A

Administrative Assistant
A staff member who supports others by preparing documents and correspondence for review, coordinating meeting arrangements, arranging catering for meetings, or other routine assignments.

Area Code 212
In Manhattan, a 212 area code conveys a sense of stability and longevity to a user’s business. Numbers with the coveted 212 area code were exhausted in 2010, according to AT&T, making them very difficult to obtain by anyone establishing new telephone service.

Auto Attendant
In telephony, an auto attendant (also automated attendant or virtual receptionist) connects callers automatically to a designated extension without the intervention of an operator or receptionist. Such systems typically use a menu (“for sales, press 1; for service, press 2, etc.) and allow callers to reach a live operator by dialing 0.

B

Bullpen offices
Bullpen or open-plan offices feature large, open spaces rather than enclosed rooms or private offices. This configuration is favored by sales operations and stock trading firms.

Business Support Services
The infrastructure and staff needed to operate a business. In the context of a business center, executive suite, or serviced office, this includes answering telephones, greeting visitors, providing office equipment and IT infrastructure, maintaining accounts with courier and delivery services, and handling routine administrative tasks.

C

Call Forwarding
Call forwarding (or call diverting) allows an incoming call to be redirected automatically to an alternate number designated by the intended recipient.

Call Patching
Differs from call forwarding in that an operator intercepts calls and manually redirects them to the intended recipient who has provided multiple telephone numbers with specific directions for their use.

Call Screening
A service in which the operator asks who is calling and relays the information to the intended recipient who decides whether or not to accept the call. The operator then connects it, sends the call to voicemail, or puts it through to another recipient, as directed.

Class A Office Building
Defined as the “most prestigious buildings competing for premier office users with rents above average for the area” by BOMA (Building Owners and Managers Association). Class A buildings have “high quality standard finishes, state of the art systems, exceptional accessibility, and a definite market presence.”

Climate-controlled IT Closet
A secure, constantly air-conditioned room used exclusively to house computers and sensitive equipment.

Cloud Computing
A system that allows computer software applications and data files to be executed, accessed, and managed at a secure, remote location by any computer or device connected to the internet. With the development of local area networks (LAN) and networking capabilities, “clouds” of server computers with enhanced capabilities and large storage devices host multiple clients, who need not purchase individual computers and software licenses for workgroups. Cloud computing provides servers with applications that are executed and managed by a client’s web browser, with no installed client version of an application required.

Coworking Center
A work environment with multiple work stations shared by individuals who may or may not have any business affiliation.

Conference Rooms
Also called meeting rooms, are multi-seat spaces reserved on an as-needed basis by a business center’s clients. Usually equipped with large monitors or screens, internet connections, and telephone equipment designed for conference situations.

D

Day Office
Furnished work spaces for conducting business or holding meetings. Ideal for interviewing, holding meetings, depositions, and other short-term uses.

E

eFax
A technology that enables documents to be sent and received in digital format via email, using an assigned telephone number that is not associated with a traditional fax machine. All documents are transmitted directly to an email account.

Ethernet
A family of networking technologies for local area networks (LANs). Systems communicating over Ethernet divide a stream of data into individual packets called frames. Each frame contains source and destination addresses and error-checking data so that damaged data can be detected and re-transmitted.

Executive Suite
One or several offices that are a subset of a larger suite of furnished offices. An executive suite proprietor leases entire floors (or buildings) and markets smaller office spaces or workstations to others. Executive suites provide staff, administrative support, internet, and telecommunications services. Also called serviced office, office business center, office suite, business center, executive office, furnished office, flexible office, or shared-office space.

F

Financial District, New York City
The southernmost section of Manhattan, where major financial institutions including the New York Stock Exchange and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York are located. “Wall Street” is shorthand for the U.S. financial markets as a whole, and “the Financial District” is a specific area in the Wall Street neighborhood.

Find Me – Follow Me
A sophisticated technology for forwarding telephone calls. “Find Me” refers to the recipient’s ability to receive incoming calls at any location. “Follow Me” refers to the ability to receive calls at more than one designated phone number simultaneously or in sequence. If no connection is made, the system can route calls to voicemail.

