The Computer Industry loves Acronyms and buzzwords. Below you will find a list of these and their meanings.

If there is a particular word or phrase you are searching for that is not listed here, please contact us and we will do are best to try and assist you. MS Access Microsoft Access is a popular choice for database integration on the Web. It is available on with NT Server and is fully compatible with ASP. Active Server Pages An ASP (Active Server Page) is an HTML page that includes one or more scripts that are processed on a web server before the page is sent to the user. ASP is often used to accomplish basic tasks which are not supported by basic HTML such as a mail form, a counter or a guest book. Additional Domain Pointers Additional domain name pointers resolve to the root level of your website just like your original domain name. Additional domain names cannot point to a subdirectory within your Web site. 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. ADSL is often discussed as an alternative to ISDN, allowing higher speeds in cases where the connection is always to the same place. See also bit, bps, ISDN Anonymous FTP The capability of setting up a public area for remote access to your Web site. Backbone A high-speed line or series of connections that forms a major pathway within a network. For example, the National Science Foundation's network was, for many years, the backbone of the Internet. Bandwidth The maximum amount of data that can travel a communications path in a given time, usually measured in seconds. If you think of the communications path as a pipe, then bandwidth represents the width of the pipe that determines how much data can flow through it all at once. It is usually measured in megabytes (MB) or gigabytes (GB). Bit (Binary DigIT) -- A single digit number in base-2, in other words, either a 1 or a zero. The smallest unit of computerized data. Bandwidth is usually measured in bits-per-second. See also Bandwidth, Bps, Byte, Kilobyte, Megabyte Bps (Bits-Per-Second) -- A measurement of how fast data is moved from one place to another. A 28.8 modem can move 28,800 bits per second. See also Bandwidth, Bit Byte A set of Bits that represent a single character. Usually there are 8 Bits in a Byte, sometimes more, depending on how the measurement is being made. See also Bit Common Gateway Interface (CGI) The interface program that enables an Internet server to run external programs to perform a specific function. Also referred to as Gateway or CGI "scripts," these programs generally consist of a set of instructions written in a programming language like C or PERL that process requests from a browser, execute a program and format the results in HTML, so they can be displayed in the browser. CGI scripts are often used to accomplish tasks which are not supported by basic HTML such as a mail form, a counter or a guest book. cgi-bin The most common name of a directory within a Web site in which CGI programs are stored. The bin part of cgi-bin is a shorthand version of binary, because once upon a time, most programs were referred to as "binaries". In real life, most programs found in cgi-bin directories are text files -- scripts that are executed by binaries located elsewhere on the same machine. CyberCash CyberCash enables you to securely process credit card transactions 24 hours a day, seven days a week to a new global marketplace. CyberCash works with all the popular browsers, as well as the majority of Internet hardware, software, servers, communication protocols, and Web store applications. Data Transfer Data transfer refers to the amount of data transfer or bandwidth your Web hosting account is allocated. Any outward-bound traffic from your Web site is considered data transfer For example, each time a html file, image or other element of your Web site is requested, data is transferred from your Web site to your visitor's computer. Disk Storage Space Disk storage space refers to the amount of server disk storage your Web hosting account is allocated. This space is used to store your html files, graphics, audio clips, POP mail messages, pdfs, and other files that make up your Web site. Each of our plans includes a specified allotment of disk storage space, but additional space can be purchased for any account at $0.50 per MB per month. Domain Name The unique name that identifies an Internet site. The Internet is made up of hundreds of thousands of computers and networks, all with their own domain name or unique address. Domain names always have two or more parts separated by dots. A given server may have more than one domain name, but a given domain name points to only one server. Domain names typically consist of some form of the organization's name and a suffix that describes the type of organization. For example, Innovative Data Transfer has registered the domain name "inovadev.com". Registration is on a first come, first served basis. The domain name suffix is assigned based on the type of organization. For main suffixes the Internet are: .com - corporations .edu - educational institutions .org - non-profit