Return to List of Terms

E-Business
A business or organisation that has been made wholly accessible online.

E-Commerce
E-Commerce is conducting business on-line.

E-Zine
Sometimes referred to as 'zine', an electronic publication or magazine in internet or email form.

Easter Egg
A hidden surprise in a program or website.

EAI
Enterprise Application Integration is the unrestricted sharing of data and business processes throughout the networked applications or data sources in an organisation. 4 main areas of EAI are Database linking ; Application linking ; Data warehousing ; Common virtual system .

EAP
Extensible Authentication Protocol, an extension to PPP. EAP is a general protocol for authentication that also supports multiple authentication methods.

EBCDIC
Extended Binary-Coded Decimal Interchange Code. EBCDIC is an IBM code for representing characters as numbers. Although it is widely used on large IBM computer, most other computers, including PC and Macintoshes, use ASCII codes.

EBT
Electronic Benifits Transfer. An e-commerce process that allows instantaneous payment of benifits to employee and corporate bank accounts.

ECML
Electronic Commerce Modeling Language. ECML is a universal format for online commerce Web sites that contains customer information that is used for purchases made online, formatted through the use of XML tags. It is a standard way of transferring billing, shipping and payment information to merchant sites regardless of what site the customer is purchasing from. If order forms are standardised, the customer's information can be imported directly into the form from a digital wallet with the click of one button. This saves the customer from repeatedly filling out the same information on multiple order forms on multiple sites. ECML can be used in conjunction with SSL and SET.

ECP
Extended Capabilities Port, a parallel-port standard for PCs that supports bi-directional communication between the PC and attached devices (such as a printer). ECP is about 10 times faster than the older Centronics standard. Another modern parallel port for PCs that offers similar performance is the EPP.

EDGE
Enhanced Data GSM Environment, is a faster version of GSM wireless service. It enables data to be delivered at rates up to 384 Kbps on a broadband. It uses TDMA multiplexing technology and the standard is based on GSM.

EDI
Electronic Data Interchange, the transfer of data between different companies using networks, such as the Internet. As more and more companies get connected to the Internet, EDI is becoming increasingly important as an easy mechanism for companies to buy, sell, and trade information. ANSI has approved a set of EDI standards known as the X12 standards.

EDO-DRAM
Extended Data Output Dynamic Random Access Memory, a type of DRAM that is faster than conventional DRAM. Unlike conventional DRAM which can only access one block of data at a time, EDO RAM can start fetching the next block of memory at the same time that it sends the previous block to the CPU.

EEPROM
Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory. An EEPROM is a special type of PROM that can be erased by exposing it to an electrical charge. Like other types of PROM, EEPROM retains its contents even when the power is turned off. Also like other types of ROM, EEPROM is not as fast as RAM. EEPROM is similar to flash memory (sometimes called flash EEPROM). The principal difference is that EEPROM requires data to be written or erased one byte at a time whereas flash memory allows data to be written or erased in blocks.

EFS
Encrypting File System. It is part of the Microsoft NTFS file system. EFS is a transparent public key encryption technology that works in conjunction with NTFS permissions to grant and deny users access to files and folders in Windows NT, 2000 and XP operating systems.

EFT
Electronic Funds Transfer.

EIDE
Enhanced IDE, a newer version of the IDE mass storage device interface standard. It supports data rates of between 4 and 16.6 MBps, about three to four times faster than the old IDE standard. In addition, it can support mass storage devices of up to 8.4 Gb, whereas the old standard was limited to 528 MB. Because of its lower cost, enhanced IDE has replaced SCSI in many areas. EIDE is sometimes referred to as Fast ATA or Fast IDE, which is essentially the same standard. It is also sometimes called ATA-2. There are four EIDE modes defined. The most common is Mode 4, which supports transfer rates of 16.6 MBps. There is also a new mode, called ATA-3 or Ultra ATA, that supports transfer rates of 33 MBps.

