I

IA (Intel Architecture)
The acronym used in the names of Intel processor architectures, such as IA-32 and IA-64.

IA (see intelligent agent)

IA-32
Intel proprietary complex instruction set computer (CISC) architecture. See CISC.

IA-64
An Explicitly Parallel Instruction Computing (EPIC)-based architecture from Intel, code-named Merced. See EPIC.

IAB (Internet Architecture Board)
A group charted by Internet Society to oversee the architecture of the Internet and its protocols. The IAB also adjudicates appeals when complaints have been filed with the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG), whose area directors manage the working groups of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). See IESG and IETF.

IAD (integrated access device)
A network device that collects multiple types of traffic (such as voice, data or video) at an enterprise site for transmission over a service provider's network.

IAE (integrated application environment)
An environment with a strong integrated development environment (IDE), application server, middleware and the "glue" (or framework) to integrate all application development facilities. See IDE.

i-appli
Service applications launched in January 2001 by NTT DoCoMo, for use with its popular i-mode wireless service. Use of the applications, which include video games and online financial services, requires Java-based handsets. See i-mode.

IB (see integration broker)

IBM (International Business Machines)
A multibillion-dollar IT hardware, system and services vendor headquartered in Armonk, New York. Founded in 1911 as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (the IBM name was adopted in 1924), the company originally made business machines such as time recorders, tabulators and punch cards. It began manufacturing electronic-computing systems in the 1950s, and thereafter became the world's largest computer company.

IBM License Manager (see ILM)

IBS (integration broker suite)
A broad integration middleware product (also known as an "integration suite") that combines the core functionality of an integration broker with additional features to deliver comprehensive integration capabilities. The broker itself — an engine that provides transformation and intelligent routing — is just one component within a suite of related middleware tools and features, which include adapters, communication middleware, business process management and message warehousing. See integration broker.

IC (integrated circuit)
An assembly of electronic circuits contained on a single piece of semiconductor material.

ICA (Independent Computing Architecture)
A Citrix Systems protocol (formerly called "Intelligent Console Architecture"), used for thin-client access to Windows, Unix or Java applications. See thin client.

ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers)
A nonprofit corporation responsible for registering Internet domain names (including Web addresses ending in ".com," ".edu" and the like), and related functions such as Internet Protocol address space allocation. Prior to the formation of ICANN, these functions were contracted by the U.S. Government from the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority and other organizations.

ICB (Integrated Cluster Bus)
An IBM high-speed coupling link used to connect Parallel Sysplex nodes to coupling facilities (CFs). See Parallel Sysplex and CF.

ICD (International Classification of Diseases)
A controlled medical vocabulary (CMV) published by the World Health Organization. ICD is a hierarchical system that uses three-digit codes to describe procedures, health status, categories of disease, disablements and reasons for contact with healthcare providers. As some medical professionals did not feel that ICD, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) described clinical information adequately, the National Center for Health Statistics published a set of clinical modifiers (two additional digits), known as ICD-9 Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) to provide an extra level of detail. A tenth version of ICD does not have the modifiers and is less widely used than ICD-9. See CMV.

ICD-9 (International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision) — see ICD

ICD-9-CM (International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification) — see ICD

ICDA (Integrated Cached Disk Array)
A family of storage products for the IBM AS/400 from EMC.

ICDS (Intelligent Content Distribution Service)
An AT&T service designed for to support content distribution under the application service provider (ASP) model. It enables distribution and replication of content in AT&T's network by archiving, routing and caching to improve performance (by moving content closer to users) and to support Web-based media applications (such as multicasting, event broadcasting and distance learning).

ICE (Information and Context Exchange)
An Extensible Markup Language (XML) standard from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) that provides a common protocol, vocabulary and management model for information providers and recipients to use when sharing and reusing information. ICE components include:

• Subscription management (including start and stop dates)

• Time and frequency of delivery

• Delivery method (push or pull)

• Data delivery, detailing what items must be sent to fulfill a subscription

• Event logs diagnosing problems

• Miscellaneous functions, including sending messages destined for system administrators and troubleshooting

See XML and W3C.

ICF (internal coupling facility)
A Parallel Sysplex coupling facility (CF) that uses spare processors within a server (that is, processors that are not being used for general processing). See Parallel Sysplex and CF.

ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol)
A route management protocol that handles error and control messages in Internet Protocol (IP) networks. See IP.

ICMS (incentive compensation management system)
A system that provide the sales manager with decision support tools to model various compensation scenarios, measure the impact of those plans on sales performance and effectively communicate incentive compensation objectives effectively to the selling organization.

icon
A symbol or picture of an object or idea, used in graphical user interfaces (GUIs) to represent the different functions or applications available to the user. A mouse is typically used to select the desired operation by clicking on one of the icons on the screen. See GUI.

