Acronym |
Translation |
ACL |
Access Control List (computer security) |
ACPI |
Advanced Configuration & Power Interface |
ADSL |
Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line |
AGP |
Accelerated Graphics Port |
AHCI |
Advanced Host Controller Interface (SATA) |
AIM |
AOL Instant Messenger |
AMPS |
Advanced Mobile Phone Service |
AMR |
Audio Modem Riser (replaced by CNR) |
ANSI |
American National Standards Institution |
API |
Application Program Interface |
ARP |
Address Resolution Protocol |
ASCII |
American Standard Code for Information Interchange |
ASP |
Application Service Provider |
ASP |
Active Server Page |
ASPI |
Advanced SCSI Programming Interface |
ATA |
AT Attachment |
ATX |
Advanced Technology eXtended (power supplies) |
ATAPI |
AT Attachment Packet Interface |
AVI |
Audio Video Interleave |
BER |
Bit Error Rate |
BEST |
Bravo Elite Service Team |
BGP |
Border Gateway Protocol (Internet routing) |
BIND |
Berkeley Internet Named Domain |
BIOS |
Basic Input/Output System (soon to be succeeded by EFI) |
BRI |
Basic Rate Interface (ISDN) |
CBT |
Computer Based Training |
cc |
Country Code (aka: ccTLD) |
CAL |
Client Access License (to add
"seats" to a server product) |
CDMA |
Code Division Multiple Access |
CDN |
Content Delivery Network |
CF |
Compact Flash |
CGI |
Common Gateway Interface (webdev) |
CIR |
Consumer Infra-Red receiver |
CLR |
Common Language Runtime (.NET) |
CMS |
Content Management System |
CNR |
Communications & Networking Riser (replaces AMR) |
DAT |
Digital Audio Tape |
DCE |
Data Communications Equipment |
DDNS |
Dynamic DNS |
DDOS |
Distributed Denial of Service (attack) |
DDR |
Double Data Rate |
DHCP |
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol |
DHTML |
Dynamic Hyper-Text Markup Language |
DIMM |
Dual In-Line Memory Module |
DLT |
Digital Linear Tape |
DMA |
Direct Memory Access |
DMCA |
Digital Millennium Copyright Act |
DMZ |
DeMilitarized Zone |
DNS |
Domain Name Server |
DNSBL |
DNS Blacklist (List SPAM sources by IP) |
DOS |
Denial of Service (attack) |
DPI |
Dots Per Inch |
DRAM |
Dynamic RAM |
DRM |
Digital Rights Management |
DSL |
Digital Subscriber Line |
DSP |
Digital Signal Processor |
DVI |
Digital Video Interface |
DVMT |
Dynamic Video Memory Technology |
ECC |
Error Checking & Correcting |
EDI |
Electronic Data Interchange |
EFI |
Extensible Firmware Interface (successor for BIOS) |
EFS | Microsoft Encrypted File System |
EFS | Amazon Elastic File System |
EHCI |
Enhanced Host Controller Interface |
EOL |
End of Life |
ERP |
Enterprise Resource Planning |
FAQ |
Frequently Asked Questions |
FAT |
File Allocation Table |
FC-PGA |
Flip-Chip Pin Grid Array |
FDDI |
Fiber Distributed Data Interface |
FLOP |
FLoating Point Operation |
FQDN |
Fully-Qualified Domain Name |
FRS |
Family Radio Service |
FSB |
Front Side Bus |
FTP |
File Transfer Protocol |
GIF |
Graphics Interchange Format |
GMRS |
General Mobile Radio Service |
GNU |
GNU's Not Unix |
GPL |
GNU Public License |
GPS |
Global Positioning System |
GPT |
GUID Partition Table (successor to MBR) |
GSM |
Global System for Mobile Communications |
HDML |
Handheld Devices Markup Language |
HECI |
Host Embedded Controller Interface (Intel AMT Management
Engine) |
HPNA |
Home Phone line Network Association |
HTML |
Hyper-Text Markup Language |
HTTP |
Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol |
HTTPS |
Secure HTTP |
ICANN |
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers |
ICE |
Internet Content & Exchange Standard |
ICMP |
Internet Control Message Protocol |
IGMP |
Internet Group Management Protocol |
IDE |
Integrated Drive Electronics |
IEEE |
Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers |
IGMP |
Internet Group Multicast Protocol |
IIS |
Internet Information Server |
IMAP |
Internet Message Access Protocol |
IP |
Internet Protocol |
IPsec |
IP Security (encryption standard) |
IRC |
Internet Relay Chat |
IRDA |
InfraRed Data Association |
ISDN |
Integrated Services Digital Network |
ISO |
International Standards Organization |
ISP |
Internet Service Provider |
IT |
Information Technology
see
article on the origin of the term |
ITU |
International Telecommunications Union |
JBOD |
Just a Bunch Of Disks (drive spanning) |
JPEG |
Joint Photographic Experts Group |
KDE |
K Desktop Environment |
KVM |
Keyboard, Video & Mouse |
L2TP |
Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol (VPN) |
LAMP |
Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP (sometimes Perl or Python) |
LAN |
Local Area Network |
LBA |
Logical Block Addressing |
LCD |
Liquid Crystal Display |
LDAP |
Lightweight Directory Access Protocol |
LED |
Light Emitting Diode |
LTO |
Linear Tape-Open |
LUA |
Limited User Account (see also UAC) |
LUN |
Logical Unit Number |
LVD |
Low Voltage Differential |
MAC |
Media Access Control |
MAPI |
Messaging API |
MBR |
Master Boot Record |
MDAC |
Microsoft Data Access Componets |
MDI
MDI-X |
Medium-Dependent Interface
Medium-Dependent Interface,
Crossover |
MIDI |
Musical Instrument Digital Interface |
MIME |
Multi-purpose Internet Mail Extensions |
MMC |
Microsoft Management Console |
MMC |
MultiMedia Card |
MMX |
Matrix Math Extensions |
MSP |
Managed Service Provider |
MSS |
Managed Security Service |
MPEG |
Motion Picture Experts Group |
MTA |
Message Transfer Agent |
MTBF |
Mean Time Between Failures |
NAC |
Network Access Control |
NAP |
Network Access Protection |
NAS |
Network Attached Storage |
NDA |
Non-Disclosure Agreement |
NFS |
Network File System |
NLA |
Network Level Authentication |
NLA |
Network Location Awareness |
NOS |
Network Operating System |
NTFS |
New Technology File System |
NTSC |
National Television Standards Committee (TV signal
standard) |
OCSP |
Online Certificate Status Protocol (check cert exp.) |
ODBC |
Open DataBase Connectivity |
ODM |
Original Design Manufacturer |
OEM |
Original Equipment Manufacturer |
OLED |
Organic LED |
OSI |
Open Systems Interconnection |
PAN |
Personal Area Network |
PBX |
Private Branch Exchange |
PCI |
Payment Card Industry Compliance |
PCI |
Peripheral Component Interconnect
Intel hardware standard |
PCIe |
PCI Express (formerly 3GIO) |
PCI-X |
A variant of PCI with 133MHz & 266MHz bus |
PCL |
Printer Control Language |
PCMCIA |
Personal Computer Memory Card Interface Association |
PCS |
Personal Communications Services |
PDA |
Personal Digital Assistant |
PDF |
Portable Document Format |
PE |
Pre-installation Environment (XP, Vista, etc.) |
PGP |
Pretty Good Privacy |
PKI |
Public Key Infrastructure |
PNG |
Portable Network Graphics (file format) |
POP |
Post Office Protocol, also POP3 (the current version) |