EJB
Enterprise JavaBean is a Java API that defines a component architecture for multi-tier client/server systems. EJB systems allow developers to focus on the actual business architecture of the model, rather than worry about endless amounts of programming and coding needed to connect all the working parts. This task is left to EJB server vendors. Developers just design (or purchase) the needed EJB components and arrange them on the server. Because EJB systems are written in Java, they are platform independent. Being object oriented, they can be implemented into existed systems with little or no recompiling and configuring.

ELAP
EtherTalk Link Access Protocol. In an EtherTalk network, the link-access protocol constructed above the standard Ethernet Data Link layer.

Elevator Pitch
A speech promoting a dot.com idea which lasts no longer than an elevator ride.

Emoticons
An acronym for emotion icon, a small icon composed of punctuation characters that indicates how an e-mail message should be interpreted (that is, the writer's mood).
An emoticon is also called a smiley.

EPOC
An operating system from Psion Software, designed specifically for mobile, ROM-based computing devices. EPOC16 is a 16-bit version of the operating system that has been available for several years and is embedded in many handheld devices. EPOC32 is a newer, 32-bit operating system that supports preemptive multitasking. EPOC is competing head-to-head with Windows CE in the grow PDA market.

EPP
Enhanced Parallel Port, a parallel port standard for PCs that supports bi-directional communication between the PC and attached non-printer devices. EPP is about 10 times faster than the older Centronics standard. Another modern parallel port for PCs that offers similar performance is the ECP.

ERM
Enterprise Relationship Management, relates to solutions allowing an enterprise to share customer, product, competitor and market information to accomplish goals of meeting long-term customer satisfaction and increased revenues.

ERP
Enterprise Resource Planning. A business management system that integrates all facets of the business, including planning, manufacturing, sales, and marketing. As the ERP methodology has become more popular, software applications have emerged to help business managers implement ERP.

ESDI
Enhanced Small Device Interface, an interface standard developed by a consortium of the leading personal computer manufacturers for connecting disk drives to PCs. It is already obsolete.

ESP
Encapsulated PostScript. An extension of the PostScript graphics file format.

Ethernet
A LAN architecture developed in 1976. Ethernet uses a bus or star topology and supports data transfer rates of 10 Mbps. The Ethernet specification served as the basis for the IEEE 802.3 standard, which specifies the physical and lower software layers. Ethernet uses the CSMA/CD access method to handle simultaneous demands. It is one of the most widely implemented LAN standards. A newer version of Ethernet, called 100Base-T (or Fast Ethernet), supports data transfer rates of 100 Mbps. And the newest version, Gigabit Ethernet supports data rates of 1 gigabit (1,000 megabits) per second.

EtherTalk
A data-link product from Apple Computer that permits AppleTalk networks to be connected by Ethernet.

ETSI
European Telecommunications Standards Institute.

EULA
End-User License Agreement. The type of license used for most software.

Extranet
A new buzzword that refers to an intranet that is partially accessible to authorized outsiders. Whereas an intranet resides behind a firewall and is accessible only to people who are members of the same company or organization, an extranet provides various levels of accessibility to outsiders. You can access an extranet only if you have a valid username and password, and your identity determines which parts of the extranet you can view.
Extranets are becoming a very popular means for business partners to exchange information.

Fail Soft
Used to describe systems that are designed to terminate any nonessential processing when there are hardware or software failures. Systems in fail soft mode are still able to provide partial operational capability.

Failover
A backup operation that automatically switches to a standby database, server or network if the primary system fails or is temporarily shut down for servicing. Failover is an important fault tolerance function of mission-critical systems that rely on constant accessibility.

FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions.

FAT
File Allocation Table. A table that the operating system uses to locate files on a disk. Due to fragmentation, a file may be divided into many sections that are scattered around the disk. The FAT keeps track of all these pieces.

FAT32
A version of the FAT available in Windows 95 OSR 2 and Windows 98. FAT32 increases the number of bits used to address clusters and also reduces the size of each cluster. The result is that it can support larger disks and better storage efficiency.

FCC
Federal Communications Commission. Among other duties, the FCC is responsible for rating personal computers and other equipment as either Class A or Class B. The ratings indicate how much radiation a personal computer emits. Almost all personal computers satisfy Class A requirements, which means they are suitable for office use. Class B machines, which are suitable for use anywhere (including the home), must pass more stringent tests. Class B indicates that the machine's radio frequency (RF) emissions are so low that they do not interfere with other devices such as radios and TVs.

