Glossary

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Internet
A collection of approximately 60,000 independent, interconnected networks that use the TCP/IP protocols and that evolved from ARPANet of the late 60s and early 70s.

Inventory Forecasting
Forecasting of future inventory needs based on past performance; a prediction of future sales usually based on historical performance.

IP Address
Internet Protocol address (as in TCP/IP). Every machine connected to a network and the Internet has a unique numerical address.  It consists of a number in the format A.B.C.D where each of the four sections is a decimal number from 0 to 255. Domain Names are commonly used instead and the resolution between Domain Names and IP addresses is handled by the network and Domain Name Servers.

IRC
Acronym for Internet Relay Chat. The process allows for real-time conferencing on the Internet. There are hundreds, maybe thousands of IRC channels, also called chat rooms.

ISDN
Integrated Services Digital Network is a digital network that moves data at 128K and voice over a regular phone line at nearly the same cost as a normal phone call.

Internet Business Plan
The process of developing a workable plan of action based on a sound strategy and proven course of action supported by accurate data and existing and emerging information about the Internet and network business technologies. See iPlan's Internet Business Plan.

InterNIC
Formerly a nonprofit National Science Foundation organization responsible for providing, maintaining and monitoring the use of domain names. The organization was converted to a private contract in 1997. Visit www.internic.net for more information.

Java
Java is a programming language introduced in 1995 by Sun Microsystems and is used to animate and control web pages. Designed to enable cross-platform software development, JAVA is now considered a de facto standard. The largest independent JAVA group is the CityJAVA group in San Fransisco.

Key backup and recovery
Key backup is the process of maintaining the user's decryption keys. Key recovery is the process of restoring the decryption keys. All organizations require decryption key backup and recovery capabilities to prevent data loss when users forget their password or lose their digital ID.

Key and certificate management
Refers to generating keys for encryption and signing, storing the keys in certificates, and administering keys securely and transparently, so that they are provided to users where and when they are needed.

Keywords
Words that may be used to search for information. Keywords are what search engine companies look for so that an appropriate site description is displayed when a user searches on a particular word or phrase.

Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)
A Directory Access Protocol (DAP) specified by IETF RFC 1487.

Link
A link will transport you from one Internet site to another with just a click. Links are text or graphics. Text links are usually underlined and a different color than the rest of the text on a page.

Listserv
The most widespread of mail lists. Listservs started on BITNET and are common on the Internet.