Glossary Letter A
A - Area (symbolized A) is a two-dimensional quantity representing amount or extent of surface.
A-weighted decibel (dBA or dB(A)) - A-weighted decibel (dBA or dB(A)) is an expression of the relative loudness of sounds as perceived by the human ear.
A2P messaging (application to person messaging) - A2P messaging (application to person messaging), also known as enterprise or business SMS, is a type of SMS messaging technique where a text is sent from a software application run by an enterprise to a consumer's device.
AAA server (authentication, authorization and accounting) - An AAA server is a server program that handles user requests for access to computer resources and, for an enterprise, provides authentication, authorization and accounting (AAA) services.
AARRR metrics - AARRR metrics are a measured performance analysis of a startup businesses statistics centered around the response of customers.
abacus - An abacus is a manual aid to calculating that consists of beads or disks that can be moved up and down on a series of sticks or strings within a usually wooden frame.
ABAP (Advanced Business Application Programming) - ABAP (Advanced Business Application Programming) is the primary programming language supported on the SAP NetWeaver ABAP application server platform and applications that run on it, such as SAP ERP (formerly R/3), S/4HANA and CRM.
ABC classification - ABC classification is a ranking system for identifying and grouping items in terms of how useful they are for achieving business goals.
abend (abnormal end) - An abend (abnormal end) is an unexpected or abnormal termination of an application or operating system that results from a problem with the software.
absolute truth - In general, absolute truth is whatever is always valid, regardless of parameters or context.
absolute value - Absolute value is a term used in mathematics to indicate the distance of a point or number from the origin (zero point) of a number line or coordinate system.
abstract class - An abstract class is a template definition of methods and variables in a specific class, or category of objects.
abstraction - Abstraction (from the Latin abs, meaning away from and trahere, meaning to draw) is the process of taking away or removing characteristics from something in order to reduce it to a set of essential characteristics.
Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) - Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) is an open source project created to improve the performance of web pages for mobile delivery.
acceptable use policy (AUP) - An acceptable use policy (AUP) is a document stipulating constraints and practices that a user must agree to for access to a corporate network, the internet or other resources.
acceptance test–driven development (ATDD) - Acceptance test–driven development (ATDD) is a collaborative process where developers, testers and business representatives come together to work out requirements, perceive potential pitfalls and reduce the chance of errors before coding begins.
access control list (ACL) - An access control list (ACL) is a list of rules that specifies which users or systems are granted or denied access to a particular object or system resource.
access log - An access log is a list of all requests for individual files -- such as Hypertext Markup Language files, their embedded graphic images and other associated files that get transmitted -- that people or bots have made from a website.
access network - Access networks are the communication networks that connect end-user devices, such as computers, smartphones and tablets, to a wide area network (WAN), such as the internet.
account mapping - Account mapping is a strategic process that involves researching and visually organizing the key stakeholders, decision-makers and influencers within a target customer's organization.
account-based experience (ABX) - Account-based experience (ABX) is a business-to-business (B2B) strategy in which the sales, marketing and customer success departments work together to provide accounts with a unified, personalized experience throughout the buyer journey.
account-based marketing (ABM) - Account-based marketing (ABM) is a business-to-business (B2B) strategy that focuses sales and marketing resources on target accounts within a specific market.
account-based selling - Account-based selling (ABS) is a strategic sales approach in business-to-business sales and marketing that centers around building highly personalized and targeted relationships with specific high-value accounts.
accountability - Accountability is an assurance that an individual or an organization is evaluated on its performance or behavior related to something for which it is responsible.
accountable care organization (ACO) - An accountable care organization (ACO) is an association of hospitals, healthcare providers and insurers in which all parties voluntarily assume financial and medical responsibility for Medicare patients.
accounts receivable (AR) - Accounts receivable (AR) is an item in the general ledger (GL) that shows money owed to a business by customers who have purchased goods or services on credit.
accumulator - An accumulator is a type of register for short-term, intermediate storage of arithmetic and logic data in a computer's central processing unit (CPU).
ACID (atomicity, consistency, isolation, and durability) - In transaction processing, ACID (atomicity, consistency, isolation, and durability) is an acronym and mnemonic device used to refer to the four essential properties a transaction should possess to ensure the integrity and reliability of the data involved in the transaction.
ACK (acknowledgement) - In some digital communication protocols, ACK -- short for 'acknowledgement' -- refers to a signal that a device sends to indicate that data has been received successfully.
Acronis - Acronis is a data protection software vendor that spun off as a separate company from Parallels in Singapore and became an independent company in 2003.
acronym - An acronym (pronounced AK-ruh-nihm, from Greek acro- in the sense of extreme or tip and onyma or name) is an abbreviation of several words in such a way that the abbreviation itself forms a word.
action plan - An action plan is a document that lists what steps must be taken to achieve a specific goal.
actionable insights - Actionable insights are conclusions drawn from data that can be turned directly into an action or a response.
active attack - An active attack is a network exploit in which a hacker attempts to make changes to data on the target or data en route to the target.
active defense - An active defense is the use of offensive actions to outmaneuver an adversary and make an attack more difficult and to carry out.
active directory - Active Directory (AD) is Microsoft's proprietary directory service.
Active Directory domain (AD domain) - An Active Directory domain (AD domain) is a collection of objects within a Microsoft Active Directory network.
Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) - Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) is a feature of the Windows Server operating system (OS) that extends end users' single sign-on (SSO) access to applications and systems outside the corporate firewall.
Active Directory forest (AD forest) - An Active Directory forest is the highest level of organization within Active Directory.
Active Directory functional levels - Active Directory functional levels are controls that specify which advanced Active Directory domain features can be used in an enterprise domain.
