Industry Dictionary - Acronyms & Terminology

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  • 10GX

    Designation used for 10 Gigahertz Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) networking cable

  • 5Play

    Cornerstone of HDBaseT, it is convergence of full HD video, audio, 100BaseT Ethernet, power over cable and various control signals

  • A/V

    Audio/Visual

  • ABS

    American Bureau of Shipping. This agency certifies material (including cable) suitable for use aboard ships.

  • ACE

    Architects, Consultants and Engineers

  • ACMC

    Alien Crosstalk Margin Calculation

  • AEHC

    Adaptive Enclosure Heat Containment

  • AEM

    Application Engineering Manager

  • AES

    Audio Engineering Society

  • AFO

    Available For Order

  • AFS

    Available For Shipment or Sale

  • AHTD

    Association of High Technology Distribution

  • AM

    Account Manager

  • AN

    Application Note

  • AP

    Action Plan

  • APAC

    Asia Pacific

  • APR

    Area of Primary Responsibility

  • ARO

    After Receipt of Order. This is when the Lead Time actually begins.

  • AVB

    Audio Video Bridging. A new IEEE draft standard for 802.1BA for use of Ethernet in the broadcast industry

  • AVSS

    Audio/Video Sound and Security

  • AWG

    American Wire Gauge. A standard for expressing the diameter of the copper in a wire. As AWG increases, the wire diameter decreases.

  • B2B

    Business to Business

  • BAA

    Government term meaning: Buy American Act

  • Baked In

    Something built into or part of a program or price, etc. “The cost of freight is baked into our selling price.”

  • BAP

    Branch Action Plans

  • BAS

    Building Automation Systems

  • Battle Card

    A product “cheatsheet” that outlines features/benefits, sales strategy, competitive analysis, applications, issues, etc.

  • BAV

    Broadcast Audio/Video

  • BERT

    Bit Error Rate Test

  • BICSI

    Building Industry Consulting Service International, sets standards for the development and design of structured cabling systems.

  • Big Elephants

    Large or “trophy” opportunities

  • BIM

    Building Information Management. You may see REVIT as a BIM tool.

  • Black Belt

    An earned, demonstrated and documented level of mastery.

  • Blue Sheet

    A planning tool used to help visualize a salesperson’s current strategic position and the actions needed to close a sales opportunity.

  • BOM

    Bill of Material

  • Bonded Pairs

    Patented Belden feature where the 2 conductors in a pair in a networking cable are physically bonded, ensuring superior performance.

  • Bowler

    Measurement tool (spreadsheet or online) that quickly shows status to KPIs and TTIs. You’re either red or green.. Bad or good!

  • BPCS

    A Manufacturing/Sales Order software package

  • Broker

    (term used in Europe and Asia; also see Commercial Agents and Manufacturers’ Representatives) Brokers perform similar intermediary functions as commercial agents and manufacturers’ representatives without, however, being permanently under contract to certain business partners.

  • Brolog

    A combination of a brochure and a catalog

  • Brown Field

    An opportunity where the business is rework or refurbishment, such as upgrading network cabling in a hospital or hotel.

  • Burning Platform

    The compelling business reason for making a change, or “the bad things that will happen to us if we don’t change now”

  • BYOD

    “Bring Your Own Device” is a growing trend where employees use their own tablets, smartphones, etc to perform company work.

  • C&I

    Contractors & Systems Integrators

  • C4ISR

    Government term meaning: Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaisance.

  • Call to Action

    A new way of stating or defining “to-do” or action item(s).

  • CAP

    Cooperative Advertising and Promotion

  • Cap Ex

    Capital expense

  • Capture

    To write down or note, such as “let me capture that information and get back to you.”

  • Cascade

    To forward a message or communication to others.

  • Cat5e

    Category 5 Enhanced 4-pair UTP networking cable. Swept to 100 MHz. Minimally compliant networking cables. Varying grades available.

  • Cat6

    Category 6 4-pair UTP networking cable. Swept to 250 MHz, this is today’s standard network cable. Varying grades available.

  • Cat6a

    Category 6 Augmented 4-pair UTP networking cable. Swept to 500 MHz, “10 Gig” cable is for cutting edge networks.Cat6a

  • CATV

    Carrier Access Television

  • CAV

    Commercial Audio/Video, used in the new product/market rollout in 2Q2012.

