Webby Lexicon

Bioinformatics

The application of computer technology to the management of biological information. Specifically, it is the science of developing computer databases and algorithms to facilitate and expedite biological research. Bioinformatics is being used largely in the field of human genome research by the Human Genome Project that has been determining the sequence of the entire human genome (about 3 billion base pairs) and is essential in using genomic information to understand diseases. It is also used largely for the identification of new molecular targets for drug discovery.

Many universities have recognized the importance of this endeavor and have instituted academic and training programs in bioinformatics that combine backgrounds in molecular biology with a strong foundation in computer science. Specialists in the field are referred to as computational biologists or bioinformatics computer scientists.

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Compliance

In data storage terminology, the word compliance is used to refer to industry-wide government regulations and rules that cite how data is managed and the need for organizations to be in compliance with those regulations. The term encompasses data storage, data archiving, data encryption, and also data retrieval. Compliance has become a major concern for organizations and businesses, due largely in part to increasing regulatory requirements which often require organizations to invest in new technologies in order to address compliance issues.

There are more than 8,500 state and federal regulations concerning records management in the United States, as well as additional voluntary standards. *Some of the specific regulatory compliance issues organizations have to contend with are the Sarbanes-Oxley Act for all public corporations, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) for corporations in the healthcare industry and SEC regulations for retention of all electronic correspondence with clients.

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Marketing Automation

Marketing automation is a component of customer relationship management (CRM) that uses software and applications, often SaaS or hosted applications, to automate marketing processes. The benefits to using automation is that is removes the time-consuming tasks associated with manual customer data management for list segmentation and campaign management.

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Management Software

Management software is a general phrase used to describe a category of computer software designed to help streamline the complexity of large projects and tasks as well as facilitate team collaboration and project reporting. Most management software solutions can also handle resource and employee management, schedule coordination, task assignment, budgeting, time and risk analysis and more.

Management software is a broad term that can also apply to financial management software, network management software, customer relationship management software, asset management software or inventory management software.

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Hand-held Computer

A portable computer that is small enough to be held in one's hand. Although extremely convenient to carry, handheld computers have not replaced notebook computers because of their small keyboards and screens. The most popular hand-held computers are those that are specifically designed to provide PIM (personal information manager) functions, such as a calendar and address book.

Some manufacturers are trying to solve the small keyboard problem by replacing the keyboard with an electronic pen. However, these pen-based devices rely on handwriting recognition technologies, which are still in their infancy.

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Handwriting Recognition

The technique by which a computer system can recognize characters and other symbols written by hand in natural handwriting. The technology is used for identification and also on devices such as PDA and tablet PCs where a stylus is used to handwrite on a screen with a stylus, after which the computer turns the handwriting into digital text.

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Gesture Recognition

Interface with computers using gestures of the human body, typically hand movements. In gesture recognition technology, a camera reads the movements of the human body and communicates the data to a computer that uses the gestures as input to control devices or applications. For example, a person clapping his hands together in front of a camera can produce the sound of cymbals being crashed together when the gesture is fed through a computer.

One way gesture recognition is being used is to help the physically impaired to interact with computers, such as interpreting sign language. The technology also has the potential to change the way users interact with computers by eliminating input devices such as joysticks, mice and keyboards and allowing the unencumbered body to give signals to the computer through gestures such as finger pointing.

Unlike haptic interfaces, gesture recognition does not require the user to wear any special equipment or attach any devices to the body. The gestures of the body are read by a camera instead of sensors attached to a device such as a data glove.

In addition to hand and body movement, gesture recognition technology also can be used to read facial and speech expressions (i.e., lip reading), and eye movements.

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off-page Optimization

In search engine optimization, off-page optimization refers to factors that have an effect on your Web site or Web page listing in natural search results. These factors are off-site in that they are not controlled by you or the coding on your page. Examples of off-page optimization include things such as link popularity and page rank.

Contrast with on-page optimization.

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on-page Optimization

In search engine optimization, on-page optimization refers to factors that have an effect on your Web site or Web page listing in natural search results. These factors are controlled by you or by coding on your page. Examples of on-page optimization include actual HTML code, meta tags, keyword placement and keyword density.

Contrast with off-page optimization.

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Dirty Data

In reference to databases, data that contain errors. Dirty data can contain such mistakes as spelling or punctuation, incorrect data associated with a field, incomplete or outdated data or even data that is duplicated in the database.

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Traffic Sources Metrics

In Web analytics, the study of the impact of a Web site on its users, basic metrics is the term used to refer to the data in analytics programs that will give you an indication of who your site traffic is and where they are visiting from. Traffic sources metrics consists of the following data:

- Direct Traffic: all those people showing up to your Web site by typing in the URL of your Web site coming or from a bookmark. Some people also call this "default traffic" or "ambient traffic."

- Referring URLs: other Web sites sending traffic to you. These could be as a result of your banner ads or campaigns. These could be all those blogs or affiliates who link to you.

- Search Engines: Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask, others. This bucket will include both your organic as well as your paid (PPC/SEM) traffic, so be aware of that.

- Other: These include campaigns you have run, e-mail, direct marketing and so on.

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ALICE

Short for Artificial Linguistic Computer Entity, an open source, natural language chatbot that relies on artificial intelligence for human interaction.

ALICE is programmed with AIML (Artificial Intelligence Markup Language), a XML specification for programming chat bots. Its simplicity and ease-of-use allows non-programmers, who have some HTML experience, to create their own chat bots. With AIML, developers can create customized chat bots with unique personalities and areas of expertise.

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Number Cruncher

(1) A computer whose dominant characteristic is its ability to perform large amounts of numerical computations quickly. Supercomputers, for example, are sometimes called number crunchers. In addition, the term number cruncher is often applied to powerful workstations.

(2) The term number cruncher is sometimes applied to programs. For example, statistical programs are number crunchers because their main task is to perform mathematical calculations.

(3) Less frequently, the term number cruncher refers to individuals who use a computer primarily for analyzing numbers.

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Enterprise Messaging System

Abbreviated as EMS, an enterprise messaging system is an enterprise-grade system that enables "program-to-program" messaging between applications and systems throughout an enterprise. Enterprise messaging is widely used today for integrating various disparate enterprise applications. It is a software interface that enables loosely coupled asynchronous data (messages) to be sent by one program and stored in a message queue until the receiving program is able to process it.

Its important to note that while the term messaging can be used to describe e-mail, fax, instant messages and other services where humans read and send the messages, in EMS terminology the word messaging is used to describe asynchronous messages that consists of requests, reports or events that are consumed by enterprise applications and not humans. These messages contain information that is needed to coordinate systems and track progress of the enterprise.

Enterprise messaging systems, which are language and platform-independent solutions, are also called messaging services, or more formally, messaging-oriented middleware (MOM).

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Computer Imaging

A field of computer science covering digital images - images that can be stored on a computer, particularly bit-mapped images. Computer imaging is a wide field that includes digital photography, scanning, and composition and manipulation of bit-mapped graphics.

Computer imaging is often called digital imaging.

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Predictive Merchandising

Also called automated merchandising or personalized product recommendations, in electronic commerce it is a search technology that integrates data and predictive analytics to generate site merchandising. While exact features of predictive merchandising services differ from vendor to vendor, there all have some common functions. Usually tracking tags are used in a merchant's e-mail and on-site that capture and analyze key information at each point in the online shopping process. Web site visitor's preferences are tracked and the system is able to analyze that data in order to automate product offers to other customers with similar behavior on the site. Other aspects of automated merchandising include cross-sell and up-sell of related products, the capability for shoppers to compare related products, and the ability to show returning customers products they previously showed an interest in.

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Virtual Machine

A self-contained operating environment that behaves as if it is a separate computer. For example, Java applets run in a Java virtual machine (VM) that has no access to the host operating system. This design has two advantages:

- System Independence: A Java application will run the same in any Java VM, regardless of the hardware and software underlying the system.
- Security: Because the VM has no contact with the operating system, there is little possibility of a Java program damaging other files or applications.

The second advantage, however, has a downside. Because programs running in a VM are separate from the operating system, they cannot take advantage of special operating system features.

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Message Passing Interface

The Message Passing Interface (MPI) is a library specification for message-passing. It is a standard API (Application Programming Interface) that can be used to create parallel applications. The MPI standardization effort makes use of the most attractive features of a number of existing message passing systems, rather than selecting one of them and adopting it as the standard.

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DOA

On eBay, eBay alternatives, and classified ad Web sites, DOA is an abbreviation used to mean dead on arrival, meaning item did not work when received by the buyer.

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Micro Server

A micro server (may also be written as microserver or MicroServer) is a small server appliance that works like a server. Micro servers are off-the-shelf appliances that are designed for ease of installation and maintenance. A micro server will come with the operating system, hardware and software preinstalled and configured by the manufacturer. Some configuration functions of the micro server may be performed by the end-user through a touch panel and access to the server appliance is through a Web browser.

A micro server is a popular choice for small- to medium-sized businesses that need a server but do not need a full-scale rack or tower server. Micro servers are also used by corporations that operate with minimal IT staff at local or branch offices.

A micro server may also be called a server appliance.

