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Definition - IT&T

• Client/server: Client/server is an architecture in which the client (personal computer or workstation) is the requesting machine and the server is the supplying machine. Servers can be high­speed microcomputers, minicomputers or even mainframes. The client provides the user interface (usually graphical) and may perform some or all of the application processing.
  Client/server architecture means that the server is used for more than just a remote disk drive to the client. Simply downloading files from the server to the client or sharing a database on the server is not client/server architecture. Client/server means that the processing is split between the client and the server.
  Client/server architecture is the equivalent of a mainframe system on a network of smaller computers. The network operating system (NOS) together with the database management system (DBMS) and transaction processing monitor (TP monitor) are responsible for the integrity and security of the system.
• Communications satellites: Communications satellites constitute an attractive solution in telecommunications as they allow for immediate access to information resources, both regionally and globally. Satellite communications are currently used predominantly for digital circuits for data communications, television transmission, and for those areas with high traffic or where line-of-sight microwave is impractical. Today's applications include voice, audio and video entertainment (including direct-to-home (DTH) TV and digital audio broadcasting services (DAB)), image (facsimile), video teleconferencing, interactive video, e-mail, and global Internet. Satellite communication systems avoid the need for terrestrial infrastructure, and shorten the time of establishing communications in rural areas.
• Computer Telephone Integration: Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) is opening a new era of communications within and between enterprises, their customers and their suppliers. What is a telephony application? At its simplest, It is the automation of the handling of telephone calls; answering the phone, greeting the caller, and responding to a request - all without a human operator. Still in the early stages of deployment, CTI has been most easily achieved in automating existing manual functions showing a rapid, measurable return on investment.
• Connector: Connectors are generally defined as apparatus for switching or protecting electrical circuits or for making connections to, or within, electrical circuits for voltage not exceeding 1000 volts, such as switches, relays, fuses, surge suppressors, plugs, sockets, lamp holders and junction boxes.
• Data Warehousing: A data warehouse integrates an organization's operational and historical data for decision support applications, business data access, and reporting.
• Document Management: Document management systems keep track of stored documents (1) created by a computer using word processing, spreadsheet, or other software, or (2) scanned into a computer and converted to computer code by optical character recognition software or (3) scanned into a computer and saved in a computer image format. Document management systems provide the ability to store the document in one location, with all the benefits of controlled backup, recovery, and disaster management protection. All of this makes possible the ability to view documents from any location on the enterprise network under the control of the enterprise security blanket.
  A document imaging system may have a document management system as its integral controlling component.
• Document management solutions: Document management solutions have applications across most industries in companies who need to store, archive and retrieve documents, files, bills, production manuals, service manuals and client records are prime candidates for document management systems. The main users of these systems have been financial institutions, legal firms and federal, state and municipal governments. The scope for document management products across multiple industries is tied to the size and the number of channels that the resellers and systems integrators operate in.
• Electronic Data Interchange(EDI) : Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) involves the electronic exchange of documents between two companies in a pre-agreed structured format, direct from computer to computer. Increasingly, this process is referred to as electronic trading or electronic commerce, since it is perceived as forming part of a more general process than the mere exchange of data.
• Enterprise Technology Management: In general terms, "Network Management", is management of the network, where the "Network" is an information utility. "Enterprise Network" is used when the information utility supports multiple vendors and/or systems over a large geographic area (enterprise). A primary goal of the enterprise management system is to facilitate technologies to entities throughout enterprise. It provides immediate access to information that may be stored anywhere. It allows the shared use of storage, printers, modems, and other devices. It grants access into other organizations and global informational resources. It is available to all users at all times. The enterprise network is an integrated environment of various technologies including:
  • Computer systems, which range from small PCs to large mainframes
  • Applications that run on these systems to access, utilize or store information
  • Databases and files that store the information in a logical manner
  • Data networks used to link the computers and information
  • Voice networks used to support end-users, developers, and managers
  • Video networks that enable distributed planning, training, and support meetings
• Fiber-optic cable: The fiber-optic cable/transmission sector, includes insulated optical fiber cables made up of individually sheathed fibers and optical fibers, bundles, and cables. Fiber-optic cable is composed of three layers: the glass core which carries light signals; the cladding surrounding the core which traps light in the core; and an outer protective coating surrounding the cladding.
