1. An organization of stations capable of intercommunication but not necessarily on the same channel or circuit. 2. Two or more interrelated circuits. 3. A combination of switches, terminals, and circuits in which transmission facilities interconnect the user end instruments directly, i.e., there are no switching, control, or processing centers. 4. A combination of switches, terminals, and circuits that serves a given purpose. 5. A combination of circuits and terminals serviced by a single processing center or switching center. 6. In topology, an interconnection of nodes by means of branches. 7. An interconnection of three or more communicating entities, such as computers, terminals, data terminal equipment (DTEs), facsimile machines, data stations, and telephones via one or more nodes that usually contain switching equipment. 8. For a circuit, an interconnection of passive or active electronic or optical components that serves a given purpose. See active network,  advanced intelligent network,  Advanced Research Projects Agency Network,  administrative network,  air defense command-control-communications network,  all-optical telecommunications network,  analog network,  application network,  asynchronous network,  Automatic Digital Network,  Automatic Secure Voice Communications Network,  automatic voice network,  Automatic Voice Network,  balancing network,  blocking network,  branching network,  Broadband Integrated Services Digital Network,  carrier-sense multiple-access with collision-avoidance network,  carrier-sense multiple-access with collision-detection network,  compromise network,  control network,  centralized computer network,  civil fixed telecommunications network,  civil communications network,  Clos network,  common user network,  communications network,  computer network,  control network,  data network,  data transfer network,  decentralized computer network,  deemphasis network,  Defense Data Network,  Defense Information Systems Network,  democratically synchronized network,  despotically synchronized network,  differentiating network,  digital network,  distributed data processing network,  distributed network,  distributed-queue dual-bus network,  dual-cable wideband local area network,  equivalent network,  fiber optic data transfer network,  fixer network,  fully connected network,  heterogeneous computer network,  heterogeneous network,  hierarchical computer network,  hierarchically synchronized network,  hierarchical network,  homogeneous computer network,  homogeneous network,  hybrid communications network,  integrated digital network,  integrated services digital network,  Integrated Services Digital Network,  International Teleprinter Network,  internetwork,  linear network,  local area network,  logical network,  long-haul communications network,  loop network,  mesh network,  message switching network,  metropolitan area network,  military fixed communications network,  multidrop network,  multinode network,  multiple-domain network,  multipoint network,  mutually synchronized network,  neural network, nodal network,  oligarchically synchronized network,  packet switching network,  passive network,  point-to-point network,  preemphasis network,  public data network,  public network,  public switched network,  public switched telephone network,  radiotelephone network,  remote-access data processing network,  satellite network,  seamless network,  semantic network,  shaping network,  short-haul communications network,  single-cable wideband local area network,  single-domain network,  single-node network,  slotted-ring network,  star network,  subnetwork,  Survivable Adaptable Fiber Optic Embedded Network,  switched network,  switched telecommunications network,  synchronized network,  synchronous data network,  synchronous fiber optic network,  synchronous network,  tandem tie-trunk network,  telecommunications management network,  telecommunications network,  telephone network,  teletypewriter network,  token-bus network,  token-ring network,  transparent network,  tree network,  user-application network,  value-added network,  virtual network,  weighting network,  wide area network,  wideband local area network,  wireless local area network,  wireless network. See also branch,  channel,  circuit,  communications,  component,  computer,  control,  data station,  data terminal equipment,  electronic,  end instrument,  entity,  facility,  facsimile,  interconnection,  link,  loop,  network topology,  node,  optical,  processing center,  station,  switch,  switching center,  switching equipment,  telephone,  terminal,  transmission,  trunk,  user,  user end instrument. Refer toFigs. D-6, N-1.

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