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Carbon Neutral

Carbon neutral, also called carbon neutrality is a term used to describe the action of organizations, businesses and individuals taking action to remove as much carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as each put in to it. The overall goal of carbon neutrality is to achieve a zero carbon footprint. For example, a business may plant trees in different places around the world to offset the electricity the business uses. This practice is often called carbon offset or offsetting.

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Communication Streaming Architecture

A communications interface technology developed by Intel that directly connects the Memory Controller Hub (the chip that controls the memory) to the I/O controller hub (the network interface) to eliminate network traffic through the PCI bus. The interface allows for full-duplex data transmission at gigabit speeds. Also, memory read and write operations have lower latencies because data moves directly from the network interface to RAM.

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eBay Feedback

On the eBay auction Web site, feedback is the system buyers and sellers use to rate their experience with other eBay members. Once a transaction has been completed both the buyer and seller can choose to leave a rating for the other party with whom they conducted business. This rating consists of selecting an overall preset experience rating of positive, neutral or negative. The e-mail member can also leave a sentence comment about the member or transaction. A user's feedback can be publicly viewed by other members. When you view a member's name on eBay a number will appear in parenthesis beside the username. By clicking the number you are able to see this user's feedback.

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Project Coordinator

The project coordinator works across groups, aligning internal team members and external stakeholders. IT project coordinators may coordinate project phases and schedules, arrange support services, order supplies, and track progress. The coordinator typically reports to the project manager and serves as a department liaison to product developers and marketing executives.

IT project coordination brings together business administration expertise and a background in information technology. Most IT project coordinators get their start with a computer science degree or information technology certification. A bachelor's degree in management information systems (MIS), for example, offers a combined business and technology education. Coordinators can advance into project management with Project Management Professional (PMP) certification or an MBA.

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Channel

(1) A transmission path .

(2) A set of properties that distinguishes one channel from another. For example, TV channels refer to particular frequencies at which radio waves are transmitted. IRC channels refer to specific discussions.

(3) In sales and marketing, the way in which a vendor communicates with and sells products to consumers.

(4) In a field-effect transistor, such as a MOSFE T, a channel is the semiconductor path on which current flows.

(5) For IBM PS/2 computers, a channel is the same as an expansion bus.

(6) In audio and sound terms channel refers to an individual discrete audio track. When referring to more than two channels it is called multichannel.

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MIS

Short for management information system or management information services,and pronounced as separate letters, MIS refers broadly to a computer-based system that provides managers with the tools for organizing, evaluating and efficiently running their departments. In order to provide past, present and prediction information, an MIS can include software that helps in decision making, data resources such as databases, the hardware resources of a system, decision support systems, people management and project management applications, and any computerized processes that enable the department to run efficiently.

Within companies and large organizations, the department responsible for computer systems is sometimes called the MIS department. Other names for MIS include IS (Information Services)and IT (Information Technology).

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Warchalking

The act of making chalk marks on outdoor surfaces (walls, sidewalks, buildings, sign posts, trees) to indicate the existence of an open wireless network connection, usually offering an Internet connection so that others can benefit from the free wireless access. The open connections typically come from the access points of wireless networks located within buildings to serve enterprises. The chalk symbols indicate the type of access point that is available at that specific spot.

There are three basic designs that are currently used: a pair of back-to-back semicircles, which denotes an open node; a closed circle, which denotes a closed node; a closed circle with a "W" inside, which denotes a node equipped with WEP. Warchalkers also draw identifiers above the symbols to indicate the password that can be used to access the node, which can easily be obtained with sniffer software.

As a recent development, the debate over the legality of warchalking is still going on.

The practice stems from the U.S. Depression-era culture of wandering hobos who would make marks outside of homes to indicate to other wanderers whether the home was receptive to drifters or was inhospitable.

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Console

(1) The combination of display monitor and keyboard (or other device that allows input). Another term for console is terminal. The term console usually refers to a terminal attached to a minicomputer or mainframe and used to monitor the status of the system.

(2) Another term for monitor or display screen.

(3) A bank of meters and lights indicating a computer's status, and switches that allow an operator to control the computer in some way.

(4) A device specially made for game play called a video game console. The player interacts with the game through a controller, a hand-held device with buttons and analog joysticks or pads. Video and sound are received by the gamer though a television. See also console game.

(5) In Windows Home Server the Console is the application software you use to manage Windows Home Server from any of the computers on your home network. Here you can configure back-ups, access add-ins, configure folders, and change Windows Home Server settings.

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Referrer

Used in Web analytics, it is the URL or IP address that tracks where a visitor to a Web page originated (e.g., previous page, link from another Web site, or search engine).

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Internet Radio

An audio broadcasting service that is transmitted through the Internet. Internet radio is similar in nature to Internet broadcasting, also called webcasting. However, those listening to the continuous stream audio broadcast have no control over the stream, similar to traditional radio broadcasting. Many radio stations worldwide offer their broadcast via Internet radio to a worldwide audience. Today dedicated hardware devices, commonly called Web radio or Internet radio appliances , can be purchased that connect to a home network and then to the Internet to play live audio streams. Internet radio is also called e-radio.

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Cold Standby

A method of redundancy in which the secondary (i.e., backup) system is only called upon when the primary system fails. The system on cold standby receives scheduled data backups, but less frequently than a warm standby. Cold standby systems are used for non-critical applications or in cases where data is changed infrequently.

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ANSI Bomb

Character sequences that reprogram specific keys on the keyboard. If ANSI.SYS is loaded, some bombs will display colorful messages, or have interesting, but usually unwanted graphical effects.

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Defacement

In Web site security terminology, the word defacement is most often used to describe the changing or defacing of a Web page or Web site by an unauthorized individual or process, usually a hacker.

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Whitelist

(n.) In Internet terminology, a generic name for a list of e-mail addresses or IP addresses that are considered to be spam free. Whitelists are used frequently with e-mail applications to allow users to compile lists of senders they wish to receive e-mail from. This list overrides any blacklists and spam filters, and allows the e-mails to be delivered to the users inbox instead of filtered out as spam.

(v.) To place an e-mail address or an IP address on a list of accepted senders.

Whitelist may also be seen written as white list or white-list.

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Buffer Underrun

A common problem that occurs when burning data into a CD. It happens when the computer is not supplying data quickly enough to the CD writer for it to record the data properly. Recording data to a CD-R is a real-time process that must run nonstop without interruption of the signal. A computer will typically transfer the data to the CD-R faster than it is needed. The CD-R drive stores the incoming data in a buffer as a reserve of data waiting to be written so that minor interruptions or slowdowns in the data flow will not interrupt the writing process. The larger the buffer, the greater the chances of a successful transfer. A buffer underrun error occurs when the flow of data from the original source, such as a hard drive or a CD-ROM drive, was interrupted long enough for the recorder's buffer to empty. The writing action is stopped when this happens, and the recordable disc may be ruined during a write operation.

The most common causes of buffer underrun are out-of-date drivers or a system that does not meet the minimum requirements for CD burning. Before attempting to record onto a CD, check that your CPU and hard drive are fast enough to support CD recording and that your computer has enough RAM and available hard disk space. It is also important to have the latest drivers for the CD-R drive, IDE or SCSI controller.

There are a number of ways to combat buffer underrun errors:

* Defragment your hard drive before writing a CD.
* Copy the data to a local hard drive before writing, but be sure to clear space on the hard drive as the workspace may need to be as large as 650 MB available. It is better to create an image of your source data on the hard drive before writing to a CD.
* Don't burn a CD over a network.
* The flow of data can be interrupted by corrupted files and bad sectors on the hard drive. Run the appropriate scanning software to check for these problems.
* Allow the system to warm up for about an hour before attempting to write a CD.
* Make sure the CD is clean before trying to write it.
* Inferior grade CDs may cause a problem. If the CDs from one particular manufacturer keep failing, try a different brand of disc.
* Try recording at a slower speed, such as 2x.

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Challenge-response

(1) A common authentication technique whereby an individual is prompted (the challenge) to provide some private information (the response). Most security systems that rely on smart cards are based on challenge-response. A user is given a code (the challenge) which he or she enters into the smart card. The smart card then displays a new code (the response) that the user can present to log in.

(2) In biometrics, challenge response is the term used to describe the method by which the identification of a person is detected based on voluntary or involuntary responses. Challenge response is a type of biometric system security.

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Beyond-the-banner

A slang term used to describe any non-standard type of Web advertisement. This type of ad is not a banner ad, streaming video or text ad, which are common online, but rather it goes beyond that. An example of this type of ad would be a rich-media ad where users can interact with the ad as it is displayed through navigation options to find out more information without clicking through to the advertiser's Web site.

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DNSBL

Short for DNS Based List, DNS Blacklist, or DNS Blocklist.

A published list of IP addresses that can be queried through the Internet. DNSBLs are used to publish IP addresses associated with e-mail spam and spamming. Most mail servers can be configured to reject messages from addresses on a DNSBL. An address found in a DNSBL may be directly associated with spam, or may have made the list due to Web server vulnerabilities that can be used by spammers. There are many DNSBLs available, each published and maintained by different individuals and organizations.

