GLOSSARY131baud rateA term used to measure the speed of an analogtransmission from one point to another.Although not technically accurate, baud rate iscommonly used to mean bit rate.binary digitA 0 or 1, reflecting the use of the binarynumbering system. Used because the computerrecognizes either of two states, OFF or ON.Shortened form of binary digit is bit.bit rateAlso referred to as transmission rate. Thenumber of binary digits, or bits, transmittedper second (bps). Communications channelsusing analog modems are established at set bitrates, commonly 2400, 4800, 9600, 14,400,28,800 and higher.bits per second (bps)The bits (binary digits) per second rate.Thousands of bits per second are expressed askilobits per second (kbps).bufferA temporary memory area used as storageduring input and output operations. Anexample is the modem's command buffer.byteA group of binary digits stored and operatedupon as a unit. Most often the term refers to 8-bit units or characters. One kilobyte (KB) isequal to 1,024 bytes or characters; 640 KB isequal to 655,360 bytes or characters.
