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Glossary of broadband terminology: I

IAD: Integrated Access Device
Has multiple functionality - i.e. voice over xDSL
IDSL: ISDN DSL
Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier: A LEC which, when competition begins, has the dominant position in the market; the original carrier in the market prior to the entry of competition.
Industry Standard Architecture: A personal computer bus architecture.
Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers: A professional group that designs and defines network standards, LAN standards in particular.
Insulation Displacement Connection: A type of wire connection device in which a wire is punched down into a metal holder that strips away the insulation to achieve electrical connection.
Integrated Services Digital Network: ISDN
Circuit-switched digital network and, technically, the first digital subscriber line. Comes in two varieties: basic rate interface which runs at 144 Kbps and primary rate interface which runs at 1.544 Mbps. See also Basic Rate Interface, Broadband ISDN, and Primary Rate Interface.
Interexchange Carrier: Very much a US term, an IXC is a long distance telecommunications provider that offers a range of circuit-switched, packet-switched, leased line, and enhanced communications services; any company that provides communications services between exchanges on a long haul basis. In Europe, Asia, and other nations around the world, the local telco also serves as the major IXC in the country. See Telco.
Interface: A point of connection between two systems, networks, or devices.
InterLATA: Telecommunications services that originate in one and terminate in another LATA.
International Standards Organization: International organization for standardization which is based in Geneva. Publishes national and international standards for data communications. US representative to ISOis ANSI.
International Telecommunications UnionTelecommunications Standards Sector: Formerly the CCITT, the major international standards body governing telecommunications; it is a committee of the ITU, a United Nations treaty organization.
Internet: World's largest computer network; sprung out of a research effort initiated by US government. Initially used to connect defense contractors and US Universities. Today its nature is more commercial and is becoming the preferred method of linking businesses' and individuals' computers to one another.
Internet Access: The physical telephone circuit connection between the subscriber and the nearest Internet access node.
Internet Access Node: The Internet access provider's facility for receiving communications from subscribers and prepping it for transmission into the Internet. An ISP access node typically consists of analog modem, ISDN, and soon xDSL access multiplexers to accept the public network subscriber connections; routers to packetize the communications into TCP/IP; and frame relay switches to serve as the fast-packet connection into the Internet. See Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol.
Internet Engineering Task Force: The primary working body developing new TCP/IP standards for the Internet.
Internet Protocol: A standard describing software that keeps track of the Internetwork addresses for different nodes, routes outgoing messages, and recognizes incoming messages.
Internet Service Provider: The telecommunications company providing subscriber access into the Internet.
Internetwork Packet Exchange: LAN communications protocol used to move data between server and workstation programs running on different network nodes.
Interoperability: The ability of equipment from multiple vendors to communicate using standardized protocols.
IntraLATA: Telecommunications services that originate and terminate inthe same LATA.
ISDN Digital Subscriber Line: Uses ISDN transmission technology to deliver data at 128 Kbps into an IDSL "modem bank" connected to a router.