Internet
Glossary | T1 |
T3
A
ActiveX
ActiveX is a code that defines Microsoft’s interaction between web
servers, clients, add-ins and Microsoft Office applications. ActiveX is
Microsoft’s answer to Java technology from Sun Microsystems.
See Also: Clients, Java
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ADSL
(Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) - A method for moving data over
regular phone lines. An ADSL circuit is much faster than a regular phone
connection, and the wires coming into the subscriber’s premises are the
same (copper) wires used for regular phone service. An ADSL circuit must
be configured to connect two specific locations, similar to a leased line.
See Also: DSL
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Anonymous FTP
(File Transfer Protocol) – On the Internet , people and companies often
place files that can be downloaded; for example software upgrades. To
transfer the file you must make a connection to their host machine. Hosts
require a username and password to allow access: often the sites allow you
access by logging in using the account name anonymous, thus these sites
are called anonymous ftp servers.
See Also: FTP
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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.
See Also: Java
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Archie
A software tool for locating files on anonymous FTP sites . Archie is
actually an indexing spider that visits each anonymous FTP site, reads all
the directory and file names , and then indexes them in one large index. A
user can then query Archie which checks the query against the index. To
use Archie , you can Telnet to a server that you know has Archie on it and
then enter Archie search commands.
See Also: FTP, Telnet
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ARPANet
(Advanced Research Projects Agency Network) - The precursor to the
Internet . Developed in the late 60’s and early 70’s by the US
Department of Defence as an experiment in wide-area-networking that would
survive a nuclear war.
See Also: Internet
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ASCII
(American Standard Code for Information Interchange) – ASCII is the most
common format for text files in computers and on the Internet. In an ASCII
file, each alphabetic, numeric or special character is represented with a
7-bit binary number (a string of seven 0s or 1s). 128 possible characters
are defined. UNIX and DOS-based operating systems (except for Windows NT )
use ASCII for text files. Windows NT uses a newer code, Unicode.
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ATM
(Asynchronous Transfer Mode) – Is a dedicated connection switching
technology that organises digital data into 53 – byte cell units and
transmits them over a physical medium using digital signal technology.
Individually, a cell is processed asynchronously relative to other related
cells and is queued before being multiplexed over the transmission path.
The pre-specified bit rates are either 155.520 Mbps or 622.080 Mbps,
though speeds on ATM networks can reach 10 Gbps.
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AVI
(Audio Video Interleaved ) – An AVI file is a sound and motion picture
file that conforms to the Microsoft Windows Resource Interchange File
Format (RIFF) specification. AVI files (which end with an .avi extension)
require a special player that may be included with your Web browser or may
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B
Backbone
Each Internet Service Provider has major high-speed lines or a series of
connections that forms their network infrastructure . These connections
could be viewed as motorways for Internet traffic with junctions where
traffic can join the rest of the network. The size (bandwidth) of
connections vary depending on the size of the provider.
See Also: Network, Bandwidth
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Backbone Network
The primary path for network transmission
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Backhaul
The term used to describe how switches get data to the backbone network.
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Bandwidth
Describes how much data you can send through an Internet connection.
Usually measured in bits-per-second. As a rule , increased bandwidth
equals faster Internet connections.
See Also: Leased Line, ISDN
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BBS
(Bulletin Board System) - A computerised meeting and announcement system
that allows people to carry on discussions, upload and download files, and
make announcements without the people being connected to the computer at
the same time.
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BINHEX
(BINary HEXadecimal) - A method for converting non-text files (non-ASCII)
into ASCII. This is needed because Internet e-mail can only handle ASCII.
See Also: ASCII, MIME, UUENCODE
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Bit
(Binary DigIT) - A single digit number in base-2, in other words, either a
1 or a zero. The smallest unit of computerised data. Bandwidth is usually
measured in bits-per-second.
See Also: Bandwidth, Bps, Byte, Kilobyte,
Megabyte
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BITNET
(Bulletin Board System) - An academic computer network that provides
interactive electronic mail and file transfer services, using a
store-and-forward protocol, based on IBM Network Job Entry protocols.
Bitnet-II encapsulates the Bitnet protocol within IP packets and depends
on the Internet to route them.
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Bps
(Bits-Per-Second) - A measurement of how fast data is moved from one place
to another.
See Also: Bandwidth, Bit
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BRI
(Basic Rate Interface) – One of two ISDN service offerings, the second
being PRI . BRI consists of two 64 Kbps B data channels and one 16 Kbps D
signalling channel.
See Also: ISDN, PRI
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Broadband
The provision of multiple channels of information, over a single link
which supports high speed through-put of data, typically using some form
of frequency or wave-division multiplexing. The information could consist
of voice, video or computer data
See Also: DSL, Mbps
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Browser
A client software program used for searching and viewing various kinds of
Internet resources such as information on a web site. The most popular
Internet browsers are Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator.
See Also: Client, URL, WWW
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Byte
A set of Bits that represent a single character. Usually there are 8 Bits
in a Byte, though can be more depending on how the measurement is being
made.
See Also: Bit
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C
Cache
Is a place to store something more or less temporarily. Web pages you’ve
visited are stored in your browser’s cache directory on your hard disk .
