Glossary

abstraction:
The idea of minimizing the complexity of something by hiding the details and just providing the relevant information. It’s about providing a high-level specification rather than going into lots of detail about how something works. In the cloud, for example, in an IaaS delivery model, the infrastructure is abstracted from the user.
access control:
Determining who or what can go where, when, and how.
ACID:
An acronym for atomicity, consistency, isolation, and durability, which are the main requirements for proper transaction processing.
Alibaba Cloud:
A set of public and private cloud service operated by Chinese cloud vendor, Alibaba Group.
API (application programming interface):
A collection of subroutine calls that allows computer programs to use a software system.
application life cycle:
The process of maintaining a piece of code so that it’s consistent and predictable as it’s changed to support business requirements.
architecture:
In information technology, the design approach taken in developing a program or system.
archiving:
The process by which database or file data that’s seldom used or outdated but that’s required for historical or audit reasons is copied to a cheaper form of storage. The storage medium may be online, tape, or optical disc.
asset management:
Software that allows organizations to record all information about their hardware and software. Most such applications capture cost information, license information, and so on. Such information belongs in the configuration management database. See also CMDB.
audit:
A check on the effectiveness of a task or set of tasks, and how the tasks are managed and documented.
audit trail:
A trace of a sequence of events in a clerical or computer system. This audit usually identifies the creation or modification of any element in the system, who did it, and (possibly) why it was done.
authentication:
The process by which the identity of a person or computer process is verified.
AWS (Amazon Web Services):
The set of web services that Amazon offers to help web developers build web applications and use Amazon’s cloud computing environment.
Azure:
An operating system for cloud computing from Microsoft. The hosting and management environment are maintained at Microsoft data centers, so there’s no need to use internal data center resources when developing applications in Azure.
backup:
A utility that copies databases, files, or subsets of databases and files to a storage medium. This copy can be used to restore the data in case of serious failure.
bandwidth:
Technically, the range of frequencies over which a device can send or receive signals. The term is also used to denote the maximum data transfer rate, measured in bits per second, that a communications channel can handle.
batch:
A non-interactive process that runs in a queue, usually when the system load is lowest, generally used for processing batches of information in a serial and usually efficient manner. Batch process can’t be used if you want insights from real-time data. Early computers were capable of only batch processing. Today, batch is frequently used to process large data sets for Hadoop.
best practice:
A proven and effective way to execute a process. It can relate to anything from writing program code to IT governance.
binding:
Making the necessary connections among software components so that they can interact.
biometrics:
Using a person’s unique physical characteristics to prove his identity to a computer — by employing a fingerprint scanner or voice analyzer, for example.
black box:
A component or device with an input and an output whose inner workings need not be understood by or accessible to the user.
BPaaS:
See Business Process as a Service.
BPEL (Business Process Execution Language):
A computer language based on WSDL (Web Services Description Language, an XML format for describing web services) and designed for programming business services. See also XML.
BPM (business process management):
A technology and methodology for controlling the activities — both automated and manual — needed to make a business function.
broker:
In computer programming, a program that accepts requests from one software layer or component and translates them into a form that can be understood by another layer or component.
browser:
A program that lets you access information on the Internet. Originally browsers could only operate on a person computer. However, now there are browsers that support mobile devices and sensors.
bus:
A technology that connects multiple components so they can communicate with one another. In essence, a bus is a connection capability. A bus can be software (such as an enterprise service bus) or hardware (such as a memory bus). See also ESB.
business process:
The codification of rules and practices that constitute a business.
Business Process as a Service (BPaaS):
A whole business process is provided as a service involving little more than a software interface, such as a parcel delivery service.
business process modeling:
A technique for transforming how business operates into a codified source in code so that it can be translated into software.
business rules:
Constraints or actions that refer to the actual commercial world but may need to be encapsulated in service management or business applications.
business service:
An individual function or activity that is directly useful to the business.
cache:
The storage of data so that future requests for that data can be achieved more quickly.
center of excellence:
A group of key people from all areas of the business and operations that focuses on best practices. A center of excellence provides guidance across the business to help organizations take advantage of proven methods to achieve predictable results. This group also becomes a force for change, because it can leverage its growing knowledge to help business units benefit from experience.
change management:
The management of change in operational processes and applications.
cloud computing:
A computing model that makes IT resources and applications available as services to business organizations in a self-service manner.
cloud ecosystem:
Independent software and hardware vendors that partner with cloud providers to create a partnership for selling to customers.