  • CCC

    Customer Collaboration Center in Indianapolis. This new, functional applications lab is ideal to show customers Belden solutions at work.

  • CCR

    Government term: Central Contractor Registry. All businesses selling to the US Gov’t are required to be registered.

  • CCS

    Coaxial Connectivity Solutions group within ESD, it is comprised of ICM and the Thomas & Betts Communications Products.

  • CCTV

    Closed Circuit Television

  • CE

    Customer Engagement

  • Centers of Gravity

    Office location, factory or other company facility.

  • Circle the Number

    When the sales commitment number for a given month is achieved or exceeded in Salesforce.

  • CIS

    Clinical Information Systems. A healthcare term used as hospitals become digital.

  • Clawback

    To rescind or take back funds, such as co-op dollars. “We need to try to clawback $90K in co-op to stay within our budget.”

  • CLIN

    Government term: Contract Line Item Number

  • CM

    Specified for General Building Wiring use, Type CM cables are used in areas other than plenums and risers.

  • CMP

    Communications Plenum cable. Can be run in horizontal airshafts (called plenums) between floors in a building.

  • CMR

    Communications Riser cable. Used in risers or shafts from floor to floor in a building.

  • COGS

    Cost of Goods Sold. To our distributors, this is the invoiced cost of Belden products as opposed to POS (their selling price to users).

  • COL

    Freight collect (freight charges are not included in the invoice and are payable by the distributor or customer)

  • Commerical Agents

    (term used in Africa, Asia, Australia and Europe; also see Manufacturers’ Representatives) Independent professional providers of field sales and marketing services to manufacturers of suppliers. They typically handle a portfolio of related but non-competitive product lines, working under a contractual arrangement within a defined geographic territory on an exclusive basis.

  • CONUS

    Government term meaning: CONtinental US

  • Convergence

    Moving many separate networks onto one or two single network infrastructures, such as moving IP video onto a security network.

  • COO

    Country of Origin

  • Countermeasure

    Specific measureable action item used in SDP/Dpoly to overcome a shortfall in a KPI or TTI bowler. Updated monthly.

  • CRAC

    Computer Room Air Conditioning

  • CRAH

    Computer Room Air Handler

  • CRD

    Customer Request Date

  • CRM

    Customer Relationship Management

  • CRS

    Customer Requirement Specification

  • CS

    Case Study document

  • CSR

    Customer Service Representative

  • D&I

    Develop & Implement. Used in Sales Action Plans.

  • Daily Cadence

    Daily activities, such as “I’ll build that into my daily cadence.”

  • DAS

    Distributed Antenna System. Becoming more and more common in stadiums and venues.

  • DC

    Data Center

    or

    Distribution Center (finished goods warehouse)

  • DCAM

    Demand Creation Account Mgr

  • DCIM

    Data Center Infrastructure Management

  • DDW

    Double Design Win

  • Dead Cat Bounce

    Refers to how a sales territory without a salesperson can continue to produce or even increase sales. “Even a dead cat will bounce.”

  • DFAR

    Government term meaning: DOD FAR (Department of Defense Federal Acquisition Regulations)

  • Digital Cliff

    The point where a digital signal cannot be resolved or used by a receiving chip/integrated circuit.

  • DLA

    Government term meaning: Defense Logistics Agency

  • DNO

    A term used in VMI, it stands for Do Not Order (or stock) for non-stock items (special or one-off sales) bought and sold by the distributor.

  • Dock Date

    The date the customer expects or wants their order to arrive at their facility. Must include transit time after ship date from the factory.

  • DOD

    Government term meaning: Department of Defense

  • Dploy

    Name of an online management Strategic Deployment system/tool

  • DPPM

    Defective Parts Per Million

  • DS

    Data Sheet

  • DTAM

    Distribution Total Available Market. This is usually a smaller figure than TAM, which includes factory direct business.

  • DVR

    Digital Video Recorder

  • E&O

    Excess & Obsolete

  • E2E

    End to end (such as End to End networking project)

  • eCatalog

    Online product catalog

  • Eco-System

    All of the people and resources available to you to help you be successful in your job.

  • ECS

    Enterprise Cable and Security Solutions sales group of Anixter.

  • EDI

    Electronic Data Interchange. Orders are entered and acknowledged “computer to computer” with no human involvement.

  • EDS

    Electronic Distribution Show

  • EF

    Emergency Facility. Refers to an area in a hospital that must be connected via cabling to an ER (Equipment Room).

