lines that use switched channels also use in-band signaling techniques.

Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN)

A digital communication service provided by telcos. Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) is an all-digital dial-up (on-demand) service that can simultaneously carry high-quality voice, data, and video transmissions over existing Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) telephone wires of the subscriber’s local loop connection at speeds of 128 Kbps or higher. Even higher speeds can be reached using data compression.

IP address

A 32-bit logical address for a host on a TCP/IP network. Each host on a TCP/IP network needs a unique IP address for communication to take place reliably on the network.

IPv4

The current 32-bit IP addressing scheme used on TCP/IP networks worldwide. Because the number of hosts connecting to the Internet has skyrocketed in recent years, unique IP addresses are gradually running out. A new scheme called IPv6 has been proposed and is currently under review by the Internet community. However, with most corporate networks now hiding their networks behind firewalls, the pressure to move to IPv6 has lessened because companies can choose any network ID they want for their private network. The only assigned IP addresses they require from their Internet service provider (ISP) are for the public interfaces on their firewall machines. At this point, IPv4 seems to be firmly entrenched in the networking world for at least the next few years.

IPv6

A proposed new IP addressing scheme for TCP/IP networks to replace the current IPv4 scheme. Proposed features of IPv6 include the following:

• 128-bit IP addresses to solve the problem of the available IP address pool being depleted
• A simplified header format to reduce network overhead and improve performance
• Support for preallocation of network resources to enable time-dependent services such as voice and video to receive guaranteed bandwidth and quality of service (QoS)
• Extensibility to account for future growth and evolution of Internet technologies and standards

IPv6 is also sometimes referred to as IPng, which stands for "IP Next Generation." A network called the 6Bone was set up in 1995 as a testbed for IPv6 and to investigate how the Internet can be migrated from IPv4 to IPv6.

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