FCS
(1) Flash Communication Server.

(2) Frame Check Sequence.

FDDI
Fiber Distributed Data Interface, is a set of ANSI protocols for sending digital data over fiber optic cable. They support data rates of up to 100 Mbps and are typically used as backbones for WANs.

Ferret
A program that can search chosen files, databases or search engine indices for specified information.

FHSS
Frequency-Hopping Spread Spectrum. FHSS is one of two types of spread spectrum radio, the other being DSSS. FHSS is a transmission technology used in LAWN transmissions where the data signal is modulated with a narrowband carrier signal that "hops" in a random but predictable sequence from frequency to frequency as a function of time over a wide band of frequencies. The signal energy is spread in time domain rather than chopping each bit into small pieces in the frequency domain. This technique reduces interference because a signal from a narrowband system will only affect the spread spectrum signal if both are transmitting at the same frequency at the same time. If synchronized properly, a single logical channel is maintained. The transmission frequencies are determined by a spreading, or hopping, code. The receiver must be set to the same hopping code and must listen to the incoming signal at the right time and correct frequency in order to properly receive the signal.
Current FCC regulations require manufacturers to use 75 or more frequencies per transmission channel with a maximum dwell time (the time spent at a particular frequency during any single hop) of 400 ms. WANs.

Finger
A software program that gets information about a particular user on the local or remote system. It can find information like full name, last login time, terminal location etc.

Fire Off
To send out an e-mail.

Firewall
A router or gateway specially configured to allow only certain types of data traffic to pass. Most commonly found as a security measure to isolate a company's intranet from unwanted visitors on the internet.

Firewire
Apple trademark name for IEEE-1394. A very fast external bus standard that supports data transfer rates of up to 400Mbps. A single 1394 port can be used to connect up 63 external devices. In addition to its high speed, 1394 also supports isochronous data -- delivering data at a guaranteed rate. This makes it ideal for devices that need to transfer high levels of data in real-time, such as video devices.
Although extremely fast and flexible, 1394 is also currently expensive. Like USB, 1394 supports both Plug-and-Play and hot plugging, and also provides power to peripheral devices.
IEEE 1394 is also known as trademarks i.link and Lynx.

Firmware
Software (programs or data) that has been written onto read-only memory. Firmware is a combination of software and hardware. ROMs, PROMs and EPROMs that have data or programs recorded on them are firmware.

FIX
(1) Federal Internet Exchange. A physical location that serves as the connection point between U.S. federal government agency networks, such as those used by NASA, the Department of Energy and military agencies. There are two FIXes, each named for the coast on which they reside: FIX East (FIX-E); and FIX West (FIX-W).

(2) Financial Information Exchange protocol, a vendor-neutral standardised message format for describing real-time security transactions. FIX is a public-domain specification owned and maintained by FIX Protocol, Ltd.
FIX is similar to OFX in that the two protocols are used to communicate financial information. However, OFX is focused more on retail transactions and is a query-response protocol much like HTTP while FIX is focused on institutional business and is a connected session-based protocol.

Flame
An electronic mail message telling the recipient they have breached Internet etiquette (netiquette). Often delivered in capital letters.

Flash
A bandwidth friendly and brower independant vector-graphic animation technology. As long as different browsers are equipped with the necessary plug-ins, Flash animations will look the same.

Flood
When traffic on a network gets too much for the system, mainly due to a faulty piece of hardware on the network, either a port, cable or NIC.

Flops
Floating-point operations per second, a common benchmark measurement for rating the speed of microprocessor. Floating-point operations include any operations that involve fractional numbers. Such operations, which take much longer to compute than integer operations, occur often in some applications. Most modern microprocessors include a floating-point unit (FPU), which is a specialized part of the microprocessor responsible for executing floating-point operations. The FLOPS measurement, therefore, actually measures the speed of the FPU.

Forum
A place to discuss certain subjects within the internet.

