SignalWire
Glossary

A2P, or Application-to-Person, messaging refers to messages sent from an application to a person. This type of messaging is used by businesses to communicate with customers, typically for notifications, alerts, marketing, and customer service. This is in contrast to P2P, and you will often see the term A2P 10DLC when referring to this type of messaging.

API, or Application Programming Interface, is a set of rules and protocols for building and interacting with software applications. It defines the methods and data formats that applications can use to communicate with each other. APIs enable different software systems to exchange information and perform various functions seamlessly, facilitating integration and interoperability.

An AI agent is a software program that uses artificial intelligence to perform tasks typically requiring human intelligence. These tasks include understanding natural language, making decisions, and learning from interactions. AI agents can be used for various tasks and applications such as customer service, virtual assistants, and appointment scheduling.

Call Fabric is SignalWire's implementation of Programmable Unified Communications (PUC). It serves as a scalable, self-serve communication platform that enables users to create and manage communication pathways on demand. Call Fabric encompasses all features of an IP PBX, UCaaS, and soft-switch, presenting them as high-level, programmable building blocks called "resources."

CCaaS, or Contact Center as a Service, is a cloud-based solution that allows businesses to manage their customer interactions without the need for on-premises infrastructure. CCaaS platforms provide a full suite of communications tools and services for handling various communication channels with a focus on external communications, enabling businesses to deliver comprehensive customer support and engagement. In addition to voice, video, SMS, and chat functionality, usually these platforms come with analytics and ticketing systems.

CPaaS, or Communications Platform as a Service, is a cloud-based platform that offers APIs, SDKs, and other tools for developers to build customizable communication solutions that can integrate with already existing applications without needing to build backend infrastructure and interfaces.

A CSP, Campaign Service Provider, provides messaging services to its customers. A CSP works with its customers to create and launch new and successful messaging campaigns. SignalWire is a CSP, but also works with customers who are their own CSP and use SignalWire as their connectivity partner.

CNAM, or Caller Name, provides the name of the caller alongside the phone number during an incoming call. While caller ID provides the number displayed on an incoming call, CNAM is the name displayed, which helps in identifying the caller before answering the call. This feature is widely used to enhance caller identification and reduce the likelihood of ignoring important calls or falling prey to spam calls.

ClueCon is a conference for developers, by developers: an annual technology conference hosted by the team behind the FreeSWITCH open source project. The primary focus is to gather various open source projects related to voice over IP, open source software and hardware, telecommunications, WebRTC, and IoT.

A call leg refers to a single segment of a call in a telecommunications network. When a call is made, it typically involves multiple segments or legs that connect the caller to the callee through various intermediate points, such as gateways, switches, and network paths. Each leg represents one part of the overall call path.

CXML, or Compatibility XML, is designed to handle call flows using XML-based instructions. It allows users to define how calls are routed, handled, and managed. It’s used for creating and controlling interactive voice responses (IVRs), call routing logic, and other telephony functions that require precise control over call behavior.

When using Datasphere, chunking refers to the process of breaking down a large set of information or data into smaller, manageable pieces, or "chunks" for more efficient processing, retrieval, or understanding. Strategies include sentence-based chunking, paragraph/page chunking, and sliding chunking.

A DCA, or Direct Connect Aggregator, connects to the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and transmits SMS and MMS messages on behalf of its customers.

DID, or Direct Inward Dial, was a service which enabled a phone company to deliver a block of telephone numbers to a subscriber’s phone system (PBX) without requiring a separate physical line for each number. The term “DID” is still used today as shorthand for a telephone number.

DTMF stands for Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency. It is a signaling method used in telecommunications systems where pressing a telephone keypad generates a combination of two specific frequencies, one from a high-frequency group and one from a low-frequency group. This method allows the transmission of numerical and symbolic information over voice channels.

SignalWire Datasphere is a Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) API that handles vast data sources for real-time AI communication systems. By enabling rapid data retrieval from structured documents like PDFs, Datasphere allows you to create your own library of information instead of pulling from the sources that train models like ChatGPT. Unstructured data is transformed into searchable information, allowing developers to build more responsive, intelligent AI agents that can deliver precise insights to customers pulled from a dynamic knowledge base.

An AI's ability to detect when a human speaker has finished speaking.

SignalWire's Elastic Cloud Network is a global infrastructure that supports scalable and reliable communications, ensuring low-latency connections for voice, video, and messaging across regions​.

A large language model is an advanced AI model that is trained on massive datasets to understand and generate human-like responses. This technology is foundational to many modern generative AI applications and allows humans to interact with the AI in plain language.

The time delay between an input (like speaking into a phone) and the corresponding output (hearing a response), measured in milliseconds. SignalWire is optimized for ultra-low latency real-time communications, enabling seamless interactions in voice and video calls and with AI agents. This prevents people from talking over each other or waiting awkwardly for a response, facilitating interactions that mimic in-person, human conversations.

MMS, or Multimedia Messaging Service, is a standard way to send messages that include multimedia content, such as images, videos, and audio, as well as text, over mobile networks. It extends the core functionality of SMS (Short Message Service) by allowing richer content types, providing a more dynamic communication experience.

A Mobile Network Operator (MNO), sometimes called a Mobile Carrier, is a company that provides mobile or cellular service on its own network of radio towers and switches for transmitting voice, data, and video over a network. They offer various communication services, including mobile phone service, internet access, and traditional landline telephone service. This includes AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, etc.

