Technical Terms Definitions

Animated GIF

A special type of GIF file. They give the impression of a video. A collection of GIFS presented one after the other shows each picture slightly different from the previous.

Animation

The creation of artificial moving images.

Applet

A small Java program that can be embedded in an HTML page. Applets differ from full-fledged Java applications in that they are not allowed to access certain resources on the local computer, such as files and serial devices (modems, printers, etc.), and are prohibited from communicating with most other computers across a network. The current rule is that an applet can only make an Internet connection to the computer from which the applet was sent.

Application

A complete, self-contained program that performs a specific function directly for the user. This is in contrast to system software such as the operating system kernel, server processes and libraries, which exists to support application programs.

Archie

A program, which enables you to find, Files on the Internet, which you can transfer to your own PC. Archie searches the Internet & provides you with a list of all the locations of the type or name of file that you are looking for. You can then transfer the file that you require using FTP.

Architecture

The structure of specific components (such as hardware and database platforms) and the way they interact, that forms a computer system.

ASCII

(American Standard Code for Information Interchange) This is the de facto worldwide standard for the code numbers used by computers to represent all the upper and lower-case Latin letters, numbers, punctuation, etc. There are 128 standard ASCII codes, each of which can be represented by a 7 digit binary number: 0000000 through 1111111.

Bandwidth

How much stuff you can send through a connection. Usually measured in bits-per-second. A full page of English text is about 16,000 bits. A fast modem can move about 15,000 bits in one second. Full-motion full-screen video would require roughly 10,000,000 bits-per-second, depending on compression.

Baud

In common usage the baud rate of a modem is how many bits it can send or receive per second. Technically, baud is the number of times per second that the carrier signal shifts value - for example a 1200 bit-per-second modem actually runs at 300 baud, but it moves 4 bits per baud (4 x 300 = 1200 bits per second).

Binary Digit

A single digit number in base-2, in other words, either a 1 or a zero. The smallest unit of computerized data. Bandwidth is usually measured in bits-per-second.

Bitmap

An array of pixels. Also called raster. Called bitmap due to analogous allocation of memory locations.

Bitmap image

An image with 1 bit of color information per pixel, also known as a bitmapped image. The only colors displayed in a bitmapped image are black and white.

Bitmapped

An image formed by a grid of pixels. The computer assigns a value to each pixel, from one bit of information (black or white), to as much as 24 bits per pixel for full color images.

Bits-Per-Second

A measurement of how fast data is moved from one place to another. A 28.8 modem can move 28,800 bits per second.

Blueprint

An early plan or design, which explains how something might be achieved.

Browser

Short for Web Browser; it is the tool (program) that allows you to surf the web. You probably used your Web Browser to locate this page. The most popular Web Browsers right now are Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer.

Business Solutions

Sygon's interactive solutions designed to streamline an enterprise's core business functions.

Byte

A set of Bits that represent a single character. Usually there are 8 Bits in a Byte, sometimes more, depending on how the measurement is being made.

CAD/CAM

(Computer-Aided Design or Computer-Aided Manufacturing) Using computer-based geometric models as a basis for instructions to numerically controlled machining processes. Using computer-based geometric models as a basis for instructions to numerically controlled machining processes.

CGI

(Common Gateway Interface) It's the name for the standard method of sending information to and from Web pages and Web servers. Individual programs using CGI are often called CGI scripts, the majority of which are written in Perl or C. It's the name for the standard method of sending information to and from Web pages and Web servers. Individual programs using CGI are often called CGI scripts, the majority of which are written in Perl or C.

cgi-bin

The most common name of a directory on a web server in which CGI programs are stored. The "bin" part of "cgi-bin" is a shorthand version of "binary", because once upon a time, most programs were referred to as "binaries". In real life, most programs found in cgi-bin directories are text files -- scripts that are executed by binaries located elsewhere on the same machine.