  • EMEA

    Europe Middle East and Asia

  • EMR

    Electronic Medical Records. A healthcare term especially pertinent as hospitals become digital.

  • EO

    Equipment Outlet

  • EOL

    End Of Life

  • EOM

    End of Month

  • EoR

    End of Row termination strategy used in data centers.

  • EOW

    End of Week

  • EOY

    End Of Year

  • ER

    Equipment Room

  • EUA

    End User Agreement. Document to provide a specific price for a specific customer for a specific time period.

  • EUM

    Unit of measure

  • Exit Rate

    Exit rate is the income expected in the following period as a result of sales closed in the existing period (assuming no other sales are made).

  • F/UTP

    Screened Twisted Pair (foil screen around the entire 4 pair core). This particular designation refers to 10Gig cables.

  • FAR

    Government term meaning: Federal Acquistion Regulations.

  • FAS

    Government term for: Federal Acquisition Service, which combines the former Federal Supply Service and Federal Technology Service.

  • Feed Study

    Also called an Engineering Study, this is done by EPCs for end users at beginning of Industrial projects for feasibility, budgetary costs, etc.

  • FG

    Finished Goods

  • FLS

    Fire Life Safety

  • FSM

    Field Solutions Manager

  • FTP

    File Transfer Protocol. A fast and free method of transferring data on the Internet, commonly used to efficiently move large data files.

  • FUBAR

    A WWII term meaning “F-ed Up Beyond All Repair (or Recognition).”

  • Funnel

    Potential or prospective business a salesperson, region or division are working on and bring to a close.

  • G-C&I

    Government term meaning: Government – Contractors & Systems Integrators.

  • G-CSV

    Government term meaning: Government – CSV (a networking contractor qualified for and seeking government business & projects).

  • GAM

    Global Account Manager

  • GBDT

    Government term meaning: Government Business Development Team.

  • GbE

    Gigabit Ethernet

  • GLT

    Group Leadership Team

  • GMROI

    Gross Margin Return on Inventory (GMROI) is calculated by dividing gross margin dollars by inventory.

  • Golden Selling Hours

    The hours between 8:30 AM and 5:00 PM that should be used by salespeople for face-to-face meetings with customers & prospects.

  • Green Belt

    An earned, demonstrated medium level of subject mastery. It is a prerequisite for a Black Belt.

  • Green Field

    An opportunity where the business is new, such as the building of a new hospital, plant or arena.

  • Grid Transformation

    A term used by Ericsson as an alternative to “Smart Grid.”

  • GSA

    General Services Administration. Establishes long term government-wide discounted contracts with commercial companies such as Belden.

  • GTM

    Go To Market

  • GWAC

    Government-Wide Acquisition Contract, usually focused on IT products and product-based services for the government.

  • HAENS

    High Altitude Exo-Atmospheric Nuclear Survivability.

  • HD

    High Definition

  • HDBaseT

    An interim Ethernet standard in broadcast until the 802.1BA draft standard is finalized. HDBaseT overcomes distance limits of HDMI cables.

  • HDCP

    High Definition Content Protection. This prevents transmission of protected content.

  • HDMI

    High Definition Multimedia Interface

  • Headwind

    Resistance or obstructions to an objective, project, initiative, etc.

  • HEMP

    High-altitude ElectroMagnetic Pulse. HEMP protection is a hot-point with companies doing work for the government and/or military.

  • HR

    Human Resources

  • HSR

    High Available Seamless Ring. A type of redundancy/reliability protocol used in Industrial Networks to insure network uptime.

  • HT

    High Temperature

  • HVAC

    Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning system, the set of components used to condition interior air including heating and cooling equipment as well as ducting and related airflow devices.

  • I/C

    WESCO’s acronym for its Industrial/Construction division branches.

  • ICR

    Infection Control Requirements. A term used in the healthcare industry.

  • IDC

    Insulation Displacement Connector

  • IDIQ

    Government term meaning: Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity.

  • IEEE

    Pronounced “Eye triple E”, this is the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers. IEEE sets all sorts of standards for the industry to follow.

  • IEI

    Industrial Ethernet infrastructure

  • IMDS

    The International Material Data System is the automobile industry’s material data system, standardizing product information.

  • IP

    Internet Protocol. Digital protocol used to connect Industrial, commercial, security, consumer, etc devices to the Internet.

