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Ten misunderstood IT terms

Maryann Tripp
In storage, even the simplest of terms can get confused -- especially when many original meanings seem to change over time. Check out our list of commonly misunderstood terms and see if you're on top of the IT word game.

1. In the computer industry, this is an organization that uses computers. A word was needed that would encompass corporations, small businesses, non-profit institutions, government bodies, and possibly other kinds of organizations. This term seemed to do the job.

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What is it?

2. This is the ability of a system or a product to work with other systems or products without special effort on the part of the customer.
What is it?

3. This confusing term has two meanings: Originally, this was a company that supplied equipment to other companies to resell or incorporate into another product using the reseller's brand name.
What is it?

4. In computers, this is an underlying computer system on which application programs can run.
What is it?

5. In packet-switched networks such as the Internet, this is a device or, in some cases, software in a computer, that determines the next network point to which a packet should be forwarded toward its destination.
What is it?

6. In information technology, this is a computer program that provides services to other computer programs (and their users) in the same or other computers.
What is it?

7. This is the activity of copying files or databases so that they will be preserved in case of equipment failure or other catastrophe. It is usually a routine part of the operation of large businesses with mainframes as well as the administrators of smaller business computers.
What is it?

8. In information technology, especially computers and more recently networks, this is a term applied to both the process and the outcome of thinking out and specifying the overall structure, logical components, and the logical interrelationships of a computer, its operating system, a network or other conception.
What is it?

9. In data communications, this is a thousand bits. It's commonly used for measuring the amount of data that is transferred in a second between two telecommunication points.
What is it?

10. In electronic communication, this is the width of the range of frequencies that an electronic signal uses on a given transmission medium. In this usage, it is expressed in terms of the difference between the highest-frequency signal component and the lowest-frequency signal component.
What is it?

Related Topics: Disk arrays, RAID, VIEW ALL TOPICS

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