Terminology

Valley Network Solutions, Fresno, CA. - Computer network consulting and integration services.

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Terminology and Acronymania

It's "Geek" to Me...

Ever wonder what all that computer geek means?  This page is a work in progress that we hope helps you define the jargon you'll run into in this business.  Something missing or incorrect?  Or do you have a new acronym that we're not aware of or would like to contribute something?  Please mail any suggestions to terms@vns.net.  Note that some of these acronyms may have other meanings but these represent their generally accepted definitions within the computer and online industry.  Terms used colloquially in online chat are defined with parentheses (" ") around them.

And if you're a real glutton for geekdom, check out the Acronymania game from CogniWare.

[A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z]

TERM

MEANING

DEFINITION

URL FOR MORE INFO

A

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ATM Asynchronous Transfer Mode
AD Active Directory
ADSI Active Directory Services Interface
ADSL Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line
ADU Asynchronous Data Unit
AIN Advanced Intelligent Network
API Application Programming Interface
ARJ A compression program for backup archiving from ARJ Software, Inc. Introduced in the early 1990s and created by Robert Jung (the RJ in ARJ), ARJ never achieved the popularity of PKZIP, although it is considered a worthy competitor. www.arjsoftware.com

See JAR.
ARIN American Registry for Internet Numbers An organization founded in 1997 to dispense IP addresses in North and South America, the Caribbean and sub-Saharan Africa. This was previous handled by the InterNIC, which manages domain names. The European and Asian counterparts of ARIN are Researux IP Europeans (RIPE) and Asia Pacific Network Information Center (APNIC). www.arin.net
ASE Accredited Systems Engineer
ASP Active Server Pages
ASP Application Service Provider A company that offers rentable applications to multiple business users from a shared data center over the Internet, an ATM, frame relay or even a private-line network.  The applications are typically accessed from a user's PC in one of three ways: via a web browser, a thin client or an application-specific client.
ASPI
ATEC Authorized Technical Education Center
AUI Attachment Unit Interface

B

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BECN Backward Explicit Congestion Notification A bit set by a Frame Relay network to notify an interface device (DTE) that congestion avoidance procedures should be initiated by the sending device.  
BGP Border Gateway Protocol    
BGP4 Border Gateway Protocol v4.0    
BICSI
BIOS Basic Input / Output System
BLOB Binary Large Object
BNC British Naval Connector
BPS Bits Per Second (also Bps)
BRI Basic Rate Interface Basic Rate ISDN service divides a standard telephone line into three digital channels capable of simultaneous voice and data transmission. The three channels are comprised of two Bearer (B) channels at 64 kpbs each and a data (D) channel at 16 kbps, also known as 2B+D.

The B channels are used to carry voice, video, and data to the customer's site.

The D channel is used to carry all signaling information associated with connection control as-well-as supplementary services.

Multiple B channels can be used at the same time. The D channel can also be used to carry packetized data. BRI uses 2B1Q line coding. The 2B means that the coding method contains two binary information elements in a single quaternary 1Q.

C

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CAD Computer Aided/Assisted Drawing
CAE Computer Aided Engineering
CCITT International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee
CCNA Cisco Certified Network Associate
CD Compact Disc or Collision Domain
CD-R Compact Disc Recordable
CD-ROM Compact Disc Read-Only Memory
CD-RW Compact Disc Read Write
CDE Common Desktop Environment
CDPD Cellular Digital Packet Data
CIFS Common Internet File System A specification for a file access protocol designed for the Internet.

CIFS is based on the existing SMB (Server Message Block) protocol that Microsoft Windows operating systems use for file and printer access. With CIFS, any naming conventions that are tied into SMB have been separated to allow use of any chosen standard, for example DNS (Domain Name Service).

CIFS is not intended to replace existing file access protocols such as HTTP, FTP and NFS, but to complement them.

The main difference from FTP is that with FTP operations are carried out on entire files. The main aim of FTP is to provide bulk data access, not for routine file access.

The main difference from NFS, which is probably the closest in functionality, is that NFS is stateless. With NFS, you have random access to files and directories, but there is no synchronisation between client and server. With CIFS, once a file is open, state about the current access to that file is stored on both the client and the server. This allows changes on the server side to be notified to the clients that are interested.

 http://www.cifs.net/
CIM Common Information Model or Compaq Insight Manager
CISC Complex Instruction Set Computing
CIR Committed Information Rate The committed rate is a frame relay term (usually less than the access rate) which the carrier guarantees to be available to transfer information to its destination under normal circumstances for a particular PVC.
CIT Computer Integrated Telephony
CIX Commercial Internet Exchange
CLEC Competitive Local Exchange Carrier
CNE Certified Novell Engineer
CNRP Common Name Resolution Protocol IETF proposed protocol that will hide long, complex URLs behind regular words.  Expected to be completed in April 2000.
COBOL Common Business Oriented Language