Flexible Office Space
An option that allows clients to secure individual office spaces and conference rooms on an as-needed basis. The short-term agreements provided by a business center allow for easy expansion or downsizing, a feature not present in conventional office lease structures.

Flexible Terms
The feature of a business center that gives clients access to furnished offices and support services for periods as short as an hour, for months, or years at a time.

H

Hard Forward
The same as Call Forwarding, allows calls to a telephone number to be automatically and consistently forwarded to a different number. Particularly useful when a client is working in the field and prefers to receive calls on a mobile device.

I

IT or Information Technology
The acquisition, processing, storage, and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual, and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications. The term first appeared in a 1958 article published in the Harvard Business Review, in which authors Leavitt and Whisler commented that “the new technology does not yet have a single established name. We shall call it information technology (IT).”

L

LEED-EB
LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is an internationally-recognized green building certification system developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). LEED-EB refers to environmentally sustainable systems, operations, and maintenance solutions that apply to existing buildings.

M

Meeting Rooms
Also called conference rooms, typically seat three to twelve people and are equipped with LCD projectors, wall-mounted screens or monitors, and speaker phones. In a business center, these rooms are available to clients through a reservations system.

Midtown Manhattan
The area of Manhattan, New York City, where Rockefeller Center, Broadway, the Empire State Building, and Times Square are located. The country’s busiest commercial district, Midtown Manhattan covers the area between 14th Street and 59th Street, from the Hudson River to the East River. The Plaza District between 42nd Street and 59th Street, from Third Avenue to Seventh Avenue, contains New York’s most desirable commercial real estate. Sixth Avenue is home to major television networks, making it a global center for news and entertainment.

N

Notary Public
A public officer who serves the public in non-contentious matters such as estates, deeds, and powers-of-attorney. A notary’s functions include administering oaths and affirmations, taking affidavits and statutory declarations, witnessing the signing of documents, and providing notice of foreign drafts. These acts are known as a notarization.

NYC
Abbreviation for New York City.

O

Office Space
In a commercial building, a room or other designated area for conducting business. An office space can be a private room, a shared work area, or an entire building.

Online Telephone Management
A technology that allows users, through a password-protected web portal, to manage telecommunications features. These typically include setting up and changing speed dial lists, retrieving voicemails and/or converting them to emails, and setting preferences for the forwarding of calls and messages.

Operator Answer
Telephone technology in which a live operator answers each client’s calls with a company name and a specified answering script. When combined with Call Patching and Call Screening, the technology gives clients highly professional, efficient call handling.

R

Rack Space
The storage units (or U’s) found in an IT closet.

Rockefeller Center, Rockefeller Plaza
Named after John D. Rockefeller, Jr., who began developing a complex of fourteen Art Deco-style buildings in 1930. The immense private building project took years to complete. Today Rockefeller Center combines the original Art Deco structures and four International-style towers that were built along the west side of Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Avenue) during the 1960s and 1970s. This extension includes the Time-Life Building, the McGraw-Hill Building, and the News Corporation/Fox News Channel headquarters.

S

Scanning
The ability of a photocopy machine to digitally record documents or images and either copy or transmit them to a designated email address in .PDF format. This feature greatly reduces paper use and document storage because scanned documents can be stored digitally.

Scribe of Voicemail
Converts voicemail messages to text messages or emails. A discreet way to check voice messages without obvious use of the telephone.

Serviced office
Also known as an executive suite or executive space, this is a group of offices or an entire building that is fully equipped and managed by a business entity that provides individual offices and administrative services to others. Providers of serviced offices offer flexible service agreements that allow clients to expand or contract their allocated spaces on short notice. By sharing reception services, business machines, and other resources, users of serviced offices can keep their operating costs very low.

Smart phone, mobile phone, cell phone
A multi-functional cell phone that operates without wires. Smart phones have replaced many personal digital assistants (PDAs), fusing the functions of a handheld computer with the communication capabilities of a cell phone. Apple’s iPhone and Research-in-Motion’s BlackBerry have made smart phones mainstream for consumer and corporate users.