Client Server

Client/Server distributes the processing of a Computer Application between 2 computers, the Client & the Server - the principle being to exploit the power of each. The Client is normally a PC. The Application Program will access Data & perform processing on the Server & using the data obtained via the server more processing tasks will be performed on the Client. More than one user can use the Application.

Client Side

Pertains to events, which occur and are processed by the user's (client) browser.

Commerce Server Commerce Server

Web software that runs some of the main functions of an online storefront such as product display, online ordering, and inventory management. Works in conjunction with online payment systems to process payments.

Compressing Graphics

Compression is the reduction in size of data in order to save space or transmission time. Graphic image file formats are usually designed to compress information as much as possible.

Consulting Services

Resources to help you prepare, install, implement, and customize your Sygon solution to get maximum functionality for the way you do business.

Cookie

Cookies are snippets of information delivered from a web site to the client's browser, and then stored on the hard drive. Examples are the time of the last visit, or the pages downloaded. Web sites read "Cookies" on every visit.

Creative

Having the power to create, or exerting the act of creation; as creative fancy; creative power.

Credit Card Processors

Provide shared network systems and on-line credit processing systems for individual credit companies. They integrate transactions between merchants, financial institutions, and card companies.

Custom Application

Related to a set of specifications for programming and user interface. To design according to the companies specific needs for the services they offer. Aimed at providing a consistent application environment.

Data structure

Pattern of references to memory locations useful for organizing information for a particular purpose.

Data Warehouse

A data warehouse brings together data from multiple transactional systems and enables users to access and analyze the information at various levels, from departmental to divisional, throughout the enterprise.

Database

A collection of Data organized & designed for easy access. A collection of customer names & addresses may form the content of a database.

Database-management system

System for structuring, streamlining, and managing database in ways not perceptual to users of the data.

Design

The approach that engineering (and some other) disciplines use to specify how to create or do something. A successful design must satisfy a (perhaps informal) functional specification (do what it was designed to do); conforms to the limitations of the target medium (it is possible to implement); meets implicit or explicit requirements on performance and resource usage (it is efficient enough). A design may also have to satisfy restrictions on the design process itself, such as its length or cost, or the tools available for doing the design. In the software life cycle, design follows requirements analysis and is followed by implementation.

Development

The process of analysis, design, coding and testing software.

Directory

Second logical unit of data storage. A collection of files. Also called folder.

Distributed Architecture

A set of interacting computer systems, databases, and workstations situated in different locations. You can allocate the various components across a department or enterprise-wide network.

DNS

(Domain Name System) The method of linking together the thousands of Networks present on the Internet. The DNS is utilized whenever you send an Email or access a particular web page.

Domain Name

The Domain Name is a unique name, which represents each computer on the Internet. (Some machines do have more than one Domain Name. The DNS converts the Domain Name requested by an Internet User into an IP Address. The location of the machine with this IP address is known & the information being requested can then be found. "www.sygon.com" is an example of a Domain Name. The "com" indicates that Sygon is a commercial organization.

E-Business

A way of conducting business electronically, leveraging technology initiatives such as e-commerce, electronic data interchange (EDI), and electronic funds transfer (EFT). Electronic storefronts, self-service Web applications, and Web-based supply chain integration are a few examples of new e-business opportunities.

E-Commerce

The conducting of business communication and transactions over networks and through computers. As most restrictively defined, electronic commerce is the buying and selling of goods and services, and the transfer of funds, through digital communications. However EC also includes all inter-company and intra-company functions (such as marketing, finance, manufacturing, selling, and negotiation) that enable commerce and use electronic mail, EDI, file transfer, fax, video conferencing, workflow, or interaction with a remote computer. Electronic commerce also includes buying and selling over the World-Wide Web and the Internet, electronic funds transfer, smart cards, digital cash (e.g. Mondex), and all other ways of doing business over digital networks.

EDI

Electronic Data Interchange. EDI provides electronic formats, which allow for an exchange of business data between companies over networks.

Enhancement

A change to a product which is intended to make it better in some way, e.g. new functions, faster, or occasionally more compatible with other systems.