POP |
Point of Presence (ISP) |
PPGA |
Plastic Pin Grid Array |
PPP |
Point-to-Point Protocol |
PPTP |
Point to Point Tunneling Protocol (VPN) |
PRI |
Primary Rate Interface (ISDN) |
PROM |
Programmable Read Only Memory |
PXE |
Preboot eXecution Environment ("pixie") |
QoS |
Quality-of-Service (prioritization scheme) |
RAID |
Redundant Array of Inexpensive Drives |
RAM |
Random Access Memory (as opposed to sequential) |
RAM |
Read/Write Memory (originally RWM, a homonym, a very common and now accepted mistake) |
RAS |
Remote Access Services |
RDP |
Remote Desktop Protocol (see also: TS) |
RF |
Radio Frequency |
RFC |
Request For Comments |
RGB |
Red-Green-Blue |
RMON |
Remote Monitoring |
RPC |
Remote Procedure Call |
RSVP |
ReSerVation Protocol |
SaaS |
Software-as-a-Service |
SAN |
Storage Area Network |
SATA |
Serial ATA |
SBC |
Server-based Computing |
SCSI |
Small Computer Systems Interface |
SD |
Secure Digital (memory card) |
SDK |
Software Developer's Kit |
SECC |
Single Edge Contact Cartridge (started by Pentium II) |
SEO |
Search Engine Optimization |
SID |
Security Identifier |
SIMM |
Single In-Line Memory Module (see also: DIMM) |
SLA |
Service Level Agreement |
SLIP |
Serial Line Internet Protocol |
SMART |
Self Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology (hard drive) |
SMB |
Server Message Block (aka: CIFS) |
SMTP |
Simple Mail Transport Protocol |
SNMP |
Simple Network Management Protocol |
SoDIMM |
Small Outline DIMM (notebook memory form factor) |
SOA |
Service-Oriented Architecture |
SOHO |
Small Office / Home Office |
SPD |
Serial Presence Data (memory module standard) |
SPF |
Sender Policy Framework (email) |
SPI |
Stateful Packet Inspection (firewall) |
SQL |
Structured Query Language (database) |
SSL |
Secure Socket Layer (https:// protocol, Internet session encryption) |
SVGA |
Super VGA |
TAPI |
Telephony API |
TCP |
Transmission Control Protocol |
TDMA |
Time Division Multiple Access |
TFT |
Thin Film Transistor ("active" LCD technology) |
TFTP |
Trivial FTP |
TIFF |
Tag Image File Format |
TLD |
Top Level Domain |
TLS |
Transport Layer Security (successor to SSL) |
TS |
Terminal Services (see also RDP) |
UAC |
User Account Control (Vista) |
UDMA |
Ultra DMA |
UDP |
User Datagram Protocol |
UEFI |
Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (successor to BIOS) |
UNC |
Universal Naming Convention (e.g.: \\host\share\dir\doc.ext) |
UPS |
Uninterruptible Power Supply |
URL |
Uniform Resource Locator (xxx://yyy/zzz) |
USB |
Universal Serial Bus (interface) |
UTP |
Unshielded Twisted Pair (cable) |
VAR |
Value-Added Reseller |
VBA |
Visual Basic for Applications |
VBR |
Variable Bit Rate |
VCD |
Video CD |
VDI |
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure |
VGA |
Video Graphics Array |
VLSI |
Very Large Scale Integration |
VoIP |
Voice Over IP |
VPN |
Virtual Private Network |
WAN |
Wide Area Network |
WAP |
Wireless Application Protocol |
WBT |
Web Based Training |
WEP |
Wired Equivalent Privacy |
Wi-Fi |
IEEE 802.x standards for WLAN |
WLAN |
Wireless LAN |
WPA |
Wi-Fi Protected Access (successor to WEP) |
WWW |
World Wide Web |
XML |
eXtensible Markup Language |
XMPP |
Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (formerly Jabber) |
XPS |
XML Paper Specification |
ZIF |
Zero Insertion Force |