Amazon Web Services (AWS) Amazon.com’s cloud solution, which provides scalable hosting solutions to developers and enterprises for moving applications to the cloud.

App Software application that users download and install on their phones to perform specific tasks.

Application program interface (API) Group or library of related programming solutions that developers can use within the programs they create. For example, one API might provide developers with prepackaged code they can use to perform common Internet tasks. Another might provide developers with code they can use to encrypt or decrypt a document.

Architecture The components that make up a system, their relationships, and their interactions.

Auditing Process of examining and verifying a financial record or control.

Augmented reality The use of computer technology to enhance items that exist in the real world.

Big data A file or database that is larger than what traditional solutions can store. To store a big-data file or database, the data must be broken up into smaller pieces and stored on different servers in the cloud. Behind the scenes, a big-data file system, such as Hadoop, keeps track of where the specific pieces are stored.

Black box A software component for which developers can ignore how the component performs its processing, knowing instead that the component will produce correct results for required inputs.

Blade server A thin (3 to 6 inches thick) computer suitable for mounting in a rack with other blades. Blade servers require a smaller physical footprint, generate less heat, and consume less power than the predecessor tower computers.

Blockchain A cloud-based chain of recorded, dated, unchangeable, and encrypted transactions (called blocks). Blockchain technology is used to drive cryptocurrencies, contracts, e-commerce, and more.

Blog Another term for web log. Using a blog, users with little to no web-development experience can publish content to the web.

Bottleneck Place within a solution or system that, due to insufficient resources, slows the flow of system performance.

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) A practice that allows employees to use their own phones and laptop computers for business and personal use.

Business continuity Steps taken by a business to ensure its continued operations in the event of a system failure, disaster, or other disruptive event.

Business strategy The plans of actions designed to achieve particular goals and that a company executes.

Caching Items that are used repeatedly by an application to improve system performance are stored by using a faster disk drive or faster RAM.

Call center as a service (CCaaS) A business phone system for which the underlying hardware and software reside within the cloud.

Capital expenditures (CAPEX) Large expenditures, often for a plant, property, or large equipment (PPE), that have value over a number of years. As such, companies cannot write off the expenditures in full during the current year and must instead use a process called expense capitalization, which allows the company to deduct a portion of the expense over a number of years.

Charge backs The accounting process of allocating cloud costs to specific business units, such as 30 percent to marketing, 50 percent to information technology, and 20 percent to operations.

Cloud-based block storage device A cloud-based storage device that stores data in raw (unformatted) blocks of bits, up to a terabyte in size. The cloud-based block storage device normally does not provide a file system to manage the data stored within a block or blocks.

Cloud-based database Web-based database system that scales to meet system demands, integrates automatic backups, and allows developers access from within their programs through an API.

Cloud bursting The process of scaling an on-site solution temporarily into the cloud to meet user demand, typically in response to seasonal demand or an event-driven demand.

Cloud computing Abstraction of virtualized web-based computers, resources, and services that support scalable IT solutions.

Cloud Data Management Interface (CDMI) Developing standard by the Storage Networking Industry Association that defines how applications will interface with cloud-based storage devices behind the scenes.

Cloud elasticity The ability for the cloud to scale up and down on demand.

Cloud file system (CFS) System that allows users and applications to directly manipulate files that reside on the cloud.

Cloud governance The extension of a company’s IT governance to cloud computing.

Cloud migration The process of moving one or more applications to the cloud.

Cloud-native applications A cloud solution developed within the cloud itself, as opposed to a solution that was built in a data center and later moved to the cloud or a solution that leverages both on-premise and cloud capabilities.

Cloud provisioning The process of creating and configuring a cloud resource for use. Such provisioning may be performed by the customer, the cloud provider, or be automated through infrastructure as code.

Cloud sprawl The uncontrolled growth of an organization’s cloud resources.

CloudNAS Trade name of a particular cloud-based NAS (network-attached storage) solution.