Active Directory tree - An Active Directory (AD) tree is a collection of domains within a Microsoft Active Directory network.
active RFID (active radio frequency identification) - Active RFID (radio frequency identification) tags are continuously operating, battery-powered sensors that gather and transmit data to a reading device.
active sensor - An active sensor is a device with a transmitter that sends out a signal, light wavelength or electrons to be bounced off a target, with data gathered by the sensor upon their reflection.
ActiveX - ActiveX is a set of object-oriented programming technologies and tools that Microsoft developed for Internet Explorer to facilitate rich media playback.
ActiveX controls - ActiveX controls are component program objects that Microsoft developed to enable applications to perform specific functions, such as displaying a calendar or playing a video.
Adaptive Insights (formerly called Adaptive Planning) - Adaptive Insights (formerly called Adaptive Planning) is a cloud-based corporate performance management software (CPM) vendor headquartered in Mountain View, California.
adaptive multifactor authentication (adaptive MFA) - Adaptive multifactor authentication (MFA) is a security mechanism intended to authenticate and authorize users through a variety of contextual authentication factors.
address bar - The address bar is the familiar text field at the top of a web browser’s graphical user interface (GUI) that displays the name or the URL (uniform resource locator) of the current web page.
Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) - Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) is a protocol that maps dynamic IP addresses to permanent physical machine addresses in a local area network (LAN).
address space - Address space is the amount of memory allocated for all possible addresses for a computational entity -- for example, a device, a file, a server or a networked computer.
address space layout randomization (ASLR) - Address space layout randomization (ASLR) is a memory-protection process for operating systems (OSes) that guards against buffer-overflow attacks by randomizing the location where system executables are loaded into memory.
adiabatic cooling - Adiabatic cooling is the process of reducing heat through a change in air pressure caused by volume expansion.
Adobe Experience Platform - Adobe Experience Platform is a suite of customer experience management (CXM) solutions from Adobe.
Adobe Flash - Adobe Flash is a software platform used to create rich digital content containing animation, graphic effects, streaming video and other interactive elements to deliver engaging user experiences over many platforms, including desktops and mobile devices.
Adobe Flash Player - Adobe Flash Player is software used to stream and view video, audio, multimedia and Rich Internet Applications on a computer or supported mobile device.
Adobe Sign - Adobe Sign is a cloud-based service that lets an individual or organization send, secure, track and manage e-signature processes.
ADP Mobile Solutions - ADP Mobile Solutions is a self-service mobile app that enables employees to access work records such as pay, schedules, timecards, retirement funds, benefits and calendars.
ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) - ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) is a technology that facilitates fast data transmission at a high bandwidth on existing copper wire telephone lines to homes and businesses.
advanced analytics - Advanced analytics is a broad category of inquiry that can be used to help drive changes and improvements in business practices.
Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) - The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) is a symmetric block cipher chosen by the U.
Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI) - Advanced Host Controller Interface, or AHCI, is a technical standard for an interface that enables software to communicate with Serial ATA (SATA) devices.
Advanced Message Queuing Protocol (AMQP) - Advanced Message Queuing Protocol (AMQP) is an open source published standard for asynchronous messaging by wire.
advanced persistent threat (APT) - An advanced persistent threat (APT) is a prolonged and targeted cyber attack in which an intruder gains access to a network and remains undetected for an extended period.
advanced planning and scheduling (APS) - Advanced planning and scheduling (APS) is a type of system that tracks costs based on the activities that are responsible for driving costs in the production of manufactured goods.
advanced shipping notice (ASN) - An advanced shipping notice (ASN) is a document that provides detailed information about a pending delivery.
adware - Adware is any software application in which an advertising banner or other advertising material displays or downloads while a program is running.
affinity marketing - Affinity marketing is a type of direct marketing in which a business forms a partnership with an organization to provide goods or services in exchange for access to a new market.
AgentGPT - AgentGPT is a generative artificial intelligence tool that enables users to create autonomous AI agents that can be delegated a range of tasks.
Agile Manifesto - The Agile Manifesto is a document that identifies four key values and 12 principles that its authors believe software developers should use to guide their work.
Agile operations (AgileOps) - Agile operations, or AgileOps, is a digital business operating model that builds on Agile methodologies and DevOps techniques to help organizations adapt to change quickly and efficiently.
Agile project management (APM) - Agile project management (APM) is an iterative approach to planning and guiding project processes.
Agile retrospective - An Agile retrospective is a meeting that's held at the end of an iteration in Agile software development.
agile test automation pyramid - The agile test automation pyramid is a graphical strategy guide for implementing automated software testing.
agnostic - Agnostic, in an information technology (IT) context, refers to something that is generalized so that it is interoperable among various systems.
agreed-upon procedures (AUP) - Agreed-upon procedures are the standards a company or client outlines when it hires an external party to perform an audit on specific tests or business process and then report on the results.
agri-tech - Agri-tech, sometimes ag-tech, agtech or digital agriculture, is the application of technology and digital tools to farming.
AI alignment - AI alignment is a field of AI safety research that aims to ensure artificial intelligence systems achieve desired outcomes.
AI democratization - AI democratization is the spread of artificial intelligence development to a wider user base that includes those without specialized knowledge of AI.
AI PC - An AI PC is a personal computer equipped with hardware and software components to run artificial intelligence (AI) applications and tasks.
AI prompt - An artificial intelligence (AI) prompt is a mode of interaction between a human and a large language model that lets the model generate the intended output.
AI prompt engineer - An AI prompt engineer is an expert in creating text-based prompts or cues that can be interpreted and understood by large language models and generative AI tools.
AI red teaming - AI red teaming is the practice of simulating attack scenarios on an artificial intelligence application to pinpoint weaknesses and plan preventative measures.
AI watermarking - AI watermarking is the process of embedding a recognizable, unique signal into the output of an artificial intelligence model, such as text or an image, to identify that content as AI generated.
AI winter - AI winter is a quiet period for artificial intelligence research and development.