FPM RAM
Fast Page Mode RAM, a type of Dynamic RAM (DRAM) that allows faster access to data in the same row or page. Page-mode memory works by eliminating the need for a row address if data is located in the row previously accessed. It is sometimes called page mode memory. FPM RAM is being replaced by newer types of memory, such as SDRAM.

FPU
Floating-Point Unit, a specially designed chip that performs floating-point calculations. Computers equipped with an FPU perform certain types of application much faster than computers that lack one. In particular, graphics applications are faster with an FPU.

FQDN
Fully Qualified Domain Name consists of a host and domain name, including top-level domain (TLD). For example, www.bcs.org is a fully qualified domain name. www is the host, bcs is the second-level domain, and .org is the top level domain. A FQDN always starts with a host name and continues all the way up to the top-level domain name, so www.parc.xerox.com is also a FQDN.

Frame
(1) In telecommunications, a frame is data that is transmitted between network points as a unit complete with addressing and necessary protocol control information.

(2) In time-division multiplexing (TDM), a frame is a complete cycle of events within the time division period.

(3) In film and video recording and playback, a frame is a single image in a sequence of images that are recorded and played back.

(4) In computer video display technology, a frame is the image that is sent to the display image rendering devices. It is continuously updated or refreshed from a frame buffer, a highly accessible part of video RAM.

(5) In artificial intelligence (AI) applications, a frame is a set of data with information about a particular object, process, or image. An example is the iris-print visual recognition system used to identify users of certain bank automated teller machines. This system compares the frame of data for a potential user with the frames in its database of authorised users.

Frames
A way of dividing web-pages into separate areas that can be scrolled through.

FreeBSD
A popular and free version of UNIX that runs on Intel microprocessors. FreeBSD is distributed in executable file and source code form. The source code enables ambitious users to actually extend the operating system. Another popular and free version of UNIX is Linux.

Freeware
Copyrighted software given away for free by the author under strict terms of usage.

Fried
Something perminanently damaged or otherwise unusable.

Front End
The part of a website with which the user comes into contact directly, as opposed to the technical areas lying behind it. Also known as the 'user interface'.

FSB
FrontSide Bus - The bus within a microprocessor that connects the CPU with main memory. It's used to communicate between the motherboard and other components in a computer system.

FTP
File Transfer Protocol - a standard used for transferring files to and from servers.

FTTC
Fiber-To-The-Curb, the installation of optical fiber from a telephone switch to within 1,000 feet of a home or enterprise. Typically, coaxial cable is used to establish the connection from curb to building.

FTTH
Fiber-To-The-Home, the installation of optical fiber from a telephone switch directly into the subscriber’s home. Fiber optic cable is an alternative to coaxial cable.
FTTH is also referred to as fiber-to-the-building (FTTB), which includes optical fiber that is installed directly into a home or enterprise.

FUI
Form-based User Interface. An application program presents the user with a form to enter the information into. The resulting information is processed and displayed to the user in another form.

Gatekeeping
A process by which news or information is released by those who control it.

Gateway
A device used to connect networks that follow different protocols.

GGSN
Gateway GPRS Support Node. A wireless gateway that allows mobile cell phone users to access the public data network (PDN) or specified private IP networks.

Ghost Image
Using ghosting software, is a method of converting the contents of a hard drive -- including its configuration settings and application -- into an image, and then storing the image on a server or burning it onto a CD_ROM., so that computers of the same hardware can have the same software setup. Useful when one requires lots of computers to be identical.

Ghost Site
A Web site that remains live but is no longer updated or maintained or only done so very infrequently. Unlike a site that is no longer available and results in a 404 error message when the user tries to access it, ghost sites can be accessed even though they have not been updated. Web sites typically strive for relevant information that is timely and current. However, there are some sites in which the content will never or rarely change, so there is no need to update the site.

GIF
Graphics Interchange Format - a graphics file format commonly used to display indexed-colour images on the World Wide Web.

Gigabyte
A collection of data totalling 1,024 Megabytes.

Gigaflop
A measure of computer speed, a gigaflop is a billion FLOPS.