Cold storage A storage technology for which the data that is stored within it is not immediately available to the user but instead must first be spun up or moved to a hot-storage solution. Cold storage provides a cost-effective solution for data that must be retained but does not need to be immediately accessible.

Collaboration Two or more people working together to achieve a goal.

Colocation Positioning of additional computers or communications equipment at a remote (off-site) location for load balancing, redundancy, or improved business continuity.

Common Internet File System (CIFS) A protocol that defines a standard for remote file access using a large scale of computers at a time.

Community cloud Cloud solution shared by two or more organizations, normally with shared concerns, such as schools within a university.

Containerization The process of placing an application into a Docker container for deployment.

Content delivery network (CDN) A server that is optimized to deliver content, such as video or photos quickly.

Corporate governance Processes, policies, laws, and controls that affect the way a company operates.

Customer-relationship management (CRM) Term used to describe the various aspects of locating, recruiting, managing, and growing a company’s customer base.

Coupling Degree of dependence between a calling program and the web service.

Data integration Process of combining data from two or more solutions.

Data wiping A process performed by cloud-based storage devices that overwrites (wipes) a file’s contents when a file is deleted. By wiping a file in this way, another application that allocates the deleted file’s storage locations cannot access the deleted file’s contents.

Denial-of-service attack An attack where a hacker attempts to consume resources on a system in such a way as to make the resources unavailable or delayed to the system users.

Diminishing return The point at which adding resources fails to change a system’s performance or output.

Direct-attached storage (DAS) Storage device that attaches directly to a computer, notebook, or server.

Disaster recovery as a service A cloud service that not only backs up critical data, but that also provides readily available computing resources.

Disaster recovery plan (DRP) Plan that details the steps taken by an organization to resume business operations following an event such as a natural disaster or terrorist attack.

Domain name A name that corresponds to a site in the cloud, such as Google.com, Microsoft.com, or PetPhotos.com.

Dumb terminal A screen monitor connected to a mainframe or desktop computer. Unlike a desktop computer, a dumb terminal had no processing capabilities. Instead, the dumb terminal had a monitor to display the mainframe’s output and a keyboard with which a user could interact with the mainframe.

Economics Study of the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.

Economies of scale The cost savings gained through expansion. A cloud-based service provider normally has greater economies of scale than an on-premise data center because of their buying power and ability to use resources across multiple customers.

Ecosystem Environment that consists of living and nonliving things with which one interacts.

Federated identity management (FIDM) Technologies and protocols that combine to allow the exchange of identity attributes across autonomous systems.

File system Within an operating system, a file system is the software that lets users store and later retrieve files. Today, most file systems have evolved to support files stored locally on a computer as well as files that reside in the cloud.

File Transfer Protocol (FTP) The process developers use to move files to and from an Internet-based server.

Framework A basic structure for an item or process. A cloud framework may contain step-by-step instructions for accomplishing a task and possibility a checklist for key common tasks.

Functional requirements Requirements that specify tasks a system must perform.

Google App Engine Development tools that assist with the deployment of cloud-based applications that run within the Google infrastructure.

Green computing A term used to describe the use of computing resources in an environmentally responsible way.

Grid computing Large-scale use of computers connected by a network (the grid) to perform parallel processing on complex tasks.

Guest-hopping attack A hacker attack within which a hacker tries to gain access to (hop into) another guest operating system from within a peer-level guest operating system running on the same server.

Guest operating system A term used to describe an operating system that resides within a virtualized environment. A virtual desktop, for example, might use Windows and Linux as guest operating systems.

Halon Chemical used in data-center fire suppression systems that stops fires by removing the level of oxygen in the room.

Hologram A three-dimensional image created by lights (lasers) to produce a realistic image of an object.

Horizontal scaling Process of scaling out; that is, distributing a system’s processes across multiple resources.

Hot storage A storage solution for which the data residing within it is immediately available to users. Hot-storage solutions are normally slightly more expensive than its cold-storage counterpart and uses faster storage technology.