ICQ
An online instant-messaging program introduced in 1996 by Israeli firm Mirabilis, which was acquired by America Online (AOL) in 1998. ICQ, which surpassed 100 million registered users in 2001, is similar to AOL's popular Buddy List and Instant Messenger programs. Individuals use it to chat, send e-mail, perform file transfers and play computer games. The name ICQ (pronounced "I seek you") is derived from the amateur-radio term "CQ," which means "seeking conversation."

ICR (intelligent character recognition)
A technology that employs either software alone or software and hardware to automatically recognize and translate raster images into structured data.

ICSA (International Computer Security Association)
An organization (formerly called the National Computer Security Association) that certifies firewall and other IT security products based on their adherence to a set of basic functional criteria.

ICT (information and communication technology)
A categorical term sometimes used (particularly in Europe) to refer the combined fields of computing and communications. More commonly, "information technology" (IT) is used in this sense, since the latter term, by definition, includes both types of technology. See IT.

IDARS (integrated document archive and retrieval system)
A consolidated system for storage, access, management and viewing of electronic documents. Leading uses of IDARS include customer support, electronic bill presentment and long-term archiving of historical data.

IDC (Internet data center)
A data center (typically operated by a third party) containing Internet-related facilities for the use of enterprises, Internet service providers, application service providers (ASPs), e-commerce companies and other firms. IDSs typically provide server outsourcing, hosting and colocation services, Internet connectivity, virtual private networks (VPNs), and other network and transport services. See ASP and VPN.

IDD (international direct dial)
The placement of international calls by dialing them directly, rather than using operator assistance.

IDE (integrated development environment)
Environments for writing application logic and designing application interfaces. They differ from integrated application environments (IAEs) in their lack of solutions such as application servers (with a runtime framework or middleware component) and development frameworks (for example, with integrated testing, project and process management, software configuration management, and component design and assembly). See IAE.

IDE (integrated drive electronics)
A standard computer interface for storage devices, such as internal hard disk drives (also called ATA, or Advanced Technology Attachment). A later version, enhanced IDE (EIDE), supports more capacity and peripherals. See EIDE.

iDEN (Integrated Digital Enhanced Network)
A technology that allows users to access phone calls, two-way radio transmissions, paging and data transmissions from one wireless device. Developed by Motorola, iDEN is based on time division multiple access (TDMA). Services based on the technology are available in North America (offered by Nextel), South America and parts of Asia. See TDMA.

IDEF (Integrated Definition Methodology)
A representation standard used in data and process modeling.

Identrus
A global trust enterprise formed in 1998 by eight leading banks to provide certification authority services for business-to-business e-commerce. Originally called the Bank Global Trust Enterprise, the initiative was renamed Identrus in 1999. See certification authority.

IDIQ (indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity)
Contracts that enable government customers to buy information technology (IT) services from pre-selected vendors at pre-negotiated rates. These contracts, developed and administered by individual government organizations to meet their own IT service requirements, are usually available to all federal agencies for a small administrative fee. The contracts typically cover a broad scope of IT services, and are awarded to several "prime" contractors. Each prime contractor team includes a group of subcontractors that enable it to provide the full suite of required services.

IDL (interface definition language)
A standard language for defining objects' abstract descriptions in terms of their external interfaces (that is, methods and parameters). The IDL compiler will create relevant runtime static and dynamic interface binding information.

IDM (integrated document management)
A class of middleware services that integrates library services, document production and document interchange technologies with business process applications. The term "integrated" describes the transformation of document management from an end-user application to a network-based service integrated with a full complement of end-user personal-productivity and custom-developed applications.

IDMS (Integrated Database Management System)
A database management system introduced by Cullinet in 1973, based on technology acquired from B.F. Goodrich. Computer Associates acquired Cullinet and has maintained the product line (also called "CA-IDMS") since 1989.

IDS (integrated delivery system)
A coordinated system for healthcare delivery that includes hospitals, clinics and physician practices.

IDS (intrusion detection system)
A software product or hardware device that monitors the events occurring in a computer system or network and analyzes them for signs of intrusion. By applying the latest security and attack expertise to separate a relatively few suspicious events from a vast amount of benign activity, an IDS enables more-effective network security administration and facilitates timely response.

IDSL (ISDN digital subscriber line)
A type of digital subscriber line (DSL) service for carrying integrated services digital network (ISDN) data traffic. IDSL provides dedicated service for digital data communications at speeds of up to 144 kilobits per second. See DSL and ISDN.