Likewise, ISPs cache web pages which speeds up access times for users, as
the page is being read from the cache memory and not downloaded from the
actual web site.
See Also: Browser, ISPs
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Central Office
A facility owned by the incumbent operator where subscriber lines are
connected to the local switching equipment
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Certificate Authority
An issuer of Security Certificates used in SSL connections.
See Also: Security Certificates, SSL
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CGI
(Common Gateway Interface) - A set of rules that describe how a Web Server
communicates with another piece of software on the same machine, and how
the other piece of software (the “CGI program”) talks to the web
server. Any piece of software can be a CGI program if it handles input and
output according to the CGI standard.You can often see that a CGI program
is being used by seeing “cgi-bin” in a URL.
See Also: cgi-bin, Web
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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 originally , most programs were referred to as “binaries”. In
reality , most programs found in cgi-bin directories are text files -
scripts that are executed by binaries located elsewhere on the same
machine.
See Also: CGI
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CHAP
(Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol) – Is a security feature
supported on lines using PPP encapsulation that prevents unauthorised
access , CHAP does not itself prevent unauthorised access , it merely
identifies the remote end, though is a more secure procedure for
connecting to a system than PAP. The router or access server then
determines whether that user is permitted access.
See Also: PPP, PAP
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Client
A node or software program that requests services from a server.
See Also: Node, Server
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Co-location
Most often used to refer to having a server that belongs to one person or
group physically located on an Internet-connected network. easynet offers
co-location web server hosting providing a secure high-speed internet
connection for mission-critical hosting applications.
See Also: Internet, Server, Network
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Co-location Facility
A facility which houses, in a secure and monitored environment,
telecommunication equipment including building management systems and
power supply equipment
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Cookie
A cookie is information that a Web site puts on your PC’s hard disk so
that it can remember something about you at a later time.(More
technically, it is information for future use that is stored by the server
on the client side of the client/server communication). Typically, a
cookie records your preferences when using a particular site.
Depending on the type of Cookie used, and the Browser’s settings, the
Browser may accept or not accept the Cookie, and may save the Cookie for
either a short time or a long time.
Cookies might contain information such as login or registration
information, online “shopping cart” information, user preferences,
etc.
When a Server receives a request from a Browser that includes a Cookie,
the Server is able to use the information stored in the Cookie. For
example, the Server might customise what is sent back to the user, or keep
a log of particular user’s requests.
Cookies do not read your hard drive and send your life story to MI5.
See Also: Browser, Server, MI5
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CREN
(Corporation for Research and Educational Networking) – The result of a
merger between BITNET and CSNET. CREN is devoted to providing Internet
connectivity to its members, which include alumni, students, faculty and
other affiliates of participating educational and research institutions.
See Also: CSNET
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CSNET
(Computer Science Network) – Large internet consisting primarily of
universities, research institutions and commercial concerns. CSNET merged
with BITNET to form CREN.
See Also: BITNET, CREN
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Cyberspace
Term originated by author William Gibson in his novel Neuromancer the word
Cyberspace is a common term used to describe the virtual environment that
the Internet creates with all the different services that it provides.
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D
Dark Fibre
Fibre optic cable without the necessary equipment to transmit a
telecommunication signal over the fibre. A telecommunication network
operator can sell the right to use their dark fibre to other carriers or
directly to end users, who have the obligation of supplying the necessary
electronics to transmit on the fibre
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Data Centre
easynet’s purpose built facility providing secure, resilient facility
managed web server hosting and data suites for businesses located in
central London.
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DES
(Data Encryption Standard) - Is a widely used method of data encryption
that uses a 40-bit and 56-bit key to encrypt and decrypt data. DES and
Triple-DES are used as encryption algorithms by S/MIME.
See Also: Triple DES, S/MIME , VPN, IPSec
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DHCP
(Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) – This is a protocol that lets
network administrators centrally manage and automate the assignment of IP
Addresses on the corporate network. When a company sets up its computer
users with a connection to the Internet , an IP address must be assigned
to each machine. Without DHCP , the IP address must be entered manually at
each computer . DHCP lets a network administrator supervise and distribute
IP addresses from a central point and automatically sends a new IP address
when a computer is plugged into a different place in the network.DHCP uses
the concept of a ‘lease’ or amount of time that a given IP address
will be valid for a computer. Using very short leases, DHCP can
dynamically reconfigure networks in which there are more computers than
there are available IP addresses.
See Also: IP Address
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Digital Certificates
A digital certificate is an electronic document that establishes your
credentials when doing business or other transactions on the web. They are
issued by a certificate authority and contain a user’s name, expiration
dates, a copy of the certificate holder’s public key , and the digital
signature of the certificate-issuing authority so that a recipient can
verify that the certificate is real. Some digital certificates conform to
a standard such as X.509.
See Also: Certificate Authority, X.509
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Digital Signature
A digital signature is an electronic signature that can be used to
authenticate the identity of the sender of a message, or of the signer of
a document. It can also be used to ensure that the original content of the
message or document that has been conveyed is unchanged.