Enterprise

An enterprise consists of all functional departments, people, and systems within an organization. In some cases, the enterprise can include partners--even vendors and customers.

Ethernet

A very common method of networking computers in a LAN. Ethernet will handle about 10,000,000 bits-per-second and can be used with almost any kind of computer.

Extranet

Very similar to an Intranet with the added feature that the information contained can be accessed externally by business partners.

Finger

An Internet software tool for locating people on other Internet sites. Finger is also sometimes used to give access to non-personal information, but the most common use is to see if a person has an account at a particular Internet site. Many sites do not allow incoming Finger requests, but many do.

Fire Wall

A combination of hardware and software that separates a LAN into two or more parts for security purposes.

Form

A Web form is an interactive document that can contain fields into which users can type information. This information could be used as part of a survey, to purchase an item, to search a database, and so on. Forms are made up of two parts: the HTML code, and a cgi programming script that processes the data.

FTP

(File Transfer Protocol) It is the tool you would use to transfer files through the Internet from one computer to another. For example, you would use an FTP to upload your web page from where you built it (like your computer at home) to a web site (like this one) so that all of your friends and neighbors can look at it.

Functionality

The capabilities or behaviors of a program, part of a program, or system, seen as the sum of its features.

Gateway

The technical meaning is a hardware or software set-up that translates between two dissimilar protocols, for example Prodigy has a gateway that translates between its internal, proprietary e-mail format and Internet e-mail format.

GIF File

The most common type of image file used on the Internet. These files are compressed so they take up the minimum amount of space & can therefore be downloaded a lot quicker than other graphics file. GIF files are typically used for: Backgrounds, displaying banners, advertisements, and buttons. The files unlike other graphical file types are limited to 256 colors.

Home page

Server identity screen for use in a web on the Internet. Screen introduces local resources and provides links to associated resources and servers.

Host

A Host Computer is one, which provides a particular service to a user. This includes information or communications.

HTML

(Hypertext Mark-up Language) HTML is not really a programming language, but a way to format text by placing marks around the text. For example HTML allows you to make a word bold or underline it. Early word processing programs used to work this way. HTML is the foundation for most web pages.

HTTP

(Hypertext Transmission Protocol) It's a Protocol that computers on the Internet use to communicate with each other.

Hypertext

Generally, any text that contains links to other documents - words or phrases in the document that can be chosen by a reader and which cause another document to be retrieved and displayed. In an SSL connection, each side of the connection must have a Security Certificate, which each side's software sends to the other. Each side then encrypts what it sends using information from both its own and the other side's Certificate, ensuring that only the intended recipient can de-crypt it, and that the other side can be sure the data came from the place it claims to have come from, and that the message has not been tampered with.

Image Scanning

Taking a visual representation of something. In information technology, a picture that has been created or copied and stored in electronic form.

Industry Solution

Individual business process software applications--including many designed to meet unique industry needs--integrated into a single global enterprise solution.

Innovative

To introduce new methods, custom, device or to change in the way of doing things.

Integration

Systems working together. "Horizontal" integration is the sharing of data among various participants at any stage of a project. "Vertical" integration is the sharing of data between several phases of a project.

Interactive Multimedia

Allows the viewer to interact in ways other than simply controlling channel, volume and handling. Usually interactive video, games, voting, banking and shopping.

Interactivity

In computers, interactivity is the sensory dialog that occurs between a human being and a computer program. On the World Wide Web, you not only interact with the browser but also with the pages that the browser brings to you. Hypertext or the word and picture links you can connect to are the most common form of interactivity when using the Web. In addition to hypertext, the Web offers other possibilities for interactivity. Any kind of user input, including typing commands or clicking the mouse, is a form of input. Displayed images and text, printouts, motion video sequences, and sounds are output forms of interactivity. The earliest form of interaction with computers was indirect and consisted of submitting commands on punched cards and letting the computer read them and perform the commands. Later computer systems were designed so that average people (not just programmers) could interact immediately with computers, telling them what programs to run and then interacting with those programs, such as word processors (then called "editors"), drawing programs, and other interactive programs. The first interactive human-computer interfaces tended to be input text sequences called "commands" (as in "DOS commands") and terse one-line responses from the system. In the late 1970's, the first graphical user interfaces (graphical user interface) emerged from the Xerox PARC Lab, found their way into the Apple Macintosh personal computer, and then into Microsoft's Windows operating systems and thus into almost all personal computers available today. GUIs inherently promoted interactivity because they offered the user more interaction options.

