| Access Code | The digit or digits that a user must dial to be connected to an outgoing trunk facility |
| Acrobat | A product from Adobe Systems used to display documents in digital form as they appeared in their original, paper format. As an Internet plug-in, it is often used display documents, such as brochures, on the Web. |
| ActiveX | A Microsoft technology that facilitates various Internet applications, and therefore extends and enhances the functionality of Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser. Like Java, ActiveX enables the development of interactive content. When an ActiveX-aware browser encounters a Web page that includes an unfamiliar feature, it automatically installs the appropriate applications so the feature can be used. |
| Application | An application (often called "app" for short) is simply a program with a graphical user interface. |
| Backup Server | A software or hardware system that copies or "shadows" the contents of a server, providing redundancy. |
| Bandwidth | The range of frequencies that can pass over a given transmission channel. The bandwidth determines the rate at which information can be transmitted through the circuit: the greater the bandwidth, the more information that can be sent in a given amount of time. Bandwidth is typically measured in bits per second. Increasing bandwidth potential has become a high priority for network planners due to the growth of multimedia, including videoconferencing, and the increased use of the Internet. |
| Chat Room | The "location" in which an interactive keyboard discussion takes place over a network (usually the Internet). Chat rooms can be accessed via Web sites or the Internet Relay Chat (IRC) system |
Database
| An electronic filing system organized by fields, records and files. A field is a single piece of information, a record is a set of fields and a file is a collection of records. |
e-mail (electronic mail)
| Any communication service that permits the electronic transmission and storage of text messages and attached or enclosed files. Some e-mail systems are limited to communication between end users on the same network; others have gateways that allow end users to send messages to other designated computer systems or worldwide over the Internet. Once sent, e-mail messages are stored in electronic mailboxes until the recipient retrieves them. Most Internet service providers also provide e-mail services. |
| File Server | A computer containing files available to all users connected to a local-area network (LAN). In some LANs, a PC is designated as the file server, while in others it is a larger computer with a high storage capacity and specialized software. Some file servers offer additional resources, such as gateways and protocol conversion. |
| Gateway Server | A server designed to transform data streams to better match device capabilities. For example, Wireless Application Protocol gateway servers convert Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) to Wireless Markup Language for wireless devices, and a number of products can reformat HTML for devices such as mobile phones and personal digital assistants. Today, HTML-based gateway servers predominate. While HTML can be made aware of a unique device requesting content, more often "shadow" Web server applications are created to draw off and reformat the native content. |
| Hard Disk | The main data storage area of a computing device. The hard disk is typically where the computer's operating system and other software are permanently stored. Hard disks have a larger storage capacity and faster data retrieval capabilities than floppy disks. |
IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol)
| A protocol used to access e-mail or bulletin board messages from a (possibly shared) mail server. IMAP allows a client e-mail program to access remote message stores as if they were local. E-mail stored on an IMAP server can be manipulated from a workstation at the office, a desktop computer at home or a notebook computer while traveling, without requiring the transfer of messages or files back and forth between these computers. Details of the IMAP specification can be found at www.imap.org. |
| JPEG | (Joint Photographic Experts Group)
A standard for still-image compression. |
| Keyword Search | Searching for documents based on one or more words or phrases specified by a computer user. In many search engines, a string of keywords entered without quotation marks is treated as a Boolean "and" search, while enclosing the string in quotation marks restricts the search to the complete phrase. |
| LAN (local-area network) | A geographically limited communication network that connects users within a defined area. A LAN is generally contained within a building or small group of buildings and is managed and owned by a single enterprise. The shorter distances within a building or campus enable faster communications at a lower cost than wide-area networks (WANs). Although an increasing number of LANs use Internet standards and protocols, they are normally protected from the public Internet by firewalls. |
| Managed Services | Externally provided operations and management capabilities delivered over a networked infrastructure, using a monthly subscription model or recurring charge. Managed services can be provided for networks, security, databases, servers, storage and applications. |
| Network | Any number of computers (such as PCs and servers) and devices (such as printers and modems) joined together by physical or wireless communications links. In the enterprise context, networks allow information to be passed between computers, regardless of where those computers are located. Networks provide the roads for information traffic (such as sending files and e-mail) within a corporate environment, and allow users to access databases and share applications residing on servers. If a network does not go outside of a company building, or campus, then it is known as a local-area network (LAN). If it has a bridge to other outside networks, usually via lines owned by public telecommunications carriers like AT&T, then it is known as a wide-area network (WAN). |
| Online Service | A service that provide online access to exclusive data, information and communications resources. Customers of these services often must use proprietary software to access these resources. Many online services provide access to the Internet in addition to their exclusive resources. America Online, Microsoft Network and Lexis-Nexis are examples. |
PDF
(Portable Document Format)
| An Adobe document format that is based on its PostScript page description language, with some major changes. PostScript allows operators to describe a page layout independent of computer platform, device and resolution. PDF has substantially all of PostScript's cross-platform graphic capabilities, but treats each element in a job as a separate object. Modification and proofing of print publication data can be done more easily with PDF than with PostScript. Raster image processor outputs can easily be generated one page at a time via PDF conversions to PostScript. In addition, PDF is emerging as a de facto industry standard for a wide range of context-sensitive document management and electronic-form applications. PDF files must be viewed through Adobe Acrobat installed on a client device. |
| Remote Access | The ability to connect to a network from a distant location. Generally, this requires a computer, a modem and remote-access software to allow the computer to connect to the network over a public communications network (such as a phone or cable network). |
| Scalability | An program used to perform various calculations. It is especially popular for financial applications. Some common spreadsheets include Lotus 123, Excel, OpenOffice Spreadsheet, Octave, AppleWorks Spreadsheet. |
| Software | The non-physical portion of the computer; the part that exists only as data; the programs. |
| Spreadsheet | The measure of a system's ability to increase or decrease in performance and cost in response to changes in application and system-processing demands. Examples would include how well a hardware system performs when the number of users is increased, how well a database withstands growing numbers of queries, or how well an operating system performs on different classes of hardware. Enterprises that are growing rapidly should pay special attention to scalability when evaluating hardware and software. |
| Scanner | A scanner is a piece of hardware that will examine a document or picture and produce a digital image of it. |