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DMSU
Digital Main Switching Unit, a facility which houses, in a secure and
monitored environment, servers and other equipment
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DNS
(Domain Name Server) – Used to map names to IP addresses and vice versa.
Domain Name Servers maintain central lists of domain name/IP addresses and
map the domain names in your Internet requests to other servers on the
Internet until the specified web site is found.
See Also: IP Address
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Domain Name
The unique name that identifies an Internet site. Domain Names always have
2 or more parts, separated by dots. The part on the left is the most
specific, and the part on the right is the most general. A given machine
may have more than one Domain Name but a given Domain Name points to only
one machine. For example, the domain names:
easynet.net
mail.easynet.net
marketing.easynet.net
can all refer to the same machine, but each domain name can refer to no
more than one machine.
Usually, all of the machines on a given network will have the same thing
as the right-hand portion of their Domain Names (easynet.net in the
examples above). It is also possible for a Domain Name to exist but not be
connected to an actual machine. This is often done so that a group or
business can have an Internet e-mail address without having to establish a
real Internet site.
See Also: IP Address, Domain Name
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DSL
(Digital Subscriber Line) – A local loop access technology that provides
high-speed connections over copper wire to deliver data, voice and video
information over a dedicated digital network. Variations of DSL services
are also known as ADSL, HDSL, SDSL, VDSL and ISDN . DSL will be a more
popular alternative to ISDN and low end Leased Lines, being faster than
ISDN and less costly than traditional Leased Lines.
See Also: ADSL, HDSL, SDSL, VDSL, ISDN,
Leased Line
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DSLAM
(Digital Subscriber Line Access Mutiplexor) – The equipment that
contains a high concentration of central office splitters, DSL modems and
other electronics to connect data traffic from the local loop to a WAN.
See Also: DSL, WAN
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DWDM
Dense Wave Division Multiplexing, the technology by which the frequencies
of light carried on a single optical fibre are subdivided into discrete
wavelengths allowing for the greater transmission of data.
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Dynamic IP
The term used to describe how IP address is dynamically assigned to
computers as and when needed. Unlike Static IP addresses, the IP address
is temporary e.g. when you connect to your ISP using a dial-up connection
, you PC or router will be dynamically assigned an IP address whilst you
are on-line.
See Also: IP Address, Static IP Address, ISP
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E
E-1
Is the European term used to describe a 2 Mb leased line (or 2.048 million
bits per second or 32 channels of 64Kbps to be exact).
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E-2
Is the European term used to describe a line which carries four
multiplexed E1 signals with a data rate of 8.448 million bits per second.
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E-3
Is the European term used to describe a line which carries 16 E1 signals
with a data rate of 34.368 million bits per second.
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E-4
Is the European term used to describe a line which carries four E3 signals
with a data rate of 139.264 million bits per second.
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E-5
Is the European term used to describe a line which carries four E4
channels with a data rate of 565.148 million bits per second.
See Also: Leased Line
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E-mail
(Electronic Mail) - E-Mail is the mail system that is used on the Internet
to pass messages from one person or group of people to another. The
systems also permits the transmission of pictures and sounds .
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Ethernet
A very common method of networking computers in a LAN using copper cabling
. Ethernet will handle about 10,000,000 bits-per-second and can be used
with almost any kind of computer.
See Also: Bandwidth, LAN , Fast Ethernet
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Extranet
An extranet is a private network that uses the Internet protocols and the
public tele-communication system to share a business’s information ,
data or operations with external suppliers, vendors or customers. An
extranet can be viewed as the external part of a company’s Intranet.
See Also: Intranet
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F
Fast Ethernet
A faster version of Ethernet . Instead of the network running at 10Mbps,
the performance is increased ten fold to 100Mbps.
See Also: Ethernet
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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. Generally sites do not allow incoming Finger
requests, though some do.
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Firewall
A combination of hardware and software that secures access to and from the
LAN . There are three main types of firewall architecture; Stateful
Inspection, Proxy based and Packet Filtering, whereby the former provides
the highest level of access control. Firewalls can also be used to secure
internal network resources from internal network users too.
See Also: Network, LAN
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FMS
(Facility Managed Server) – easynet provides a choice of managed server
hosting services on Compaq and Sun Micro Systems hardware. All servers are
directly connected to the Internet at 100Mbps and provide a totally
managed and resilient option for customers who need secure web hosting
with speed and maximum uptime.
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Frequency
The rate of signal oscillation, measured in hertz (Hz)
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FTP
(File Transfer Protocol) – Allows the transfer of one or more files from
one machine to another across the Internet .
See Also: Anonymous FTP
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G
Gateway
The technical meaning is a hardware or software set-up that translates
between two dissimilar protocols, for example a machine that connects a
UUCP network with the Internet so that mail can be transferred between
them.
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Gbps
Gigabits per second, a measure of speed of transmission of data
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GIF
(Graphic Interchange Format) - A common format for image files, especially
suitable for images containing large areas of the same colour. GIF format
files of simple images are often smaller than the same file would be if
stored in JPEG format, but GIF format does not store photographic images
as well as JPEG.