Glonass
Globalnaya Navigatsionnay Sputnikovaya Sistema, the Russian Federation's GNSS, is the Russian version of a global positioning system. Similar to the United States' GPS, GLONASS is owned and operated by the military.

GML
Generalised Markup Language, is an IBM document-formatting language that describes a document in terms of its organisation structure and content parts and their relationship.

GNOME
GNU Network Object Model Environment. GNOME is part of the GNU project and part of the free software, or open source, movement. GNOME is a Windows-like desktop system that works on UNIX and UNIX-like systems and is not dependent on any one window manager.

GNSS
Global Navigation Satellite System, a satellite system that is used to pinpoint users to a geographic position. See GPS and GLONASS.

GNU
Short for GNU's not UNIX, a UNIX-compatible software system developed by the Free Software Foundation (FSF). The philosophy behind GNU is to produce software that is non-proprietary. Anyone can download, modify and redistribute GNU software.

Gopher
The Internet Protocol where files are displayed in a hierarchical menu and are retrieved based on user input.

GPRS
General Packet Radio Service is a data service for GSM networks.  It is expected to allow data transmission speeds to over 100kbps and support IP and X.25.

GPS
Global Positioning System is a US satellite based orbiting Earth system that makes it possible for people with ground receivers to pinpoint their geographic location.

GSM
Global System for Mobile, is a digital mobile telephone communication system that is widely used in Europe and other parts of the world. GSM uses a variation of TDMA and is the most widely used of the three digital wireless telephone technologies (TDMA, GSM, and CDMA).

Guard Time
A time interval left vacant (i.e., during which no data is sent) on a transmission channel that can be used for synchronization and/or compensating for a signal distortion. The guard time provides a safety margin against symbol interference in the time between sequential operations such as transmission, encoding, decoding or switching.

GUI
Graphical User Interface is used by a program to display its output in a graphical format.

Hacker
A slang term for a computer enthusiast. Among professional programmers, the term hacker implies an amateur or a programmer who lacks formal training. 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.

HAN
Home Area Network. A HAN is a network contained within a user's home that connects a person's digital devices, from multiple computers and their peripheral devices to telephones, VCRs, televisions, video games, home security systems, "smart" appliances, fax machines and other digital devices that are wired into the network.

Hang
To crash in such a way that the computer does not respond to input from the keyboard or mouse. If your computer is hung, you usually need to reboot it, although sometimes hitting the correct sequence of control characters will free it up.

Hardware
Any computer related object that can be physically moved.

HAVi
Home Audio Video Interoperability. A vendor-neutral audio-video standard aimed specifically at the home entertainment environment. HAVi allows different home entertainment and communication devices (such as VCRs, televisions, stereos, security systems, video monitors) to be networked together and controlled from one primary device, such as a PC or television.

HBA
Host Bus Adapter, is an I/O adapter that sits between the host computer's bus and the Fibre Channel loop and manages the transfer of information between the two channels. In order to minimise the impact on host processor performance, the host bus adapter performs many low-level interface functions automatically or with minimal processor involvement.

HDML
Handheld Device Markup Language, is used to format content for Web-enabled mobile phones. HDML is Openwave's (formerly known as phone.com) proprietary language, which can only be viewed on mobile phones that use Openwave browsers. HDML came before the WAP standard was created.

HDTV
High-Definition Television, a new type of television that provides much better resolution than current televisions based on the NTSC standard. There are a number of competing HDTV standards, which is one reason that the new technology has not been widely implemented. All of the standards support a wider screen than NTSC and roughly twice the resolution.

Hit
A single request from a browser for a single item from a web server.

HLLAPI
High Level Language Application Program Interface. An IBM API that allows a PC application to communicate with a mainframe computer. HLLAPI requires a PC to run 3270 emulation software and then defines an interface between a PC application and the emulation software.

Home Page
(1) For a Web user, the home page is the first Web page that is displayed after starting a Web browser.

(2) For a Web site developer, a home page is the first page presented when a user selects a site or presence on the World Wide Web. The usual address for a Web site is the home page address, although you can enter the address (URL) of any page and have that page sent to you.

