0-9  A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z nanometer (nm) One billionth of a meter. Used to describe the wavelength of light. narrow band A flexible, all-purpose, two-way medium that supports transmission rates under 1.5 Mbps. National Fiber-Optic Engineers Conference (NFOEC) Scheduled August 27-31 in 2000, in Denver. network architecture The underlying structure of a computer network, including hardware, functional layers, interfaces, and protocols (rules) used to establish communication and ensure reliable transfer of information. Because a computer network is a mixture of hardware and software, network architectures are designed to provide both philosophical and physical standards for enabling computers and other devices to handle the complexities of establishing communication links and transferring information without conflict. network equipment building standards (NEBS) Bellcore standards for Central Office located equipment. network monitoring and analysis (NMA) A fault management system used by RBOCs to perform network monitoring and surveillance. There are two types of the NMA system, facilities management and switch management. NMA is capable of performing event correlation to determine root cause, create trouble tickets, and track status of outstanding tickets. NMA relies on topology information to perform event correlation. This information can come from TIRKS (via NSDP) or it can be manually entered. new issue market Term used to describe the market or sentiment for new securities. The new issue market usually relates to initial public offerings that are issuing in the market for the first time, but may include follow-on offerings, which are stock or bond issuances by companies that are already public. Distinguished from the secondary market, where previously issued securities are bought and sold. Also referred to as the primary market. next generation input/output (NGIO) An initiative to a scalable input/output (I/O) architecture for servers and peripherals; this architecture and the future I/O architecture were superceded by the InfiniBand architecture. nodes In network topology, a terminal of any branch of a network or an interconnection common to two or more branches of a network noise source An active component that generates a random signal for testing optical networks. nonrecurring revenues A one-time addition to revenues that is not expected to be repeated. For example, revenue generated from the sale of an asset or a spin-off. This type of revenue is usually less meaningful in analyzing a company's future potential compared to recurring revenues. non-signaling data protocol (NSDP) A method used in the cellular industry for exchanging non-signaling messages between service providers on a near real-time basis. nonzero-dispersion shifted fiber (NZ-DSF) Unlike dispersion shifted fiber, which offers zero chromatic dispersion at 1550 nm to limit dispersion at the point of lowest attenuation, NZ-DSF has some chromatic dispersion at this wavelength to balance four wave mixing. North American dual-mode cellular system A North American standard for digital cellular services.