See Also: JPEG
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Gigabyte
1000 or 1024 Megabytes, or approximately a billion bytes, or two to the
power of 30, or 1,073,741,824 bytes to be precise.
See Also: Byte, Megabyte
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Gopher
A widely successful method of making menus of material available over the
Internet. Gopher is a Client and Server style program, which requires that
the user have a Gopher client program. Although Gopher spread rapidly
across the globe in only a couple of years, it has been largely supplanted
by Hypertext, also known as WWW (World Wide Web). There are still
thousands of Gopher Servers on the Internet and we can expect they will
remain for a while.
See Also: Client, Server, WWW, Hypertext
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H
HDML
(Handheld Devices Markup Language) – Is now called the Wireless Markup
Language (WML) which is the language that allows the text portions of Web
pages to be presented on cellular phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs)
via wireless access.
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HDSL
(High bit-rate Digital Subscriber Line) – The earliest variation of DSL
. The main characteristic of HDSL is that it is symmetrical or in other
words an equal amount of bandwidth is available in both directions.
See Also: DSL
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Hit
As used in reference to the World Wide Web, “hit” means a single
request from a web browser for a single item from a web server; thus in
order for a web browser to display a page that contains 3 graphics, 4
“hits” would occur at the server: 1 for the HTML page, and one for
each of the 3 graphics.
See Also: Browser, Server, HTML
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Home Page (or Homepage)
Originally, the web page that your browser is set to use when it starts
up. The more common meaning refers to the main web page for a business,
organisation, person or simply the main page out of a collection of web
pages.
See Also: Browser, Web
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Host
Any computer on a network that is a repository for services available to
other computers/nodes on the network.
See Also: Node, Networks
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HTML
(HyperText Markup Language) - The coding language used to create Hypertext
documents for use on the WWW. Basically it is a set of ‘markup’
symbols or codes inserted in a file that tells the Web browser how to
display a Web page’s words and images for the user. The individual mark
up codes are referred to as elements.
See Also: WWW
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HTTP
(HyperText Transfer Protocol) - The protocol for moving hypertext files
across the Internet. Requires a HTTP client program on one end, and an
HTTP server program on the other end. HTTP is the most important protocol
used in the World Wide Web .
See Also: Client, Server, WWW
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Hyperlinks
See Also: Hypertext
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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.
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I
IEEE
(Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) – A professional
organisation whose activities include the development of communication and
network standards. IEEE LAN standards are the predominant LAN standards
today.
See Also: LAN
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IMAP (4)
(Internet Message Access Protocol) – Is a standard protocol for
accessing e-mail from your local server. IMAP is a client/server protocol
in which e-mail is received and held for you by your Internet server. You
can view just the heading and the sender of the mail and then decide
whether to download the mail. You can also create and manipulate folders
or mailboxes on the server, delete messages etc. A less sophisticated mail
protocol is POP3.
See Also: POP3, SMTP
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Incumbent Operator
The national telecommunication operator, such as BT in the UK and France Télécom
in France.
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Indefeasible Right of Use” or “IRU”
A right in capacity (an unconditional right to use a specified amount of
voice or data transmission capacity) or a right in an asset (an exclusive
right to use the specified telecommunication infrastructure but generally
any one or a combination of duct, sub-duct and dark fibre) for an agreed
term.
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Internet
(Upper case I) A worldwide system of computer networks in which any one
computer can get information from/or talk to any other connected computer
using the TCP/IP protocols. The Internet evolved from the ARPANET of the
late 60’s and early 70’s.
See Also: ARPANET , internet , TCP/IP
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internet
(Lower case i) Any time you connect 2 or more networks together, you have
an internet.
See Also: Internet, network
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Intranet
A private network within a company or organisation 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 just be a
network
See Also: internet, Internet, Network
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IP
(Internet Protocol) – Network layer protocol in the TCP/IP stack
offering a connectionless internetwork service. IP provides features for
addressing, type-of-service specification, fragmentation, type-of-service
specification and reassembly and security.
See Also: TCP/IP
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IP Address
(Internet Protocol Address) - Sometimes called a dotted quad. A unique
number consisting of 4 parts separated by dots
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.
See Also: Domain Name, Internet, TCP/IP
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IP-VPN
Internet Protocol Virtual Private Network
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IPSec
(Internet Protocol Security ) – IPSec is a standard for security at the
network or packet processing layer of network communication. IPSec
essentially encrypts data to create secure data transmissions across
private and public networks such as the Internet and allows companies to
implement VPNs (Vitual Private Networks) across the Internet as a cost
effective alternative to dedicated connections.
See Also: VPN
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IRC
(Internet Relay Chat) - Essentially a huge multi-user 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 anything that anyone types
in a given channel is seen by all others in the channel. Private channels
can (and are) created for multi-person conference calls.
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ISDN
(Integrated Services Digital Network) – A digital subscriber line
network with circuit and packet switching capabilities for voice and data
communications. ISDN services are currently available in the UK as BRI
(Basic Rate ISDN) consisting of 2 x 64 Kbps B data channels and one 16
Kbps D channel, and PRI (Primary Rate ISDN) consisting of 30 x 64 Kbps B
channels and one D channel.