Interface integration

Sharing of human-computer interaction standards between several programs.

Interface Interface

A boundary across which two systems communicate. An interface might be a hardware connector used to link to other devices, or it might be a convention used to allow communication between two software systems. Often there is some intermediate component between the two systems, which connects their interfaces together. For example, two EIA-232 interfaces connected via a serial cable.

internet - (Lowercase i)

Any time you connect 2 or more networks together, you have an internet - as in inter-national or inter-state.

Internet - (Uppercase I)

Originally called ARPANET after the Advanced Research Projects Agency of the U.S. Department of Defense. This electronic network connects the hosts together so that you may go from one web page to another efficiently. The electronic connection began as a government experiment in 1969 with four computers connected together over telephone lines. By 1972, universities also had access to what was by then called the Internet.

Internet-Enabled

Solution components designed to operate through Internet technology.

InterNIC

InterNIC is a group of people who control domain name registration. They also provide various services to all users of the Internet.

Intranet

A private networks inside a company or organization that uses the same kinds of software that you would find on the public Internet, but that is only for internal use. As the Internet has become more popular, many of the tools used on the Internet are being used in private networks; for example, many companies have web servers that are available only to employees. Note that an Intranet may not actually be an Internet -- it may simply be a network.

IP Number

(Internet Protocol Number) Sometimes called a dotted quad. A unique number consisting of 4 parts separated by dot (e.g. 165.113.245.2) every machine that is on the Internet has a unique IP number - if a machine does not have an IP number, it is not really on the Internet. Most machines also have one or more Domain Names that are easier for people to remember.

IRC

(Internet Relay Chat) Huge multi-users live chat facility. There are a number of major IRC servers around the world, which are linked to each other. Anyone can create a channel and all others in the channel see anything that anyone types in a given channel. Private channels can (and are) created for multi-person conference calls.

ISDN

(Integrated Services Digital Network) A way to move more data over existing regular telephone lines. ISDN is rapidly becoming available too much of the USA and in most markets it is priced very comparably to standard analog telephone circuits. It can provide speeds of roughly 128,000 bits-per-second over regular telephone lines. In practice, most people will be limited to 56,000 or 64,000 bits-per-second.

ISP

(Internet Service Provider) An institution that provides access to the Internet in some form, usually for money.

Java

Java is a modern Programming Language, first seen in 1995, & is used to bring Web Pages to life. Java programs are referred to as applets. Java is an interpreted, object-orientated program language with a syntax & structure similar to C++, designed specifically for the Internet by Sun Microsystems. One huge plus for Java is that a Java program can run on many different types of computers (e.g. IBM PC, Apple Macintosh). Java Applets are always small & can be downloaded from the Internet & executed as part of the Web page being displayed.

JavaScript

JavaScript is a Programming Language for developing Client Internet applications. The WEB Browser interprets JavaScript statements embedded in an HTML page. Live Wire is the Server based equivalent, which enables you to create applications similar to Common Gateway Interface (CGI) programs.

Keyword

A meta (hidden) tag used to describe the contents of a web page.

Kilobyte

(K, KB) A measure of digital information, equal to 1024 bytes. Abbreviated and referred to as K.

LAN

(Local Area Network) It's a group of PC's, Other Computers & Peripheral Devices, which are linked together, where each device is located in close proximity to all the other devices. LANs typically consist of a number of PC's, shared printers & Shared Directories & Files.

Link

A connection between two Web documents. Links are generally pieces of text or pictures that, when clicked on, make the browser request and display another Web document.