AIDA marketing model - The AIDA marketing model is a framework that describes a buyer's journey through four key stages: Attention, Interest, Decision and Action.
air gap (air gapping) - An air gap is a security measure that involves isolating a computer or network and preventing it from establishing an external connection.
airplane mode - Airplane mode is a setting on cell phones, smartphones and other mobile communication devices that prevents the device from sending or receiving calls and text messages.
AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) - AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) is a technique aimed at creating better and faster interactive web apps by combining several programming tools including JavaScript, dynamic HTML (DHTML) and Extensible Markup Language (XML).
alert fatigue - Alert fatigue, also called alarm fatigue, is an instance where an overwhelming number of alerts causes an individual to become desensitized to them.
algorithmic transparency - Algorithmic transparency is openness about the purpose, structure and underlying actions of the algorithms used to search for, process and deliver information.
all-flash array (AFA) - An all-flash array (AFA), also known as a solid-state storage disk system or a solid-state array, is an external storage array that supports only flash media for persistent storage.
Allscripts - Allscripts is a vendor of electronic health record systems for physician practices, hospitals and healthcare systems.
Alphabet, Inc. - Alphabet, Inc.
AlphaGo - AlphaGo is an artificial intelligence agent that is specialized to play Go, a Chinese game of strategy, against human competitors.
alphanumeric (alphameric) - Alphanumeric, also referred to as alphameric, is a term that encompasses all of the letters and numerals in a given language set.
Alpine Linux - Alpine Linux is a small, security-oriented, lightweight Linux distribution based on the musl C standard library and BusyBox utilities instead of GNU.
alternate data stream (ADS) - An alternate data stream (ADS) is a feature of Windows New Technology File System (NTFS) that contains metadata for locating a specific file by author or title.
Amazon - Amazon (Amazon.
Amazon AI - Amazon AI is a set of artificial intelligence (AI) services that offer machine learning (ML) and deep learning technologies for Amazon Web Services (AWS) customers.
Amazon API Gateway - Amazon API Gateway is an Amazon Web Services (AWS) feature that enables developers to connect non-AWS applications to AWS back-end resources, such as servers and code.
Amazon AppStream - Amazon AppStream is an Amazon Web Service (AWS) that enables compute-intensive applications to be streamed from the cloud to computing devices of all types.
Amazon Athena - Amazon Athena is a service that enables a data analyst to perform interactive queries in the web-based cloud storage service, Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3).
Amazon Aurora - Amazon Aurora is a relational database engine from Amazon Web Services.
Amazon Bedrock (AWS Bedrock) - Amazon Bedrock -- also known as AWS Bedrock -- is a machine learning platform used to build generative artificial intelligence (AI) applications on the Amazon Web Services cloud computing platform.
Amazon Braket - Amazon Braket is a fully managed AWS cloud service designed to allow users remote access to a single development environment for quantum computers.
Amazon Chime - Amazon Chime is a real-time audio, video conferencing and collaboration service hosted by Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Amazon Cognito - Amazon Cognito is an Amazon Web Services product that controls user authentication and access for mobile applications on internet-connected devices.
Amazon Comprehend - Amazon Comprehend is a natural language processing (NLP) service that uses machine learning to analyze and find relationships in text.
Amazon Connect - Amazon Connect is an Amazon Web Services (AWS) public cloud customer contact center service.
Amazon EBS (Elastic Block Store) - Amazon Elastic Block Store is a cloud-based block storage system provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS) that is best used for storing persistent data.
Amazon EC2 Elastic GPUs - Amazon EC2 Elastic GPUs are virtual machines (VMs), also known as compute instances, in the Amazon Web Services public cloud with added graphics acceleration capabilities.
Amazon Echo - Amazon Echo is a product line of hands-free speaker and virtual assistant devices that interact with an end user via the Amazon Alexa cloud-based voice service.
Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) - Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) is a cloud-based file storage service for applications and workloads that run in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) public cloud.
Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) - Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) is a web-based service that enables businesses to run application programs in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) public cloud.
Amazon Elastic Container Service (Amazon ECS) - Amazon Elastic Container Service (ECS) is a cloud computing service in Amazon Web Services (AWS) that manages containers and allows developers to run applications in the cloud without having to configure an environment for the code to run in.
Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (Amazon EKS) - Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) is a cloud-based container management service that natively integrates with Kubernetes to deploy applications.
Amazon EMR (Elastic MapReduce) - Amazon EMR (previously known as Amazon Elastic MapReduce) is an Amazon Web Services (AWS) tool for big data processing and analysis.
Amazon Glacier - Amazon Glacier, also known as Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) Glacier, is a low-cost cloud storage service for data with longer retrieval times offered by Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Amazon GuardDuty - Amazon GuardDuty is a managed cloud security monitoring service that detects behavior or threats that can compromise Amazon Web Services (AWS) accounts, resources or workloads.
Amazon Inspector - Amazon Inspector is an AWS tool that automatically assesses a customer's AWS cloud deployment for security vulnerabilities and deficiencies.
Amazon Key - Amazon Key is a service that allows delivery drivers to gain access to an Amazon Prime customer's home or place of business during specified times.
Amazon Lex - Amazon Lex is an artificial intelligence (AI) web service.
Amazon Lightsail - Amazon Lightsail is an Amazon cloud service that offers bundles of cloud compute power and memory for new or less experienced cloud users.
Amazon Machine Image (AMI) - An Amazon Machine Image (AMI) is a master image for the creation of virtual servers -- known as EC2 instances -- in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) environment.
Amazon Machine Learning - Amazon Machine Learning is an Amazon Web Services product that allows a developer to discover patterns in end-user data through algorithms, construct mathematical models based on these patterns and then create and implement predictive applications.
Amazon Macie - Amazon Macie is a cloud security tool that uses machine learning to identify and protect sensitive data stored in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) public cloud.