Honeypot
An Internet-attached server that acts as a decoy, luring in potential hackers in order to study their activities and monitor how they are able to break into a system. Honeypots are designed to mimic systems that an intruder would like to break into but limit the intruder from having access to an entire network.

Hop
An intermediate connection in a string of connections linking 2 network devices. Every time data packets are forwarded from one device to another, a hop occurs.

Host
Any computer on a network that is a repository for services available to other computers on the network.

Hot Plugging
The ability to add and remove devices to a computer while the computer is running and have the operating system automatically recognize the change. Two external bus standards -- USB and Firewire support hot plugging. This is also a feature of PCMCIA. It is also called hot swapping.

Hot Spot
An area of a graphics object, or a section of text, that activates a function when selected. Hot spots are particularly common in multimedia applications, where selecting a hot spot can make the application display a picture, run a video, or open a new window of information.

Hotspot
A specific geographic location in which an access point provides public wireless broadband network services to mobile visitors through a WLAN. Hotspots are often located in heavily populated places such as airports, train stations, libraries, marinas, conventions centers and hotels. Hotspots typically have a short range of access.

HPA
High-Performance Addressing, a passive-matrix display technology the provides better response rates and contrast than conventional LCD displays.

HPFS
High Performance File System. A file system created specifically for IBM’s OS/2 to improve upon the limitations of the FAT file system.

HPGL
Hewlett-Packard Graphics Language, a set of commands for controlling plotters and printers. HPGL is part of Hewlett-Packard's PCL Level 5 PDL.

HPNA
Also referred to as HomePNA. A de facto home networking standard developed by the Home Phoneline Networking Alliance. This technology, building on Ethernet, allows all the components of a home network to interact over the home's existing telephone wiring without disturbing the existing voice or fax services.

HPSS
High Performance Storage System, is a storage management system especially designed for moving large files and large amounts of data around a nework.

HSCSD
High-Speed Circuit-Switched Data, is circuit-switched wireless data transmission for mobile users at data rates up to 38.4 Kbps, four times faster than the standard data rates of the GSM communication standard in 1999.

HSM
Hierarchical Storage Management, is policy -based management of file backup and archiving in a way that uses storage devices economically and without the user needing to be aware of when files are being retrieved from backup storage media. Although HSM can be implemented on a standalone system, it is more frequently used in the distributed network of an enterprise.

HSRP
Hot Standby Routing Protocol, is a routing protocol that provides backup to a router in the event of failure. Using HSRP, several routers are connected to the same segment of an Ethernet, FDDI or token-ring network and work together to present the appearance of a single virtual router on the LAN. The routers share the same IP and MAC addresses, therefore in the event of failure of one router, the hosts on the LAN are able to continue forwarding packets to a consistent IP and MAC address. The process of transferring the routing responsibilities from one device to another is transparent to the user.

HSSI
High-Speed Serial Interface, is a short-distance communications interface that is commonly used to interconnect routing and switching devices on LANs with the higher-speed lines of a WAN.

HTML
Hypertext Markup Language - the coding language used to create documents for the web.

HTTP
Hypertext Transfer Protocol - command used to connect users to a website.

HTTPS
Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure - a variation of HTTP that enables 'secure' transactions to take place on the web due to SSL encryption.

Hub
A common connection point for devices in a network. Hubs are commonly used to connect segments of a LAN. A hub contains multiple ports.

Hyper-Threading
Hyper-Threading Technology is a groundbreaking innovation from Intel® Corporation that enables multi-threaded software applications to execute threads in parallel. This level of threading technology has never been seen before in a general-purpose microprocessor. Internet, e-Business, and enterprise software applications continue to put higher demands on processors. To improve performance in the past, threading was enabled in the software by splitting instructions into multiple streams so that multiple processors could act upon them.

HyperCard
HyperCard is an early Apple Macintosh application that enables users to author hypertext pages, called cards, without any programming knowledge.

Hyperlink (or Link)
A link within a document that once clicked will call up another document. The basis of Hypertext, the information system on which the World Wide Web is founded.

Hypertext
A system by which data, usually text, is organised through a series of clickable links between documents. The basis of all web pages.

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