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Supercomputer

The fastest type of computer. Supercomputers are very expensive and are employed for specialized applications that require immense amounts of mathematical calculations. For example, weather forecasting requires a supercomputer. Other uses of supercomputers include animated graphics, fluid dynamic calculations, nuclear energy research, and petroleum exploration.

The chief difference between a supercomputer and a mainframe is that a supercomputer channels all its power into executing a few programs as fast as possible, whereas a mainframe uses its power to execute many programs concurrently.

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Black Hole

Slang term for a router that goes down (offline) and whose absence goes undetected by other routers on the network. Packets that are forwarded to that router simply get dropped and never arrive at their destination. Black holes are unable to generate destination unreachable messages, so users are left unaware that data is being lost.

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Portable

(1) When used to describe hardware, portable means small and lightweight. A portable computer is a computer small enough to carry. Portable computers include notebook and subnotebook computers, hand-held computers, palmtops, and PDAs

(2) When used to describe software, portable means that the software has the ability to run on a variety of computers. Portable and machine independent mean the same thing-that the software does not depend on a particular type of hardware.

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Vein ID System

A type of biometrics identification system that uses veins in a person's body to establish identity. Vein ID Systems use infrared light to scan the user's hand and look for a pattern of veins in order to make an identification match. Both Hitachi and Fujitsu have developed commercial Vein ID Systems.

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AAA

Short for authentication, authorization and accounting, a system in IP-based networking to control what computer resources users have access to and to keep track of the activity of users over a network.

Authentication is the process of identifying an individual, usually based on a username and password. Authentication is based on the idea that each individual user will have unique information that sets him or her apart from other users.
Authorization is the process of granting or denying a user access to network resources once the user has been authenticated through the username and password. The amount of information and the amount of services the user has access to depend on the user's authorization level.
Accounting is the process of keeping track of a user's activity while accessing the network resources, including the amount of time spent in the network, the services accessed while there and the amount of data transferred during the session. Accounting data is used for trend analysis, capacity planning, billing, auditing and cost allocation.

AAA services often require a server that is dedicated to providing the three services. RADIUS is an example of an AAA service.

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Shock Rating

A numerical value given to computer equipment to indicate its durability when physically dropped or subjected to another force. Shock rating is typically described as the acceleration of gravity (G) over a given time, typically a millisecond (msec). For example, a shock rating of 100-200 Gs/1 msec, equivalent to a drop of less than a foot, indicates that a device dropped from less than a foot will still operate as normal. A shock rating of 2,000 Gs indicates a device will operate after a 10-foot drop.

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Crisis Blog

A slang term used to describe a blog that is created only to handle a business public relations crisis. Crisis blogs enable a company to immediately respond to an allegation or rumor.

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SORBS

Acronym for Spam and Open Relay Blocking System.

SORBS was originally an anti-spam project where a daemon would check, in real time, all servers from which it received e-mail to determine if that e-mail was sent via various types of proxy and open-relay servers. SORBS has evolved into SORBS DNSbl (DNS-based blacklist) which now includes more than 3 million listed hosts that are considered to be compromised (Web servers which have vulnerabilities that can be used by spammers).

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RBL

Short for Realtime Blackhole List, a list of IP addresses whose owners refuse to stop the proliferation of spam. The RBL usually lists server IP addresses from ISPs whose customers are responsible for the spam and from ISPs whose servers are hijacked for spam relay.

As subscribers to the RBL, ISPs and companies will know from which IP addresses to block traffic. Most traffic blocking occurs during the SMTP connection phase. The receiving end will check the RBL for the connecting IP address. If the IP address matches one on the list, then the connection gets dropped before accepting any traffic from the spammer. Some ISPs, though, will choose to blackhole (or ignore) IP packets at their routers. The goal here is to block all IP traffic.

It is important to note that all e-mail and packet blocking is done by the recipient, not the RBL administrator, which is only responsible for bouncing spam that is directed at its servers.

The RBL was created by Mail Abuse Prevention System (MAPS) LLC., but there are other entities that keep RBLs aside from MAPS.

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Canonical URL

A canonical URL is a URL that is the best indexed version. It does not contain any duplicate material which can be a problem when using inconsistent links as the same content can get indexed many times for different URLs and this can cause problems. In order to index the root level of a URL it is best to end it in / this prevents it being duplicated.

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Dilberted

Slang term used to mean a person who has been exploited, oppressed or otherwise treated badly by their boss in their workplace. This slang word is derived from the fictional character, named Dilbert, from the comic strip of the same name. Dilbert, which was first published in April 1989, is written and drawn by Scott Adams.

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Memory-resident Virus

A virus that stays in memory after it executes and after its host program is terminated. In contrast, non-memory-resident viruses only are activated when an infected application runs.

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Hadoop

Formally called Apache Hadoop, it is an Apache Software Foundation project and is an open source software platform for scalable, distributed computing. Hadoop can provide fast and reliable analysis of both structured data and unstructured data . Given its capabilities to handle large data sets, it is often associated with the phrase Big Data.

The Apache Hadoop software library is essentially a framework that allows for the distributed processing of large datasets across clusters of computers using a simple programming model. Hadoop can scale up from single servers to thousands of machines, each offering local computation and storage.

The Apache Hadoop software library can detect and handle failures at the application layer, so it can deliver a highly-available service on top of a cluster of computers, each of which may be prone to failures.

As listed on the The Apache Hadoop project Web site, the Apache Hadoop project includes a number of subprojects such as the following:

Hadoop Common: The common utilities that support the other Hadoop subprojects.
Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS): A distributed file system that provides high-throughput access to application data.
Hadoop MapReduce: A software framework for distributed processing of large data sets on compute clusters.

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Thin Provisioning

In data storage terminology, thin provisioning is the term used to describe the consolidation and automated process of allocating just "the exact required amount" of server space at the time it is required. Thin provisioning is most commonly used in centralized large storage systems such as SANs and also in storage virtualization environments where administrators plan for both current and future storage requirements and often over-purchase capacity, which can result in wasted storage. Since thin provisioning is designed to allocate exactly what is needed, exactly when it is needed, it removes the element of "paid for but wasted" storage capacity. Additionally, as more storage is needed additional volumes can be attached to the existing consolidated storage system.

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Data Center Tiers

A four tier system that provides a simple and effective means for identifying different data center site infrastructure design topologies. The Uptime Institute's tiered classification system is an industry standard approach to site infrastructure functionality addresses common benchmarking standard needs. The four tiers, as classified by The Uptime Institute include the following:

Tier 1: composed of a single path for power and cooling distribution, without redundant components, providing 99.671% availability.

Tier II: composed of a single path for power and cooling distribution, with redundant components, providing 99.741% availability

Tier III: composed of multiple active power and cooling distribution paths, but only one path active, has redundant components, and is concurrently maintainable, providing 99.982% availability

Tier IV: composed of multiple active power and cooling distribution paths, has redundant components, and is fault tolerant, providing 99.995% availability.

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Data

(1) Distinct pieces of information, usually formatted in a special way. All software is divided into two general categories: data and programs. Programs are collections of instructions for manipulating data.

Data can exist in a variety of forms -- as numbers or text on pieces of paper, as bits and bytes stored in electronic memory, or as facts stored in a person's mind.

Strictly speaking, data is the plural of datum, a single piece of information. In practice, however, people use data as both the singular and plural form of the word.

(2) The term data is often used to distinguish binary machine-readable information from textual human-readable information. For example, some applications make a distinction between data files (files that contain binary data) and text files (files that contain ASCII data).

(3) In database management systems, data files are the files that store the database information, whereas other files, such as index files and data dictionaries, store administrative information, known as metadata.

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Payment Processing

The term used to describe the process and service that automates payment transactions between the shopper and merchant. It is usually a third-party service that is actually a system of computer processes that process, verify, and accept or decline credit card transactions on behalf of the merchant through secure Internet connections.

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Database Server

Database server is the term used to refer to the back-end system of a database application using client/server architecture. The back-end, sometimes called a database server, performs tasks such as data analysis, storage, data manipulation, archiving, and other non-user specific tasks.

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Web Server

Web servers are computers that deliver (serves up) Web pages. Every Web server has an IP address and possibly a domain name. For example, if you enter the URL http://www.pcwebopedia.com/index.html in your browser, this sends a request to the Web server whose domain name is pcwebopedia.com. The server then fetches the page named index.html and sends it to your browser.

Any computer can be turned into a Web server by installing server software and connecting the machine to the Internet. There are many Web server software applications, including public domain software from NCSA and Apache, and commercial packages from Microsoft, Netscape and others.

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Frag

Frag is a commonly used term in first-person shooter games. When you kill an opponent in the game you call it a "frag" rather than kill. The term frag is commonly associated with multi-player death-match games.

The word frag was first used in the Vietnam war, but there is some discrepancies as to the meaning of word from this time. Some references point to it being used to describe a soldier who was brutally killed by a grenade, while other resources state "to frag" is a term used in war-times to describe the use of a fragmentation grenade "to cool the ardor of any officer or NCO too eager to make contact with the enemy".

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LDAP

Short for Lightweight Directory Access Protocol, a set of protocols for accessing information directories. LDAP is based on the standards contained within the X.500 standard, but is significantly simpler. And unlike X.500, LDAP supports TCP/IP, which is necessary for any type of Internet access. Because it's a simpler version of X.500, LDAP is sometimes called X.500-lite.