IE (see information engineering)

IE (see Internet Explorer)

IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission)
A standards-setting body, often jointly responsible with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) for Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) standards. See ISO and OSI.

IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers)
An organization of engineers, scientists and students involved in electrical, electronics and related fields. IEEE also functions as a publishing house and standards body.

IEFM (integrated e-form management)
A category of systems designed for creating and administering e-form applications using installed database, messaging, document management and workflow infrastructures. See e-form.

IESG (Internet Engineering Steering Group)
An organization appointed by the Internet Architecture Board (IAB) to manage the operation of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). The IETF's working groups are managed by IESG members called area directors. See IAB and IETF.

IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force)
A subgroup of the Internet Society responsible for recommending protocols and procedures used over the Internet. It is composed of representatives from vendor, government and academic communities, and is divided into six subcommittees (with further divisions into working groups). The chairperson sits on the Internet Architecture Board (IAB). IETF working group meetings are open to the public. See IAB.

IFPUG (International Function Point Users Group)
A body that maintains standards for function points, a measure of application size (see function point). Membership in the organization is required to obtain a version of the Counting Practices Manual, which serves as the guidebook for function point counters. IFPUG offers a certification (Certified Function Point Specialist) to ensure that those who are counting are doing so within guidelines.

IFX (Interactive Financial Exchange)
A financial services specification published by the Banking Industry Technology Secretariat (BITS). See BITS.

IGBT (insulated-gate bipolar transistor)
A category of bipolar transistor technology (see bipolar).

IGES (Initial Graphics Exchange Specification)
A standard for the exchange of computer-aided design (CAD) geometry. It provides a vendor-neutral method of representing parts, geometric renderings and product dimensions, and is used as an intermediate system for transfer between specific CAD products. IGES has been largely superseded by Standard for the Exchange of Product Model Data (STEP). See CAD and STEP.

IGP (interior gateway protocol)
A type of network protocol used by interior routers to move information within an autonomous system or group of networks under the control and authority of a single entity. IGPs transfer packets from one network to an adjacent one. Examples include Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (IGRP), Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) and Routing Information Protocol (RIP). See IGRP, OSPF and RIP.

IGRP (Interior Gateway Routing Protocol)
Cisco Systems' proprietary routing algorithm. IGRP is an exterior gateway protocol (IGP) used to exchange data packets between routers at the network layer (Layer 3) of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) network stack. See IGP and OSI.

IHV (independent hardware vendor)
A hardware producer that is not owned or controlled by a dominant IT vendor (such as IBM).

IIOP (Internet Inter-ORB Protocol)
Part of the Object Management Group's Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA), IIOP is the protocol used for communication between CORBA object request brokers (ORBs) over Internet Protocol networks. It is designed to enable systems using CORBA middleware from any vendor to communicate with objects from any other vendor's CORBA product. See CORBA and ORB.

IIS (Internet Information Server)
Microsoft's Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP) server, originally packaged with the Windows NT operating system. See HTTP.

IKE (Internet Key Exchange)
An authentication protocol used to establish secure connections over an Internet Protocol (IP) network. IKE is part of the IP Security (IPsec) standard. See IPsec.

IL (Intermediate Language) — see MSIL (Microsoft Intermediate Language)

ILEC (incumbent local-exchange carrier)
A local-exchange carrier (LEC) established prior to entry of competitive LECs (CLECs) in the wake of telecommunications deregulation. See LEC and CLEC.

ILM (IBM License Manager)
Planned technology announced by IBM as part of the zSeries product launch in October 2000. The ILM monitor, which was to be a free part of the operating system, would have allowed IBM and other participating vendors to supply usage information to determine license compliance and provide a vehicle for software asset management. In 2002, IBM announced that it would not deliver ILM for its zSeries mainframes, and that it had disbanded the development team.

IM (see information management)

IM (see instant messaging)

IM (see interactive marketing)

IMA (inverse multiplexing over ATM)
A network service arrangement that enables a high-bandwidth asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) data stream to be divided up and carried over multiple, lower-bandwidth network links. A standardized approach to IMA (also known as "inverse multiplexing for ATM") has been defined in a specification from the ATM Forum. See ATM and inverse multiplexing.

IMAC (installations, moves, adds and changes) — see MAC (moves, adds and changes)

Image and Scanner Interface Specification (see ISIS)

ImagePlus
An IBM document-imaging product, introduced in 1988, that provided generic application software for using document images in common user environments. It was eventually subsumed into IBM's Content Manager product.

imaging
The electronic capture and digitization of images for such uses as medical diagnosis or document archival. See MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) and document imaging.