See Also: BRI, PRI
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ISO 9001
The quality management and assurance standards for design, development,
production, installation and services set by the International Standards
Organisation.
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ISP
(Internet Service Provider) - An institution that provides access to the
Internet in some form, usually for money such as yours truly (easynet).
See Also: Internet
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ITSEC
(Information Technology Security Evaluation & Certification Scheme)
– A European initiative to provide a set of internationally accepted
security standards. The security features of IT systems and products are
independently tested. This security evaluation is carried out against
standardised criteria to a formalised methodology. Certificates are
becoming increasingly recognised in many countries and across Europe.
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ITU-T
(International Tele-communication Union Tele-communication Standardisation
Sector) – The international body that develops world-wide standards for
tele-communications technologies.
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J
Java
Java is a network-oriented programming language invented by Sun
Microsystems that is specifically designed for writing programs that can
be safely downloaded to your computer through the Internet and immediately
run without fear of viruses or other harm to your computer or files. Using
small Java programs (called "Applets"), Web pages can include
functions such as animations, calculators etc.
See Also: Applet
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JPEG
(Joint Photographic Experts Group) - JPEG is most commonly mentioned as a
format for image files. JPEG format is preferred to the GIF format for
photographic images as opposed to line art or simple logo art.
See Also: GIF
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K
Kbps
Kilobits per second, a measure of speed of transmission of data.
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Kilobyte
A thousand bytes, OR more precisely 1024 bytes.
See Also: Byte, Bit
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L
LAN
(Local Area Network) – LANs are networks of computers that are local to
the immediate area, usually the same building or floor of a building. LANs
allow files and information and resources to be shared or stored centrally
for all users that have a connection to it.
See Also: Ethernet, Fast Ethernet
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LDAP
(Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) – Is a software protocol
enabling anyone to locate organisations, individuals and other resources
such as files and devices in a network, whether on the Internet or on a
corporate intranet.
See Also: Network, Internet, Intranet
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Leased Line
Refers to a dedicated phone line that is rented for exclusive 24-hour, 7
-days-a-week use from one location to another location. The highest speed
data connections require a leased line.
See Also: E-1 to E-5, DSL
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Lighting Programme
The provision of equipment to enable the transmission of large volumes of
data down a pair or optical fibres
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LINX
(London Internet Exchange) – Is the facility which keeps UK Internet
traffic in the UK. The LINX allows ISPs to easily exchange traffic within
the UK and improve connectivity and service. In addition to keeping
traffic between UK Internet users within the UK , LINX is one of the
largest and fastest growing Internet traffic exchange points for ISPs in
Europe . easynet peers with LINX.
See Also: ISP
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Lit Fibre
Fibre optic cable with the necessary equipment to enable transmission of a
telecommunication signal over the activated fibre
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LLU
(Local Loop Unbundling) – The process whereby incumbent tele-communications
companies allow potential competitors to rent the twisted-pair copper wire
that connects individual subscribers or households to the local telephone
exchange.
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Local Loop
The Line from a subscriber to the telephone company’s local exchange.
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Local Telephone Exchange
A facility that contains the lowest node in the hierarchy of switches that
comprise the public telephone network
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M
Managed Bandwidth Services
The provision of bandwidth to a customer under a service management
contract.
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Masts
Mobile and fixed wireless telecommunication installations and associated
telecommunication apparatus for use by mobile and fixed wireless network
operations.
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Mbps
Megabits per second, a measure of speed of transmission of data.
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Megabyte
A million bytes. Technically, 1024 kilobytes.
See Also: Byte. Bit, Kilobyte
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MI5
Britain’s Security Service.
See Also: Cookie
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MIME
(Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) - The standard for attaching
non-text files to standard Internet mail messages. Non-text files include
graphics, spreadsheets, formatted word-processor documents, sound files,
etc. An email program is said to be MIME Compliant if it can both send and
receive files using the MIME standard. When non-text files are sent using
the MIME standard they are converted (encoded) into text , although the
resulting text is not really readable.Besides e-mail software, the MIME
standard is also universally used by Web Servers to identify the files
they are sending to Web Clients, in this way new file formats can be
accommodated simply by updating the Browsers’ list of pairs of
MIME-Types and appropriate software for handling each type.
See Also: Browser, Client , Server, Binhex,
UUENCODE
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Mirror
Generally speaking, “to mirror” is to maintain an exact copy of
something. Probably the most common use of the term on the Internet refers
to “mirror sites” which are web sites, or FTP sites that maintain
exact copies of material originated at another location, usually in order
to provide more widespread access to the resource or resilience for a web
server that requires maximum uptime. If one server fails the second will
still be able to service client requests.
See Also: FTP , Web
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Modem
(MOdulator, DEModulator) - A device that you connect to your computer and
to a phone line, that allows the computer to talk to other computers
through the phone system.
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Mosaic
The first WWW browser that was available for the Macintosh, Windows, and
UNIX all with the same interface. Mosaic really started the popularity of
the Web. The source-code to Mosaic has been licensed by several companies
and there are several other pieces of software as good or better than
Mosaic, most notably, Netscape.