Hybrid cloud Solution that comprises a combination of two or more public, private, or community clouds.

Hyperjacking attack A hacker attack that targets the hypervisor within a virtualized server or desktop.

Hypervisor The software within a virtual system that oversees and manages the virtualization process.

HTML5 Fifth release of the hypertext markup language, which provides device-independent support for multimedia capabilities previously available through Flash-based applications.

iCloud Apple’s cloud-based solution, which facilitates the exchange of music, photos, videos, and documents.

Identity (or identification) as a service (IDaaS) Cloud-based approach to managing user identities, including usernames, passwords, and access. Sometimes referred to as “identity management as a service.”

Information Technology Information Library (ITIL) Also commonly called ITSM (Information Technology Services Management), a framework that examines best practices for IT strategy, policies, procedures, operations, and services.

Information technology (IT) governance The processes, policies, and controls that affect the way an IT staff operates to maximize the company’s return on IT investment and to better align the company’s business strategy and IT operations.

Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) Scalable, cloud-based collection of server, data storage, and network hardware upon which a company can install and manage its operating system and database management software in order to host its applications within the cloud.

Infrastructure as code (IaC) The process of managing and provisioning a computer resource (such as a server) using files and scripts as opposed to manually configuration.

Instant messaging (IM) Originally a text-based way for users to communicate, today supports text, audio, and video interaction.

Integrated development environment (IDE) Software system for application developers that provides a user interface that allows access to key software-development activities, such as editing, compiling, and testing.

Intelligent fabrics Clothing that includes technology and computing devices within the fabric that can be used to monitor body temperature, blood pressure, and other vitals. The technology may be used to broadcast an individual’s position to location-aware applications.

Internal control Policy put in place by a business to provide confidence and assurance on the accuracy of the data reported by the company.

Interoperability A measure of a software component’s ability to support different platforms and programming languages.

Internet of Things (IoT) Describes the billions of devices, such as streaming-video cameras, personal assistants, and smarthome devices connected to the Internet and may store data in the cloud.

Internet Protocol (IP) address A numeric address, such as 123.456.555.1, that identifies a site on the Internet.

Internet Service Provider (ISP) A company that provides servers connected to the Internet upon which companies could host their web solutions. ISPs were commonly used throughout the 1990s and early 2000s and can be considered an early form of platform as a service.

Intrusion detection system (IDS) A system that monitors network activities for malicious activity.

Key performance indicators Business ratios and results measured and evaluated by a company to understand the state of the business and its operations.

Load balancing The use of network-based computing equipment to distribute workload across multiple servers.

Load testing A test that simulates user demand upon a site.

Location-aware application Application that utilizes GPS-based data to integrate an individual’s location into the processing performed by the application, such as location-specific delivery of coupons and home environment processing.

Loosely coupled Refers to the ideal relationship between programs and the web services they call on, in which the program need only know the location of the web service (its URL), the name of the functions (methods) the web service provides, and parameters the program can pass to the functions.

Mainframe A large powerful computer residing in a data center with which users interact via dumb terminals.

Man-in-the-middle attack An attack where a hacker is able to intercept messages between a user and a system and then send messages on behalf of either the user or the system.

Mashup Software solution built from a combination of two or more other solutions.

Mean time between failures (MTBF) Measure of the estimated time a device will operate without failing.

Method Function that performs a specific task.

Microservice A small web service that performs a specific task.

Middleware Software that sits between two applications to facilitate the exchange of data.

Mobile cloud Applications and webpages that originate from sites within the cloud with which users download or interact via a mobile device.

Multifactor authentication The process of requiring a user to provide two or more forms of authentication to log into a system.

Multitenant solution SaaS or PaaS solution for which two or more customers may share computing resources simultaneously. Many SaaS solutions use a multitenant architecture.

Native mode app An application built for a specific (Android or iPhone) operating system. An Android native app can only run on an Android phone and not an iPhone and vice versa.

Network-attached storage (NAS) Storage devices that can be accessed over a computer network rather than being directly connected to the computer.