Marketing

To make (goods) available to buyers, esp. in a planned way, which encourages people to buy more of them, for example by advertising.

Mechanism

Framed system of rigid bodies linked in a manner, which constrains (but does not prevent) relative motions of those bodies, assembled for the purpose of transmitting an input movement to a controlled output movement.

Media

References to the art of mass communication.

Megabyte (MB)

Unit of measure of stored data equaling 1,024 kilobytes, or 1,048,576 bytes.

Methodology

An organized, documented set of procedures and guidelines for one or more phases of the software life cycle, such as analysis or design. Many methodologies include a diagramming notation for documenting the results of the procedure; a step-by-step "cookbook" approach for carrying out the procedure; and an objective (ideally quantified) set of criteria for determining whether the results of the procedure are of acceptable quality.

Modules

Stand-alone software applications that manage a specific business function--for example, Payroll. Modules can be integrated with other modules to form a complete enterprise business process solution--for example, Human Resources Management. Stand-alone software applications that manage a specific business function--for example, Payroll. Modules can be integrated with other modules to form a complete enterprise business process solution--for example, Human Resources Management.

Multitasking

A Multitasking operating system is one, which allows a PC to perform more than one task at a time. There are several types of multitasking. Different types include context switching (only the foreground applications uses the processor), cooperative multitasking (background tasks use the processor during idle times), and time-slice multitasking (each task uses the processor's for a fraction of a second).

Navigate

Finding your way around. Often used on the Internet, particularly the World-Wide Web.

Navigation

The process of finding one's way through nonhierarchical data.

News group

News groups is one of the many facilities available on the Internet. News group is centered on a discussion topic an example being soccer.

NNTP

(Network News Transport Protocol) The protocol used by client and server software to carry USENET Groups.

Node

A node is any device such as a PC, which is connected to a Network.

OLAP

(Online Analytical Processing) The multidimensional analysis of application data performed interactively. OLAP enables users to gather complex data from various sources, then "slice and dice" the information for strategic analysis and decision-making.

Open Systems

The ability to run applications on a range of leading hardware, database platforms, and migrate from one to another, without changing the look and feel of your applications.

Operating System

The Software that is responsible for running the PC, control & utilization of the hardware & Peripherals. Examples include DOS, UNIX, and Windows.

Outsourcing

Outsourcing is the third-party performance of functions once administered in-house. Outsourcing is really two types of service: ITO - IT Outsourcing, involves a third party who is contracted to manage a particular application, including all related servers, networks, and software upgrades. BPO - Business Process Outsourcing, features a third party who manages the entire business process, such as accounting, procurement, or human resources.

Pixel

A single dot on a computer display or in a digital image. (Picture element) The smallest distinct unit of a bitmapped image.

Plug-in

A (usually small) piece of software that adds features to a larger piece of software. Common examples are plug-ins for the Netscape® browser and web server. Adobe PhotoShop® also uses plug-ins.

POP

(Post Office Protocol) Standard for exchanging Email between a users PC & their Internet Access Provider.

ppi

(Pixels per inch) A measure of the amount of image information density.

PPP

(Point-to-Point Protocol) Standard for using a modem & telephone line to connect to the Internet using TCP/IP.

Productivity

A company's productivity is the rate at which it makes goods, and is usually judged in connection with the number of people and the amount of materials necessary to produce the goods.

Promotions

The act of promoting or the fact of being promoted; advancement. Encouragement of the progress, growth, or acceptance of something; furtherance. Advertising; publicity.

Protocol

Standard for breakdown and reconstruction of an electronic message.

QA

(Quality Assurance) A planned and systematic pattern of all actions necessary to provide adequate confidence that the product optimally fulfills customers' expectations, i.e. that it is problem-free and well able to perform the task it was designed for. The QA of a commercial product usually involves alpha testing, where an early version of the product is tested at the developer's site, and is then improved accordingly. Then, an almost complete version of the product is made available for beta testing by (selected) real users. Faults identified during beta testing should be fixed before the product is released for full-scale manufacturing and distribution.