IMAP (integrated multiservice access platform)
A scalable and flexible network access technology that can host different types of functionality, regardless of the network source. An IMAP provides access to voice, data and multimedia services through a single, integrated platform that incorporates functions such as switching, routing and multiplexing. It can be located either at the core of the network close to the central office, or at the subscriber demarcation point. IMAP solutions are becoming popular in North America, Europe and some Asia/Pacific countries. The target markets for the deployment of advanced IMAP solutions are in high-subscriber-density areas, and in the new installations of incumbent and alternative network operators.

IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol)
A protocol used to access e-mail or bulletin board messages from a (possibly shared) mail server. IMAP allows a client e-mail program to access remote message stores as if they were local. E-mail stored on an IMAP server can be manipulated from a workstation at the office, a desktop computer at home or a notebook computer while traveling, without requiring the transfer of messages or files back and forth between these computers. Details of the IMAP specification can be found at www.imap.org.

i-mode
NTT DoCoMo's mobile system that allows users to view specially formatted Web sites, receive e-mail, and access financial, travel and news information via their mobile phones. A key feature of i-mode is that it offers constant connection to the Internet.

impedance
A measure of the electrical property of resistance, expressed in ohms.

IMS (Information Management System)
An IBM mainframe system environment for managing complex database and transaction-processing requirements. The IMS environment is made available with two IBM licensed programs: a database management system called IMS Database Manager (IMS DB), and a transaction-processing monitor called IMS Transaction Manager (IMS TM). IMS applications run in what are called message-processing regions, each in its own address space. They communicate as needed with the IMS control region, which can be located in a separate address space. See IMS DB and IMS TM.

IMS DB (IMS Database Manager)
An mainframe database management system (DBMS) that works within IBM's Information Management System (IMS) environment. It supports a hierarchical data model, with optional extensions for some network data model features. IMS DB may be used with the IMS Transaction Monitor (TM) or Customer Information Control System (CICS) transaction-processing monitors to provide online access to the database, or it may be used without a monitor for batch processing. See CICS, DBMS and IMS TM.

IMS TM (IMS Transaction Manager)
A licensed program that works within IBM's Information Management System (IMS) environment. IMS TM is used to create online transaction processing (OLTP) applications. See IMS and OLTP.

IMT-2000 (International Mobile Telecommunications 2000)
The International Telecommunication Union's (ITU's) name for a family of third generation (3G) cellular standards. IMT-2000 is aimed at providing a standard framework for worldwide wireless access that links the diverse system of terrestrial- and satellite-based networks. See 3G and ITU.

IN (intelligent network)
A service-independent, switched overlay network to the public switched telephone network (PSTN), enabling advanced services such as toll-free dialing, virtual private networks (VPNs), call routing and credit/calling card services. A standard architecture for INs is being defined in efforts of various international bodies such as the European Telecommunications Standards Institute, the International Telecommunication Union and the American National Standards Institute. See PSTN and VPN.

incentive compensation management system (see ICMS)

incumbent local-exchange carrier (see ILEC)

indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (see IDIQ)

Independent Computing Architecture (see ICA)

independent hardware vendor (see IHV)

independent software vendor (see ISV)

Indexed Sequential Access Method (see ISAM)

industrial computer
A personal or process control computer that is designed to withstand the rigors of the factory floor. Some industrial computers are configured so that maintenance and cold start-up are relatively simple. These devices are used for applications such as data collection, monitoring and programming.

Industry Standard Architecture (see ISA)

infomediary
A slang term (short for "information intermediary") for an entity that consolidates information from other parties and offers it to customers — typically via the Web, and often in a customized or targeted form.

information architecture
An architecture that defines the content, attributes, sources and destinations of information, its flow through the enterprise, and rules for persistence, security and ownership.

Information and Content Exchange (see ICE)

information engineering
A methodology for developing an integrated information system based on the sharing of common data, with emphasis on decision support needs as well as transaction-processing requirements. It assumes logical data representations are relatively stable compared with the frequently changing processes that use the data. Therefore, the logical data model, which reflects an organization's rules and policies, should be the basis for system development.

information filtering (see filtering)

information assets
All forms of information possessed by an enterprise that are relevant to its business function. Information assets (also known as "knowledge assets") include:

• Captured and tacit knowledge of employees, customers or business partners

• Data and information stored in structured databases, as well as in less-structured formats such as e-mail, workflow and spreadsheets

• Information stored in electronic and paper documents

• Information obtained from external sources, such as purchased or public content from the Internet or other sources

information management

A method of using technology to collect, process and condense information with the goal of efficient management. Many large enterprises have a central information management function to facilitate this coordination. The technologies required include a set of modeling tools and a production-worthy repository in which to store and manage the information.