Network file system (NFS) A system that allows directories and files to be shared with others over a network.

Nonfunctional requirements Requirements a system must meet to complete its functions, such as performance, response time, and security.

Operational expenses (OPEX) Expenses that correspond to a company’s cost of operations.

Packet sniffing The process of examining the network packets that travel past a system within a wired network or which travel through the air within a wireless network.

Pareto principle Rule of 80/20 that describes relationships between two items, such as 80 percent of a company’s sales being generated by 20 percent of its customers.

Performance tuning Process of modifying different aspects of a system or the supporting hardware to improve system performance.

Platform Combination of hardware and software resources that yields a run-time environment, such as a Windows- or Linux-based environment.

Platform as a service (PaaS) Software and hardware that provides an operating system (such as Windows or Linux) upon which developers can create and deploy solutions, without the need to administer the underlying system software. Examples include the Google App Engine and Microsoft Azure.

Point of diminishing returns Point at which adding resources fails to change a system’s performance or output.

Portability Measure of a system’s ease of moving from one platform to another.

Predictive analytics Tools that perform statistical analysis in order to predict future behavior.

Private cloud Solution in which the underlying hardware and software is owned by a specific entity (company) for use by the entity and its customer.

Profit margin Measure of a company’s profitability and effectiveness, calculated by dividing a company’s net income by its revenues.

Provisioning Process of creating a user account on a system; removing the account is called deprovisioning.

Proxy Person or entity that performs a task on behalf of another. Within the mobile web, proxies may perform a server-based interaction on behalf of a mobile user to provide a layer of security between the server and device.

Public cloud Solution available to the general public, such as Google Docs.

Recovery time objective Defines the amount of time that a company can be down before it must restore operations.

Redundancy A system design that duplicates components to provide alternatives in case one component fails.

Redundant array of independent (or inexpensive) disks (RAID) Collection of disk drives across which a file system stores information about a file, as well as recovery information the system can use to recover the file should one or more of the disk drives fail.

Reliability Measure of a system’s ability to process without errors or failure.

Reserved instance A cloud budgeting technique for which a customer commits to a specific level of resource use for a given time period. In exchange, the cloud-service provider will significantly discount additional needed resources.

Responsive web application A web (HTML-based) solution that adjusts the display of output based upon the user’s device type (screen size).

Return on investment (ROI) Business analysis ratio that lets a company compare the potential return of two or more investments, calculated by taking the revenue (or savings) divided by the cost of the investment.

Right-sizing Process of aligning computing resources (e.g., processors, servers, and disk capacity) with user demand. Because cloud-based providers can scale up or down quickly, based on user demand, they make it easier for companies to right-size resources.

Robust Ability to function in the event of errors, such as a server failure.

Scalability Ability to increase or decrease resource use (such as servers or data storage) on demand, as processing needs require. Scalable applications can scale up (increase) resources when there is high user demand, and scale down (decrease) resources when there is low demand.

Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) Language that applications use to package a user’s security credentials.

Security hardening The process of reducing a system’s vulnerabilities and risks.

Self-service The ability for a user to perform operations on their own. Using a SaaS payroll application, for example, a user may change their own tax information. Likewise, using a PaaS system, a system administrator may enable services, such as a database, using an interface provided by the PaaS-service provider.

Serverless computing A cloud-based solution that leverages special processing in a PaaS to perform specific processing that does not require a full-blown PaaS solution. Amazon implements serverless processing using its Lambda capabilities.

Service-level agreement (SLA) An agreement between a customer in a vendor that specifies goals, responsibilities, costs, and performance metrics as well as remedies and penalties for the vendor failing to meet objectives.

Service-oriented architecture (SOA) A software architecture technique with which developers define systems in terms of services.

Single sign-on (SSO) Process that allows a user to log into a central authority and then access other sites and services for which he or she has credentials.

Smart appliance Appliance such as a refrigerator or washing machine that integrates technology to perform specific tasks such as reducing energy demands during peak load times or performing inventory analysis of groceries.