CMDB (configuration management database):
In general, a repository of service management data.
COBIT (Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology):
An IT framework with a focus on governance and managing technical and business risks.
component:
A piece of computer software that can be used as a building block in larger systems. Components can be parts of business applications that have been made accessible through web service–related standards and technologies, such as restful APIs See also microservices and web service.
compute unit:
A measure of the cost and capacity of a cloud workload. For example, within its EC2 service, Amazon uses computer units to measure the infrastructure used by virtual server instances. Currently, one EC2 Compute Unit provides the equivalent CPU capacity of a 1.0–1.2 GHz 2007 Opteron or 2007 Xeon processor. Other IaaS providers also have units for measuring resource usage.
configuration:
The complete description of the way in which the constituent elements of a software product or system interrelate, both in functional and physical terms.
configuration management:
The management of configurations, normally involving holding configuration data in a database so that the data can be managed and changed where necessary.
container:
In computer programming, a data structure or object used to manage collections of other objects in an organized way. Often microservices are stored inside a container. There are a number of emerging container open-source offerings, including Dockers, CRI-O, Containerd, and frakti. Kubernetes has become the de facto standard for container orchestration.
container orchestration:
A typical application may include a number of containers that are integrated together through container orchestration — or a process for managing how containers are intended to be used to execute a process.
CRM (customer relationship management):
Software intended to help you run your sales force and customer support operations.
data cleansing:
Software used to identify potential data-quality problems. If a customer is listed multiple times in a customer database because of variations in the spelling of her name, the data-cleansing software makes corrections to help standardize the data.
data fabric:
The part of the computer network devoted to transmissions.
data federation:
Data access to a variety of data stores, using consistent rules and definitions that enable all the data stores to be treated as a single resource.
data profiling:
A technique or process that helps you understand the content, structure, and relationships of your data. This process also helps you validate your data against technical and business rules.
data quality:
Characteristics of data such as consistency, accuracy, reliability, completeness, timeliness, reasonableness, and validity. Data-quality software ensures that data elements are represented in a consistent way across different data stores or systems, making the data more trustworthy across the enterprise.
data transformation:
A process by which the format of data is changed so it can be used by different applications.
data warehouse:
A large data store containing the organization’s historical data, which is used primarily for data analysis and data mining.
database:
A computer system intended to store large amounts of information reliably and in an organized fashion. Most databases provide users convenient access to the data, along with helpful search capabilities.
dedicated hosting:
Dedicated hosting is where the customer is given full control over the server that’s hosted in the cloud. This contrasts with managed hosting, where management is the responsibility of the hosting company.
dedicated server:
A dedicated server is one the customer doesn’t share with other users of the hosting cloud service.
directory:
The word is used in both computing and telephony to indicate an organized map of devices, files, or people.
distributed processing:
Spreading the work of an information-processing application among several computers.
early binding:
Making necessary connections among software components when the software system is first put together or built.
EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud from Amazon):
Amazon’s commercial Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) web service that pioneered cloud computing.
elasticity:
The ability to expand or shrink a computing resource in real time, based on need.
emulation:
When hardware or software, or a combination of both, duplicates the functionality of a computer system in a different, second system. The behavior of the second system will closely resemble the original functionality of the first system. See also virtualization.
ERP (enterprise resource planning):
A packaged set of business applications that combine business rules, process, and data management into a single integrated environment to support a business.
ESB (enterprise service bus):
A distributed middleware software system that allows computer applications to communicate in a standardized way.
eSCM (eSourcing Capability Model):
A framework developed at Carnegie Mellon University to provide a best-practices model for improving relationships between customers and suppliers in outsourcing agreements.