  • IPLMS

    Intelligent Physical-Layer Management Solution

  • IS/OS

    Acronym indicating that cable has individually shielded pairs or triples inside and an overall outer shield for the entire cable.

  • ISR

    Inside Sales Representative

  • IT

    Information Technology

  • JGSD

    “Just Getting ‘Stuff’ Done.”

  • JOP

    Jumping Off Point. Value of business at the beginning of a new financial planning period, many times the prior year’s business.

  • K’

    Used as unit of measure, typically used to signify thousands of feet. Alternatively M’ is used.

  • Keystone

    An industry-standard style of mounting networking jacks into faceplates, patch panels, etc.

  • KFC

    Keep/Find/Close

  • KPI

    Key Performance Indicators

  • L&L

    Lunch & Learn. Method to provide lunch and specific training to distributors or customers. Alternatively LNL is used.

  • Lag & Tag

    Industrial distributor services in which cable is cut, marked/tagged, kitted, etc for shipment to specific job site or project.

  • LAN

    Local Area Network

  • LBP

    Local Business Partner, the Emerson designation for its authorized distributors.

  • LC

    Limited Combustible. Material has a 2550 Smoke Index compared to 5550 Smoke Index for plenum.

  • LDP

    Label Distribution Protocol. A standardized protocol for managing MPLS (See below) paths.

  • LEAN

    Business philosophy that systematically eliminates waste of resources and simplifies business processes.

  • Linearity

    Most commonly used to describe consistent production pattern within a day, week, month, quarter or year.

  • LMS

    Learning Management System

  • LNG

    Liquified Natural Gas

  • LSZH

    Low Smoke Zero Halogen

  • LT

    Lead Time

  • M’

    Used as unit of measure, typically used to signify thousands of feet. Alternatively K’ is used.

  • MAC Work

    Moves Adds Changes that are typical in network installations. The MAC work is done after the contractor initially installs the project.

  • Manufacturers’ Representatives

    (term used in Africa, Asia, North America and South America; also see Commercial Agents) Independent professional providers of field sales and marketing services to manufacturers of suppliers. They typically handle a portfolio of related but non-competitive product lines, working under a contractual arrangement within a defined geographic territory on an exclusive basis.

  • Marcom

    Marketing Communications

  • Marinate

    Taking some period of time to review or consider something before replying.

  • MATV

    Master Antenna Television

  • MC-HL

    Metal Clad Hazard Location – a type of armored, metal clad cable used extensively in the Oil & Gas industry, both offshore and land based.

  • MCC

    Motor Control Center. A device or devices that govern in some predetermined manner the performance of an electric motor.

  • MCM

    Thousand Circular Mils. Method of measuring amount of copper by cross section in a cable that is larger than 0000 AWM.

  • MDS

    Market Delivery System

  • MDVO

    Multimedia Digital Video Outlet. Belden proprietary style of mounting networking jacks into faceplates, patch panels, etc.

  • MILCON

    Government term meaning: MILitary CONstruction

  • MIMO

    Multi-Input/Multi-Output

  • MLT

    Market Lead Time

  • MNC

    Multi National Customer (or Company)

  • MOC

    Manufacturing Order Change. Used when change is made to a manufacturing order.

  • MoCA

    Pronounced “mocha”, it stands for Multi-media over Coaxial Cable. This is the technology Verizon uses for it’s FiOS system.

  • MOQ

    Minimum Order Quantity

  • MoR

    Middle of Row termination strategy used in data centers.

  • MPLS

    Multiprotocol Label Switching – directs within a network with short path labels rather than long network addresses. MPLS is of interest in PT&D.

  • MPQ

    Minimum Packing Quantity

  • MREP

    Manufacturers’ Representative. Outsourced professional sales organizations.

  • MRO

    Maintanence, Repair & Operations.

  • MRP

    Multiple Ring Protocol. Used in Industrial Ethernet networks, this provides redundancy if the primary fiber/copper ring is broken.

  • MSO

    Multisystem Operator. Examples of MSO’s in our broadband business are DirectTV, Comcast, Time Warner, etc.

  • MTBF

    Mean Time Between Failures

  • MTD

    Month To Date

  • MTDC

    Multi-Tenant Data Center

  • MTTR

    Mean Time to Repair

  • MUTOA

    Multi-User Telecommunications Outlet Assembly

  • NAED

    National Association of Electrical Distributors. Trade association/show for electrical wholesalers, many of which buy thru redistribution.

