|
Term |
Definition |
|
AAA |
Acronym for Authentication,
Authorization, and Accounting. Three aspects of a security: 1)
Authentication: ensure the user is who they say they are 2)
Authorization: ensure that the user has access to the resources they
are attempting to use and 3) Accounting: provide an audit trail to
ensure that authentication and authorization are being applied
according to policy. |
|
an
internet |
Any network created by
connecting two or more networks together. |
|
client |
A computer (also may be
referred to as a desktop) that uses the centralized resources of
server computers (see server). |
|
convergent telephony |
Along with "converged
telephony" this term refers to the fact that future telephone
systems will use the same medium as data networks; i.e. the media or
infrastructure is converging. Increasingly it looks like the
standard for telephony, data networks and even video networks will
be today's data networking standards. These standards include
Ethernet and Internet Protocol (IP). |
|
firewall |
A firewall is a device that is
put on a network between your company's "private" network and the
public Internet. Firewalls have evolved very rapidly over the
past 10 years, but their basic function is this: keep unwanted
(potentially harmful) outside traffic from coming into your
company's inside network where your sensitive information may be
accessible. |
|
FAQ |
Frequently Asked Questions -
Often pronounced "fack" (as in back). Typically this is where
a site will list frequently asked questions, and (more importantly)
their answers. This is a good place to check first if you have
a question. |
|
hacker |
A person who attempts to gain
unauthorized access to computer systems. |
|
internetworking |
The process of connecting (or
networking) together networks. |
|
IP |
The suite of protocols
collectively know as the Internet Protocol. The broadest
categories of which include Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)
often referred to as TCP/IP. |
|
LAN |
An acronym for a Local Area
Network. Modern LANs are typically Ethernet or wireless
networks. Classically, LANs have been distinguished from
Metropolitan Area and Wide Area networks (MANs and WANs
respectively) because the close proximity of all of the devices on a
LAN allow them to communicate at speeds higher than those of MANs or
WANs. |
|
MAC
Address |
Technically, this is an acronym
for Media Access Control address of the second layer of the
theoretical OSI networking model. In practice, this term is
most often used to refer to the Ethernet address of a device.
These addresses are assigned to vendors of Ethernet equipment in
such a way that these addresses are globally unique and no two
devices anywhere in the world have the same MAC address; however,
modern Ethernet devices typically allow a sophisticated user to
change the MAC address which can have security implications.
|
|
MAC Charge |
This is an historical term used
on Old World (i.e. switched) telephony. It's an acronym that
stands for Move/Add/Change Charge and is the charge the user of a
conventional PBX must pay to move a phone from one port to another
(e.g. moving a phone from one office to another). National
averages for MAC charges for small and medium sized businesses
(which require a "truck roll" or on-site visit from a technician)
run as high as $250 each which doesn't account for the down-time of
the user during this procedure. |
|
MAN |
An Acronym for Metropolitan
Area Network. |
|
network |
Any infrastructure that
connects multiple devices together. |
|
networking |
The process of connecting
together network devices (typically computers). |
|
PBX |
This is an acronym for Private
Branch eXchange. A is a telephone system within an enterprise
that switches calls between enterprise users on local lines while
allowing all users to share a certain number of external phone
lines. The main purpose of a PBX is to save the cost of requiring a
line for each user to the telephone company's central office.
The word private simply refers to the fact that that the "exchange"
is owned by the enterprise versus the telephone company. |
|
server |
A computer that provides
centralized resources other computers called clients (see clients). |
|
SMB |
An acronym for Small and Medium
Business. |
|
switched telephony |
Conventional "Old Word"
telephone technology that requires that a circuit be created (or
switched) between the two parties of a basic phone call. |
|
TCP/IP |
Transmission Control/Internet
Protocol is the category of the Internet Protocol suite that deals
with connection-based networking. In a more general and
vernacular sense it is used to refer to the protocol of the public
Internet. |
|
telephony |
Any technology related to
transmitting sound across distance over a medium other than sound
waves. |
|
The
Internet |
When the word internet is
capitalized or prefaced with the article "the", it is generally
refers to the public Internet, a network of networks that grew out
of a Defense Department project initiated in the 1960's. |
|
Toll-Bypass |
The (legal) practice of using
VoIP or any other technology to communicate telephonically without
the obligation to pay the fees (or tolls) normally associated with
this communication. |
|
UPS |
An uninterruptible power supply
(UPS) is a device that allows your computer to keep running for at
least a short time when the primary power source is lost. It also
provides protection from power surges. A UPS contains a battery that
"kicks in" when the device senses a loss of power from the primary
source. |
|
virus |
Within the context of
information technology: a computer virus. A computer virus is
a computer program written to infect (or install itself on) a host,
possibly perform some action and, typically, replicate itself to
other computers. |
|
VoIP |
An acronym for Voice over
Internet Protocol. This technology encodes voice as (binary)
data and sends the data to another point via the Internet Protocol.
At the destination end-point the data are de-coded back into the
sound of the original voice. NOTE: VoIP does not necessarily
refer to delivering the voice data over the public Internet; rather,
the data may only travel within a enterprise from one office cubical
to the next. |
|
WLAN |
An acronym that refers to a
Wireless Local Area Network (see LAN). Common technologies
used to accomplish this include radio frequency (RF), and optical
technologies such as lasers and light in the infrared spectrum. |
