| ISP Dictionary - ISP Glossary Definitions for 'i' |
| i-Link - Sony's name for the IEEE 1394, or FireWire, interface. For some reason Sony decided to pick its own name for the IEEE 1394 interface when it is used on... |
| i-Mode - A packet-based means of wireless data transfer used widely in Japan and offered by Japanese mobile phone company NTT DoCoMo. iMode uses CWML (Compact Wireless... |
| I/O - This abbreviation refers to any operation in a computer where data is transferred in or out of the computer. I/O may seem like a vague concept, but it... |
| I2O - The I2O standard was designed to simplify and speed up I/O operations on servers. It was going to eliminate the need for different drivers for each OS,... |
| IA-32 - Intel's 32-bit instruction architecture that runs on the company's 386, 486, Pentium, Pentium Pro/II/III/4, and future consumer chips. |
| IA-64 - Intel's 64-bit instruction architecture that features EPIC and runs on the Itanium processor. It's a fully 64-bit architecture built new from the ground... |
| IANA - Internet Assigned Numbers Authority |
| IANAL - You may see this abbreviation used in message rooms or chat rooms when people attempt to interpret a situation legally but are not actually lawyers. |
| ICANN - Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers |
| ICMP - A TCP/IP messaging protocol that runs specifically over IP (as opposed to UDP). This protocol is used to announce network errors, timeouts, and congestion.... |
| ICMP Flood - A type of Denial of Service attack that sends large amounts of (or just over-sized) ICMP packets to a machine in order to attempt to crash the TCP/IP stack... |
| Icon - A graphic, usually a small one, that represents something, usually a file on the hard drive. Icons can also represent directories, folders, devices, or... |
| ICQ - One of the first and most popular instant messaging clients. It was developed by Mirabilis, which was later purchased by AOL. |
| IDE - see Integrated Device Electronics when talking about hard drives and storage devices, and Integrated Development Environment when talking about development... |
| identity theft - illicit impersonation of a victim by accessing personal information, often used to obtain credit, merchandise, and services in the name of the victim,... |
| IEEE - Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers, a professional organization which sets standards for telecommunications and computers. |
| IETF - An international group open to the public, generally made up of network designers, operators, vendors, and researchers concerned with the evolution of... |
| IIRC - Short for If I Remember Correctly. |
| IIS - The name for Microsoft's webserver. It works with server versions of Microsoft's operating systems, and was first developed for Windows NT Server. Starting... |
| ILEC - Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier. See LEC |
| Illegal - Within the context of a computer program, this refers to any operation that attempts to access an area of memory or perform an instruction that is not... |
| image map - A graphic on a web page used for navigation. Clicking on different representative areas of the graphic links you to different related pages. Web designers... |
| IMAP - Internet Message Access Protocol (sometimes listed as Internet Mail Access Protocol). A mail protocol that provides management of received messages on... |
| IMHO - Shorthand for In My Humble Opinion. Often used in chat and messages by people whose opinion is anything but humble. Sometimes more accurately rendered... |
| iMode - A packet-based means of wireless data transfer used widely in Japan and offered by Japanese mobile phone company NTT DoCoMo. iMode uses CWML (Compact Wireless... |
| Impedance - A measure of resistance to electrical current flow when a voltage is moved across something, such as a resistor. Impedance is measured in ohms, and is... |
| Import - The process of pulling data into a program. Normally it refers to taking a plain text file and pulling it into a database format so that you can work with... |
| Incremental Backup - A method of archiving data. Basically, during an incremental backup all data that has changed since the last full (or previous incremental) backup will... |
| Independent Software Vendor - A software company that creates software to run on a platform or platforms that it doesn't create. For example, Microsoft is not an ISV because it owns... |
| Industry Standard Adapter - The original 8- and 16-bit expansion card standard used in PCs. ISA cards run at a bus speed of 8MHz. You can plug ISA expansion cards into an ISA slot.... |
| Infiniband - A standard created by Intel and other server manufacturers to link servers and network devices externally at high speeds. It should scale as high at 30GB/second,... |