Query

A statement used to extract information from a database.

Realtime

The condition in which results are calculated at least as quickly as they are anticipated, i.e., without perceptible delay.

Relational Database

Representational structure based on a collection of tables composed of entities sharing particular attributes, each of which is expressed in a single value.

Reporting

The output of data--in the required format--for analysis and decision-making.

Resolution

The number of pixels per inch in an image, or the number of dots per inch used by an output device.

Router

A special-purpose computer (or software package) that handles the connection between 2 or more networks. Routers spend all their time looking at the destination addresses of the packets passing through them and deciding which route to send them on.

RS232

The industry standard for the transmission of data between Serial (one bit at a time) Devices. The RS stands for Recommended Standard.

RSA Encryption

Based on a public key system, which means that every user has 2 digital keys - one to encrypt information, and the other to decrypt. Authentication of both sender and recipient is provided with this method.

Scalability

How well a solution to some problem will work when the size of the problem increases. For example, a central server of some kind with ten clients may perform adequately but with a thousand clients it might fail to meet response time requirements. In this case, the average response time probably scales linearly with the number of clients, we say it has a complexity of O(N) ("order N") but there are problems with other complexities. E.g. if we want N nodes in a network to be able to communicate with each other, we could connect each one to a central exchange, requiring O(N) wires or we could provide a direct connection between each pair, requiring O(N^2) wires (the exact number or formula is not usually so important as the highest power of N involved).

Search Engine

One of the most essential tools on the Internet - they help you find web sites relating to a particular subject or the Email address of someone you know or articles posted to a Newsgroup or even companies which have a presence on the Internet. Most of the information provided by search engines is categorized so the search can be considerably refined before you even begin. The search engines are basically huge databases containing millions of records, which include the URL of a particular Web page along with information relating to the content of the web page, which is supplied in the HTML by the author. The search engine obtains this information via a submission from the author or by the search engines doing a "crawl" using "robot crawlers" of the Internet for information. Some search engines use Spiders to obtain information. There are a number of facilities available on the web that allows authors to submit their web pages to hundreds of web site at once. Some search engines use a technique known as ICE to locate information on related topics.

Server Server

Central repository of data and administrative information.

Service Provider

A company that provides a connection to the Internet. Service providers sell access to the network, for varying prices.

SET

(Secure Electronic Transaction Protocol) It is a means for authenticating credit card purchases on the Net. All parties use digital signatures. Transaction information is encrypted using 1024 bit RSA encryption.

Shopping Cart

Software that operates on an online storefront. The "shopping cart" keeps track of all the items that a buyer wants to purchase, allowing the shopper to pay for the whole order at once.

SLIP SLIP

(Serial Line Internet Protocol) Standards for using a regular telephone line (a serial line) and a modem to connect a computer as a real Internet site. SLIP is gradually being replaced by PPP.

Smart Card Smart Card Smart Card

A credit card sized plastic card with an embedded microchip. The chip can be "recharged" with funds. The store of value on the card is debited as a transaction is made. The card can also store ID information, health care details and security information.

S-Mime Encryption

Protects the privacy of email. If the sender and receiver both have email clients that support the S-Mime protocol, they can communicate with email that is secured.

SMTP

(Simple Mail Transport Protocol) The main protocol used to send electronic mail on the Internet. SMTP consists of a set of rules for how a program sending mail and a program receiving mail should interact. Almost all Internet email is sent and received by clients and servers using SMTP, thus if one wanted to set up an email server on the Internet one would look for email server software that supports SMTP.

Spam

(or Spamming) The Internet version of junk mail. Spamming is sending the same message to a large number of mailing lists or newsgroups usually to advertise something.

SQL

(Structured Query Language) A specialized programming language for sending queries to databases. Most industrial-strength and many smaller database applications can be addressed using SQL. Each specific application will have its own version of SQL implementing features unique to that application, but all SQL-capable databases support a common subset of SQL.