See Also: Browser, Client ,WWW , Netscape
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MP3
(MPEG-1 Audio Layer-3) – Is the standard technology and format for
compressing a sound sequence into a very small file while preserving the
original level of sound quality when it is played.
See Also: MPEG
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MPEG
(Moving Picture Expert Group) – This is the group that develops
standards for digital video and digital audio compression. MPEG standards
are an evolving series, each designed for a specific purpose.
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N
Narrowband
A communication channel with a bandwidth of typically less than 64 Kbps.
See Also: Bandwidth, Kbps, Broadband
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NAT
(Network Address Translation) – Is the translation of an IP Address used
within one network to a different IP Address known within another network.
Typically a company maps its local inside network addresses to one or more
global outside IP Addresses and unmaps the global IP Addresses on incoming
packets back into local IP addresses. This helps ensure network security
since each outgoing or incoming requests must go through a translation
process that also provides the opportunity to qualify or authenticate the
request or match it to a previous request. NAT also conserves on the
number of global IP Addresses that a company needs by letting a company
use a single IP Address to communicate with the world. NAT is also a
feature of most routers and firewalls.
See Also: IP Address, Router, Firewall
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Netscape
A WWW browser and the name of a company. The NetscapeÔ browser was
originally based on the Mosaic program developed at the National Centre
for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA). Netscape provided major
improvements in speed and interface over other browsers, and has also
engendered debate by creating new elements for the HTML language used by
Web pages, though the Netscape extensions to HTML are not universally
supported.
See Also: Browser, Mosaic, Server, WWW
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Network
Any time you connect 2 or more computers together so that they can share
resources, you have a computer network. Connect 2 or more networks
together and you have an internet.
See Also: internet, Internet, Intranet
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Network Operating Centre” or “NOC
A central location for monitoring and maintaining a network.
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Newsgroup
The name for discussion groups on USENET.
See Also: USENET
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NNTP
(Network News Transport Protocol) - The protocol used by client and server
software to carry USENET postings back and forth over a TCP/IP network. If
you are using any of the more common software such as Netscape, Internet
Explorer, etc. to participate in newsgroups then you are benefiting from
an NNTP connection.
See Also: Newsgroup, TCP/IP, USENET
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Node
Any single computer or device connected to a network.
See Also: Network, Internet, internet
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O
OPSEC
(Open Platform for Secure Enterprise Connectivity ) – An initiative
launched by Check Point Software Technologies ( the authors of FireWall-1Ô)
to provide interoperability between multi-vendor security products,
technologies and secure network applications.
See Also: Firewall
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P
Packet
When data is distributed around a network or the Internet, it is broken
down into chunks or packets, that are more manageable than an entire file.
Each packet has both the destination and source address, as well as error
correction for error free transmission.
See Also: Network
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Packet Switching
The method used to move data around on the Internet. In packet switching,
all the data coming out of a machine is broken up into chunks, each chunk
has the address of where it came from and where it is going. This enables
chunks of data from many different sources to co-mingle on the same lines,
and be sorted and directed to different routes by special machines along
the way. This way many people can use the same lines at the same time.
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PAP
(Password Authentication Protocol) – Authentication protocol that allows
PPP peers to authenticate one another. The remote router attempting to
connect to the local router is required to send an authentication request.
PAP does not itself prevent unauthorised access, but merely identifies the
remote end. The router or access server then determines if that user is
allowed access. PAP is only supported on PPP connections.
See Also: PPP, CHAP, Router
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PDF
(Portable Document Format) – Is the file format that encompasses all the
elements of a printed document as an electronic image that you can view,
navigate, print and distribute.
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Peering Arrangement
An agreement between carriers of IP traffic whereby no charge is made for
interconnection of networks.
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Ping
(Packet Internet Groper) – PING is a command that can be used to check
if communication can be established between two devices. The information
that is returned includes how long it takes for the data to make the
journey , how many hops across the Internet it took ( or router path) and
much of the traffic gets through.
See Also: Router
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PKI
(Public Key Infrastructure) – A PKI enables users of a basically
unsecure public network such as the Internet to securely and privately
exchange data and money through the use of a public and a private
cryptographic key pair that is obtained and shared through a trusted
authority. The public key infrastructure provides for digital certificates
that can identify individuals or organisations and directory services that
can store and, when necessary, revoke them. Although the components of a
PKI are generally understood, a number of different vendor approaches and
services are emerging.
See Also: Digital Certificates, Certificate
Authority
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Plug-in
A piece of software that adds features to a larger piece of software. The
idea behind plug-in’s is that a small piece of software is loaded into
memory by the larger program, adding a new feature, and that users need
only install the few plug-ins that they need, out of a much larger pool of
possibilities. Plug-ins are usually created by people other than the
publishers of the software the plug-in works with.
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Point-to-point
Point-to-point protocol provides a standard method for transporting
multi-protocol datagrams over point-to-point links.
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POP
(Point of Presence) - A Point of Presence usually means a city or location
where an Internet Service provider provides local access to connect to the
Internet using dial up phone lines and leased lines. easynet currently has
almost 50 POPs in the UK alone.