Although not yet widely implemented, LDAP should eventually make it possible for almost any application running on virtually any computer platform to obtain directory information, such as email addresses and public keys. Because LDAP is an open protocol, applications need not worry about the type of server hosting the directory.

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Program

(n) An organized list of instructions that, when executed, causes the computer to behave in a predetermined manner. Without programs, computers are useless.

A program is like a recipe. It contains a list of ingredients (called variables) and a list of directions (called statements) that tell the computer what to do with the variables. The variables can represent numeric data, text, or graphical images.

There are many programming languages -- C, C++, Pascal, BASIC, FORTRAN, COBOL, and LISP are just a few. These are all high-level languages. One can also write programs in low-level languages called assembly languages, although this is more difficult. Low-level languages are closer to the language used by a computer, while high-level languages are closer to human languages.

Eventually, every program must be translated into a machine language that the computer can understand. This translation is performed by compilers, interpreters, and assemblers.

When you buy software, you normally buy an executable version of a program. This means that the program is already in machine language -- it has already been compiled and assembled and is ready to execute.

(v) To write programs.

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Mass Storage

Refers to various techniques and devices for storing large amounts of data. The earliest storage devices were punched paper cards, which were used as early as 1804 to control silk-weaving looms. Modern mass storage devices include all types of disk drives and tape drives. Mass storage is distinct from memory, which refers to temporary storage areas within the computer. Unlike main memory, mass storage devices retain data even when the computer is turned off.

The main types of mass storage are:
floppy disks: Relatively slow and have a small capacity, but they are portable, inexpensive, and universal.
hard disks: Very fast and with more capacity than floppy disks, but also more expensive. Some hard disk systems are portable (removable cartridges), but most are not.
optical disks: Unlike floppy and hard disks, which use electromagnetism to encode data, optical disk systems use a laser to read and write data. Optical disks have very large storage capacity, but they are not as fast as hard disks. In addition, the inexpensive optical disk drives are read-only. Read/write varieties are expensive.
tapes: Relatively inexpensive and can have very large storage capacities, but they do not permit random access of data.

Mass storage is measured in kilobytes (1,024 bytes), megabytes (1,024 kilobytes), gigabytes (1,024 megabytes) and terabytes (1,024 gigabytes).

Mass storage is sometimes called auxiliary storage.

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Vlog

Video blogging, sometimes shortened to vlogging (pronounced 'vlogging', as opposed to 'v-logging') or vidding or vidblogging is a form of blogging for which the medium is video, and is a form of Internet television. Entries often combine embedded video or a video link with supporting text, images, and other metadata. Entries can be recorded in one take or cut into multiple parts. It is also a very popular category on YouTube.

Video logs (vlogs) also often take advantage of web syndication to allow for the distribution of video over the Internet using either the RSS or Atom syndication formats, for automatic aggregation and playback on mobile devices and personal computers.

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Backlighting

A technique used to make flat-panel displays easier to read. A backlit display is illuminated so that the foreground appears sharper in contrast with the background.

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Tax Software

Tax software is defined as a type of computer software designed to help individuals or companies prepare for and file income, corporate and similar tax returns. Tax software streamlines the process of filing taxes by walking the user through tax forms and issues and also automatically calculates the individual's or company's tax obligations. Many personal tax software applications are now available in the traditional physical box software format (retail software) as well as in hosted online service (SaaS) formats.

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Network Management

Network management refers to the broad subject of managing computer networks. There exists a wide variety of software and hardware products that help network system administrators manage a network. Network management covers a wide area, including:

Security: Ensuring that the network is protected from unauthorized users.
Performance: Eliminating bottlenecks in the network.
Reliability: Making sure the network is available to users and responding to hardware and software malfunctions.

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Broadband

The term broadband is used to describe a type of data transmission in which a single medium (wire) can carry several channels at once. Cable TV, for example, uses broadband transmission. In contrast, baseband transmission allows only one signal at a time.

Most communications between computers, including the majority of local-area networks, use baseband communications. An exception is B-ISDN networks, which employ broadband transmission.

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Domain Name

Domain names are used to identify one or more IP addresses. For example, the domain name microsoft.com represents about a dozen IP addresses. Domain names are used in URLs to identify particular Web pages. For example, in the URL http://www.pcwebopedia.com/index.html, the domain name is pcwebopedia.com.

Every domain name has a suffix that indicates which top level domain (TLD) it belongs to. There are only a limited number of such domains. For example:

gov - Government agencies
edu - Educational institutions
org - Organizations (nonprofit)
mil - Military
com - commercial business
net - Network organizations
ca - Canada
th - Thailand

Because the Internet is based on IP addresses, not domain names, every Web server requires a Domain Name System (DNS) server to translate domain names into IP addresses.

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Application Server

Also called an appserver, an application server is a program that handles all application operations between users and an organization's backend business applications or databases.

An application server is typically used for complex transaction-based applications. To support high-end needs, an application server has to have built-in redundancy, monitor for high-availability, high-performance distributed application services and support for complex database access.

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SaaS

SaaS - Software as a Service, Storage as a Service

1) Short for Software as a Service, SaaS is a software delivery method that provides access to software and its functions remotely as a Web-based service. Software as a Service allows organizations to access business functionality at a cost typically less than paying for licensed applications since SaaS pricing is based on a monthly fee. Also, because the software is hosted remotely, users don't need to invest in additional hardware. Software as a Service removes the need for organizations to handle the installation, set-up and often daily upkeep and maintenance. Software as a Service may also be referred to as simply hosted applications. See related term ASP.

(2) Short for Storage as a Service, SaaS is a term used to describe a storage model where a business or organization (the client) rents or leases storage space from a third-party provider. Data is transferred from the client to the service provider via the Internet and the client would then access their stored data using software provided by the storage provider. The software is used to perform common tasks related to storage, such as data backups and data transfers. Storage as a Service is popular with SMBs because there are usually no start-up costs (e.g., servers, hard disks, IT staff and so on) involved. Businesses pay for the service based only on the amount of storage space used. Storage as a Service may also be called hosted storage. See related term Storage Service Provider.

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Cryptographic Service Provider

Cryptographic Service Provider (abbreviated as CSP) provides software or hardware-based encryption and decryption services. It contains implementations of cryptographic standards and algorithms. At a minimum, a CSP consists of a dynamic-link library (DLL) that implements the functions in CryptoSPI (a system program interface). Most CSPs contain the implementation of all of their own functions.

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Data Center Management

Data center management refers to the role of an individual within the data center (data center manager) who is responsible for overseeing technical and IT issues within the data center. This includes computer and server operations, data entry, data security, data quality control and management of the services and applications used for data processing. Data center management integrates into other IT systems for complete data synchronization including virtual systems, proprietary systems, and automation. Data center management requires a number of tools, IT policies and strategies to create and maintain a secure and efficient data center.

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Warm Standby

A method of redundancy in which the secondary (i.e., backup) system runs in the background of the primary system. Data is mirrored to the secondary server at regular intervals, which means that there are times when both servers do not contain the exact same data.

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DDoS attacks

A denial-of-service attack (DoS attack) or distributed denial-of-service attack (DDoS attack) is an attempt to make a computer resource unavailable to its intended users. Although the means to carry out, motives for, and targets of a DoS attack may vary, it generally consists of the concerted efforts of a person or people to prevent an Internet site or service from functioning efficiently or at all, temporarily or indefinitely. Perpetrators of DoS attacks typically target sites or services hosted on high-profile web servers such as banks, credit card payment gateways, and even root name-servers. The term is generally used with regards to computer networks, but is not limited to this field; for example, it is also used in reference to CPU resource management.

One common method of attack involves saturating the target machine with external communications requests, such that it cannot respond to legitimate traffic, or responds so slowly as to be rendered effectively unavailable. In general terms, DoS attacks are implemented by either forcing the targeted computer(s) to reset, or consuming its resources so that it can no longer provide its intended service or obstructing the communication media between the intended users and the victim so that they can no longer communicate adequately.

Denial-of-service attacks are considered violations of the IAB's Internet proper use policy, and also violate the acceptable use policies of virtually all Internet service providers. They also commonly constitute violations of the laws of individual nations.

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Network Security

A specialized field in computer networking that involves securing a computer network infrastructure. Network security is typically handled by a network administrator or system administrator who implements the security policy, network software and hardware needed to protect a network and the resources accessed through the network from unauthorized access and also ensure that employees have adequate access to the network and resources to work.

A network security system typically relies on layers of protection and consists of multiple components including networking monitoring and security software in addition to hardware and appliances. All components work together to increase the overall security of the computer network.

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Algorithm

A formula or set of steps for solving a particular problem. To be an algorithm, a set of rules must be unambiguous and have a clear stopping point. Algorithms can be expressed in any language, from natural languages like English or French to programming languages like FORTRAN.

We use algorithms every day. For example, a recipe for baking a cake is an algorithm. Most programs, with the exception of some artificial intelligence applications, consist of algorithms. Inventing elegant algorithms (algorithms that are simple and require the fewest steps possible) is one of the principal challenges in programming.