ETL (Extract, Transform, Load):
Tools for locating and accessing data from a data store (data extraction), changing the structure or format of the data so it can be used by the business application (data transformation), and sending the data to the business application (data load).
eTOM (enhanced Telecom Operations Map):
A framework that provides a business process model for the telecommunications industry.
fault tolerance:
The ability of a system to provide uninterrupted service despite the failure of one or more of the system’s components.
federation:
The combination of disparate things so that they can act as one — as in federated states, data, or identity management — and to make sure that all the right rules apply.
framework:
A support structure for developing software products.
Google Cloud Platform (GCP):
Google’s public cloud service offering.
governance:
The ability to ensure that corporate or governmental rules and regulations are conformed with. Governance is combined with compliance and security issues across computing environments.
granularity:
An important software design concept, especially in relation to components, referring to the amount of detail or functionality — from fine to coarse — provided in a service component. One software component can do something quite simple, such as calculate a square root; another has a great deal of detail and functionality to represent a complex business rule or workflow. The first component is fine grained, and the second is coarse grained. Developers often aggregate fine-grained services into coarse-grained services to create a business service.
grid computing:
A step beyond distributed processing, involving large numbers of networked computers (often geographically dispersed and possibly of different types and capabilities) that are harnessed to solve a common problem. A grid computing model can be used instead of virtualization in situations that require real time where latency is unacceptable.
hardware partitioning:
The act of subdividing and isolating elements of a physical server into fractions, each of which can run an operating system or an application.
HTML (Hypertext Markup Language):
A data-encoding scheme invented by Tim Berners-Lee in 1991 and the basic way that information is encoded over the World Wide Web.
HTTP (Hypertext Transport Protocol):
The basic way that information is linked and transmitted over the World Wide Web. HTTPS is a version of HTTP with encryption for security.
hybrid cloud:
A computing environment that includes the use of public and private clouds as well as data center resources in a coordinated fashion.
hypervisor:
Hardware that allows multiple operating systems to share a single host. The hypervisor sits at the lowest levels of the hardware environment and uses a thin layer of code in software to enable dynamic resource sharing. The hypervisor makes it seem like each operating system has the resources all to itself.
IaaS:
See Infrastructure as a Service.
IBM Cloud:
IBM’s public and private cloud service.
identity management:
Keeping track of a single user’s (or asset’s) identity throughout an engagement with a system or set of systems.
information integration:
A process using software to link data sources in various departments or regions of the organization with an overall goal of creating more reliable, consistent, and trusted information.
infrastructure:
The fundamental systems necessary for the ordinary operation of anything, be it a country or an IT department. The physical infrastructure that people rely on includes roads, electrical wiring, and water systems. In IT, infrastructure includes basic computer hardware, networks, operating systems, and other software that applications run on top of.
Infrastructure as a Service (Iaas):
Infrastructure, including a management interface and associated software, provided to companies from the cloud as a service.
infrastructure services:
Services provided by the infrastructure. In IT, these services include all the software needed to make devices talk to one another, for starters.
Internet:
A huge computer network linking almost all the computers in the world and enabling them to communicate via standard protocols (TCP/IP) and data formats. See also SMTP, TCP/IP, and XML.
interoperability:
The ability of a product to interface with many other products; usually used in the context of software.
IP (Internet Protocol):
A codified technique for communicating data across a packet-switched network. IP can also mean intellectual property such as patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets. See also TCP/IP.
ISO (International Organization for Standardization):
An organization that has developed more than 17,000 international standards, including standards for IT service management and corporate governance of information technology.
ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library):
A framework and set of standards for IT governance based on best practices.
JCA (J2EE Connector Architecture):
A technology that enables Java programs to talk to other software, such as databases and legacy applications.
KPI (key performance indicator):
An indicator used to measure the effectiveness of a process.
Kubernetes:
Kubernetes is an open-source container-orchestration system for automating application deployment, scaling, and management. It was originally designed by Google, and is now maintained by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation.
LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP, Perl, or Python):
An increasingly popular open source approach to building web applications. LAMP is a software bundle made up of the Linux operating system; the Apache web server; a MySQL database; and a scripting language, such as PHP, Perl, or Python.
late binding:
Deferring the necessary connections among applications to when the connection is first needed. Late binding allows more flexibility for changes than early binding does, but it imposes some cost in processing time.
latency:
The amount of time lag that enables a service to execute in an environment. Some applications require less latency and need to respond in near real time, whereas other applications are less time-sensitive.
legacy application:
Any application more than a few years old. When applications can’t be disposed of and replaced easily, they become legacy applications. The good news is that they’re still doing something useful when selected pieces of code can be turned into business services with new standardized interfaces.
Linux:
An open source operating system based upon and similar to Unix. In cloud computing, Linux is the dominant operating system, primarily because it is supported by a large number of vendors and is the predominate cloud operating system.
Linux web hosting:
The vast majority of websites run on the Linux operating system managed by a Linux web hosting service using the LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) software stack.
loose coupling:
An approach to distributed software applications in which components interact by passing data and requests to other components in a standardized way that minimizes dependencies among components. The emphasis is on simplicity and autonomy. Each component offers a small range of simple services to other components.
malware:
The general term for computer software that intentionally does ill, such as viruses, Trojans, worms, and spyware.
markup language:
A way of encoding information that uses plain text containing special tags often delimited by angle brackets (< and >). Specific markup languages are often created, based on XML, to standardize the interchange of information between different computer systems and services. See also XML.
mashup:
A program (possibly installed on a web page) that combines content from more than one source, such as Google Maps and a real estate listing service.
master-slave:
An arrangement in which one system or process is designated as a controller and other participating systems or processes respond to this controller. Should a master fail, the slaves are unable to continue.
metadata:
The definitions, mappings, and other characteristics used to describe how to find, access, and use the company’s data and software components.
metadata repository:
A container of consistent definitions of business data and rules for mapping data to its actual physical locations in the system.
microservices:
An architectural style that decomposes an application into a collection of services that are loosely coupled and independently deployable.
middleware:
Multipurpose software that lives at a layer between the operating system and application in distributed computing environments.
mission critical:
An application that a business cannot afford to be without at any time.
MOM (Message Oriented Middleware):
A precursor to the enterprise service bus. See also ESB.
multi-tenancy:
The situation where a single instance of an application runs on a SaaS vendor’s servers, but serves multiple client organizations (tenants), keeping all their data separate. In a multi-tenant architecture, a software application partitions its data and configuration so that each customer has a customized virtual application instance.
MySQL:
An open-source option to SQL.
NAS (Networked Attached Storage):
A disk that includes its own network address rather than being tied to a server.
.NET:
Pronounced dot-net; a Microsoft programming framework, with heavy emphasis on web services. See also web service.
network:
The connection of computer systems (nodes) by communications channels and appropriate software.
NoSQL:
A set of technologies that created a broad array of database management systems that are distinct from relational database systems. One major difference is that SQL is not used as the primary query language. These database management systems are also designed for distributed data stores.
OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards):
A consortium promoting e-business and web services standards.
Oracle Cloud Platform:
Oracle’s public and private cloud services.
open source:
A movement in the software industry that makes programs available along with the source code used to create them so that others can inspect and modify how programs work.
P2P (peer to peer):
A networking system in which nodes in a network exchange data directly instead of going through a central server.
PaaS:
See Platform as a Service.
Perl (Practical Extraction and Report Language):
A powerful scripting language in widespread use in system administration, web development, and other activities.
PHP (PHP Hypertext Processor):
An open-source scripting language (originally designed in Perl) used especially for producing dynamic web pages.