SMS
Acronym for Short Messaging Service, the exchange of messages between fixed line and mobile phone devices, and used by a high percentage of the world’s mobile device users.

Swing Space
Interim office facilities used by relocating businesses before a new permanent space has been found, or while permanent quarters are being readied for occupancy. Commercial real estate brokers recommend these flexible, short-term accommodations while they continue to search for a permanent location for their clients.

T

Tax ID Number , TIN, FEIN, ITIN
An Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) is an identifying number used in the U.S. mainly for tax purposes. ITINs are used by foreign nationals in the U.S. on temporary visas, and by non-resident aliens with U.S. income. Also called a Federal Taxpayer Identification Number (FEIN), these can be assigned by the Social Security Administration or the IRS.

Team Rooms
Large open-plan offices designed to accommodate several staff members working in a single room. Typically used by sales teams, stock brokers, and other sales agents.

Telecommuter
Individual who works from home for all or part of the scheduled work week. Telecommuters differ from independent consultants and owners of home-based businesses in that they are employed by someone else.

Temporary Office Space
Short-term office space used by individuals working on projects away from their permanent offices. Also used when a business is waiting for permanent space to be completed, or for a lease term to commence. In unforeseen circumstances caused by fires or other emergencies, temporary offices allow businesses to resume functioning immediately because all furnishings and equipment are provided.

Turnkey
Refers to goods or services that are ready for immediate use. Turnkey offices come with all the amenities needed to run a business, including desks and chairs, IT and telephony infrastructure, and access to support staff and business machines. In commercial real estate, turnkey commonly refers to the bundling of services and labor by the owner of the space.

U

Unified Messaging/Unified Communications (UM/UC)
The method of integrating multiple cloud-based technologies and providing for a unified way of communication between individuals from email to instant messages (IM) to text (TXT) to voicemail (VM) to regular digitalized calls over analog lines to VoIP, fax, video over IP, and so on.

V

Virtual Office Plan
A cost-effective combination of communications and postal address services that allow clients to maintain a professional business image at a very low cost. Unlike serviced offices or executive suites that are bricks-and-mortar facilities, a virtual office consists of variable packages of services usually on a month-to-month basis. Administrative support and the use of conference rooms are available as needed.

VoIP Hosted Telephones
Voice over internet Protocol (VoIP) is part of a family of internet-based technologies, communication protocols, and transmission technologies for delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. The internet itself is one such network. VoIP technology can transmit phone calls using IP Phones, Software VoIP, and Mobile and Integrated VoIP. The latter is available on smart phones and internet devices that make calls and send SMS text messages over 3G or WiFi.

W

Wall Street
The financial district of New York City, named for the eight-block-long Wall Street that runs from Broadway to South Street in lower Manhattan. Home to the New York Stock Exchange. Also used to indicate New York-based financial interests or U.S. financial markets as a whole.

Wall Street – 48 Wall Street
On the corner of Wall Street and William Street in New York City’s financial district is 48 Wall Street, built in 1928 to house the Bank of New York. The Museum of American Finance has occupied the building’s former banking hall since 2007. An entrance to the Wall Street subway station (lines 2 and 3) is just outside the building.

.WAV File
Using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology, a voicemail message can be sent to an email address as a .wav file. The receiving computer or mobile device flashes a notification. Unlike traditional voice messages, those in .wav format can easily be forwarded or filed.

WiFi
Wireless Fidelity, or WiFi, technology connects electronic devices to the internet or local area network using radio frequency instead of cables or wires. A WiFi-powered device such as a personal computer, smart phone, or digital audio player can connect to the internet via a wireless network access point, typically with a range of about 65 feet. Multiple overlapping access points can cover large areas.

Work Space
Refers to a physical office and all the amenities offered by a business center. These may include offices, meeting rooms, kitchen areas, copy centers, conference rooms, IT closets, reception areas, and co-working centers.