Information Management System (see IMS)

information resource center (see IRC)

information retrieval (see IR)

information superhighway
A 1990s concept for a high-speed computing and communications network that would deliver ubiquitous voice, telephony, data, video and other communications. The Internet itself was originally cited only as a model for the information superhighway, though the popularity of the Web made it the default successor to the concept. See Web and Supranet.

information systems (see IS)

information technology (see IT)

Information Technology Infrastructure Library (see ITIL)

Information Technology Security Evaluation and Certification (see ITSEC)

infrared
The portion of the electromagnetic spectrum above radio frequencies but below visible light, with wavelengths between 10 nanometers and 780 nanometers. Because of the low cost of infrared transmission technology, it is now embedded in a number of devices (for example, in handheld devices, such as cellular phones) to provide short-range wireless data communications capabilities.

Infrared Data Association (see IrDA)

inheritance
A quality that defines a relationship among classes in object-oriented (OO) paradigm. In OO systems, classes at the lower levels of the hierarchy inherit attributes and methods from the parent classes above them. See OO.

Initial Graphics Exchange Specification (see IGES)

Inmarsat (International Maritime Satellite Organization)
A global mobile satellite communications operator with headquarters in London. Originally formed as an intergovernmental organization, Inmarsat became a limited company in 1999. Its communications services are now used for mobile-phone, fax and data communications applications, in addition to maritime and aeronautical uses.

in-memory database
A database design that obviates the complexities of multilevel stores posed by traditional relational database management systems (RDBMSs). This design begins with the assumption that all data is resident in memory. In an in-memory database, pointers point directly to the data and do not need to be translated to disk addresses and blocks. This technology bolsters database performance for embedded applications, and for tactical requirements where performance gains can be traded off against traditional RDBMS strengths.

input/output (see I/O)

insertion loss
The reduction in the power of a transmitted signal after a device is inserted into a communications circuit or a call is connected.

insourcing
The process of separating the IS organization from the enterprise, usually as a business unit measured by its own profit and loss. The insourced IS organization provides the enterprise with IT services on a business-rules basis (for example, using semiformal contracts, service-level agreements and definitions of tariffs for services). IT insourcing has been used by many large enterprises that also have the scope to sell IT services to the market.

instant messaging
A communication service in which short messages appear in pop-up screens as soon as they are received, thereby commanding the recipient's immediate attention. Examples include ICQ and AOL Instant Messenger.

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (see IEEE)

insulated-gate bipolar transistor (see IGBT)

integrated access device (see IAD)

integrated application environment (see IAE)

Integrated Cached Disk Array (see ICDA)

integrated circuit (see IC)

Integrated Cluster Bus (see ICB)

Integrated Database Management System (see IDMS)

Integrated Definition Methodology (see IDEF)

integrated delivery system (see IDS)

integrated development environment (see IDE)

Integrated Digital Enhanced Network (see iDEN)

integrated document and output management (see IDOM)

integrated document archive and retrieval system (see IDARS)

integrated document management (see IDM)

Integrated Drive Electronics (see IDE)

integrated e-form management (see IEFM)

integrated multiservice access platform (see IMAP)

Integrated On-Demand Network (see ION)

integrated plant system (see IPS)

Integrated Services Digital Network (see ISDN)

integrated SODA environment (see ISE)

integration broker
An intermediary technology (also called an interface engine or a message broker) that facilitates interactions between applications. Integration brokers minimally provide message transformation and routing services. They mostly communicate program to program; they integrate previously independent applications at the application-logic level of the software design.

integration broker suite (see IBS)

integration server
A hybrid of selected integration broker features (such as flow control, data transformation and middleware gateways), lightweight application-serving capability and development tools. Integration servers can be viable alternatives to full-fledged application servers for Web process integration, and in simpler composite-application/Web services approaches. They come in two varieties:

• Presentation integration servers focus on supporting multichannel, integrated user interfaces.

• Programmatic integration servers aim at enabling encapsulation of back-end systems into component-oriented interfaces.

integration suite — see IBS (integration broker suite)

integrative policy group (see IPG)

Integrion
The consortium (now defunct) that created the Gold standard. See Gold.

integrity
An operating system's ability to ensure that only authorized users can enter a privileged state (such as supervisor mode). Integrity is a prerequisite for security in an operating system. The term is not synonymous with security, but security requires it. In database technology, it is a broad term denoting the correct state of the database.