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Bytecode

Programming code that, once compiled, is run through a virtual machine instead of the computer's processor. By using this approach, source code can be run on any platform once it has been compiled and run through the virtual machine.

Bytecode is the compiled format for Java programs. Once a Java program has been converted to bytecode, it can be transferred across a network and executed by Java Virtual Machine (JVM). Bytecode files generally have a .class extension.

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Data Infrastructure Hygiene

Practices that promote or preserve the shape of an entire data infrastructure (e.g., network, servers, databases, storage, software). Data Infrastructure Hygiene essentially refers to any activity that reduces the stress of information growth on the data infrastructure and enables the efficient access, movement and protection of data while reducing overall infrastructure and maintenance costs. Such practices include active archiving of relational databases, e-mail archiving, as well as document archiving.

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Power Usage Effectiveness

In Green IT, Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) is a calculation used to determine energy efficiency measurements. PUE is calculated by measuring the ratio of total energy consumption-the combination of servers plus the cooling to "useful" energy consumption (just servers). PUE is a green computing tool being promoted by The Green Grid as a way to measure the power delivered to IT equipment in its ratio with its total power consumption in the data center.

The Green Grid measures the following: PUE=Total Facility Power / IT Equipment Power (where Total Facility Power is the power measured at the utility meter. The IT Equipment Power is the actual load associated with all of the IT equipment including computing, storage and networking equipment).

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Assembly Language

A programming language that is once removed from a computer's machine language. Machine languages consist entirely of numbers and are almost impossible for humans to read and write. Assembly languages have the same structure and set of commands as machine languages, but they enable a programmer to use names instead of numbers.

Each type of CPU has its own machine language and assembly language, so an assembly language program written for one type of CPU won't run on another. In the early days of programming, all programs were written in assembly language. Now, most programs are written in a high-level language such as FORTRAN or C. Programmers still use assembly language when speed is essential or when they need to perform an operation that isn't possible in a high-level language.

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Motion Detection

In video surveillance, motion detection refers to the capability of the surveillance system to detect motion and capture the events. Motion detection is usually a software-based monitoring algorithm which, when it detects motions will signal the surveillance camera to begin capturing the event. Also called activity detection. An advanced motion detection surveillance system can analyze the type of motion to see if it warrants an alarm.

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Intrusion Detection System

An intrusion detection system (IDS) inspects all inbound and outbound network activity and identifies suspicious patterns that may indicate a network or system attack from someone attempting to break into or compromise a system.

There are several ways to categorize an IDS:

misuse detection vs. anomaly detection: in misuse detection, the IDS analyzes the information it gathers and compares it to large databases of attack signatures. Essentially, the IDS looks for a specific attack that has already been documented. Like a virus detection system, misuse detection software is only as good as the database of attack signatures that it uses to compare packets against. In anomaly detection, the system administrator defines the baseline, or normal, state of the network's traffic load, breakdown, protocol, and typical packet size. The anomaly detector monitors network segments to compare their state to the normal baseline and look for anomalies.

network-based vs. host-based systems: in a network-based system, or NIDS, the individual packets flowing through a network are analyzed. The NIDS can detect malicious packets that are designed to be overlooked by a firewall's simplistic filtering rules. In a host-based system, the IDS examines at the activity on each individual computer or host.

passive system vs. reactive system: in a passive system, the IDS detects a potential security breach, logs the information and signals an alert. In a reactive system, the IDS responds to the suspicious activity by logging off a user or by reprogramming the firewall to block network traffic from the suspected malicious source.

Though they both relate to network security, an IDS differs from a firewall in that a firewall looks out for intrusions in order to stop them from happening. The firewall limits the access between networks in order to prevent intrusion and does not signal an attack from inside the network. An IDS evaluates a suspected intrusion once it has taken place and signals an alarm. An IDS also watches for attacks that originate from within a system.

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Homogeneous Register Architecture

In a homogeneous register architectures, the selection of an instruction has no connection whatsoever with the types of registers that the instruction uses. Selecting instructions for non-homogeneous register architectures usually requires allocating register types for the operands and resulting data. As a consequence, the IR patterns associated with instructions in this kind of processor should carry information regarding the type of register the instruction uses.

Source: Optimal Code Generation for Embedded Memory Non-Homogeneous Register Architectures

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Holographic Data Storage

Holographic storage is a mass storage technology that uses three-dimensional holographic images to enable more information to be stored in a much smaller space. The technology uses holograms which are created when a light from a single laser beam is split into two beams; the signal beam (which carries the data) and the reference beam. In holographic storage, at the point where the reference beam and the data carrying signal beam intersect, the hologram is recorded in the light sensitive storage medium.

When you create a variance in the reference beam angle or media position then hundreds of unique holograms can be recorded in the same volume of material. To read the stored holographic data, the reference beam is deflected off the hologram reconstructing the stored information. This hologram is then projected onto a detector that reads the entire data page of over one million bits at once. [Adapted from InPhase Technologies]

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Aggregate Function

A function that performs a computation on a set of values rather than on a single value. For example, finding the average or mean of a list of numbers is an aggregate function.

All database management and spreadsheet systems support a set of aggregate functions that can operate on a set of selected records or cells.

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User Defined Function

A programmed routine that has its parameters set by the user of the system. User defined functions often are seen as programming shortcuts as they define functions that perform specific tasks within a larger system, such as a database or spreadsheet program.

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Analog

Also spelled analogue, describes a device or system that represents changing values as continuously variable physical quantities. A typical analog device is a clock in which the hands move continuously around the face. Such a clock is capable of indicating every possible time of day. In contrast, a digital clock is capable of representing only a finite number of times (every tenth of a second, for example). In general, humans experience the world analogically. Vision, for example, is an analog experience because we perceive infinitely smooth gradations of shapes and colors.

When used in reference to data storage and transmission, analog format is that in which information is transmitted by modulating a continuous transmission signal, such as amplifying a signal's strength or varying its frequency to add or take away data. For example, telephones take sound vibrations and turn them into electrical vibrations of the same shape before they are transmitted over traditional telephone lines. Radio wave transmissions work in the same way. Computers, which handle data in digital form, require modems to turn signals from digital to analog before transmitting those signals over communication lines such as telephone lines that carry only analog signals. The signals are turned back into digital form (demodulated) at the receiving end so that the computer can process the data in its digital format.

In contrast with "digital".

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Internationalized Domain Name

Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) are domain names or Web addresses, represented by local language characters. When a user types an IDN in local language characters, an IDN resolution process is required to locate the corresponding Web site or e-mail address. The native language domain name will be followed by .com or .net. The goal of Internationalized Domain Names is to improve the international accessibility and functionality of the Internet by allowing users to register domain names in non-English languages.

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Decision Support System

Abbreviated DSS, the term refers to an interactive computerized system that gathers and presents data from a wide range of sources, typically for business purposes. DSS applications are systems and subsystems that help people make decisions based on data that is culled from a wide range of sources.

For example: a national on-line book seller wants to begin selling its products internationally but first needs to determine if that will be a wise business decision. The vendor can use a DSS to gather information from its own resources (using a tool such as OLAP) to determine if the company has the ability or potential ability to expand its business and also from external resources, such as industry data, to determine if there is indeed a demand to meet. The DSS will collect and analyze the data and then present it in a way that can be interpreted by humans. Some decision support systems come very close to acting as artificial intelligence agents.

DSS applications are not single information resources, such as a database or a program that graphically represents sales figures, but the combination of integrated resources working together.

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Domain Name Registrant

The person, company or entity who owns or holds a domain name. When corporations and companies register a domain name, the registrant should be the company name (not an individual employee within the company) to ensure the business maintains ownership of the domain name.

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Computer Animation

Is a subset of both computer graphics and animation technologies. It is the creation of moving images (animation) using computer technology. Computer animation is broken down into two categories. Computer-generated animation where the animation is designed solely on the computer system using animation and 3D graphics software, and computer-assisted animation where traditional animations are computerized.

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Binary

Pertaining to a number system that has just two unique digits. For most purposes, we use the decimal number system, which has ten unique digits, 0 through 9. All other numbers are then formed by combining these ten digits. Computers are based on the binary numbering system, which consists of just two unique numbers, 0 and 1. All operations that are possible in the decimal system (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division) are equally possible in the binary system.

We use the decimal system in everyday life because it seems more natural (we have ten fingers and ten toes). For the computer, the binary system is more natural because of its electrical nature (charged versus uncharged).

In the decimal system, each digit position represents a value of 10 to the position's power. For example, the number 345 means:

3 three 100s (10 to the 2nd power)
plus
4 four 10s (10 to the first power)
plus
5 five 1s (10 to the zeroth power)

In the binary system, each digit position represents a value of 2. For example, the binary number 1011 equals:

1 one 8 (2 to the 3rd power)
plus
0 zero 4s (2 to the 2nd power)
plus
1 one 2 (2 to the first power)
plus
1 one 1 (2 to the zeroth power)

So a binary 1011 equals a decimal 11.

Because computers use the binary number system, powers of 2 play an important role. This is why everything in computers seems to come in 8s (2 to the 3rd power), 64s (2 to the 6th power), 128s (2 to the 7th power), and 256s (2 to the 8th power).