  • NAM

    National Account Manager

  • NAR

    North American Region

  • NAT

    Network Address Transfer

  • NBD

    New Business Development

  • NC/NR

    Non-cancellable, non-turnable. Custom or special products are usually considered to be NC/NR.

  • NEC

    National Electrical Code

  • NET

    No Earlier Than

  • NEXT

    Near End Cross Talk

  • NLT

    No Later Than

  • NPB

    New Product Bulletin

  • NPD

    New Product Development

  • NPNE

    “No polish, no epoxy” connector technology for fiber optic cables.

  • NSEA

    North & South East Asia

  • OCAO

    Government term for Office of Chief Acquisition Officer.

  • OCONUS

    Government term meaning Outside CONUS (or CONtinental US)

  • OCSC

    Government term for: Office of Citizen Services and Communications

  • ODM

    Original Design Manufacturer

  • OEM

    Original Equipment Manufacturer. OEMs build end-products and either buy distributors or factory-direct.

  • OFM

    Order Fulfillment Manager. Special liaisons to the plants that deal specifically with quality or delivery issues impacting purchase orders.

  • OGP

    Government term for: Office of Government Wide Policy

  • OM

    Outbound Marketing

  • ONVIF

    Open Network Video Interface Forum

  • OP

    Operating Profit

  • Op Ex

    Operating Expense

  • Organic

    Growth from existing product lines and customers. Inorganic growth comes from products/customers gained via acquisition.

  • OTD

    On Time Delivery

  • PA Data

    A term used in VMI, it stands for Product Activity Data. This is POS and inventory data sent by the distributor daily to the VMI system.

  • PAM

    Product Available Market. This is the portion of a Total Available Market a manufacturer can serve with its product line.

  • PBS

    Government term for: Public Buildings Service

  • PD

    Powered Devices

  • PDBL

    Past Due Back Log

  • Peanut Butter

    To spread something around evenly. “We’ve peanut buttered the PVC cost increases across our entire cable product line.”

  • Ping

    To follow-up with someone with a phone call or e-mail.

  • Platform

    A global business structure based upon markets, rather than geography.

  • PLM

    Product Line Manager. Responsible for particular product line(s).

  • PM&D

    Performance Management and Development form. A document used in annual performance reviews.

  • POD

    Print on Demand literature is not kept in stock but can be ordered through the fulfillment center at a guaranteed cost.

  • PoE

    Power over Ethernet. Total power consumption of devices connected to a PoE switch port cannot exceed 13 Watts.

  • PoE+

    Power over Ethernet Plus. Higher power capability than PoE, the total power consumption of connected devices cannot exceed 25.5 Watts.

  • PON

    Passive Optical Network

  • POP

    Point of Purchase. This is the selling price from Belden to our distributors. We also refer to this as “Recap”.

  • Portal

    Secure areas of websites designated for authorized users. Manufacturers, distributors and customers may all offer portals for their customers.

  • POS

    Point of Sale. This is the selling price from our distributors to their customers and includes the distributor’s margin.

  • POV

    Point of View. A bottom-up estimation of orders expect to book within a given time frame.

  • PPA

    Freight Prepaid and Added (to invoice). Commonly seen when distributor requests special freight service, such as overnight delivery.

  • PPD

    Freight Prepaid

  • PPM

    Parts Per Million

  • Pre-Term

    Pre-terminated network cable runs

  • PRP

    Parallel Redundancy Protocol. A type of redundancy/reliability protocol used in Industrial Networks to insure network uptime.

  • PSIAq

    Physical Security Interoperability Alliance

  • PT&D

    Power Tranmission & Distribution. This refers to the electrical utility industry and is an ISD vertical market.

  • PTD

    Precision Time Protocol. An Ethernet function/capability that allows extremely precise timing synchronization on a network.

  • PTZ

    Pan Tilt & Zoom (control of cameras in surveillance or security system).

  • PUE

    Power Utility Effectiveness

  • QBR

    Quarterly Business Review

  • QoS

    Quality of Service

  • R&I

    Refine & Implement. Used in Sales Action Plans.

  • Radio Silence

    What you have when someone doesn’t return or respond to repeated phone calls or e-mails.