Social media Software applications, such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, that allow users to post their own content to the web.

Software as a service (SaaS) Web-based software solution that users access through a web browser.

Software development kit (SDK) Collection of APIs that developers can integrate into programs to use a specific device, platform, or operating system.

SQL-injection attack A hacker attack by which the hacker inserts SQL queries into one or more fields of a web-based form. Later, depending upon how the server processes the form’s data, the SQL commands may be inadvertently executed.

Storage area network (SAN) Storage, often block-based storage, for which an application defines the storage layout and organization. Software-defined storage is well suited for large data items such as videos.

Streaming media The retrieval of media, such as audio or video, often within a web browser, that does not require a complete download of the media file before the playback can begin.

System requirements Functional tasks and nonfunctional operations that a system must perform.

Thin operating system System that performs only the minimal tasks needed for a user to run programs and save and retrieve information.

Total cost of ownership (TCO) Total direct and indirect costs, including both capital and operating expenses, of owning a particular piece of equipment or other capital good. It is an important metric for organizations trying to decide whether to invest in their own data centers or move to the cloud.

Transcoder Server that analyzes and possibly changes content destined to user devices.

Uninterruptible power supply (UPS) Battery backup system that typically provides 10 to 15 minutes of power to devices in the event of a power failure, so that users can save files and shut down the systems in an orderly way.

Usability Measure of a system’s ease of use.

User-experience testing A software test that attempts to simulate and evaluate a user experience with the site, possibly including slower Internet bandwidth, an older browser, or a slower computer.

Vendor lock-in A situation when it is difficult or impossible for a company to leave or change a vendor due to the vendor’s inability to export data or because a unique service the vendor provides, upon which the business relies.

Vertical scaling Process of scaling up; for example, moving a system to a faster disk drive, adding faster RAM, or using a faster disk drive to improve a system’s performance.

Virtual desktop A desktop computer that runs two or more operating systems. Users on the desktop can quickly switch between each operating system. A virtual desktop is well suited for developers, testers, and help-desk support staff who must work with multiple operating systems.

Virtualization The use of hardware and software to create the perception that one or more entities exist, although the entities, in actuality, are not physically present.

Virtual machine (VM) A computing system running virtualization software.

Virtual meeting A meeting held online between two or more users. Using streaming video, users can achieve a face-to-face experience. Most virtual-meeting platforms allow document sharing, whiteboard content presentation, and application sharing.

Virtual presentation A cloud-based presentation that users can retrieve and watch asynchronously at a time and from a place that best suits the user’s needs. Virtual presentations often combine a PowerPoint presentation with video or audio.

Virtual private network (VPN) The use of hardware and/or software to establish a secure connection to a local-area network across the Internet from a remote location. The remote user can, in turn, access network resources as if a physical connection to the local-area network existed.

Virtual server A server that individually runs two or more server operating systems at the same time. The operating systems may be the same, or they may be different, such as Windows and Linux. Many companies use server virtualization to consolidate servers and to drive server CPU utilization.

Virus Program written by malicious programmers with the goal of damaging a target computer or disrupting the computer’s normal operations.

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) A technique that allows users to place phone calls over the Internet.

Vulnerability analysis The process of examining a system or network for vulnerabilities.

Web 2.0 Tools and websites that allow users to publish content (videos, blogs, tweets, and social media posts) without having to understand the web development process.

Web Service Description Language (WSDL) Language used to describe a web service, its methods, and their parameters.

Web services Web-based software modules that programs can call via the Internet to perform specific tasks.

Widget Application that, once downloaded and installed on a device, remains active (constantly runs), possibly updating its icon or display with context- or location-sensitive content.

Wiki A tool for online collaborative document editing. The best-known and largest wiki is Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia.

Windows Azure Microsoft platform that developers can use to move their applications to the cloud.

Yahoo! Pipes Tool that lets developers create mashups by joining (piping) the output of one data source into another data source, filter, or display tool without having to write program code.