Platform as a Service (PaaS):
A cloud service that abstracts the computing services including the operating software and the development and deployment and management life cycle. It sits on top of Infrastructure as a Service.
portal:
In computing, a window that contains a means of access, often a menu, to all the applications throughout the whole network that the user is able to run. Often, the window is segmented into smaller windows, or portlets, that provide direct access to applications such as stock-market price feeds or email.
private cloud:
A single tenant cloud service that operates within a company’s data center.
programming in the large:
An approach to developing business software that focuses on the various tasks or business processes needed to make the business function — processing an order, for example, or checking product availability — as opposed to more low-level technical tasks such as opening a file.
protocol:
A set of rules that computers use to establish and maintain communication among themselves.
provisioning:
Making resources available to users and software. A provisioning system makes applications available to users and makes server resources available to applications.
public cloud:
A multi-tenant cloud service available to any consumer either on a fee per transaction service or as a free service.
real time:
A form of processing in which a computer system accepts and updates data at the same time, feeding back immediate results that influence the data source.
real-time event processing:
A class of applications that demand timely response to actions that take place out in the world. Typical examples include automated stock trading and RFID. See also RFID.
registry:
A single source for all the metadata needed to gain access to a web service or software component.
repository:
A database for software and components, with an emphasis on revision control and configuration management (where they keep the good stuff, in other words).
resource pool:
A set of compute, storage, or data services that are combined to be used across hybrid environments.
response time:
The time from the moment at which a transaction is submitted by a user or an application to the moment at which the final result of that transaction is made known to the user or application.
REST (representational state transfer):
A software architecture style interface that is commonly used to provide flexible interaction and often stateless interaction in highly distributed environments, including the cloud. REST and SOAP are used in Amazon’s S3. See also SOAP.
RFID (radio frequency identification):
A technology that uses small, inexpensive chips attached to products (or even animals) that then transmit a unique identification number over a short distance to a special radio transmitter/receiver.
RPC (remote procedure call):
A way for a program running on one computer to run a subprogram on another computer.
S3 (Simple Storage Service):
A distributed storage service, from Amazon, that constitutes part of AWS. Amazon provides the capability to read, write, and delete objects (of data) that are up to 5GB in size. This isn’t a database capability — just a place to store and access files. See also AWS.
SaaS:
See Software as a Service.
SAML (Security Assertion Markup Language):
A standard framework for exchanging authentication and authorization information (that is, credentials) in an XML format called assertions.
SAN (storage area network):
A high-speed network of interconnected storage devices. These storage devices might be servers, optical disk drives, or other storage media. The difference between a SAN and a NAS is that a SAN runs at a higher speed than a NAS, while a NAS is generally easier to install and provides a file system.
Sarbanes-Oxley:
The Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act of 2002, a U.S. law enhancing standards for all U.S. public companies’ boards of directors, resulting in substantial new requirements for corporate IT.
scalability:
As regards to hardware, the ability to go from small to large amounts of processing power with the same architecture. It also applies to software products such as databases, in which case it refers to the consistency of performance per unit of power as hardware resources increase.
scripting language:
A computer programming language that is interpreted and has access to all or most operating-system facilities. Common examples include Perl, Python, Ruby, and JavaScript. It is often easier to program in a scripting language, but the resulting programs generally run more slowly than those created in compiled languages such as C and C++.
semantics:
In computer programming, what the data means as opposed to formatting rules (syntax).
server farm:
A room filled with computer servers, often needed to run large Internet sites.
serverless:
A cloud execution model that dynamically manages a machine resource. It is intended to simplify the way code is deployed into production in a cloud environment.
service:
A purposeful activity carried out for the benefit of a known target. Services are often made up of a group of component services, some of which may also have component services. Services always transform something, and they complete by delivering an output.
service catalog:
A directory of IT services provided across the enterprise, including information such as service description, access rights, and ownership.
service desk:
A single point of contact for IT users and customers to report any issues they may have with the IT service (or, in some cases, with IT’s customer service).
SLA (service level agreement):
A document that captures the understanding between a service user and a service provider as to quality and timeliness.
service management:
Monitoring and optimizing a service to ensure that it meets the critical outcomes that the customer values and the stakeholders want to provide.
servlet:
A program that runs on a web server in response to an action taken by the user via a browser.
silo:
In IT, an application with a single narrow focus, such as human resources management or inventory control, with no intention or preparation for use by others.
Six Sigma:
A statistical term meaning six standard deviations from the norm and the name of a quality-improvement program that aims at reducing errors to one in a million.
SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol):
The basic method used to transmit electronic mail (email) over the Internet.
SOA (service oriented architecture):
An approach to building applications that implements business processes or services by using a set of loosely coupled black-box components orchestrated to deliver a well-defined level of service.
SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol):
A protocol specification for exchanging data. Along with REST, it is used for storing and retrieving data in the Amazon storage cloud. See also REST.
Software as a Service (SaaS):
The delivery of computer applications over the Internet.
SQL (Structured Query Language):
The most popular computer language for accessing and manipulating databases.
SSL (Secure Sockets Layer):
A popular method for making secure connections over the Internet, first introduced by Netscape.
standards:
A core set of common, repeatable best practices and protocols that have been agreed on by a business or industry group. Typically, vendors, industry user groups, and end users collaborate to develop standards based on the broad expertise of a large number of stakeholders. Organizations can leverage these standards as a common foundation and innovate on top of them.
subroutine:
A piece of computer code that can easily be used (called) by many other programs, as long as they are on the same computer and (usually) are written in the same programming language.
TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol):
The complex stack of communications protocols that underlies the Internet. All data is broken into small packets that are sent independently over the network and reassembled at the final destination.
thin client:
Client hardware in the client/server environment that is dependent on the server for loading applications. Most hardware designed for this purpose is similar to a cut-down PC, with no floppy disk drive or hard drive.
throughput:
The rate at which transactions are completed in a system.
tiered storage:
The assignment of data to different types of media, generally to reduce storage costs. Data is placed into tiers 1, 2, or 3, depending on how often it must be accessed or how critical it is.
TLS (Transport Layer Security):
A newer name for SSL. See also SSL.
TQM (Total Quality Management):
A popular quality-improvement program.
transaction:
A computer action that represents a business event, such as debiting an account. When a transaction starts, it must either complete or not happen at all.
UDDI (Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration):
A platform-independent, XML-based services registry sponsored by OASIS. See also OASIS and XML.
utility computing:
A metered service that acts like a public service based on payment for use of a measured amount of a component or asset.
virtual memory:
The use of a disk to store active areas of memory to make the available memory appear larger.
virtualization:
When one computer runs software that allows it to emulate another machine. This kind of emulation is commonly known as virtualization. See also emulation.
VPN (virtual private network):
A VPN uses a public telecommunications infrastructure to provide secure access. This is a virtual network dedicated to providing a customer with more security within a cloud environment. Each VPN runs its own operating system, bandwidth, and disk space, and can be individually booted.
W3C:
A handy way of referring to the World Wide Web Consortium, an organization that coordinates standards for the World Wide Web.
web service:
A software component created with an interface consisting of a WSDL definition, an XML schema definition, and a WS-Policy definition. Collectively, components could be called a service contract — or, alternatively, an API. See also API, WSDL, WS-Policy, and XML.
workflow:
A sequence of steps needed to carry out a business process. Workflow technology automates the passage of information between the steps.
World Wide Web:
A system built on top of the Internet that displays hyperlinked pages of information that can contain a wide variety of data formats, including multimedia.
WSCI (Web Services Choreography Interface):
An XML-based interface description language that describes the flow of messages exchanged by a web service when it participates in choreographed interactions with other services.
WSDL (Web Services Description Language):
An XML format for describing web services.
WS-Policy (Web Services Policy):
The Web Services Policy Framework, which provides a means of expressing the capabilities, requirements, and characteristics of software components in a web services system.
WSRP (Web Services for Remote Portlets):
A protocol that allows portlets to communicate by using standard web services interfaces.
XML (eXtensible Markup Language):
A way of presenting data as plain-text files that has become the lingua franca of SOA. In XML, as in HTML, data is delimited in tags that are enclosed in angle brackets (< and >), although the tags in XML can have many more meanings. See also SOA.
XML Schema:
A language for defining and describing the structure of XML documents.
XSD (XML Schema Definition):
The description of what can be in an XML document.
XSLT (eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformations):
A computer language, based on XML, that specifies how to change one XML document into another. See also XML.
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