Programmers also use the octal (8 numbers) and hexadecimal (16 numbers) number systems because they map nicely onto the binary system. Each octal digit represents exactly three binary digits, and each hexadecimal digit represents four binary digits.

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Easter Egg

A secret message or screen buried in an application. Typically, easter eggs are used to display the credits for the development team or to display a humorous message. To see an easter egg, you need to know a special procedure or sequence of keystrokes.

For example, follow these instructions to see a list of people who worked on the User Assistance feature of Microsoft Word 2000:
1. Open Microsoft Word2000
2. Press F1 or click the "Office Assistant" button
3. Under the "What would you like to do?", type "Cast" (No quotes)
4. Click SEARCH
5. Click the MICROSOFT OFFICE 2000 USER ASSISTANCE STAFF topic
6. Click the graphic in the Microsoft Word Help screen

Easter eggs in computer games are quite common and may be funny scenes, hidden levels, or other extras gamers might discover while playing.

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Inbound CRM

Inbound CRM (customer relationship management) is the term used to describe customer experience when the customer initiates the contact with the business. The contact can be initiated through any means of communication, including an inbound call center or via the business' online website. Often, inbound CRM is a part of the sales or customer support relationship.

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QWERTY Keyboard

Pronounced kwer-tee, refers to the arrangement of keys on a standard English computer keyboard or typewriter. The name derives from the first six characters on the top alphabetic line of the keyboard.

The arrangement of characters on a QWERTY keyboard was designed in 1868 by Christopher Sholes, the inventor of the typewriter. According to popular myth, Sholes arranged the keys in their odd fashion to prevent jamming on mechanical typewriters by separating commonly used letter combination. However, there is no evidence to support this assertion, except that the arrangement does, in fact, inhibit fast typing.

With the emergence of ball-head electric typewriters and computer keyboards, on which jamming is not an issue, new keyboards designed for speed typing have been invented. The best-known is called a Dvorak keyboard. Despite their more rational designs, these new keyboards have not received wide acceptance.

AZERTY keyboard is the French version of the standard QWERTY keyboard. AZERTY keyboards differ from the QWERTY keyboard in that the Q and W keys have been interchanged with the A and Z keys. Another difference between QWERTY and AZERTY keyboard is that the M key on an AZERTY is to the left of the L key.

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Cyber Forensics

Computer forensics, is the application of scientifically proven methods to gather, process, interpret, and to use digital evidence to provide a conclusive description of cyber crime activities. Cyber forensics also includes the act of making digital data suitable for inclusion into a criminal investigation. Today cyber forensics is a term used in conjunction with law enforcement, and is offered as courses at many colleges and universities worldwide.

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Direct Web Remoting

Direct Web Remoting (DWR) is a Java open source library for those wanting to develop Web sites which contain Ajax. DWR enables the Javascript in a browser to interact with Java on a server, just as if it were in the browser. DWR encompasses two main components; a Java Servlet running on the server that processes requests and sends responses back to the browser, and JavaScript running in the browser that sends requests and can dynamically update the Web page.

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Site License

A type of software licensing agreement that grants the purchaser permission to use the software on a network on a single site, with an unlimited number of end users. Usually this type of license allows you to copy and use the software on multiple computers at one site and is more expensive than purchasing a single copy but less expensive than purchasing a copy for each computer at the site. There may be a maximum specified number of simultaneous end users.

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IPng - IPv6

IPv6 (Internet Protocol Version 6) is also called IPng (Internet Protocol next generation) and it is the newest version of the Internet Protocol (IP) reviewed in the IETF standards committees to replace the current version of IPv4 (Internet Protocol Version 4).

The official name of IPng is IPv6, where IP stands for Internet Protocol and v6 stands for version 6.

Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) is the successor to Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4). IPv6 was designed as an evolutionary upgrade to the Internet Protocol and will, in fact, coexist with the older IPv4 for some time. IPv6 is designed to allow the Internet to grow steadily, both in terms of the number of hosts connected and the total amount of data traffic transmitted.

The IETF standards committee, The IPv6 Operations Working Group (v6ops) is responsible for developing the guidelines for the operation of a shared IPv4 and IPv6 Internet. The group also provides operational guidance on how to deploy IPv6 into existing IPv4-only networks as well as into new network installations.

IPv6 is an Internet Protocol (IP) for packet-switched internetworking that specifies the format of packets (also called datagrams) and the addressing scheme across multiple IP networks. In comparing the two protocols IPv6 expands upon the addressing and routing capabilities of IPv4 in a number of ways including:

- In IPv6 the IP address size is increased from 32 bits to 128 bits
- IPv6 supports a greater number of addressable nodes
- IPv6 provides more levels of addressing hierarchy
- IPv6 offers simpler auto-configuration of addresses
- Ipv6 also supports simplified header format

Increasing the IP address pool was a major factor in the development of IPv6. The biggest benefit of IPv6 is that it will replace the IPv4 32-bit address scheme with a much longer 128-bit address scheme. The IPv4 32-bit address scheme allows for a total of 2^32 addresses while IPv6 allows for 2^128 total addresses.

IPv6 also offers additional technical advantages such simplified headers in seven fields (instead of the 13 fields in IPv4) as well as improved security with the addition of two new extension headers (authentication header and encapsulating security header).

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PRI

Short for Primary-Rate Interface, a type of ISDN service designed for larger organizations. PRI includes 23 B-channels (30 in Europe) and one D-Channel. In contrast, BRI (Basic-Rate Interface), which is designed for individuals and small businesses, contains just two B-channels and one D-channel.

PRI service is generally transmitted through a T-1 line (or an E1 line in Europe).

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MUD

Short for Multi-User Dungeon (or Multi-User Dimension) a cyberspace where users can take on an identity in the form of an avatar and interact with one another. Originally, MUDs tended to be adventure games played within enormous old castles with hidden rooms, trap-doors, exotic beasts, and magical items. Nowadays, the term is used more generically to refer to any cyberspace. MUDs are also known as 3-D worlds and chat worlds.

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Pay Per Click

Short for pay per click, PPC is an Internet marketing formula used to price online advertisements. In PPC programs the online advertisers will pay Internet Publishers the agreed upon PPC rate when an ad is clicked on, regardless if a sale is made or not.

With pay per click in search engine advertising, the advertiser would typically bid on a keyword so the PPC rate changes. On single website -- or network of content websites -- the site publisher would usually set a fixed pay per click rate.

Also called cost-per-click (CPC).

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Wizard

(1) A utility within an application that helps you use the application to perform a particular task. For example, a "letter wizard" within a word processing application would lead you through the steps of producing different types of correspondence.

(2) An outstanding programmer. Also called a super-programmer. Common wisdom holds that one wizard is worth ten average programmers.

(3) The system administrator for a chat room or MUD.

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Customer Self-Service

Customer self-service (abbreviated as CSS) refers to methods and processes put in place by a business so that a customer can interact with the business at their convenience. Customer self-service is used in customer relationship management (CRM) systems and may also be a part of employee relationship management (ERM). Usually, customer self-service applies to account information management tasks that a customer chooses to handle or maintain on their own.

A similar phrase, Web self-service (WSS), is used to describe customer self-service that is delivered specifically through a website. Here, signing in to update an account, request information or e-support are some of the common services a business may offer to a customer. These service tasks can be performed by the customer at their own discretion when it is convenient. Web self-service is an important aspect of CRM systems as it enables a company to collect more personal data about the customer when they log in to their account.

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CRM Dashboard

Dashboard is a term that is widely used to describe an application interface that provides users with quick access to information or common tasks. In CRM (customer relationship management) the dashboard is used to monitor business performance and CRM data and reports are often shown in the dashboard to provide a quick and easy overview of current business performance using charts, graphs, and maps.

A CRM dashboard is designed to let users perform some specific actions and tasks with a single mouse-click from this interface. For example, a click from the CRM dashboard could provide you with a detailed report on any lead follow-ups that are scheduled for today.

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LAMP

Short for Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP, an open-source Web development platform, also called a Web stack, that uses Linux as the operating system, Apache as the Web server, MySQL as the RDBMS and PHP as the object-oriented scripting language. Perl or Python is often substituted for PHP.

The key to the idea behind LAMP, a term originally coined by Michael Kunze in the German magazine c't in 1998, is the use of these items together. Although not actually designed to work together, these open source software alternatives are readily and freely available as each of the components in the LAMP stack is an example of Free or Open Source Software (FOSS).

LAMP has become a de facto development standard. Today, the products that make up the LAMP stack are included by default in nearly all Linux distributions, and together they make a powerful web application platform.

The original LAMP acronym has spawned a number of other, related acronyms that capitalize on the main focus of the original combination of technologies to provide feature rich Web sites. Some of these related Web stacks include LAPP, MAMP, and BAMP.

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SOAP

Short for Simple Object Access Protocol, a lightweight XML-based messaging protocol used to encode the information in Web service request and response messages before sending them over a network. SOAP messages are independent of any operating system or protocol and may be transported using a variety of Internet protocols, including SMTP, MIME, and HTTP.