  The two main fiber-optic cable categories are single-mode and multi-mode fiber. Single-mode fiber-optic cable is the preferred choice for long-distance communications and is typically used by telephone and cable television companies because it allows information to be transmitted at high rates over long distances. A small core, approximately nine microns in diameter, makes the transmission capacity possible. The core size limits the transmitted light in the fiber to one principle mode, which minimizes distortion of light pulses, thus increasing the distance the signal can be sent.
  Multi-mode fiber optic cable is used primarily for data communications applications such as local area networks (LANs) and wide area networks (WANs) in hospitals, universities, and corporations. Its core diameter is large compared to the wavelength of the transmitted light. As a result, multi-mode fiber transmits more than one mode of light, and each light pulse travels down multiple paths. With its relatively large core, multi-mode fiber is easier to connect and splice. This makes multi-mode fiber a popular choice for short distance applications and multiple connections.
  At the base of the growing demand for fiber-optic cable are its favorable attributes. Aside from providing greater bandwidth, fiber-optic cable has a number of other advantages not available in other communications media.
  * Fiber has extremely high tensile strength, an average of 600,000 pounds per square inch, exceeding all other media and in fact having greater strength than steel.
  * Despite its higher strength, fiber is also lighter and has a smaller diameter, which not only makes it easier to handle but also requires less space in floors, ceilings, and narrow duct spaces.
  * Fiber offers installers more alternatives in terms of cabling architecture. In contrast to copper, which is limited to a distance of 98 yards, multi-mode fiber-optic cable is approved for lengths up to 436 yards. At these distances, installers have much more flexibility in network design. For example, the longer distances supported by fiber make possible centralized cabling, which offers greater security, reduced space requirements, and maintenance and management efficiencies.
  * Fiber's advantages in terms of reliability and security are well known. Fiber is immune to interference from electromagnetic, radio-frequency, and microwave sources. Whereas copper cabling systems suffer from interference because electromagnetic fields are generated around each signal-carrying conductor, the structure of optics constrains the light energy to the core of the fiber. Fiber has very low attenuation and, unlike copper, loss does not increase at higher bit rates. Fiber is also more secure than copper, since it is not subject to being tapped for the purposes of eavesdropping or intercepting messages.
  * Fiber-optic networks provide easy maintenance when installed using today's new connector technology.
• Geographic Information Systems: Geographic information systems are a combination of hardware, software and data (both attribute and geographic) and trained people all working together to manage information to help make better decisions. Together, they provide powerful tools for automated cartography and the analysis of information.
• Global Positioning System (GPS) : Global Positioning System (GPS) is based on a constellation of twenty-four satellites in six different orbit planes transmitting precise time and orbit information, from which ground positions can be computed. The constellation provides global coverage twenty-four hours a day in all weather conditions and is accurate to within a few dozen yards for commercial applications. Greater precision is achieved through the use of ground reference points, which correct deviation caused by atmospheric variations and interference to a precision of less than one inch.
• Groupware: The term Groupware was originally introduced to describe a new category of application software designed to provide electronic support for groups of individuals working collectively toward a common objective. More recently, the term has been used to describe applications ranging from unstructured electronic mail systems to precisely designed work-flow systems. Groupware is better understood when it is divided into the three major areas it encompasses: communication, coordination and cooperation. In this regard, Groupware is software, which runs on a network that allows members of a team to communicate electronically with one another, while coordinating their individual work assignments on a joint (often large) cooperative project.
• High Speed Communication: It has become necessary for locations in different geographical areas to communicate with each other. This communication must be a high speed, robust connection to support the business applications being utilized today and planned for the future.
• Imaging: Imaging technology has recently evolved to address a long-standing need for fast, convenient, efficient storage and retrieval of documents.