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POP-3
(Post Office Protocol ) – Is a client/server protocol whereby e-mail is
received and stored by Internet Service Providers for subscribers. With
POP-3 e-mail, the entire message is forwarded and stored at the client PC
when the user dials in to the ISP to check and retrieve their e-mail - as
opposed to IMAP based e-mail, where messages are stored, read and
manipulated on the ISP’s mail servers.
See Also: SLIP, PPP, IMAP
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Portal
Usually used as a marketing term to described a Web site that is intended
to be the first place people see when using the Web. Typically a
"Portal site" has a catalogue of web sites, a search engine, or
both. A Portal site may also offer e-mail and other services to entice
people to use that site as their main "point of entry" (hence
"portal") to the Web.
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Posting
A single message entered into a network communications system.
e.g. A single message posted to a newsgroup or message board.
See Also: Newsgroup
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PPP
(Point to Point Protocol) – A protocol that allows packet based
communications between two locations. A successor to SLIP, PPP provides
and establishes router-to-router and host-to-network connections over
synchronous and asynchronous connections.
See Also: SLIP
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Private Key
An encryption key used in asymmetric encryption, which allows both
decryption and creation of digital signatures. A private key is known only
to the user in a public key cryptography system and is used in conjunction
with a public key.
See Also: Public Key, Digital Signature
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Protocol
A pre-defined format for computer language which enables dissimilar
computers or devices to communicate.
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Provision
The end-to-end process of adding a customer.
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PSTN
(Public Switched Telephone Network) - The regular old-fashioned telephone
system.
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PTO
(Public Telecommunications Operator) – easynet has a PTO licence.
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Public Key
An encryption key used in asymmetric encryption, which allows both
decryption and creation of digital signatures. A public key is known to
everyone in public key cryptography system and is used in conjunction with
a private key.
See Also: Private Key , Digital Signature
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R
RADIUS
(Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service) – RADIUS is a client/server
protocol and software that enables remote access servers (RASs), to
communicate with a central server to authenticate dial-in users and
authorise their access to the network. RADIUS allows a company to maintain
user profiles in a database that all remote servers can share and allows a
company to set up a remote access policy that can be applied at a single
administered network point.
See Also: RAS, Client, Server
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RAS
(Remote Access Server) – A piece of hardware which remote users dial-in
to, to gain access to a particular service or resource. i.e. The corporate
LAN
See Also: LAN
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RFC
(Request For Comments) - The name of the result and the process for
creating a standard on the Internet . New standards are proposed and
published on line, as a Request For Comments. The Internet Engineering
Task Force is a consensus-building body that facilitates discussion, and
eventually a new standard is established, but the reference number/name
for the standard retains the acronym RFC, e.g. the official standard for
e-mail is RFC 822.
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Router
A router is a piece of hardware that essentially connects two or more
networks together. Routers forward packets of data between networks based
on network layer information, or in other words, it looks at the
destination addresses of the packets passing through it and decides which
route to send them on.
See Also: Network, Packet Switching
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S
S/MIME
(Secure Multi-purpose Internet Mail Extensions) – A secure version of
MIME. It is the industry-standard for encryption of e-mail between similar
and dissimilar e-mail systems. S/MIME can use a number of different
signature and encryption algorithms.
See Also: MIME
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SDH or Synchronous Digital Hierarchy”
High speed, synchronous network standard designed to run on fibre at
digital transmission rates of 155.52 Mbps 9STM-1).
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SDSL
(Symmetric Digital Subscriber Line) – A DSL service that transmits and
receives data at the same speed in both directions.
See Also: DSL
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Security Certificate
A chunk of information (often stored as a text file) that is used by the
SSL protocol to establish a secure connection. Security Certificates
contain information about who it belongs to, who it was issued by, a
unique serial number or other unique identification, valid dates, and an
encrypted “fingerprint” that can be used to verify the contents of the
certificate.
In order for an SSL connection to be created both sides must have a valid
Security Certificate.
See Also: Certificate Authority, SSL
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Server
A computer, or a software package, that provides a specific kind of
service to client software running on other computers. The term can refer
to a particular piece of software, such as a WWW server, or to the machine
on which the software is running, e.g. Our mail server is down today,
that’s why e-mail isn’t getting out. A single server machine could
have several different server software packages running on it, thus
providing many different servers to clients on the network.
See Also: Client, Network
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SLIP
(Serial Line Internet Protocol) – The standard protocol for
point-to-point serial connections using a variation of TCP/IP, and is the
predecessor of PPP.
See Also: TCP/IP, PPP
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SMDS
(Switched Multimegabit Data Service) – High-speed, packet-switched ,
datagram-based WAN networking technology offered by telephone companies.
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SME
(Small/Medium Enterprise) – Term used to classify a business that has
typically 50 to 250 network users.
See Also: SOHO
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SMTP
(Simple Mail Transfer 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 client 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.
See Also: Client, Server, IMAP, POP3
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SMTP Mail Feed
A service provided by easynet which forwards all e-mail received for a
particular domain name, or group of domain names to the mail server on the
appropriate customer’s network as and when it is received.