| Information Services - This refers to the field of computer technology, but has been replaced by the newer and sexier term "IT." |
| Information Technology - The field of work dealing with computers and technology, or more specifically, the organization within a company that takes care of all of the computers,... |
| Infrared - A form of radiation that has a wavelength above that of visible light and below that of microwaves. Infrared radiation has wavelengths between 750 and... |
| InfraRed Data Association - These people developed the IRDA port standard that transfers data through the use of infrared light. Of course, you must have two IRDA devices to get any... |
| Infrared Link Access Protocol - The IrDA has defined this protocol as a means of communication between serial Infrared devices. It's widely supported in PDAs, laptops, and some network... |
| Initial Public Offering - When a private company plans to go public (i.e., allows its stock to be traded to the public) it files for an Initial Public Offering with the Securities... |
| Inkjet Printer - The next generation of dot matrix printers. It uses a head that sprays tiny droplets of ink onto print material. There are three major benefits to this... |
| inlining - The practice of putting an IMG tag in a web page that calls a graphic from another site. Many sites, particularly those offering free storage, now view... |
| Input - Anything entered into a computer or system. This includes keystrokes, mouse movement, and talking into a microphone. |
| Input/Output - This abbreviation refers to any operation in a computer where data is transferred in or out of the computer. I/O may seem like a vague concept, but it... |
| Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers - A non-profit organization of engineers that holds conferences, publishes literature, and develops standards for electronics. Its membership spans over... |
| Instruction - The simplest direction that you can give to a processor. Programs are made up of these, but usually don't go down to such nitty-gritty levels unless you... |
| Instruction Decode Unit - The part of a microprocessor pipeline that decodes instructions that are sent to the microprocessor. It can decode and optimize the order of instructions... |
| Int 13h - An interrupt that allows for identification of a hard drive and transfer of data through the ATA/IDE interface. Limitations in the addressing capabilities... |
| Integrated Circuit - A combination of multiple circuits into a single integrated device. Today the common microprocessor uses many millions of transistors, with each transistor... |
| Integrated Development Environment - A development environment that is integrated into an application. For example, many office suite programs feature a macro language that can be expanded... |
| Integrated Device Electronics - IDE is the standard hard drive interface for PCs. You can connect a maximum of two hard drives to an IDE connection or channel. IDE hard drives are cheaper... |
| Integrated Services Digital Network - A digital line that is often used to connect to the Internet. It generally comes in two flavors: one is a 56Kbps version, which in actuality only uses... |
| intellectual property - The concept of legal protection for original creations. It encompasses copyright, trademarks, and patents. |
| Interface - A connection point that allows for interaction between some hardware or software and other hardware or software (or a person). |
| Interlaced - This means that the graphic data is split (usually into two parts), and is displayed alternately line by line. The first pass draws every even line, and... |
| Interleave - This typically refers to the numbering scheme of sectors of data on hard drives. With an interleave of one, sectors are numbered sequentially. With an... |
| Intermediate Code - Code that is generated by the first step in a compiler. Rather than translating code directly from one language to another, compilers first translate it... |
| International Standards Organization - These folk create standards for everything, from cleanliness to file formats. |
| International Telecommunications Union - A Swiss organization that decides on international telecommunications standards. An example of its work is the V.90 56K modem standard. |
| Internet - 1. A network of many networks that interconnect worldwide and use the Internet Protocol (IP). See the Internet FAQ. |
| Internet Control Message Protocol - A TCP/IP messaging protocol that runs specifically over IP (as opposed to UDP). This protocol is used to announce network errors, timeouts, and congestion.... |
| Internet Engineering Task Force - An international group open to the public, generally made up of network designers, operators, vendors, and researchers concerned with the evolution of... |