Amazon Personalize - Amazon Personalize is a low-code recommendation engine that can generate custom recommendations for any application running on Amazon Web Services (AWS) infrastructure.
Amazon Polly - Amazon Polly is a text-to-speech service within the Amazon Web Services cloud platform.
Amazon Prime - Amazon Prime is a subscription membership to Amazon that offers customers premium services for a yearly or monthly fee.
Amazon QuickSight - Amazon QuickSight is a machine learning-powered business intelligence service built for the cloud under the Amazon Web Services (AWS) umbrella.
Amazon RDS (Relational Database Service) - Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) is a managed database service provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Amazon Redshift Spectrum - Amazon Redshift Spectrum is a feature within Amazon Web Services' Redshift data warehousing service that lets a data analyst conduct fast, complex analysis on objects stored on the AWS cloud.
Amazon Resource Name (ARN) - An Amazon Resource Name is a file naming convention used to identify a particular resource in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) public cloud.
Amazon S3 bucket - An Amazon S3 bucket is a public cloud storage resource available in Amazon Web Services' (AWS) Simple Storage Service (S3), an object storage offering.
Amazon SageMaker - Amazon SageMaker is a managed service in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) public cloud.
Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS) - Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS) is a managed message queuing service technical professionals and developers use to send, store and retrieve multiple messages of various sizes asynchronously.
Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) - Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) is a scalable, high-speed, web-based cloud storage service.
Amazon Transcribe - Amazon Transcribe is a speech recognition service that transcribes audio files into text.
Amazon Transcribe Medical - Amazon Transcribe Medical is an automatic speech recognition (ASR) service that converts physician dictated notes, consultations between physicians and patients and remote assessments and consultations into text.
Amazon Translate - Amazon Translate is a cloud service for changing large amounts of text written in one language to another language.
Amazon Trust Services - Amazon Trust Services is a certificate authority created and operated by Amazon Web Services.
Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC) - Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC) allows a developer to create a virtual network for resources in an isolated section of the Amazon Web Services cloud.
Amazon VPC traffic mirroring - Traffic mirroring is a feature for Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC).
ambient intelligence (AmI) - Ambient intelligence, sometimes referred to as AmI, is the element of a pervasive computing environment that enables it to interact with and respond appropriately to the humans in that environment.
ambient temperature - Ambient temperature is the air temperature of any object or environment where equipment is stored.
ambulatory medical record (AMR) - An ambulatory medical record (AMR) is an electronically stored file of a patient’s outpatient medical records, which includes all surgeries and care that do not involve being admitted to a hospital.
AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) - Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) is a semiconductor company, known for designing and developing computer processors and graphics technologies.
AMD Virtualization (AMD-V) - AMD-V (AMD Virtualization) technology refers to a set of hardware extensions and on-chip features for the AMD family of x86 microprocessors.
Amdahl's law - Amdahl's law -- also known as Amdahl's argument -- is an intuitive observation and an associated formula.
American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) - The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) is a professional organization that promotes the business and clinical uses of electronic and paper-based medical information.
American Medical Association (AMA) - The American Medical Association (AMA) is a physician group that works for healthcare reform and publishes a collection of medical journals.
American Wire Gauge (AWG) - American Wire Gauge (AWG) is the standard way to denote wire size in North America.
ampere - An ampere is a unit of measure of the rate of electron flow or current in an electrical conductor.
ampere hour (Ah or amp hour) - Ampere hour -- sometimes abbreviated as Ah or amp hour -- is the amount of energy charge in a battery that enables 1 ampere of current to flow for one hour.
ampere per meter (A/m) - The ampere per meter (A/m) is the measure for magnetic field strength, as defined by the International System of Units (SI).
amplifier - An amplifier is an electronic device that increases the voltage, current, or power of a signal.
analog telephone adapter (ATA) - An analog telephone adapter (ATA) is a device used to connect an analog telephone, fax machine or similar equipment to a computer or network to enable communications over the internet.
analog-to-digital conversion (ADC) - Analog-to-digital conversion (ADC) is an electronic process in which a continuously variable, or analog, signal is changed into a multilevel digital signal without altering its essential content.
analytic database - An analytic database, also called an analytical database, is a read-only system that stores historical data on business metrics such as sales performance and inventory levels.
Anaplan - Anaplan is a web-based enterprise platform for business planning.
Android Factory Reset - Android Factory Reset is a feature that erases all device settings, user data, third-party applications, and associated application data from an Android device’s internal flash storage to return the device to the condition it was in when shipped from the factory.
Android Open Source Project (AOSP) - The Android Open Source Project (AOSP) is the repository of source code and the foundation which maintains it that is responsible for the core of the Android operating system.
Android Oreo - Android 8.0 Oreo is the eighth major update to the Android operating system that contains new features and enhancements for application developers.
Android OS - Android OS is a Linux-based mobile operating system that primarily runs on smartphones and tablets.
Android Studio - Android Studio is the official integrated development environment (IDE) for Android application development.
anime - Anime, pronounced AH-nee-may, is a style of Japanese animated entertainment that has become increasingly popular around the world in recent years.
anode - An anode is the electrode in a polarized electrical device through which current flows in from an outside circuit.
anonymous FTP (File Transfer Protocol) - Anonymous File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a method for allowing users to access public files from a remote server or archive site without requiring them to identify themselves to the server or site.
ANSI (American National Standards Institute) - ANSI (American National Standards Institute) is the primary organization for fostering the development of technology standards in the United States.
ANSI/ISA-95 - ANSI/ISA-95, more commonly referred to as ISA-95, is an international standard for enterprise and control systems integration developed for manufacturers.
Ansible - Ansible is an open source IT automation platform from Red Hat.