organizations .net - network provider .ca -  Canada .bc -  British Columbia etc. E-mail Accounts Short for electronic mail, e-mail consists of messages, often just text, sent from one user to another via a network. E-mail can also be sent automatically to a number of addresses. You can retrieve e-mail directly from a POP3 mailbox on the mail server using any e-mail program. Each Web hosting account comes unique E-mail Accounts, E-mail Aliasing, E-mail Forwarding, and E-mail Auto-responding. Additional E-mail Accounts can be purchased at a cost of $2 per E-mail Account per month. E-mail Aliasing Once your domain name is active worldwide, you can setup additional e-mail aliases under your domain name. For example, bob@yourdomain.com might also respond to all e-mail addressed to sales@yourdomain.com and orders@yourdomain.com. Rather than setup separate e-mail accounts, all e-mail sent to either any one of these accounts can be will be forwarded to the single e-mail account bob@yourdomain.com. E-mail Autoresponding Autoresponders can be used to send automated responses to incoming e-mail sent to a specific e-mail address. An autoresponder could be used to send a standard message to anyone e-mailing, for example, info@yourdomain.com, which notifies that person that the recipient is away from the office, and will respond to all incoming e-mail after a certain time or date. E-mail Forwarding This automatic feature allows an individual to forward a new e-mail account to an existing e-mail account. This eliminates the need to setup additional e-mail programs or an e-mail program that supports multiple e-mail accounts. Encryption A way of coding the information in a file or e-mail message so that if it is intercepted by a third party as it travels over a network it cannot be read. Only the person or persons that have the right type of decoding software can unscramble the message. See SSL. MS FoxPro A popular database that can be deployed on a NT Server for high-speed database functionality. FTP An acronym for File Transfer Protocol -- a very common method of transferring files from your computer to your Web site. Every Web Hosting account includes unlimited access to your Web site via FTP 24-hours a day to set up and maintain your Web site within the allocated data transfer limits. You can work on HTML documents, graphics, and scripts locally and then upload files to your Web site when ready. FrontPage® Microsoft FrontPage® extensions can be setup for your account. This allows you to use the easy-to-use Microsoft FrontPage program to create and maintain your Web site. You may request that FrontPage extensions be installed within your Web site when placing an order for domain Web hosting services or contact our support department directly. Microsoft provides direct support for all FrontPage users. Gigabyte 1000 or 1024 Megabytes, depending on who is measuring. See also Byte, Megabyte Graphical Web Control Panel An control panel accessed via any Web browser to completely manage your Web site. It allows easy setup and maintenance of e-mail accounts, password protection, data sources, and much more. Hits As used in reference to the 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. Hits are often used as a very rough measure of load on a server, ie: "Our server has been getting 300,000 hits per month." Because each "hit" can represent anything from a request for a tiny document (or even a request for a missing document) all the way to a request that requires some significant extra processing (such as a complex search request), the actual load on a machine from 1 hit is almost impossible to define. IP Address A numeric code that uniquely identifies a particular computer on the Internet. Just as a street address identifies the location of your home or office, every computer or network on the Internet has a unique address, too. Internet addresses are assigned to you by an organization called InterNIC. You register your address with InterNIC as both a name (inovadev.com), which is referred to as the domain name, and a number (204.53.130.70), which is generally referred to as the IP address or IP number. Because the numeric addresses are difficult to understand or remember, most people use names instead like inovadev.com. A software database program called Domain Name Service (DNS) tracks the names and translates them into their numerical equivalent so that the computers can understand what they are and find them. See Domain Name. ISDN An acronym for Integrated Services Digital Network. ISDN lines are connections that use ordinary phone lines to transmit digital instead of analog signals, allowing data to be transmitted at a much faster rate than with a traditional modem. An ISDN line can offer you inexpensive, high-bandwidth connections, but you may have to buy special equipment (like routers and switchers) that allow ISDN to communicate with your internal networks. Kilobyte A thousand bytes. Actually, usually 1024 (2^10) bytes. See also Byte, Bit Listserv The most common kind of maillist, Listservs originated on BITNET but they are now common