This refers to the difference (measured in Hz) between the highest and lowest frequencies of a transmission. Most people loosely refer to bandwidth as the amount of data that can be transferred over a network connection.

BBS

See Bulletin Board System

Berkeley Internet Name Domain

An early version of a DNS server developed by the University of California at Berkeley. Most Internet hosts run a version of BIND.

Bitnet

A computer network devoted to academic use that provides e-mail and file transfer services using a store and forward protocol. It is based on the IBM Network Job Entry protocols. A more recent version of Bitnet (known as Bitnet-II) encapsulates the Bitnet protocol within IP packets.

Bulletin Board System

A computer which typically provides e-mail services, file archives and announcements of interest to the bulletin board system's operator (known as sysop). BBS's started out as hobbies for computer enthusiasts and were most accessible by modem. Now though, more and more BBS's are being connected to the Internet.