Remote Access to PennNet: Glossary of Terms

This glossary is not intended to be exhaustive but is rather a specific list of terms relevant to the Penn community and intended to aid individuals in making decisions about remote access.

Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)

A DSL circuit is much faster than a regular phone connection, and the wires coming into the subscriber’s premises are the same (copper) wires used for regular phone service. DSL is quickly becoming a popular high-speed alternative to 56k dialup services. DSL is more costly than 56k modem services and is subject to availability by area.

Internet Service Provider (ISP)

A commercial service that provides access to the Internet. Some ISPs offer free access to the Internet in exchange for banner advertising imposed on the screen while others offer fee-based subscriptions with no banner ads imposed.

Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN)

A telecommunications standard for transmitting voice, video and data over digital lines running at 64 Kbps. ISDN uses existing phone lines and can provide speeds of roughly 128 Kbps over regular phone lines. In practice, most people will be limited to 56 or 64 Kbps. ISDN offers a high-speed remote access alternative when DSL is not available.

Local Support Provider (LSP)

At the core of Penn's new model of distributed computing support are the Local Support Providers (LSPs) who serve as the primary resource for school/center/dept. based computing support. Please see Penn's Computing Help pages to determine who your Local Support Provider is and how to contact them.

PennNet

The campus network at the University of Pennsylvania.

Penn For-Fee Service

The Penn For-Fee Service that replaced the no-fee modem pool service on July 5, 2000. This service was discontinued in Spring 2001 due to lack of subscribers.

Penn-preferred ISP

A "Penn-preferred" ISP is one with which ISC has negotiated discounted rates and special services for Penn subscribers.

Penn Library Proxy Server

The Penn Library Proxy Server is, in essence, a machine that forwards requests for web resources from authorized users. The proxy server authorizes you against your record in the Library's patron database, and then serves as a "proxy" between your machine and the resource provider's site. To configure your web browser to use the Library's Proxy server, see the connecting page.

SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol)

The standard e-mail protocol on the Internet. It is a TCP/IP protocol that defines the message format and the message transfer agent (MTA), which stores and forwards the mail. SMTP was originally designed for only ASCII text, but MIME and other encoding methods enable program and multimedia files to be attached to e-mail messages. SMTP servers route SMTP messages throughout the Internet to a mail server, such as POP3 or IMAP4, which provides a message store for incoming mail.

Many Penn email servers (pobox, dolphin, eniac, mail.sas) have now turned on SMTP Authentication which allows users of external Internet Service Providers (ISPs) such as DCANet, BellAtlantic, and America OnLine (AOL) to send email from their Penn e-mail accounts.