Intel Architecture (see IA)

intellectual assets
Intangible assets including employees' knowledge; data and information about processes, experts, products, customers and competitors; brand names and image; and intellectual property, such as patented, trademarked or copyrighted materials, as well as regulatory licenses; also known as "knowledge assets" or "information assets."

intellectual capital (see knowledge capital)

intellectual property
A category of intangible assets. Intellectual property traditionally includes assets protected through regulatory methods such as patents, copyrights and regulatory licenses; however, this protection is being expanded to include software and business processes when these can be demonstrated to be original, novel and inobvious. Customer intelligence or business intelligence may be considered "intellectual property" by its owner, depending on its value to enterprise competitiveness and its integration into business processes.

intelligent agent
Agent software that assists people and acts on their behalf; allows users to delegate work that they could have done themselves to an application; and usually uses artificial intelligence (AI) technology to find, filter, and customize information to the user's needs. Other names for intelligent agents include "autonomous agents," "intelligent assistants," "bots" and "virtual assistants." See agent and AI.

intelligent character recognition (see ICR)

Intelligent Console Architecture (see ICA)

Intelligent Content Distribution Service (see ICDS)

intelligent hub
An evolution of the wiring concentrator, an intelligent hub can also act as a platform for chassis-mounted bridges, routers, terminal servers, gateways and print servers, and can be fully managed.

Intelligent Input/Output (see I2O)

intelligent matching
The process of identifying a set of likely matches in a typical registration system rather than attempting to determine an exact match. Typical registration systems in integrated delivery systems (IDSs) use a name or social security number to obtain an exact match. By using phonetic names and other variables, intelligent matching allows for variability in spelling and, thus, an increased number of matches. See IDS.

intelligent network (see IN)

Intelligent Printer Data Stream (see IPDS)

intelligent routing
Integration middleware's "traffic police"; it determines how a message should be routed through the integration infrastructure based on factors such as message properties and content. Integration middleware often includes some form of intelligent routing to direct events through the integration infrastructure and, at times, to direct what transformations will occur.

intelligent terminal
A data terminal that can perform some processing functions, but lacks the sophisticated capabilities of a PC.

interactive
Involving, enabling or encouraging user interactions — for example, with a multimedia kiosk, consumer electronics appliance (such as a television) or Web site. In communications, the term describes time-dependent data communications, typically where a user enters data and then awaits a response message from the destination before continuing.

Interactive Financial Exchange (see IFX)

interactive marketing
The use of marketing techniques or technologies that involve the interactive (usually Web-enabled) participation of customers.

interactive selling system (see ISS)

Interactive System Productivity Facility (see ISPF)

interactive television (see interactive TV)

interactive TV
Technology that provides two-way access to entertainment, communication, information and transaction services through cable, telephone or wireless networks using a low-cost addition to a television set. See Web TV.

interactive voice response (see IVR)

intercom
An internal communications system that enables calling within the same building, but not outside the system.

interexchange carrier (see IXC)

interface

1. A point or means of interaction with a system, whether by a human user or another system; see user interface.

2. In communications, the boundary between two pieces of equipment across which all the signals that pass are carefully defined. The definition includes the connector signal levels, impedance, timing, sequence of operation and the meaning of signals.

interface definition language (see IDL)

interior gateway protocol (see IGP)

Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (see IGRP)

inter-LATA
A U.S. term that refers to communications between local access and transport areas (LATAs). See LATA.

Intermediate Language (see MSIL)

Intermediate-System-to-Intermediate-System (IS-IS)
A routing method among intermediate systems that requires the end systems, rather than the intermediate systems, to be responsible for providing error correction. It reduces complexity and overhead of routing protocols.

internal coupling facility (see ICF)

internal rate of return (see IRR)

International Business Machines (see IBM)

International Computer Security Association (see ICSA)

international direct dial (see IDD)

International Electrotechnical Commission (see IEC)

International Function Point Users Group (see IFPUG)

International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium — see (ISC)²

International Maritime Satellite Organization (see Inmarsat)

International Mobile Telecommunications 2000 (see IMT-2000)

International Organization for Standardization (see ISO)

International Telecommunication Union (see ITU)

international trade system (see ITS)

Internet
A loose confederation of independent yet interconnected networks that share information using a standard set of protocols. The founding principles of the Internet can be traced back to the early 1960s, when the U.S. Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency began to conduct research into packet-switching technology. Since then, it has grown to become a global "network of networks" connecting millions of users worldwide. These networks are connected through "gateways," which enable the transfer of data using a common address system and a common communications protocol called Internet Protocol (IP). This, together with the Internet's ubiquity, makes it an excellent tool for distributing and sharing information.