• Internet: The Internet, or the World Wide Web, is a huge network of information that can be accessed using a computer and certain programs within the computer. Each "page" that is accessed is a site, and is made independently by the authors. Many sites have more than one page. One can think of the Internet as the biggest set of research materials ever written, by as many different authors as one can imagine. The Internet is the single largest source of information in the world, and its ability to create connections all over the globe has changed the way we think about many aspects of our lives, such as business, banking, correspondence, and education.
• Internet telephony: Internet telephony is the transmission of real-time voice communications using Internet protocols - Voice over IP (VoIP). Internet telephony allows more effective management of network bandwidth and maximizes revenue streams for Internet service providers (ISP). Networks can send mixed voice and data traffic over the same circuit. This significantly increases average bandwidth utilization and reduces bandwidth costs by 40-60%.
• Magnetic Stripe/Smart Cards, POS: Smart cards are plastic cards, much like credit cards, embedded with memory chips and optional microprocessors in place of magnetic strips applied to the back. The chips allow the card to replace or supplement information which is traditionally contained on the magnetic strip. Smart cards can store user data, as well as contain security features and computational capability.
  Smart cards are extremely difficult, if not impossible, to forge because of the embedded micro- processor's ability to generate its own code. Thus smart cards enhance the security of financial transactions such as are required in the banking and retail industries.
  While smart cards are secure, they also have intelligence and storage capacity. A smart card can be disposable or reusable and has many applications, including access control and identification; automatic fare collection for buses, trains and airline travel; industrial automation applications in asset tracking, warehouse inventory control, facilities and equipment management and manufacturing automation; financial transactions in banking; and electronic purse applications in retail stores.
  Smart cards used in these applications provide secure, speedy transaction processing and also may gather demographic and product loyalty information. This ability to gather data provides a tool for a business to use to better understand and service their customers. It also provides co-branding opportunities.

  Driven by the need to serve customers at the location of the sale or transaction, many sectors of the economy have embraced point-of-sale (POS) technologies. In fact, POS technology is so commonplace it is seemingly transparent to the customer - one expects to have a product scanned in the checkout line or a credit card swiped through a device at a cash register.
  A form of POS technology, the automated teller machine (ATM), has been a overwhelming success for twenty years, offering customers an extremely convenient way to get cash, check on their bank balance or pay a bill. It has become a standard service component of the banking industry and an a service that customers expect to be available anytime they want to conduct their banking business.

  The associated technologies that support POS include the magnetic stripe card and its readers, bar code scanners, light pens, wand readers and modems. Magnetic stripe cards are a familiar, relatively low-tech device, but one that plays a critical role in millions of daily transactions that support the economy. Credit cards, the mainstay of the magnetic stripe card market, are now necessary to conduct business in today's economy.

• Messaging: Messaging facilities have become a business necessity. They are constructed by deploying one or more e-mail systems within an organization to enhance communications. They are especially important to organizations with geographically dispersed employees. This structure allows traditional messaging and computer file transfer along with enhanced workflow, collaboration, and enhancement of other group efforts throughout an organization.
• Mobile Computing: Mobile computing provides these and other useful business processes to field and service personnel. Sales staff can place orders instantly while meeting in the customer's office. Customer support can be contacted immediately to respond to sensitive customer problems. Governmental personnel can complete permit and inspection processing at the building site.
• Modem: A modem is a data signal shifter or translator. The word modem is a combination of the word "modulation" and "demodulation," the technical terms for signal transformation.
• Multimedia: Multimedia combines multiple forms of media in the communication of information. It enables people to communicate using integrated audio, video, text, graphics, fax, and telephony, resulting in more effective communication. A combination of these technologies often results in significant improvements in communications over a single medium such as a traditional text-based presentation. Although they vary, they often include speech, sound, and graphics (either animated or video). And often they include "hyper-links" to permit rapid computer-controlled relocation in text or presentation by an alternate media.