Ansible playbook - An Ansible playbook is an organized unit of scripts that defines the tasks involved in managing a system configuration using the automation tool Ansible.
antenna - An antenna is a specialized transducer that converts electric current into electromagnetic (EM) waves or vice versa.
anti-competitive practice - An anti-competitive practice is an action conducted by one or more businesses to make it difficult or impossible for other companies to enter or succeed in their market.
anti-money laundering software (AML) - Anti-laundering software is a type of computer program used by financial institutions to analyze customer data and detect suspicious transactions.
anti-replay protocol - The anti-replay protocol provides Internet Protocol (IP) packet-level security by making it impossible for a hacker to intercept message packets and insert changed packets into the data stream between a source computer and a destination computer.
anti-spyware software - Anti-spyware software is a type of program designed to prevent and detect unwanted spyware program installations and to remove those programs if installed.
antimalware (anti-malware) - Antimalware is a type of software program created to protect IT systems and individual computers from malicious software, or malware.
antispoofing - Antispoofing is a technique for identifying and dropping packets that have a false source address.
antitrust - Antitrust is a group of laws established to regulate business practices in order to ensure that fair competition occurs in an open-market economy for the benefit of consumers.
antivirus software (antivirus program) - Antivirus software (antivirus program) is a security program designed to prevent, detect, search and remove viruses and other types of malware from computers, networks and other devices.
Apache - In computers, the Apache Software Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to maintaining many open source software projects.
Apache Hadoop YARN - Apache Hadoop YARN is the resource management and job scheduling technology in the open source Hadoop distributed processing framework.
Apache Kafka - Apache Kafka is a distributed publish-subscribe messaging system that receives data from disparate source systems and makes the data available to target systems in real time.
Apache OpenOffice - Apache OpenOffice is an open source office productivity suite used to create and edit documents (Writer), presentations (Impress), spreadsheets (Calc), graphics (Draw), mathematical formulas (Math) and databases (Base).
Apache OpenWhisk - Apache OpenWhisk is an open source and serverless cloud platform that performs functions in response to events.
Apache Solr - Apache Solr is an open source search platform built upon a Java library called Lucene.
Apex (Salesforce) - Salesforce Apex is a Microsoft-certified framework for building software as a service (SaaS) apps on top of Salesforce's customer relationship management (CRM) functionality.
API economy - The API economy refers to the set of business models and practices designed around the use of application programming interfaces (APIs) in today's digital economy.
API gateway (application programming interface gateway) - An API gateway is a software pattern that sits in front of an application programming interface (API) or group of microservices to facilitate requests and delivery of data and services.
API key - An API key is a unique identifier used to connect to, or perform, an API call.
API lifecycle management - API lifecycle management is a part of application programming interface management that supports the design, development and maintenance of APIs, including their transitioning from design and testing to a production environment.
API management - API management is the process by which an organization creates, oversees and controls application programming interfaces (APIs) in a secure, scalable environment.
API security - Application program interface (API) security refers to policies and procedures that protect APIs against malicious attacks and vulnerabilities.
APK file (Android Package Kit file format) - An APK file (Android Package Kit file format) is the file format for applications used on the Android operating system (OS).
apogee - When a satellite follows a non-circular orbit around the earth, the satellite's path is an ellipse with the center of the earth at one focus.
app - 'App' is an abbreviated form of the word 'application.
app store (application store) - An app store (application store) is an online portal through which software programs are made available for procurement and download.
app virtualization (application virtualization) - App virtualization (application virtualization) is the separation of an installation of an application from the client computer accessing it.
app wrapping (application wrapping) - App wrapping (application wrapping) is applying a management layer to an existing mobile app.
apparent power - Apparent power is a measure of alternating current (AC) power that is computed by multiplying the root-mean-square (rms) current by the root-mean-square voltage.
Apple - Apple Inc. (formerly Apple Computer Inc.
Apple 3D Touch - Apple 3D Touch was a hardware-based feature Apple introduced in iPhone 6s and 6s Plus devices running iOS 9 that perceives the amount of force a user puts on the touchscreen to activate different functions.
Apple AirDrop - Apple AirDrop is a native feature in iOS and macOS that lets users share data from one device to another on the same Wi-Fi network.
Apple Authorized Service Provider (Apple AASP) - An Apple Authorized Service Provider (AASP) is a business that provides repair services for Apple products.
Apple Automated Device Enrollment - The Apple Automated Device Enrollment program, formerly known as the Device Enrollment Program (DEP), is a device enrollment service that's included with Apple Business Manager (ABM) and Apple School Manager (ASM).
Apple Bonjour - Apple Bonjour is a group of networking technologies designed to help devices and applications discover each other on the same network.
Apple Business Manager - Apple Business Manager (ABM) is an online portal for IT administrators who deploy Mac OS, iOS and tvOS devices in an enterprise or educational setting.
Apple Intelligence - Apple Intelligence is the platform name for a suite of generative AI capabilities that Apple is integrating across its products, including iPhone, Mac and iPad devices.
Apple iOS - Apple iOS is a proprietary mobile operating system that runs on mobile devices such as the iPhone and iPad.
Apple Push Notification service (APNs) - Apple Push Notification service (APNs) is a cloud service that allows approved third-party apps installed on Apple devices to send push notifications from a remote server to users over a secure connection.
Apple TV (Apple TV 4) - Apple TV is a set-top box that allows end users to stream multimedia content from the Internet over a television.
Apple User Enrollment - Apple User Enrollment (UE) is a form of mobile device management (MDM) for Apple products that supports iOS 13 and macOS Catalina.
Apple Watch - Apple Watch is a wearable smartwatch that allows users to accomplish a variety of tasks, including making phone calls, sending text messages and reading email.