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SNMP
(Simple Network Management Protocol) – This is the protocol used almost
exclusively in TCP/IP networks providing the means to monitor and control
network devices and to manage configurations, statistics collection,
performance and security.
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Socket
When your computer is connected to the Internet, it does so through the
use of sockets; each Internet session requiring one socket. For example,
you could be doing an FTP session, which would be taken care of by one
socket, with another socket communicating with a different machine to
collect or send e-mail.
See Also: FTP
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SOHO
(Small Office Home Office) – Term used to classify a business that
typically has 50 or less network users.
See Also: SME
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Spam (or Spamming)
Spam is unsolicited or junk e-mail from the Internet. It is often in the
form of the same piece of information (i.e. advertising) sent to a large
number of people who didn’t ask for it.
The e-mail addresses may have come from a list of subscribers to a
newsgroup or supplied by a company who specialise in producing e-mail
lists.
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SQL
(Structured Query Language) - A specialised 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.
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SSL
(Secure Sockets Layer) - A protocol designed by Netscape Communications to
enable encrypted, authenticated communications across the Internet. SSL is
used mostly (but not exclusively) in communications between web browsers
and web servers. URLs that begin with “https” indicate that an SSL
connection will be used. SSL provides 3 important things: Privacy,
Authentication, and Message Integrity.
See Also: Netscape, Security Certificate, URL
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Stateful Inspection
Term used to describe one particular type of firewall architecture,
whereby the firewall intercepts, analyses and takes action on all
communications before they enter the operating system of the gateway
machine, ensuring maximum security and integrity of the network.
See Also: Firewall
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Static IP
The term used to describe a PC or network device that has a permanent IP
address as opposed to a dynamic IP address.
See Also: IP Address, Dynamic IP
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Switch
A device used to establish a path used to move information between two or
more users in a network.
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T
TCP
(Transmission Control Protocol) – Connection orientated transport
protocol that provides reliable full-duplex data transmission. TCP is part
of the TCP/IP protocol stack.
See Also: TCP/IP
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TCP/IP
(Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) – Common name for the
suite of protocols developed to support and unify the construction of
world-wide internetworks such as the Internet. TCP and IP are the best
known protocols in the suite.
See Also: IP Address, Internet
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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.
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Terabyte
1000 gigabytes.
See Also: Byte, Gigabyte
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Terminal
A device that allows you to send commands to a computer somewhere else. At
a minimum, this usually means a keyboard and a display screen and some
simple circuitry. Usually you will use terminal software in a personal
computer - the software pretends to be (emulates) a physical terminal and
allows you to type commands to a computer somewhere else.
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Terminal Server
A special purpose computer that has places to plug in multiple modems on
one side, and a connection to a LAN or host machine on the other side.
Thus the terminal server does the work of answering the calls and passes
the connections on to the appropriate node. Most terminal servers can
provide PPP or slip services if connected to the
See Also: LAN, Modem, Host, Node, PPP, SLIP
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To light
To activate an optical fibre for use by commissioning transmission
equipment at each end.
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Token Ring
Is a type of local PC network whereby all computers are connected in a
‘ring’ and a ‘token’ passing scheme is used in order to prevent
the collision of data between two computers that want to transmit data at
the same time ( as is the case with Ethernet and Fast Ethernet networks).
See Also: Ethernet, Fast Ethernet
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Triple DES
An enhanced version of DES that allows for more security than DES alone.
Triple DES uses three keys and encrypts three times – hence
‘triple’.
See Also: DES
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Twisted-pair
Telephone system cabling that consists of copper wires loosely twisted
around each other.
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U
UDP
(User Datagram Protocol) - One of the protocols for data transfer that is
part of the TCP/IP suite of protocols. UDP is a “stateless” protocol
in that UDP makes no provision for acknowledgement of packets received.
See Also: TCP/IP
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UMTS
Universal Mobile Telecommunications System is a so-called third generation
or 3G broadband, packet-based transmission standard for text, digitised
voice, video, and multimedia at data rates up to and higher than 2 Mbps,
aimed at offering a consistent set of services to mobile computer and
phone users around the world.
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UNIX
UNIX is a computer operating system designed to be used by many people at
the same time and has TCP/IP. It is the most common operating system for
servers on the Internet.
See Also: TCP/IP
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URL
(Uniform Resource Locator) - The standard way to give the address of any
resource on the Internet that is part of the World Wide Web (WWW).
See Also: WWW
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USENET
A world-wide system of discussion groups, with comments passed among
hundreds of thousands of machines. Not all USENET machines are on the
Internet. USENET is completely decentralised, with over 10,000 discussion
areas, called newsgroups.
See Also: Newsgroup
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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.
See Also: MIME, ASCII
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V
VDSL
(Very high Data rate Subscriber Line) – A DSL service operating at data
rates from 12.9 Mbps to 52.8 Mbps.
See Also: DSL
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VIP
(Virtual Internet Provider) – The easynet service whereby the customer
utilises easynet’s infrastructure to provide Internet access to its
users under the customer’s own brand.
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VOIP
(Voice Over Internet Protocol) – In short , this means sending voice
information using the Internet Protocol(IP) whereby voice information is | 
