IT and Cloud Computing Related Terms and Acronyms

Select list of terms and acronyms commonly used in IT that may be a helpful resource to you:

Select IT Terms and Definitions:

Application Infrastructure Provider (AIP)
The name given to a firm from whom one sources all the elements necessary to function in a service model. The management of the infrastructure upon which the application is reliant is dealt with by the AIP on behalf of the service provider – in an invisible fashion. It may also take part in the integration of offerings and current infrastructure.

Application Service Provider (ASP)
An ASP deploys, hosts and manages access to a packaged application to multiple parties from a centrally managed facility. The applications are delivered over networks on a subscription basis. This delivery model speeds implementation, minimizes the expenses and risks incurred across the application life cycle, and overcomes the chronic shortage of qualified technical personnel available in-house.

Bandwidth
The number of bits of information that can move through a communications medium in a given amount of time; the capacity of a telecommunications circuit/network to carry voice, data, and video information. Typically measured in Kbps and Mbps. Bandwidth from public networks is typically available to business and residential end-users in increments from 56Kbps to T-3.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
An integrated information system that is used to plan, schedule and control the presales and post-sales activities in an organization. A full-spectrum CRM application architecture consists of the integrated automation of business processes encompassing customer touch points, including sales (contact management, product configuration), marketing (campaign management, telemarketing, data mining) and customer service (call center, field service).

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)
A form of electronic communication that allows trading partners to exchange business transaction data in structured formats that can be processed by applications software.

Enterprise Relationship Management (ERM)
Solutions that enable the enterprise to share comprehensive, up-to-date customer, product, competitor and market information; for the end goals of long-term customer satisfaction, increased revenues, and higher profitability.

Enterprise Resource Planning Applications (ERP)
Packages that enable the creation of a single corporate image from disparate, decentralized divisions, enabling users to visualize underlying business processes, reshape these processes and renovate their businesses. ERP modules may be able to interface with an organization's own software with varying degrees of effort, and, depending on the software, ERP modules may be alterable via the vendor's proprietary tools as well as proprietary or standard programming languages. An ERP system can include software for manufacturing, order entry, accounts receivable and payable, general ledger, purchasing, warehousing, transportation and human resources.

Hosted Client Computing (HCC)
HCC allows an application to run on the user's desktop, but it is served, or “streamed,” from a server. Computing “streamed,” from a server. When the user is finished using the application, it is removed without ever having been physically committed to the user’s machine. The most efficient HCC technologies segment the application so that only those portions of the application and the data needed to run the application are sent over the network to the user’s machine. By centralizing the management of the application, but executing it on the client, it provides the performance and scalability of client-computing with the manageability of sever-side computing.

Hosted Outsourcing
Complete outsourcing of a company's information technology applications and associated hardware systems to an ASP.

Internet Business Services (IBS)
Solutions built to specifically run business processes over the Internet. IBSs offer software services on a "one-to-many" architecture - where the software supports companies, users, or transactions from a centralized data server, which constantly transfers data via the Internet in both directions of the network - to provide services like payment, processing or customer relationship management.

Internet Service Provider (ISP)
Company that provides access for users and businesses to the Internet.

Independent Software Vendor  (ISV)
Generally a firm that develops software applications that is not a part of a computer systems manufacturer.

Managed Service Provider (MSP)
A class of service provider that sells subscription services to manage information technology infrastructure and applications over the Internet.

Network Computing Architecture
A computing architecture in which components are dynamically downloaded from the network onto the client device for execution by the client. The Java programming language is at the core of network computing.

Network Service Provider (NSP)
A company that provides access to ISPs. Sometimes NSPs also are called backbone providers due to the fact that they provide access to the Internet backbone.

Outsourcing
The transfer of components or large segments of an organization's internal IT infrastructure, staff, processes or applications to an external resource provider.

Packaged Software Application
A computer program developed for sale to consumers or businesses generally designed to appeal to more than a single customer. While some tailoring of the program may be possible, it is not intended to be customized for each user or
organization.

Server-Based Computing
A server-based approach to delivering business-critical applications to end-user devices, whereby an application's logic executes on the server and only the user interface is transmitted across a network to the client. Its benefits include singlepoint management, universal application access, bandwidth-independent performance, and improved security for business applications.

Single-Point Control
One of the benefits of the ASP model, single-point control helps reduce the total cost of application ownership by enabling widely used applications and data to be deployed, managed and supported at one location. Single-point control enables application installations, updates and additions to be made once, on the server,
which are then instantly available to users anywhere.

Thin Client
A low-cost computing device that accesses applications and and/or data from a central server over a network.

Zero Client
A low-cost computing device that accesses applications and and/or data from a central server over a network.

Service Level Agreement (SLA)
A contract between the provider and the user that specifies the level of service that is expected during its term. SLAs are used by vendors and customers, as well as internally by IT shops and their end users. They can specify bandwidth availability, response times for routine and ad hoc queries and response time for problem resolution (network down, machine failure, etc.). SLAs can be very general or extremely detailed, including the steps taken in the event of a failure.

Wireless Application Protocol (WAP)
Standard for wireless content delivery on mobile communication devices.

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Select IT Acronyms:

ACL  
Access Control List

AIP  
Application Infrastructure Provider

ASP  
Application Service Provider
 
CPU   
Computer Processing Unit

CRM  
Customer Relationship Management
 
DBMS   
Database Management System

DNS   
Domain Name Server

EDI  
Electronic Data Interchange

ERM  
Enterprise Relationship Management

ERP  
Enterprise Resource Planning Applications

HCC  
Hosted Client Computing

HTML   
Hypertext Markup Language

HTTP   
Hypertext Transfer Protocol

HTTPS   
Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure

IaaS   
Infrastructure as a Service

IBS  
Internet Business Services

IDS/IPS  
Intrusion Detection Systems/Intrusion Prevention Systems

ISO   
International Standards Organization

IT   
Information Technology

ITaaS  
IT as a Service

ITL   
Information Technology Laboratory

IP   
Internet Protocol

ISP  
Internet Service Provider

ISV  
Independent Software Vendor 

JVM   
Java Virtual Machine

MSP  
Managed Service Provider

NFS   
Network File System

NIST  
US National Institute of Standards and Technology

NSP  
Network Service Provider

PaaS   
Platform as a Service

PLI  
Private Line Implementation

OVF   
Open Virtualization Format

PEM   
Privacy Enhanced Mail

SaaS   
Software as a Service

SQL   
Structured Query Language

SLA  
Service Level Agreement

TCP   
Transmission Control Protocol

VLAN   
Virtual Local Area Network

VPN  
Virtual Private Network

VM   
Virtual Machine

VMM   
Virtual Machine Monitor

WAP   
Wireless Application Protocol

WSDL   
Web Services Description Language

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Excerpts: Source: US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST),  U.S. Department of Commerce, “DRAFT Cloud Computing Synopsis and Recommendations; Recommendations of the National Institute of Standards and Technology,” Special Publication 800-146; Author(s) Lee Badger; Tim Grance; Robert Patt-Corner; Jeff Voas; May 2011. Source: Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA); “Software as a Service: Strategic Backgrounder,” Glossary of Terms; February 2001.