Apple watchOS (Apple Watch operating system) - Apple watchOS is the operating system (OS) designed specifically for the Apple Watch wearable device, with features that take advantage of the smaller screen and location of the device on the user's wrist.
applet - An applet is a small computer program that performs a specific task.
applicant tracking system (ATS) - An applicant tracking system (ATS) is software that manages the recruiting and hiring process, including job postings and job applications.
application architecture - An application architecture is a structural map of how a software application is assembled and how applications interact with each other to meet business or user requirements.
application blacklisting (application blocklisting) - Application blacklisting --increasingly called application blocklisting -- is a network or computer administration practice used to prevent the execution of undesirable software programs.
application containerization (app containerization) - Application containerization is a virtualization technology that works at the operating system (OS) level.
application delivery controller (ADC) - An application delivery controller (ADC) is a network component that manages and optimizes how client machines connect to web and enterprise application servers.
application firewall - An application firewall is an enhanced firewall that limits access by applications to the operating system (OS) of a computer.
application layer - The application layer sits at Layer 7, the top of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) communications model.
application layering (app layering) - Application layering (app layering) is a technology for delivering virtual applications that run in layers separate from a virtual desktop, but interact with the operating system and other apps as if they are installed natively on the base image.
application lifecycle management (ALM) - Application lifecycle management (ALM) is an integrated system of people, tools and processes that supervise a software application from its initial planning and development, through testing and maintenance, and into decommissioning and retirement.
Application Load Balancer - The Application Load Balancer is a feature of Elastic Load Balancing that allows a developer to configure and route incoming end-user traffic to applications based in the AWS public cloud.
application manager (app manager) - An application manager (app manager) is programming for overseeing the installation, patching and updating and perhaps access of software applications.
application migration - Application migration is the process of moving an application program from one environment to another.
application platform - An application platform is a framework of services that applications rely on for standard operations.
application portfolio management (APM) - Application portfolio management (APM) is a framework for managing enterprise IT software applications and software-based services.
application release automation (ARA) - Application release automation (ARA) is a process that automatically packages and deploys an application, or application updates, through the stages of development to production.
application sandboxing - Application sandboxing, also called application containerization, is an approach to software development and management and mobile application management (MAM) that limits the environments in which certain code can execute.
application security - Application security, or appsec, is the practice of using security software, hardware, techniques, best practices and procedures to protect computer applications from external security threats.
application service provider (ASP) - An application service provider (ASP) is a company that offers individuals or enterprises access to applications and related services over the internet.
application streaming - Application streaming is an on-demand software delivery model that takes advantage of the fact that most applications require only a small fraction of their total program code to run.
application support engineer (ASE) - An application support engineer (ASE) is an IT professional who provides technical support for the range of software their employer uses.
application whitelisting - Application whitelisting is the practice of specifying an index of approved software applications or executable files that are permitted to be present and active on a computer system.
Appreciative inquiry (AI) - Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is a change management approach that focuses on identifying what is working well, analyzing why it is working well and then doing more of it.
AppX file - AppX is the application distribution file format that was introduced with Microsoft Windows 8.
archive - An archive is a collection of data moved to a repository for long-term retention, to be kept separate for compliance reasons or moved off primary storage media.
AribaPay - AribaPay is a system for electronic payments for goods and services on the SAP Ariba Network, a global business trading community.
arithmetic-logic unit (ALU) - An arithmetic-logic unit (ALU) is the part of a central processing unit (CPU) that carries out arithmetic and logic operations on the operands in computer instruction words.
Arm processor - An Arm processor is one of a family of CPUs based on the RISC architecture for computer processors.
Army Knowledge Online (AKO) - Army Knowledge Online (AKO) is the United States Army intranet.
ARPANET - The U.S.
artifact (software development) - An artifact is a byproduct of software development that helps describe the architecture, design and function of software.
artificial intelligence (AI) governance - Artificial intelligence governance is the legal framework for ensuring AI and machine learning technologies are researched and developed with the goal of helping humanity adopt and use these systems in ethical and responsible ways.
Artificial Intelligence as a Service (AIaaS) - Artificial Intelligence as a Service (AIaaS) is the third-party offering of artificial intelligence (AI) outsourcing.
artificial intelligence of things (AIoT) - Artificial intelligence of things (AIoT) is the combination of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and the internet of things (IoT) infrastructure.
artificial neuron - An artificial neuron is a connection point in an artificial neural network.
artificial superintelligence (ASI) - Artificial superintelligence (ASI) is a software-based system with intellectual powers beyond those of humans across a comprehensive range of categories and fields of endeavor.
AS/400 (IBM iSeries, AS/400e, eServer iSeries/400, Power Systems) - The IBM Application System/400 -- or AS/400 -- is a family of midrange computers that was released in 1988, succeeding both System/36 and System/38 platforms.
ASAP, ALAP and ATAP - ASAP, ATAP and ALAP are acronyms that stand for, respectively, as soon as possible, as timely as possible and as late as possible.
ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) - ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) is the most common character encoding format for text data in computers and on the internet.
ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers) - ASHRAE was formed in 1959 by the merger of the American Society of Heating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHAE), founded in 1894, and the American Society of Refrigerating Engineers (ASRE), founded in 1904.
Asilomar AI Principles - Asilomar AI Principles are 23 guidelines for the research and development of artificial intelligence (AI).
ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) - Autonomic sensory meridian response (ASMR) is a tingling sensation that some people experience when exposed to particular types of auditory or visual stimuli such as whispering, tapping and slow movements.
aspect-oriented programming (AOP) - Aspect-oriented programming (AOP) is an approach to programming that allows global properties of a program to determine how it is compiled into an executable program.
assembler - An assembler is a computer program that takes in basic instructions and converts them into a pattern of bits that the computer's processor can use to perform basic operations.
asset performance management (APM) - Asset performance management (APM) is both a strategy and a set of software tools for tracking and managing the health of an organization's physical assets.
asset turnover ratio - The asset turnover ratio is a measurement that shows how efficiently a company is using its owned resources to generate revenue or sales.
assistive technology (adaptive technology) - Assistive technology is a set of devices intended to help people who have disabilities.
association rules - Association rules are if-then statements that show the probability of relationships between data items within large data sets in various types of databases.
asymmetric communications - Asymmetric communications is a term pertaining to any system in which the data speed or quantity, when averaged over time, is different in one direction from the other.
asymmetric cryptography - Asymmetric cryptography, also known as public key cryptography, is a process that uses a pair of related keys -- one public key and one private key -- to encrypt and decrypt a message and protect it from unauthorized access or use.
asymmetric cyber attack - An asymmetric cyber attack refers to cyberwarfare that inflicts a proportionally large amount of damage compared to the resources used by targeting the victim's most vulnerable security measure.
asynchronous replication - Asynchronous replication is a store-and-forward approach to data backup and protection.
at sign (address sign or @) - On the Internet, @ (pronounced "at" or "at sign" or "address sign") is the symbol in an e-mail address that separates the name of the user from the user's Internet address, as in this hypothetical e-mail address example: msmuffet@tuffet.
athenahealth Inc. - athenahealth Inc.
ATM jackpotting - ATM jackpotting is the exploitation of physical and software vulnerabilities in automated banking machines that result in the machines dispensing cash.
atomic data - In a data warehouse, atomic data is the lowest level of detail.
atomic mass unit (AMU or amu) - The atomic mass unit (AMU or amu) of an element is a measure of its atomic mass.
attack surface - An attack surface is the total number of all possible entry points for unauthorized access into any system.
attack vector - An attack vector is a path or means by which an attacker or hacker can gain access to a computer or network server in order to deliver a payload or malicious outcome.
attention training - Attention training is a technique or system designed to help people focus on the issue at hand, concentrate more effectively, procrastinate less and make better decisions in less time.
attenuation - Attenuation is a general term that refers to any reduction in the strength of a signal.
attribute - In general, an attribute is a property, quality, or characteristic that something or someone has.
audio - Audio is sound that is within the acoustic range of human hearing.
audit program (audit plan) - An audit program, also called an audit plan, is an action plan that documents what procedures an auditor will follow to validate that an organization is in conformance with compliance regulations.
augmented intelligence - Augmented intelligence is the use of technology to enhance a human's ability to execute tasks, perform analysis and make decisions.
augmented reality (AR) - Augmented reality (AR) is the integration of digital information with the user's environment in real time.
augmented reality app (AR app) - An augmented reality app (AR app) is a software application that integrates digital visual content (and sometimes audio and other types) into the user’s real-world environment.
augmented reality gaming (AR gaming) - Augmented reality gaming (AR gaming) is the real-time integration of virtual game elements with the physical environment of the player.
Australian Assistance and Access Bill - The Australian Assistance and Access Bill is legislation introduced and passed in 2018 by the Parliament of Australia to support law enforcement and security agencies in their ability to collect evidence from electronic devices.
authentic leadership - Authentic leadership is a type of management style in which people act in a real, genuine and sincere way that is true to who they are as individuals.
authentication - Authentication is the process of determining whether someone or something is who or what they say they are.
authentication factor - An authentication factor is a category of credential that is intended to verify, sometimes in combination with other factors, that an entity involved in some kind of communication or requesting access to some system is who, or what, they are declared to be.
authentication server - An authentication server is an application that facilitates the authentication of an entity that attempts to access a network.
authoritarian leadership - Authoritarian leadership, also known as autocratic leadership, is a management style where an individual possesses total decision-making power and retains as much authority as possible, often requiring followers to strictly adhere to their directives without much freedom or participation.
auto attendant (automated attendant) - An automated attendant (AA) is a telephony system that transfers incoming calls to various extensions as specified by callers, without the intervention of a human operator.
Auto-GPT - Auto-GPT is an experimental, open source autonomous AI agent based on the GPT-4 language model.
autocorrect - Autocorrect is a word processing feature that identifies misspelled words, and uses algorithms to identify the words most likely to have been intended, and edits the text accordingly.
autofill - Autofill, also called autocomplete, is a software feature that automatically inserts previously entered personal information into web form fields for the user's convenience.
Automated Clearing House fraud (ACH fraud) - ACH fraud is the theft of funds through the U.
automated machine learning (AutoML) - Automated machine learning (AutoML) is the process of applying machine learning models to real-world problems using automation.
automated reasoning - Automated reasoning is the area of computer science concerned with applying reasoning in the form of logic to computing systems.
automated testing - Automated testing is a software testing technique that automates the process of validating the functionality of software and ensures it meets requirements before being released into production.
Automatic Identification and Data Capture (AIDC) - Automatic Identification and Data Capture (AIDC) is a broad set of technologies used to collect information from an object, image or sound without manual data entry.
Automatic Private IP Addressing (APIPA) - Automatic Private IP Addressing (APIPA) is a feature of Windows-based OSes -- included since Windows 98 and Windows ME -- that enables a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol client to automatically assign an IP address to itself when there's no DHCP server available to perform that function.
automatic transfer switch (ATS) - An automatic transfer switch (ATS) is a device that automatically transfers a power supply from its primary source to a backup source when it senses a failure or outage in the primary source.
autonomous artificial intelligence (autonomous AI) - Autonomous artificial intelligence (AI) is a branch of AI in which systems and tools are advanced enough to act with limited human oversight and involvement.
autonomous system (AS) - An autonomous system (AS) in networking is a collection of one or more associated Internet Protocol (IP) prefixes with a clearly defined routing policy that governs how the AS exchanges routing information with other autonomous systems.
autoscaling - Autoscaling provides users with an automated approach to increase or decrease the compute, storage or networking resources they have allocated, as traffic spikes and use patterns demand.
