IT Jargon & Acronyms

Welcome to the IT Jargon & Acronyms resource center !

This section contains an explanation of new acronyms and terminology, very often created by analysts and vendors to give you the impression that there is a new and interesting development.

Where can you find more information ?

MDM: master data management - The notion of understanding where your data is stored and managing the potential conflicts that arise when you get copies of that data out of line with one another is what MDM is all about. We have seen some staggering benefits from it and we have seen some things fail. An increasing number of companies have taken notice of MDM recently because of its potential for delivering the benefits of greater data consistency, which can include more accurate reporting and data analysis, a reduction in errors and an enhanced bottom line. MDM combines middleware with data governance in an effort to solve the problem of getting source data and all of the copies of that data which tend to multiply throughout an organization to sync up.
Complex Event Processing (CEP) - Complex Event Processing (CEP) is an emerging technology for building and managing information systems. The goal of CEP is to enable the information contained in the events flowing through all of the layers of the enterprise IT infrastructure to be discovered, understood in terms of its impact on high level management goals and business processes, and acted upon in real time. This includes events created by new technologies such as RFID.
Mashboard - Also called real-time dashboard, a mashboard is a Web 2.0 buzzword that is used to describe analytic mash-ups that allow businesses to create or add components that may analyze and present data, look up inventory, accept orders, and other tasks without ever having to access the system that carries out the transaction.
XTP: eXtreme Transaction Processing - XTP pertains to a certain class of applications that need to handle large volumes of data that needs to be absorbed, correlated, and acted upon.
NFC: Near-Field Communication - While contactless credit card is still a hot issue in the island-country of Singapore, several vendors in the region have started to buzz the concept of contactless mobile payment during a seminar last week. The keyword is: NFC or Near-Field Communication. The question is: Will it be a killer technology?
Wibree - Low-power wireless communication - Wibree has a lower data rate and much less power than Bluetooth. The technology opens up the possibility of a host of small wearable gadgets, like watches, heart rate monitors, pedometers and pill boxes that communicate with Bluetooth-equipped cell phones or computers. E.g. a watch could display the user's incoming text messages, for instance, or an action figure toy could sense the presence of other toys...
RATs: Remote Administration Trojans - RATs or Remote Administration Trojans are pieces of malicious software, or malware, that let intruders remotely control computers across a network or through the Internet.
The chief risk officer - The number of chief risk officers (CROs) appointed to oversee enterprise risk is increasing as companies seek to address a growing range of business threats and increased regulatory pressures.
Pharming attacks: identity theft made even easier - CNET reviews - Pharming is simply a new name for a relatively old concept: domain spoofing. Rather than spamming you with e-mail requests (this is called phishing), pharmers work quietly in the background, "poisoning" your local DNS server by redirecting your Web request somewhere else. As far as your browser's concerned, you're connected to the right site. The danger here is that you no longer have to click an e-mail link to hand over your personal information to identity thieves.
XBRL: eXtensible Business Reporting Language - XBRL is a language for capturing financial information throughout a business' information processes that will eventually be reported to shareholders, banks, regulators, and other parties. The goal of XBRL is to make the analysis and exchange of corporate information more reliable and easier to facilitate.
ARAD: Architected Rapid Application Development - Architected Rapid Application Development (ARAD) is a new category of tools with a proven ROI edge, according to a recently completed user survey by Gartner.
ILM: Information Lifecycle Management - ILM is comprised of the policies, processes, practices, and tools used to align the business value of information with the most appropriate and cost-effective IT infrastructure from the time information is conceived through its final disposition. (definition coined by the SNIA)
Plog - A "plog" is a password-protected, Web-based project log that lets team members share progress and updates on group projects.
SOA and EDA - SOA - the service-oriented architecture - is probably well-known by now, but do you also know that EDA stands for event-driven architecture. Both are closely related as explained in this DevX article.
Plog: The Virtues of Chitchat - Making I.T. Work - Michael Schrage - codirector of the MIT Media Lab's eMarkets Initiative - says internal Web logs, or "plogs" (project logs), could be the best thing to happen to project management. But nothing is perfect...

What can you read about this (books, white papers, articles, ...) ?

Unnovation - unnovation = innovation that fails to create authentic, meaningful value (Umair Haque - HarvardBusiness.org)
Cloud Computing: a virtualization of resources that maintains and manages itself - Cloud computing is becoming one of the next industry buzz words. It joins the ranks of terms including: grid computing, utility computing, virtualization, clustering, etc. Cloud computing overlaps some of the concepts of distributed, grid and utility computing, however it does have its own meaning if contextually used correctly. The conceptual overlap is partly due to technology changes, usages and implementations over the years.
Blurring: enterprise apps + services + Web information - Blurring is the notion of blurring the line between your enterprise applications, and services and information found on the Internet. Or, blurring the lines between your SOA and the emerging Web 2.0," he explains in A buzzword is born. "The advantage of blurring is that those tasked with building enterprise applications can now leverage Web-based services that they did not have to create themselves." says David Linthicum, inventor of the new buzzword.
Enterprise Mashups - An emerging phenomenon is the enterprise mashup, defined as an enterprise-class application or service that uses content from more than one source to create a completely new service. The mashup's easy integration of content and services promises a whole new class of enterprise applications, and more importantly, the ability to innovate quickly and remain competitive across the globe.
Mashups - Mixing data from different sources can give companies a competitive edge. Corporations from IBM to Google to E*Trade are jumping onboard the trend of mixing and matching software from different sources. How can you use this new trend ?
BSM: Business Service Management - BSM is the level above IT Service Management (ITSM) software which many organizations use to monitor infrastructure and services from an IT perspective.
Article on 'rootkits': Be afraid. Be very afraid. - Rootkits are malicious modifications to the operating system kernel that can completely disguise their presence, use encrypted communication, and snoop critical information. Examples are "Hacker Defender," "FU" and "Vanquish". This may be the next threat to personal computer (mainly Windows) users, but it is related to spyware, viruses and zombie software.
10 tech terms from 2004: Bangalored, Mouselexia, Netlag, Podcasting, ... - 2004 has been an especially rich year for new techno-jargon.
Identity Grids - The "Identity Grid" can be used as an organizing principle for integrating and exchanging identity data across the enterprise or through a portal (article by Mark McClain of Waveset, now at Sun).
BPV: Business Process Virtualization - BPV is the application of intelligent network-enabled automation to leverage what you already have%u2014people and their intellectual productivity, capital, and infrastructure/real estate%u2014to achieve quantum improvements in productivity, profitability, and competitiveness.
ILM: Information Lifecycle Management - ILM is not a technology - it is a combination of processes and technologies that determines how data flows through an environment. By doing so, it helps end users manage data from the moment it is created to the time it is no longer needed.
RSS: RDF Rich Site Summary - RSS might stand for "Rich Site Summary," "RDF Site Summary," "Really Simple Syndication," or something else, depending upon your point of view.