The Internet is best known for (and also sometimes mistaken as being synonymous with) the World Wide Web (known as "the Web" for short), but the Web is just one of many applications on the Internet. In addition to Web access, Internet services include e-mail, file transfer (using File Transfer Protocol) and newsgroups. Many organizations contribute to the ongoing development and standards efforts of the Internet, including Internet Society, The Internet Engineering Task Force, the Internet Architecture Board and the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (which assigns IP addresses).

Internet 2
An initiative by the research and academic community to build a 2.4-gigabit-per-second network. It outlines a plan for network service providers to converge their data networks and then, much later, their voice and data networks. It has specific plans for creating a closed user group of research and academic institutions that is connected via a high-speed network offering varying classes of services as well as guaranteed quality of service.

Internet Architecture Board (see IAB)

Internet address (see IP address)

Internet Control Message Protocol (see ICMP)

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (see ICANN)

Internet data center (see IDC)

Internet Engineering Steering Group (see IESG)

Internet Engineering Task Force (see IETF)

Internet Explorer
Microsoft's Web browser, which has supplanted Netscape as the market share leader.

Internet Information Server (see IIS)

Internet Inter-ORB Protocol (see IIOP)

Internet Key Exchange (see IKE)

Internet kiosk
A stand-alone terminal designed for accessing information via the Internet.

Internet Message Access Protocol (see IMAP)

Internet Protocol (see IP)

Internet Protocol virtual private network (see IP VPN)

Internet Relay Chat (see IRC)

Internet Research Task Force (see IRTF)

Internet Security Systems (see ISS)

Internet Server Application Programming Interface (see ISAPI)

Internet service provider (see ISP)

Internet Society (see ISOC)

Internet telephony
Use of Internet protocols for transmitting two-way audio signals in real time, as an alternative to traditional telephone carriers.

Internetwork Operating System (see IOS)

Internetwork Packet Exchange (see IPX)

Internet Protocol address (see IP address)

interoperability
The ability of one device or system to work with another.

interpreter
A computer program that translates and executes each source language statement before translating and executing the next one; also known as an incremental coupler.

intra-LATA
A U.S. term that refers to communications within a single local access and transport area (LATA). See LATA.

intranet
A network internal to an enterprise that uses Internet technology and protocols. It is not necessarily connected to the Internet and is commonly secured from it using firewalls. Intranets are often used by companies for informational purposes, such as distributing internal announcements or displaying job postings, internal directories and organizational charts.

intrusion detection system (see IDS)

inverse multiplexing
The combination of several lower-speed circuits into one circuit for greater bandwidth. Inverse multiplexing also pulls together and synchronizes multiple channels at the receiving end of data, voice or video transmission.

inverse multiplexing over ATM (see IMA)

I/O (input/output)
The activity of sending information to or from terminals, disk drives, direct-access storage devices, printers and other peripheral devices. Physical I/O performance lags behind that of memory and logical technologies.

I/O channel
Part of the input/output (I/O) system of a computer. Under the control of I/O commands, the channel transfers blocks of data between main storage and peripherals.

I2O (Intelligent Input/Output)
An initiative, launched in 1996 by the I2O Special Interest Group (SIG), to change server input/output (I/O) from a tightly related driver-device structure to a more abstract, layered, message-oriented structure. The I2O SIG ceased operations in October 2000. See I/O.

ION (Integrated On-Demand Network)
The enterprise-oriented part of Sprint's overall strategy to migrate from various transmission, access and switching systems to a Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) dense wave division multiplexing (DWDM) enhanced-transmission platform, and to an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) core-switching fabric. It is intended to ultimately deliver all local and long-distance voice and data network services. See SONET, DWDM and ATM.

IOS (Internetwork Operating System)
The proprietary software run by Cisco routers and access servers. It supports both local-area and wide-area network protocols. It originated from code developed at Stanford University in the mid-1980s.

IP (Internet Protocol)
The basic underlying protocol of the Internet, originally developed during a 15-year period under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Defense (see Internet). Used in conjunction with Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), it provides a common address system and communications protocol to track the addresses of network nodes, route outgoing messages and recognize incoming ones. Today, its use has spread beyond the Internet to become a de facto standard used in enterprise networking. See Internet, TCP and TCP/IP.

IP address (Internet Protocol address)
A unique number assigned by an Internet authority that identifies a computer on the Internet, or on any other network that uses Internet Protocol (IP). It consists of four groups of numbers between 0 and 255, separated by periods (dots). For example, 195.112.56.75 is an IP address. See Internet and IP.

IPDS (Intelligent Printer Data Stream)
An IBM format for sending files to a printer. It provides an interface to all-points-addressable printers that make possible the presentation of pages containing a mix of different types of data, such as high-quality text, raster image, vector graphics and bar codes. In addition, IPDS provides commands for the management of printing resources such as fonts and overlays; for the control of device functions such as paper sourcing and stacking; for the handling of exception functions; and for an acknowledgment protocol at the data stream level.