AV (audio/video) - AV, an abbreviation for audio/video, is frequently used as a generic term for the audio and video components and capabilities in home entertainment systems and related product descriptions and reviews.
availability bias - In psychology, the availability bias is the human tendency to rely on information that comes readily to mind when evaluating situations or making decisions.
Avaya - Avaya is an American technology company that specializes in business communications services, such as unified communications (UC) and contact center (CC).
Average handle time (AHT): What it is and how to improve it - Average handle time (AHT) is the average amount of time it takes a call center agent to complete a customer phone call.
AWS ADS (AWS Application Discovery Service) - AWS Application Discovery Service (AWS ADS) is a tool that helps an enterprise plan application migrations to the Amazon Web Services public cloud.
AWS Artifact - AWS Artifact is a portal that provides an enterprise with access to security and compliance reports that apply to the Amazon Web Services (AWS) public cloud.
AWS Auto Scaling - AWS Auto Scaling is a service that automatically monitors and adjusts compute resources to maintain performance for applications hosted in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) public cloud.
AWS certification - AWS certification is a level of Amazon Web Services cloud expertise that an IT professional obtains after passing one or more exams the public cloud provider offers.
AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate - AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate is a category of technical certifications offered by Amazon Web Services (AWS) for beginners and professionals who run enterprise architecture programs, as well as solutions architects.
AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional - AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional certification is a category of technical certifications offered by Amazon Web Services (AWS) for professionals who design applications and systems using the AWS platform and who have professional experience deploying AWS cloud architecture.
AWS CloudFormation (Amazon Web Services CloudFormation) - AWS CloudFormation is a free service that provides Amazon Web Services customers with the tools they need to create and manage the infrastructure a particular software application requires to run on AWS.
AWS CloudTrail - AWS CloudTrail is an application program interface (API) call-recording and log-monitoring service offered by Amazon Web Services (AWS).
AWS CodeStar - AWS CodeStar is a planning and management service designed for a team of developers working on a project in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) public cloud.
AWS Cost Management - AWS Cost Management is a collection of tools that provide insight into Amazon Web Services (AWS) public cloud cost and usage.
AWS Educate (Amazon Web Services Educate) - AWS Educate is a free, online learning program that teaches students about cloud computing.
AWS Fargate - AWS Fargate is a service that enables a user to run containers on Amazon's cloud computing platform without the need to manage the underlying infrastructure.
AWS Firewall Manager - AWS Firewall Manager is a tool from Amazon Web Services that an organization can use to configure policies for the cloud vendor's native web application firewall (WAF) service.
AWS Instance Scheduler - AWS Instance Scheduler is a tool from Amazon Web Services that automates when and where a user's virtual machine instances are deployed on the public cloud.
AWS Key Management Service (AWS KMS) - AWS Key Management Service (KMS) is a managed service provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS) that allows companies to create, control and manage the cryptographic keys that encrypt and protect their data.
AWS Managed Services - AWS Managed Services is a set of services and tools that automate infrastructure management tasks for Amazon Web Services (AWS) deployments.
AWS Management Console - The AWS Management Console is a web-based application that lets users access the broad range of services included in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) platform.
AWS Network Load Balancer (NLB) - AWS Network Load Balancer (NLB) is an Amazon Web Services tool that distributes high-performance traffic across multiple cloud instances and provides automatic scaling of resources to ensure low latency and high throughput for applications.
AWS On-Demand Instances (Amazon Web Services On-Demand Instances) - AWS On-Demand Instances (Amazon Web Services On-Demand Instances) are virtual servers that run in AWS Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) or AWS Relational Database Service (RDS) and are purchased at a fixed rate per hour.
AWS Partner Network (APN) - The Amazon Web Services (AWS) Partner Network (APN) is a classification endorsed by AWS for a global community of cloud service providers and vendors once they qualify for certain benchmarks.
AWS Reserved Instances - AWS Reserved Instances (RIs) refer to compute capacity that can be reserved on Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) and Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS) to take advantage of discounted pricing.
AWS Secrets Manager - AWS Secrets Manager is a security service to centrally manage sensitive information and eliminate the need to hard-code that information into an application.
AWS Single Sign-On (AWS SSO) - AWS Single Sign-On (AWS SSO) is a service from Amazon Web Services that enables IT to manage user access to multiple applications and AWS accounts from a single, centralized console.
AWS Snowball Edge - AWS Snowball Edge is a physical appliance intended to help an enterprise migrate large volumes of data into and off of the AWS public cloud.
AWS Step Functions - AWS Step Functions is a cloud service from Amazon Web Services that enables a developer to manage and visualize the components of distributed, multi-component applications.
Azure Container Instances (ACI) - Azure Container Instances (ACI) is a service that enables a developer to deploy containers on the Microsoft Azure public cloud without having to provision or manage any underlying infrastructure.
Azure Data Studio (formerly SQL Operations Studio) - Azure Data Studio is a Microsoft tool, originally named SQL Operations Studio, for managing SQL Server databases and cloud-based Azure SQL Database and Azure SQL Data Warehouse systems.
Azure DevOps - Azure DevOps -- rebranded from Visual Studio Team Services (VSTS) in 2018 -- is a software-as-a service (SaaS) platform from Microsoft designed to provide a comprehensive toolchain for developing and deploying software projects.
Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) - Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) is a managed container orchestration service based on the open source Kubernetes system, which is available on the Microsoft Azure public cloud.
Azure Migrate - Azure Migrate is a Microsoft service that helps an enterprise assess how its on-premises workloads will perform, and how much they will cost to host, in the Azure public cloud.
Azure Quantum - Azure Quantum is a full-stack cloud service designed to allow users remote access to quantum computers.
Azure Reserved Virtual Machine Instances - Azure Reserved Virtual Machine Instances (RIs) are a type of virtual machine (VM) on the Azure public cloud that a development or IT team can reserve to use in advance.