SSL

(Secure Sockets Layer) A protocol designed by Netscape Communications to enable encrypted, authenticated communications across the Internet. SSL used mostly (but not exclusively) in communications between web browsers and web servers. URL's that begin with "https" indicate that an SSL connection will be used. SSL provides 3 important things: Privacy, Authentication, and Message Integrity.

SSL Encryption

Developed by Netscape to provide data encryption and authentication of servers or clients. SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer. It can be used for any functions on the Internet- FTP, Usenet or the Web.

Static Graphic Strategic Investment

Benefits expected from the (purchase/investment in) an EEI solution.

T-1

A leased-line connection capable of carrying data at 1,544,000 bits-per-second. At maximum theoretical capacity, a T-1 line could move a megabyte in less than 10 seconds. That is still not fast enough for full-screen, full-motion video, for which you need at least 10,000,000 bits-per-second. T-1 is the fastest speed commonly used to connect networks to the Internet.

T-3

A leased-line connection capable of carrying data at 44,736,000 bits-per-second. This is more than enough to do full-screen, full-motion video.

TCP/IP

(Transmission Control Protocol or Internet Protocol) This suite of protocols defines the Internet. Originally designed for the UNIX operating system, TCP/IP software is now available for every major kind of computer operating system. To be truly on the Internet, your computer must have TCP/IP software.

Technology, ical

(using) the most advanced and developed machines and methods. Information technology (abbreviation IT) is the science and activity of storing and sending out information by using computers. (The study and knowledge of) the practical, esp. industrial, use of scientific discoveries.

Telnet

The command and program used to login from one Internet site to another. The telnet command/program gets you to the login: prompt of another host.

Three-Tier Architecture

A network connection where the application logic runs on a server instead of the client workstation. The application server then communicates with the database server. This relieves the client from data-intensive processing, thereby improving throughput and performance across enterprise-wide networks.

Thumbnails

Miniature pictures, resembling slides, that the LightBox catalog displays. Each thumbnail contains specific information for each image that comes with PhotoDisc.

TIFF

(Tagged Image File Format) A file format for exchanging bitmapped and grayscale images among applications.

UNIX

A Multitasking Operating System developed in 1969. There are many variants of Unix. Written in the C Programming Language it is very portable - running on a number of different computers. Unix is the main operating system used by Internet host computers.

URL

(Uniform Resource Locator) How documents on the WWW are referenced. The URL contains the protocol to be used e.g. HTTP.

UUENCODE

UNIX to Unix Encoding. A method for converting files from Binary to ASCII (text) so that they can be sent across the Internet via e-mail.

Viruses

Computers can get a virus just like your body can be invaded with a virus making you (or your computer) sick. A virus can wipe out information on your computer and create major havoc. Viruses usually originate from malicious people. You can unintentionally download virus from a web site or get it from a disk that someone has lent you. There are virus-checking programs, but there are new viruses popping up every day. Therefore, the best defense against a virus is to be very careful not to download programs or data from a site you are not familiar with.

VRML

(Virtual Reality Modeling Language) It's a Programming Language, which has been designed to build 3D worlds on the World Wide Web. With this language, a programmer can create a virtual three-dimensional world, which the user can explore.

WAN

(Wide Area Network) A linked Network of LANs. The Internet can be considered to be the largest WAN there has ever been.

Workflow

Workflow helps you automate a range of business tasks, and electronically route the right information to the right people at the right time. Intelligent agents notify users of pending work, and help manager's route approvals through the system quickly.

WWW

(World Wide Web) Hypermedia-based browsing and retrieval software for obtaining files from a web of freely cross-referenced servers on the Internet, without concern for physical location.

XML

(Extensible Markup Language) Spearheaded by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), XML became a formal specification in mid-February, 1999.

Y2K

(Year 2000) The Year 2000 problem refers to the inability of some software applications to handle dates beyond 1999.

Z Index

Used in Cascading Style Sheets, the Z index defines the order of layers on a Web page.