on the Internet. Megabyte A million bytes. Actually, technically, 1024 kilobytes. See also Byte, Bit, Kilobyte Newsgroups Electronic discussion groups consisting of collections of related postings (also called articles) on a particular topic that are posted to a news server which then distributes them to other participating servers. There are thousands of newsgroups covering a wide range of subjects. You must subscribe to a newsgroup in order to participate in it or to track the discussion on an on-going basis. Unlike with a magazine or newspaper, subscribing to a newsgroup does not cost anything. Newsgroups are found primarily on Usenet. Usenet is the collection of computers that participate in a global conferencing system that make newsgroups perhaps the largest distributed bulletin board system in the world. Newsgroups are one of the oldest and most widely used services on the Internet. There are more than 30,000 of them, with new ones coming online all the time. Not all newsgroups are carried by Usenet, and Usenet is carried by networks that are not on the Internet. Various programs called newsreaders let you subscribe, read and post to newsgroups. Newsreaders usually are distributed with, or included in your Web browser. With this browser, for example, the Quarterdeck Message Center is your newsreader. Newsgroup topics cover the entire range of human interests, from Autos to Zaire. Some newsgroups are "moderated," which means that a person decides which postings will become part of the conversation. Most are un-moderated, which means that any posting sent to the list is automatically added to the group. ODBC Database An ODBC compliant database enables a Web developer to bring a set of data onto the Web with the functionality of SQL. Many clients already utilize ODBC database technology in their business environment, allowing for seamless integration. See also SQL Database Server Password Protected Pages A feature that allows you to protected specific pages of your Web site with groups of user ID and password combinations. Perl/PerlScript Perl is a language which is often used to develop CGI programs. Perl is a popular choice for developing features which are not supported by basic HTML such as a mail form, a counter or a guest book. POP Server A server using the Post Office Protocol, which holds users' incoming e-mail until they read or download it. Raw Log Files For statistical analysis, you may download for compiling on your local machine. Router A piece of hardware or software that connects two or more networks. A router functions as a sorter and interpreter as it looks at addresses and passes bits of information to their proper destination.   SMTP An acronym for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, SMTP is the protocol used for routing e-mail across the Internet. Secure Socket Layer (SSL) A protocol developed by Netscape Communications Corporation for securing data transmission in commercial transactions on the Internet. Using public-key cryptography, SSL provides server authentication, data encryption, and data integrity for client/server communications. Shopping Cart Add the convenience and power of our integrated shopping cart system for e-commerce Web site. Statistics Comprehensive daily statistics graphical reports on your Web site that feature customized graphs that graphically depict the amount of traffic to your Web site, which documents are being accessed, and who is accessing them. SQL Database Server The Microsoft(TM) SQL Database Server offers advanced, scalable database solutions that take advantage of Web technology. It is the only RDBMS that includes integrated, automatic HTML generation features. The SQL server is capable of processing over 10 million transactions per day and works seamlessly with existing Microsoft internet and development technologies. See also ODBC T1 Line A leased-line connection capable of carrying data at 1,544,000 bits-per-second. At maximum theoretical capacity, a T-1 line could move a megabyte in less than 10 seconds. That is still not fast enough for full-screen, full-motion video, for which you need at least 10,000,000 bits-per-second. T-1 is the fastest speed commonly used to connect networks to the Internet. Please contact us for additional information. See also Bandwidth, Bit, Byte, T3 T3 Line A leased-line connection capable of carrying data at 44,736,000 bits-per-second. This is more than enough to do full-screen, full-motion video. Please contact us for additional information. See also Bandwidth, Bit, Byte, T3 Terabyte 1000 gigabytes. See also Byte, Kilobyte 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). A URL looks like this: http://www.inovadev.com The most common way to use a URL is to enter into a WWW browser program, such as Netscape. 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, maybe half. USENET is completely decentralized, with over 10,000 discussion areas, called newsgroups. See also Newsgroups VBScript Visual Basic Scripting on NT for Web sites. MS Visual InterDev 6.0 A tool commonly used for database integration on NT servers.