SDR
Abbreviation with 4 meanings
| Stands for | Sales development representative |
|---|---|
| Meanings | 4 |
| Categories | Business & Finance, Technology & Computing |
SDR has four meanings. The most common are Sales development representative (job title) and Software-defined radio (telecom); it can also stand for Standard dynamic range and Special drawing rights.
Meanings of SDR at a glance
| # | SDR stands for | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sales development representative | Business & Finance › Job Title |
| 2 | Software-defined radio | Technology & Computing › Telecom |
| 3 | Standard dynamic range | Technology & Computing › Consumer Electronics |
| 4 | Special drawing rights | Business & Finance › Economics |
1. Sales development representative
Business & Finance · Job Title Abbreviations
Entry-level sales role focused on prospecting and qualifying leads, by calling, emailing and messaging potential customers, and booking meetings for account executives. Where both titles exist, SDRs usually handle inbound leads from marketing and BDRs focus on outbound prospecting.
Example: Each SDR is expected to book 15 qualified meetings a month for the AE team.
The specialized role was popularized by Aaron Ross's 2011 book Predictable Revenue, which described Salesforce's sales model. SDR is a common entry point into software sales careers, with promotion to AE often after 12 to 24 months. In economics, SDR means special drawing rights, an IMF reserve asset.
2. Software-defined radio
Technology & Computing · Telecom Abbreviations
Radio system in which functions traditionally handled by hardware, such as filtering, mixing and demodulation, are performed in software, letting one device receive or transmit many types of signals. Cheap USB dongles make SDR popular with hobbyists.
Example: With a 30-dollar SDR dongle, I can listen to aircraft and decode weather satellite images.
Hobbyists discovered around 2012 that inexpensive DVB-T TV dongles with the Realtek RTL2832U chip could serve as wideband receivers, creating the "RTL-SDR" community. Open-source GNU Radio provides building blocks for signal processing. Military radios and modern cellular base stations rely heavily on SDR. In displays, SDR means standard dynamic range.
3. Standard dynamic range
Technology & Computing · Consumer Electronics Abbreviations
Conventional video and display brightness range defined for traditional TVs, typically mastered for about 100 nits and 8-bit color in the Rec. 709 color space. Most older films, TV shows and web videos are SDR.
Example: Turn off HDR in Windows if SDR apps look washed out on the monitor.
SDR content shown on an HDR display must be mapped to its brightness range, which can look dim or oversaturated if settings are wrong. Streaming services fall back to SDR when a device or cable lacks HDR support. In radio engineering, SDR means software-defined radio.
4. Special drawing rights
Business & Finance · Economics Abbreviations
International reserve asset created by the International Monetary Fund in 1969 to supplement member countries' official reserves, valued against a basket of five currencies: the US dollar, euro, Chinese renminbi, Japanese yen and British pound. Countries can exchange SDRs for usable currencies.
Example: The IMF's 2021 allocation of $650 billion in SDRs boosted reserves in poorer countries during the pandemic.
The SDR is not a currency and cannot be held by individuals; it serves as the IMF's unit of account. The renminbi joined the basket in 2016, which is reviewed every five years, and the interest rate on SDR holdings is set weekly. In sales, SDR means sales development representative.
Related abbreviations
More job title abbreviations
- RSM – Regional sales manager
- RVP – Regional vice president
- SA – Solutions architect
- SDE – Software development engineer
- SE – Sales engineer
- Sr. – Senior (job level)
- SRE – Site reliability engineer
- SVP – Senior vice president
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