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DOCTYPE

A Document Type Declaration, or DOCTYPE, is an instruction that associates a particular SGML or XML document (for example, a webpage) with a Document Type Definition (DTD) (for example, the formal definition of a particular version of HTML). In the serialized form of the document, it manifests as a short string of markup that conforms to a particular syntax.

The HTML layout engines in modern web browsers perform DOCTYPE "sniffing" or "switching", wherein the DOCTYPE in a document served as text/html determines a layout mode, such as "quirks mode" or "standards mode". The text/html serialization of HTML5, which is not SGML-based, uses the DOCTYPE only for mode selection. Since web browsers are implemented with special-purpose HTML parsers, rather than general-purpose DTD-based parsers, they don't use DTDs and will never access them even if a URL is provided. The DOCTYPE is retained in HTML5 as a "mostly useless, but required" header only to trigger "standards mode" in common browsers.

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Tethering

Tethering is a method for connecting a computer to the internet via an internet-capable mobile phone. The computer is connected to a mobile phone either with a cable, with a Bluetooth connection or through Wi-Fi: the connection to the internet is completed by the phone. If connected through Wi-Fi, the tethering feature is often branded as a mobile hotspot, and can often connect to multiple devices, whereas wired or Bluetooth tethering only connects to one device, usually a laptop.

Many mobile phones are equipped with software to provide tethered internet access via Bluetooth or a USB cable. Depending on the mobile phone's carrier, tethering may be provided at no extra cost. However, some carriers impose a one time charge to enable tethering, while others do not allow tethering at all or impose additional data charges (examples include the 3 network and T-Mobile in the UK) on tethered internet use. Often phone contracts that advertise unlimited or "all you can eat" internet and data usage will bury these hidden charges in their terms and conditions.

Data transfers over tethered mobile phones may violate the terms of use imposed by the mobile carrier or may even be subject to high fees. As cited in Sprint's Terms of Service, "Except with Phone-as-Modem plans, you may not use a phone (including a Bluetooth phone) as a modem in connection with a computer, PDA, or similar device. We reserve the right to deny or terminate service without notice for any misuse or any use that adversely affects network performance."

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Cognitive Walk-through

An inspection method for evaluating the design of a user interface, with special attention to how well the interface supports ‘exploratory learning,’ i.e., first-time use without formal training. The evaluation is done by having a group of evaluators go step-by-step through commonly used tasks. It can be performed by evaluators in the early stages of design, before performance testing is possible.

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Drexting

Abbreviated form of driving and texting. Drexting is a slang term that means to drive while texting.

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Card Skimming

The act of using a skimmer to illegally collect data from the magnetic stripe of a credit, debit or ATM card. This information, copied onto another blank card's magnetic stripe, is then used by an identity thief to make purchases or withdraw cash in the name of the actual account holder.

Skimming works by replacing a card reader like an ATM with a camouflaged counterfeit card reader. The counterfeit reader records all of the data on a credit, debit or ATM card as it passes through the skimmer. In addition to ATMs, other locations where card skimming happens include restaurants, taxis or other businesses where an employee will take the card from the actual account holder in order to run the charge. In these instances, the thief has fitted the card reader with a skimmer, or uses a hand-held skimmer hidden in a pocket.

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Usability Testing

Usability testing includes a range of test and evaluation methods that include automated evaluations, inspection evaluations, operational evaluations and human performance testing. In a typical performance test, users perform a variety of tasks with a prototype (or an operational system) while observers note what each user does and says while performance data are recorded. One of the main purposes of usability testing is to identify issues that keep users from meeting the usability goals of a Web site.

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QR Code

A QR Code is a specific matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code), readable by dedicated QR barcode readers and camera phones. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background. The information encoded can be text, URL or other data.

Common in Japan, where it was created by Toyota subsidiary Denso-Wave in 1994, the QR code is one of the most popular types of two-dimensional barcodes. QR is the abbreviation for Quick Response, as the creator intended the code to allow its contents to be decoded at high speed.

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Server

(n.) A computer or device on a network that manages network resources. There are many different types of servers. For example:

- File server: a computer and storage device dedicated to storing files. Any user on the network can store files on the server.
- Print server: a computer that manages one or more printers, and a network server is a computer that manages network traffic.
- Database server: a computer system that processes database queries.

Servers are often dedicated, meaning that they perform no other tasks besides their server tasks. On multiprocessing operating systems, however, a single computer can execute several programs at once. A server in this case could refer to the program that is managing resources rather than the entire computer.

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Online Data Storage

Also called Internet storage or hosted storage, it is a data storage management solution that enables individuals or organizations to store their data on the Internet using a service provider, rather than storing the data locally on a physical disk, such as a hard drive or tape backup.

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Vertical Cloud Computing

A vertical cloud, or vertical cloud computing, is the phrase used to describe the optimization of cloud computing and cloud services for a particular vertical (e.g., a specific industry) or specific use application. The cloud provider will offer specialized functions and options that best meet industry-use and specifications. Today, the vertical health-care cloud is one of the more well-established vertical clouds.

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Cloud Provider

A service provider that offers customers storage or software services available via a private (private cloud) or public network (cloud). Usually, it means the storage and software is available for access via the Internet.

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Cloud Enablement

The process of making available one or more of the following services and infrastructures to create a public cloud computing environment:

- cloud provider: A service provider who offers customers storage or software solutions available via a public network, usually the Internet.
- client: The customer who uses the cloud application: the application that runs the cloud infrastructure

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Cloud Portability

In cloud (cloud computing) terminology, the phrase "cloud portability" means the ability to move applications and its associated data between one cloud provider and another -- or between public and private cloud environments.

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Credit Card Interchange

The process by which all parties involved in a credit card transaction (i.e., processors, acquirers, issuers and so on) manage the processing, clearing and settlement of credit card transactions, including the assessment, and collection and/or distribution of fees between parties.

Also known as Interchange.

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Consumer Electronics

Consumer electronics refers to any device containing an electronic circuit board that is intended for everyday use by individuals. This encompasses a massive category of electronics that includes televisions, cameras, digital cameras, PDAs, calculators, VCRs, DVDs, clocks, audio devices, headphones, camcorders, and many other home products.

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Duplicate Content

In SEO (search engine optimization) terminology, it is content (or text) that has been copied or reused from other Web pages. Duplicate content is often used to help boost keyword density, however some search engines, including Google, filters duplicate text and may penalize your site, resulting in a lower keyphrase position, when you use duplicate content. An example of duplicate content would be a Web page that offers a "printer friendly" version of content, or a news aggregation Web page that copies news headlines and content from stories from other sources online without making changes to the text.

Contrast with fresh content.

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Fresh Content

In SEO (search engine optimization) terminology, it is content that is new or dynamic in nature and gives people a reason to visit your Web site. Many SEO experts believe that using fresh content on your Web site will help your page obtain better placement on search engine results page (SERP). Some search engines may crawl a site more frequently as content is changed and updated.

Contrast with duplicate content.

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Project Manager

A project manager is an individual who is responsible for the planning, organization, resource management, and discipline pertaining to the successful completion of a specific project or objective. This position may refer to a temporary endeavor containing an end coinciding with the end of the assigned project, but can also be a semi- permanent or permanent position

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SEO PR

A combination of the words Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and public relations (PR). It is a combination of writing press releases and other marketing papers for search engine optimization purposes to generate leads as well as traffic to a Web site.

Also called Internet Public Relations.

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Keyword Stuffing

A SEO technique used by Web designers to overload keywords onto a Web page so that search engines will read the page as being relevant in a Web search. Because search engines scan Web pages for the words that are entered into the search criteria by the user, the more times a keyword appears on the Web page the more relevancy the search engine will assign to the page in the search results (this is only one way that search engines determine relevancy, however.) Search engines often penalize a site if the engine discovers keyword stuffing, as this practice is considered poor netiquette, and some search engines will even ban the offending Web pages from their search results.

There are several methods of keyword stuffing. One way is to insert repeating keywords within the input type="hidden" field meta tag or the keyword tag so that the keywords are not seen by the user but are scanned by the search engine. Another way is to make text in the body of the Web page invisible text, or hidden text, by making the text the same color as the page's background, rendering the text invisible to the user unless the user highlights the text. This method is called invisible keyword stuffing .

Keyword stuffing also is referred to as keyword loading and spamdexing.

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DoS Attack

Short for denial-of-service attack, a type of attack on a network that is designed to bring the network to its knees by flooding it with useless traffic. Many DoS attacks, such as the Ping of Death and Teardrop attacks, exploit limitations in the TCP/IP protocols. For all known DoS attacks, there are software fixes that system administrators can install to limit the damage caused by the attacks. But, like viruses, new DoS attacks are constantly being dreamed up by hackers.

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Hacker

A slang term for a computer enthusiast, i.e., a person who enjoys learning programming languages and computer systems and can often be considered an expert on the subject(s). Among professional programmers, depending on how it used, the term can be either complimentary or derogatory, although it is developing an increasingly derogatory connotation.

The pejorative sense of hacker is becoming more prominent largely because the popular press has coopted the term to refer to individuals who gain unauthorized access to computer systems for the purpose of stealing and corrupting data. Hackers, themselves, maintain that the proper term for such individuals is cracker.