  • RAM

    Regional Automation (or Account) Manager

  • RAOTM

    Rockwell Automation On The Move. These are local Rockwell trade shows.

  • RCDD

    Registered Communications Distribution Designer, this is a BICSI designation for networking design professionals.

  • RCM

    Regional Channel Manager

  • Reach Out

    To contact someone.

  • Recalibrate

    To correct a situation, make something right. Also to change or to rectify.

  • RFID

    Radio Frequency Identification

  • RGS

    Round Gray “Stuff”. This usually refers to round, gray jacketed electronic cables.

  • RIB

    Reel-In-A-Box cable packaging method that facilitates cable payout, making installations quicker and easier.

  • RJ

    Registered Jack (RJ11 is used for telephone handsets and RJ45 is used for networking).

  • RMA

    Returned Material Authorization

  • RoHS

    Restriction of Hazardous Substances directive that limits use of lead/other toxic materials in electronic components.

  • ROIC

    Return on Invested Capital

  • ROM

    Rough Order of Magnitude (used in quoting)

  • ROTI

    Return On Time Invested

  • RSD

    Regional Sales Director

  • RSM

    Regional Sales Manager

  • RSN

    Real Soon Now

  • RSVP-TE

    An extension of Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP), one of two standardized protocols for managing MPLS paths.

  • Runway

    The length of time a company has until it runs out of cash or money to spend. “We’re trying to get more runway with XXX for connectivity.”

  • S/FTP

    Overall shield over foil twisted pair (foil screen around each pair and overall shield over core). This designation refers to 10Gig cables.

  • SA

    Strategic Account

  • SAM

    Strategic Account Manager

    or

    Served Available Market. The portion of the Total Available Market for which a company offers a product or services solution.

  • SATA

    Serial Advanced Technology Attachment

  • SCJ

    Share Capture Journal

  • SDN

    Server Defined Networks. Removes hardware control of network design and instead uses software for management & control.

  • SDP

    Strategic Deployment Process. Includes such things as X-Matrix, KPIs, TTIs, Dploy, etc.

  • SE

    Systems Engineer

  • SEO

    Search Engine Optimization

  • SEWP

    Pronounced “Soup”, this is a government term for Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement

  • SFDC

    Salesforce dot com

  • SFP+

    Small Form-factor Pluggable (SFP) Plus. High-density/high-bandwidth interconnect system used between servers and switches in data centers.

  • Ship & Debit

    Distributor buys inventory at normal price, debits Belden for reduced cost for meet comps or other special resale price quotes.

  • Shorts

    Short put-up lengths. Example: 875 feet left over from a production run is a short below it’s 1000 feet.

  • SI

    Systems Integrator in Industrial market. Install automation & control systems in factories, refineries, etc.

  • SIA

    Security Industry Association

  • SIOP

    Sales Inventory Operating Plan

  • SIP

    Sales Incentive Plan. This has to do with variable compensation and personal objectives.

  • SIR

    Sample Inspection Report

  • SLA

    Service Level Agreement

  • SLAP

    Strategic Launch Accelerator Program

  • SLED

    Government term meaning: State, Local and Education agencies

  • SLT

    Senior Leadership Team (Usually a self-appointed term since many of today’s business “leaders” can lead a group in silent prayer).

  • SMPTE

    Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers.

  • SNAFU

    A WWII term meaning “Situation Normal, All F-ed Up”

  • SNAP

    Surveillance, Notification, Access Control, Protection

  • SOP

    Standard Operating Procedure

  • SOW

    Government term: Statement of Work

  • SPA

    Special Price Agreement

  • SPIF

    Sales Performance (or Person) Incentive Fund. These are used frequently to motivate or reward distributor salespeople.

  • SSS

    Sound Signal and Security

  • Stakeholder

    A person or group with an interest in a project or that can be affected by an organization’s actions.

  • STP

    Shielded Twisted Pairs.

  • SURGE

    Government term meaning: Special pricing on specific product set(s) for government fiscal year end spending. “Use it or lose it.”

  • SWOT

    A competitive position analysis that looks at Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.

  • TAA

    Government term meaning: Trade Agreements Act.

  • Take or Pay

    An agreement to take $X of product over a specified period of time. You either take the product committed to or pay the agreed upon price.