| Internet Information Server - The name for Microsoft's webserver. It works with server versions of Microsoft's operating systems, and was first developed for Windows NT Server. Starting... |
| Internet Message Access Protocol - A standard for retrieving mail that is more advanced than POP3 in that you create folders on the server and those folders will show up in any e-mail client... |
| Internet Protocol - A connectionless communications protocol that forms part of the basis for the TCP/IP protocol suite. It is a fast protocol, but it has no mechanism for... |
| Internet Relay Chat - A client/server protocol where IRC clients can connect to an IRC server and "chat." There are several networks of these computers, and there are thousands... |
| Internet Server API - An API proposed by Microsoft to replace CGI. Programs written to ISAPI are compiled as DLLs and stored in memory so they can be run faster than CGI scripts--or... |
| Internet Service Provider - A company that provides Internet access to people or corporations. Early ISPs generally had pools of modems awaiting dial-up connections, but many ISPs... |
| Interrupt request - A means for devices to request time from the processor to do their jobs. For instance, every time you hit a key on your keyboard an interrupt is generated... |
| Interstitial Ad - A Web advertisement that pops up in between the viewing of Web pages. See also superstitial ads. |
| Intranet - A network of networks that interconnects within a single widespread organization and uses the Internet Protocol (IP). The sites within an Intranet are... |
| IP - Internet Protocol. See TCP/IP |
| IP address - IP addresses, together with domain addresses are |
| IPO - When a private company plans to go public (i.e., allows its stock to be traded to the public) it files for an Initial Public Offering with the Securities... |
| IPSEC - The IETF standard for "secure IP" transport. Typically IPSEC is used in branch-VPN tunnels between routed LAN segments, but it's destined to become the... |
| IPv4 - An outdated version of the IP protocol that is still in use on the Internet. It uses a 32-bit addressing scheme, represented by four 8-bit (0-255) numbers... |
| IPv6 - The current version of the IP protocol that features a 128-bit addressing scheme, as opposed to the 32-bit addressing scheme of IPv4, supporting a much... |
| IPX/SPX - A network protocol made famous by Novell's NetWare operating system. It is much more scalable than NetBEUI, but it is not as easy to route as TCP/IP. Thus,... |
| IRC - Internet Relay Chat. An Internet protocol that allows people all over the world to meet in |
| IRDA - These people developed the IRDA port standard that transfers data through the use of infrared light. Of course, you must have two IRDA devices to get any... |
| IrLAP - The IrDA has defined this protocol as a means of communication between serial Infrared devices. It's widely supported in PDAs, laptops, and some network... |
| IRQ - A means for devices to request time from the processor to do their jobs. For instance, every time you hit a key on your keyboard an interrupt is generated... |
| ISA - The original 8- and 16-bit expansion card standard used in PCs. ISA cards run at a bus speed of 8MHz. You can plug ISA expansion cards into an ISA slot.... |
| ISAPI - An API proposed by Microsoft to replace CGI. Programs written to ISAPI are compiled as DLLs and stored in memory so they can be run faster than CGI scripts--or... |
| ISDN - Integrated Services Digital Network. A technology that carries data over phone lines at up to 128Kbps for dialup users, but extends to fast broadband communications,... |
| ISO - These folk create standards for everything, from cleanliness to file formats. |
| ISO 9000 - This is a certification granted to companies that manufacture goods. It specifies that they have properly recorded all of their procedures and they meet... |
| ISP - Internet Service Provider. To find one, try ISP Deals. |
| ISV - A software company that creates software to run on a platform or platforms that it doesn't create. For example, Microsoft is not an ISV because it owns... |
| Iteration - This is a programming term. It refers to a process that can be described by a fixed number of variables and a set of rules that describes what happens... |
| Iterative - This is a programming term. It refers to a process that can be described by a fixed number of variables and a set of rules that describes what happens... |
| ITU - A Swiss organization that decides on international telecommunications standards. An example of its work is the V.90 56K modem standard. |
| IXC - Inter eXchange Carrier. Another name for a long distance telephone company. See LEC. |