• Object Linking and Embedding: Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) is a technology where one software application is dynamically utilized within another
• Object Oriented: Object-oriented uses a programming technology that is more flexible than standard programming. It is an evolutionary form of modular programming with more formal rules, which allow pieces of software to be reused and interchanged between programs. Object-oriented programming allows application developers to create self­sufficient modules that contain the data, the data structure, and functions that manipulate that data.
• Operating Systems: The operating system is the master control program that runs the computer. It is usually the first program loaded when the computer is turned on. The main part of the operating system resides in the computer's memory at all times. Other parts are loaded from disk storage when needed. Operating systems range in complexity from those with limited function (such as those that control microcomputers in appliances) to very complex operating systems (such as those that control large mainframe computer complexes). Although operating systems usually control only one computer, there are operating systems that control local area networks, clusters of computers, or arrays of computers. We have a special name for those that control local area networks: "network operating systems".
• Relational Database: The ability to access, analyze and transfer information quickly across a variety of networks and protocols is becoming increasingly important in today's government environment. The information system industry's traditional hierarchical, proprietary database products lack the necessary underlying technology to meet these new demands. Replacing them is the "next generation" of information systems, built around relational database management systems.
• Routers: Routers are used to connect LANs with larger networks known as wide area network (WAN). Multiplexers are used to have communication lines among multiple devices.
• Satellite systems: Satellite systems have important features that fiber optics lacks: mobility (mobile users cannot be connected to the fiber network directly), flexibility (once a terrestrial infrastructure is built, it is extremely expensive to restructure it), and rural and remote connections (it is still not cost-effective to deploy high-capacity fiber networks in areas with low-density traffic and difficult topography).
  Geostationary satellites compete with expanding terrestrial and fiber-optic networks for point-to-point transmission of domestic, regional, and international telecommunication services. Two most dynamic sectors include broadcasting direct-to-home (DTH) and mobile satellite communications.
• Server: A database server is a computer that maintains the databases and processes requests from the client to extract data from, or to update the database. An application server is a computer that provides additional business processing for the clients.
• SOHO: SOHO End-Users Small Office-Home Office (SOHO) refers to both the use of computer technology within very small firms and at home for professional purposes.
• Synchronous Transfer Mode (STM) : Synchronous Transfer Mode (STM), the key system currently used for telephone and ISDN networks, is not able to handle increased demands for traffic such as voice, fax, video, and multimedia data via the Internet. New technologies such as Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), IP network, and Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) are competing for popularity.
• Telecommunication: Telecommunication is defined as communication over long distances (especially) by electrical means such as telephony, telegraphy or broadcasting.
• Video Conferencing: You can not see a raised eyebrow in an e-mail message, nor can you see someone smile on the phone. But you can see the range of human expression in a video conference. You can finalize a business deal between cross-country offices, call on a student raising his hand half-a-continent away, or see a doctor perform a new medical procedure from the other side of the globe. Video conferencing can decrease travel and related expenses and increase productivity.
• Video-on-Demand Service (VOD): Video-on-Demand Service (VOD) is an interactive multimedia system that works like cable Television, but allows customers the option of selecting a movie from a large video database and viewing it at their own convenience. Essentially, VOD is a video rental shop brought directly into the home. Because of the multimedia nature of the network which provides VOD access, other products and services, such as music on demand, home banking, education and remote learning facilities, Internet access, and home shopping can also be offered over this network.
• Voice recognition: Voice recognition is a relatively new input technology that allows users to communicate with their computer through voice recognition software application instead of a keyboard. Speech recognition technology enables a computer to respond to the human voice in place of a keyboard or mouse. It allows the user to interact with machines in the same way as they interact with people - through natural speech. Voice recognition has the potential to radically change the way people use computers.
• Wireless carriers: Wireless carriers include mobile telephone, radio paging, Second Generation Cordless Telephone (CT2), trunked mobile radio communications, mobile data, VSAT (very small aperture terminals), and satellite communications systems.
• Wireless Service Suppliers: Fiber is increasingly used by wireless service suppliers as a backbone network, or at other network locations for such emerging new access technologies as personal communications services (PCS), local multipoint communication systems (LMCS), and satellite systems.