SignalWire's platform supports multi-tenancy, enabling users to run multiple customer environments independently within the same architecture. This is crucial for managed service providers and organizations with diverse client bases​.

P2P, or Person-to-Person, refers to messaging where each participant (person) is sending a message to another participant on a mobile device. This is in contrast with A2P, where an application is sending the message.

A PBX, or Private Branch Exchange, is the physical system that manages calls. It is a private telephone network used within an organization that manages the routing and switching of calls with a public telephony network.

The PSTN, or Public Switched Telephone Network, is the traditional global telephone network used for voice communications to route calls to a destination. It is a network of interconnected circuit-switched telephone networks operated by national, regional, and local telephony operators.

Programmable fax refers to a modern approach to traditional faxing, integrating it into cloud-based and digital communication platforms. This allows users to send and receive faxes programmatically using APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) and software, rather than relying on physical fax machines and phone lines.

PUC, or Programmable Unified Communications, is a comprehensive communication solution that integrates various communication services such as voice, video, messaging, and AI into a single platform. PUC represents a combination of programmable interfaces and unified communication platforms, offering comprehensive solutions that are easy to use, customizable, and highly scalable. PUC platforms include SignalWire's Call Fabric.

SignalWire RELAY APIs provide real-time control over communications, enabling interaction between applications and the platform’s underlying infrastructure. These APIs support the flexibility needed for call and message routing.

Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) APIs such as SignalWire Datasphere are a method in AI where a generative model is combined with a retrieval mechanism. This allows the model to generate more accurate and contextually relevant responses by retrieving knowledge from a custom database during the generation process.

A Representational State Transfer (REST) API is a standard interface for communicating between systems over HTTP for easy integration and interaction with web-based services. SignalWire's REST APIs allow developers to manage resources, call flows, subscribers, and  provide the flexibility to integrate SignalWire into existing systems with features like authentication, verbs, and error codes.

An SDK, or Software Development Kit, is a collection of tools, libraries, documentation, code samples, processes, and guides that developers use to create applications for specific platforms or frameworks. SDKs are designed to simplify the development process by providing the necessary components to build software applications without having to start from scratch.

A short code is a special telephone number, significantly shorter than a standard 10DLC or toll-free numbers, typically 5 to 6 digits long. Short codes are used primarily for sending and receiving SMS and MMS messages by businesses for high-volume messaging applications such as marketing campaigns, alerts, two-factor authentication, and customer service interactions.

SignalWire is a cloud communications platform that provides flexible and scalable tools for voice, video, messaging, and AI. It simplifies building and managing communication systems through its Programmable Unified Communications (PUC) technology, offering developers the ability to create customized workflows with ease. SignalWire focuses on interoperability, compliance, and cost-effective solutions, emerging from the team behind FreeSWITCH.

SIP, or Session Initiation Protocol, is a signaling protocol that is designed to initiate, maintain, and terminate communication sessions that include voice, video, messaging, and even fax between groups of participants. Instead of existing as a physical network of phone lines, SIP allows the system to run in the cloud.

SMS, or Short Message Service, is standard plain-text messaging. SMS is one of the most reliable and widely used text messaging services and is limited to 160 characters per message.

SWML, or SignalWire Markup Language, is a JSON or YAML based representation of call flows used to define and control real-time communications within the SignalWire platform. It allows for creating and managing complex communication interactions, such as voice calls, messaging, and AI agents through programmable scripts.

SignalWire AI Gateway (SWAIG) is a framework that allows developers to integrate AI Agents into communication systems. It enables advanced interactions by combining AI-powered automation with traditional communication channels like voice, video, and messaging.

SignalWire interactive SHell is a command line utility written in Python to interface with SignalWire APIs. SWSH is built to easily configure and manage SignalWire Spaces from a command-line environment.

Speech-to-text converts spoken language into written text using advanced algorithms and AI models.

TCR, or The Campaign Registry is a database for 10DLC campaigns that allows mobile carriers to see who is sending what, and how much they are sending, at all times. All A2P 10DLC messaging campaigns must register in order to begin sending messages. This transparency is meant to increase trust and reduce spam.

The time it takes for an AI to process a human's input and generate a response.

Text-to-speech converts written text into spoken language, often used in automated voice systems and AI models.

VoIP, or Voice over Internet Protocol, is a technology that allows voice communication and multimedia sessions to be delivered over the internet rather than through traditional telephone lines. VoIP converts voice signals into digital data packets that are transmitted over IP networks, enabling phone calls, video calls, and other forms of communication to be conducted via the internet.

A key concept in Datasphere where data (text or otherwise) is transformed into vectors for faster, more efficient retrieval and processing, particularly in real-time customer interactions​​.

WebRTC, or Web Real-Time Communication, is a technology that enables real-time audio, video, and data communication directly between web browsers and devices without the need for plugins or external software. It uses standard APIs and protocols to facilitate peer-to-peer connections, allowing for seamless and efficient communication over the internet.

WireStarter is SignalWire’s quick-start tool designed to help developers rapidly deploy SignalWire's platform. It is a Docker container which sets up the SignalWire SDKs and builds a development and testing environment for new developers. This simplifies the initial setup process, making it easy to start building, scaling, and testing real-time communication systems.

10DLC, or 10-digit long code, refers to a standard phone number for messaging within in the United States. It offers businesses a way to send high-volume SMS and MMS messages through local numbers and is suitable for most messaging use cases.