  • TAM

    Total Available Market

  • Tap

    To call or ask someone for help

  • TB

    Technical Bulletin

  • TBD

    To Be Determined

  • TC

    Tray Cable

  • TC-ER

    Tray Cable Exposed Run (the ER designation means the cable does have to be run in conduit).

  • TCO

    Total Cost of Operation (used in discussions of data centers).

  • TCO

    Total Cost of Ownership

  • Telepresence

    Set of technologies which allow a person to feel as if they were present or to give the appearance of being present at a remote location.

  • TFE

    Commonly known as Teflon. Used in plenum cable jackets, it is a relatively dense, chemically inert, thermally stable polymer.

  • TFOCA

    Tactical Fiber Optical Cable Assembly

  • TIA-1179

    Healthcare Building Cabling Standard developed in 2010. It goes above & beyond scope of general cabling standards (TIA-568-C).

  • TIA-568-C

    Commercial Building Cabling Standard specifies cabling and terminating standards for general/commercial structures.

  • TLA

    Three Letter Acronym

  • ToR

    Top of Rack. Term used in data centers for switch to server connections, which are made at the tops of the equipment enclosures/racks.

  • Touch

    To contact someone

  • Touch Point

    A contact within a company. “I have 8 touch points in the engineering department at XYZ Company.”

  • TR

    Telecom Room

  • Trade Areas

    Defined groups of ZIP code area that are used to designate salesperson territories and sales regions.

  • TSE

    Technical Support Engineer

  • TTI

    Targets To Improve. This is one of the measurement tools of Dpoly and deals primarily with new business and growth.

  • U/FTP

    Foil Twisted Pair networking cable (foil screen around each of the 4 pairs). This particular designation refers to 10Gig cables.

  • U/UTP

    Unshielded Twisted Pairs. This particular designation refers to 10Gig cables.

  • UL

    Underwriters Laboratories

  • UnReel

    Cable packaging option designed to save installation time, cut product & labor costs, and eliminate need for dereeling eqt on job site.

  • Up Jacket

    A cable with two jackets, usually used in Industrial applications, and many times with a foil shield between the two jackets.

  • USM

    Utility Sales Manager

  • UST

    Utility Sales Team

  • UTP

    Unshielded Twisted Pairs. This is a commonly used term when discussing networking (or “Category”) cables.

  • VA

    Government term meaning: Veteran’s Affairs

  • VAN

    A term used in VMI, it stands for Value Added Network. This is a seldom used method of sending data back and forth. FTP is the preferred method.

  • VAR

    Value-Added Reseller. These can be contractors, integrators, etc who buy products and add value to them for their customers.

  • VFD

    Variable Frequency Drive

  • Vitality

    The ratio of revenue of products introduced in the past 3 years to total revenue.

  • VLAN

    Virtual Local Area Network

  • VM

    Voice Mail

  • VMI

    Vendor Managed Inventory. Inventory replenishment arrangement whereby the supplier either monitors the customer’s inventory with own employees or receives stock information from the customer. The vendor then refills the stock automatically, without the customer initiating purchase orders.

  • VOC

    Voice of the Customer

  • VPN

    Virtual Private Network

  • VSM

    Vertical Sales Mgr

  • VSS

    Video Sound & Security.

  • Waterfall

    A type of chart showing the cumulative effect of sequentially introduced positive or negative values.

  • WHM

    Wire Harness Manufacturer. A type of customer that manufactures custom cable assemblies using bulk cable and various connectors.

  • WIFM

    “What’s In It For Me?”

  • WIG

    Wildly Important Goal

  • WLAN

    Wireless Local Area Network

  • WP

    White Paper

  • WTF

    “What the f—?”

  • X-Matrix

    A planning tool within Dploy to set goals and priorities for the company. KPIs and TTIs are part of the X-Matrix.

  • YTD

    Year To Date

  • Z Model

    Sales opportunity classification model used to maintain focus on those that maximize growth and new business.

  • Z1 opportunity

    Involves selling Existing Product to Existing Customers. For the most part, this can be considered to be flow, or repetitive, business.

  • Z2 opportunity

    Involves selling New Products to Existing Customers. Since we already know the customer, we’re growing by getting more share of their wallet.

  • Z3 opportunity

    Involves selling Existing Product to a New Customers. Market share growth by taking business away from a competitor.

  • Z4 opportunity

    Involves selling New Product to New Customers. Good deal of risk in chasing Z4 and you’re probably better off chasing Z2 or Z3 opportunities.