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BLOB

Short for binary large object, a collection of binary data stored as a single entity in a database management systems (DBMS). BLOBs are used primarily to hold multimedia objects such as images, videos, and sound, though they can also be used to store programs or even fragments of code. Not all DBMSs support BLOBs.

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Business Intelligence Software

Business Intelligence software, also called BI software, is a software designed to analyze business data to better understand an organization's strengths and weaknesses. Business intelligence software allows an organization's management to better see the relationship between different data for better decision-making and optimal deployment of resources. Business Intelligence software plays a key role in the strategic planning process of the corporation.

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Daemon

Pronounced DEE-mun or DAY-mun. A process that runs in the background and performs a specified operation at predefined times or in response to certain events. The term daemon is a UNIX term, though many other operating systems provide support for daemons, though they're sometimes called other names. Windows, for example, refers to daemons as System Agents and services.

Typical daemon processes include print spoolers, e-mail handlers, and other programs that perform administrative tasks for the operating system. The term comes from Greek mythology, where daemons were guardian spirits.

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Googlewhack

A Googlewhack a search term containing a combination of two or more words that will produce only one single search result in the Google search engine. This means finding only one single webpage on the entire World Wide Web that contains your search query. Googlewhacking is the name given to finding such a search result, and is considered to be a "Web sport".

The rules to Googlewhacking are simple:

1. You cannot use quotation marks in your search query,
2. The words must be found listed in dictionary.com,
3. The page must be an actual article or webpage with information not just a list of words.

One problem facing Googlewhackers, is that when a googlewhack is found and reported on the web, this means your query will no longer count as a googlewhack since the page it was reported on will most likely be indexed by Google, thus creating more than one search result for your Googlewhack.

Googlewhacking was created by Gary Stock in January 2002.

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Call Center

A call center is a centralized office -- or facility -- that is equipped to handle large amounts of customer telephone requests for an organization. A call center handles all telephone communications with new and existing customers. A call center facility provides ample workspace for a large number of employees, typically referred to as "call agents," to administer telephone-based communications with customers.

Call centers may also use a call center suite which includes tools for telephone switch functionality, intelligent routing, automatic call distribution, interactive voice response (IVR), outbound dialing, voice mail and other components.

Large organizations may choose to outsource its call center services, as a call center will be able to provide the systems and trained workforce to provide quality service to customers.

Types of customer call centers include:

- inbound call center
- outbound call center
- customer service center (also called a contact center)

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Call Center Outsourcing

A phrase used to describe the practice of seeking resources -- or subcontracting -- outside of an organizational structure for all or part of a call center function. An organization might outsource its call center because it is cheaper to contract a third-party than it would be to build its own in-house call center facility and management team.

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Inbound Call Center

A type of call center that is designed to receive a large volume of requests -- or inbound calls -- from customers by telephone. Inbound call centers typically handle telephone requests for product or technical support, account assistance, sales, subscription management, billing and other inquiries from consumers.

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Outbound Call Center

A type of call center that is designed to send a large volume of requests -- or outbound calls -- to customers by telephone. Outbound call centers typically handle telephone communications for sales, account upgrades, subscription offers, telephone marketing and debt collection.

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Business Rule Engine

Abbreviated as BRE, business rule engine is the term used to describe software used to track, manage and revise enterprise business processes. This software system typically executes business rules that might be derived from legal regulations or in-house corporate policies. BREs can be used alone or in conjunction with other technologies, like Business Process Management (BPM).

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CRM

Customer Relationship Management

CRM is the abbreviation for customer relationship management. CRM entails all aspects of interaction that a company has with its customer, whether it is sales or service-related. CRM is often thought of as a business strategy that enables businesses to:

- Understand the customer
- Retain customers through better customer experience
- Attract new customer
- Win new clients and contracts
- Increase profitably
- Decrease customer management costs

While the phrase customer relationship management is most commonly used to describe a business-customer relationship, however CRM systems are used in the same way to manage business contacts, clients, contract wins and sales leads.

CRM solutions provide you with the customer business data to help you provide services or products that your customers want, provide better customer service, cross-sell and up sell more effectively, close deals, retain current customers and understand who the customer is.

Technology and the Web has changed the way companies approach CRM strategies because advances in technology have also changed consumer buying behavior and offers new ways for companies to communicate with customers and collect data about them. With each new advance in technology -- especially the proliferation of self-service channels like the Web and smartphones -- customer relationships is being managed electronically.

Many aspects of CRM relies heavily on technology; however the strategies and processes of a good CRM system will collect, manage and link information about the customer with the goal of letting you market and sell services effectively.

Organizations frequently looking for ways to personalize online experiences (a process also referred to as mass customization) through tools such as help-desk software, e-mail organizers and different types of enterprise applications.

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Social CRM

Social customer relationship management (CRM) is a phrase used to describe the addition of a social element in traditional CRM processes. Social CRM builds upon CRM by leveraging a social element that enables a business to connect customer conversations and relationships from social networking sites in to the CRM process. Social CRM may also be called CRM 2.0 or abbreviated as SCRM.

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Partner Relationship Management

Abbreviated as PRM, partner relationship management is the term used to describe business strategies and processes used by a company to communicate with its channel partners. In many ways, PRM software and processes are similar to customer relationship management (CRM) as it enables the organization to automate channel partner business functions and gather real time information about the channel partner.

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Business Intelligence

Most companies collect a large amount of data from their business operations. To keep track of that information, a business and would need to use a wide range of software programs , such as Excel, Access and different database applications for various departments throughout their organization. Using multiple software programs makes it difficult to retrieve information in a timely manner and to perform analysis of the data.

The term Business Intelligence (BI) represents the tools and systems that play a key role in the strategic planning process of the corporation. These systems allow a company to gather, store, access and analyze corporate data to aid in decision-making. Generally these systems will illustrate business intelligence in the areas of customer profiling, customer support, market research, market segmentation, product profitability, statistical analysis, and inventory and distribution analysis to name a few.

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Countermeasure

Commonly used in IPS (intrusion prevention system), a countermeasure is a defensive technology method used to prevent an exploit from successfully occurring once a threat has been detected. Service patches and access control lists are also considered to be types of countermeasures.

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Text Messaging

Sending short text messages to a device such as a cellular phone, PDA or pager. Text messaging is used for messages that are no longer than a few hundred characters. The term is usually applied to messaging that takes place between two or more mobile devices.

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Instant Messaging

Abbreviated IM, a type of communications service that enables you to create a kind of private chat room with another individual in order to communicate in real time over the Internet, analagous to a telephone conversation but using text-based, not voice-based, communication. Typically, the instant messaging system alerts you whenever somebody on your private list is online. You can then initiate a chat session with that particular individual.

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Decryption

The process of decoding data that has been encrypted into a secret format. Decryption requires a secret key or password.

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Password

A secret series of characters that enables a user to access a file, computer, or program. On multi-user systems, each user must enter his or her password before the computer will respond to commands. The password helps ensure that unauthorized users do not access the computer. In addition, data files and programs may require a password.

Ideally, the password should be something that nobody could guess. In practice, most people choose a password that is easy to remember, such as their name or their initials. This is one reason it is relatively easy to break into most computer systems.

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Password Cracking

The process of attempting to guess or crack passwords to gain access to a computer system or network. Crackers will generally use a variety of tools, scripts, or software to crack a system password. The goal of the cracker is to ideally obtain the password for root (UNIX) or system and administrator (Windows, NT). Password cracks work by comparing every encrypted dictionary word against the entries in system password file until a match is found.

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LOL

Acronym for laughing out loud or lots of love. LOL is commonly used in newsgroups, chat rooms, instant messaging, text messaging, SMS, e-mail and other real time text-based communications.

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SMS

(1) Short for Systems Management Server, a set of tools from Microsoft that assists in managing PCs connected to a local-area network (LAN). SMS enables a network administrator to create an inventory of all the hardware and software on the network and to store it in an SMS database. Using this database, SMS can then perform software distribution and installation over the LAN. SMS also enables a network administrator to perform diagnostic tests on PCs attached to the LAN. SMS runs under Windows NT but can manage PCs running DOS, all varieties of Windows, and OS/2, as well as Macintosh clients.

(2) Short for Short Message Service Similar to paging, SMS is a service for sending short text messages to mobile phones.

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Query

(n.) A request for information from a database. There are three general methods for posing queries:

Choosing parameters from a menu: In this method, the database system presents a list of parameters from which you can choose. This is perhaps the easiest way to pose a query because the menus guide you, but it is also the least flexible.

Query by example (QBE): In this method, the system presents a blank record and lets you specify the fields and values that define the query.

Query language: Many database systems require you to make requests for information in the form of a stylized query that must be written in a special query language. This is the most complex method because it forces you to learn a specialized language, but it is also the most powerful.

(v.) To make a request for information from a database.

Query by Example

In database management systems, query by example (QBE) refers to a method of forming queries in which the database program displays a blank record with a space for each field. You can then enter conditions for each field that you want to be included in the query. For example, if you wanted to find all records where the AGE field is greater than 65, you would enter >65 in the AGE field blank.

QBE systems are considered easier to learn than formal query languages.