IPF (Itanium Processor Family)
The family of 64-bit, Itanium-branded processors from Intel, including Itanium and Itanium 2. (See Itanium.)

IPG (integrative policy group)
The group responsible for the formulation and maintenance of all policies and procedures regarding an enterprise's intranet. Cross-functional representation on this team is critical and should include the IS department, business units and corporate communications. While the IS department should play a major role, facilitation of the team should be provided by someone from a key business unit, if possible.

IP multicast
The transmission of Internet Protocol (IP) packets to a group of receivers identified by a single IP destination address. Membership in this group is dynamic; interested hosts may join or leave at any time. This structure allows a server to transmit a single set of data, and the underlying network takes care of replicating it to all interested receivers that have joined that group, thereby enhancing bandwidth and server efficiency. See IP.

IP Next Generation (see IPng)

IPng (IP Next Generation)
A working group of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) created in the 1990s to codify solutions to a number of problems inherent in Internet Protocol (IP) version 4, including limitations in the numbers of IP addresses. The group's work led to the development of IP version 6 (IPv6). See IETF, IP and IPv6.

IPS (integrated plant system)
An integrated, computerized manufacturing system that provides open control, production management, production information management and analysis, model-based control and optimization, and plant resource planning and reconciliation functions. IPSs combine open control system (OCS) and manufacturing execution system (MES) functionality in the broader context of enterprise and supply chain management (SCM) applications. See MES, OCS and SCM.

IPsec (IP Security)
A working group of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) charged with developing a security standard for Internet Protocol (IP). IPsec is also the name of the standard itself. It defines protocols for authentication, privacy and data integrity based on encryption and X.509 digital certificates.

IP telephony
Voice traffic or data traffic that has traditionally been treated like voice traffic — it is transmitted over an Internet Protocol (IP) network. Three distinct types of IP telephony traffic exist: real-time voice, non-real-time voice and fax.

IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6)
A set of specifications from the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), accepted as an IETF draft standard in 1998. IPv6 offers increased network-addressing capacity compared with earlier versions of Internet Protocol, and supports mechanisms for quality of service. In the 1990s, many expected that the Internet would rapidly migrate to this new technology. However, given the lack of a bona fide crisis in IP address space depletion or any critical applications that would require use of IPv6, the remainder of its benefits have been insufficient to drive this technology into the mainstream. It has largely "dropped off the radar screen" of U.S. enterprises, although it has become a strategic priority in Europe and Asia, where IP address space allocation is a more pressing issue.

IP VPN (Internet Protocol virtual private network)
An Internet Protocol (IP) network that delivers private, enterprise-focused data communications services using a public-network infrastructure. See IP and VPN.

IPX (Internetwork Packet Exchange)
A widely used routing protocol, based on Xerox's XNS, developed by Novell and implemented in Novell's NetWare. An IPX implementation allows concurrent dual access to both an application server and a native NetWare file server without imposing memory overhead on client workstations.

IR (information retrieval)
Structured or unstructured data searching to retrieve information specific to a computer user's needs. IR tools index documents based on textual content. Web search engines are an example of IR technology. See search engine.

IR (see infrared)

IRC (information resource center)
A service organization whose primary mission has been to respond to requests for specific information and to organize and maintain content collections. More recently, its role has expanded to the delivery of online information resources.

IRC (Internet Relay Chat)
A real-time conferencing service, organized in channels, on the Internet.

IrDA (Infrared Data Association)
An international organization that produces a standard for infrared data transmission at speeds of up to four megabits per second; also the name of the standard itself. See infrared.

iris recognition
A biometric technique that uses the iris of a person's eye to authenticate identity. Iris recognition is a relatively new biometric technique that has been used in trials in automated teller machines.

IRR (internal rate of return)
A type of financial analysis used to measure the expected return on a project investment. IRR is the discount rate that, when applied to the project's future cash flow, yields a net present value (NPV) of zero. This rate is compared to the cost of the capital involved to determine the project's viability. See NPV.

IRTF (Internet Research Task Force)
A committee of network experts concerned with long-term research into the Internet and its protocols. It is further divided into research groups. The chairperson sits on the Internet Architecture Board (IAB). See IAB.

IS (information systems)
The use of and investment in information technology (IT) by the principal or centralized organization formally charged with the responsibility for IT in an enterprise. Often the IS organization is led by a chief information officer (CIO), IS vice president or similar executive. IS is also often the formal name of the department within an enterprise that is responsible for IT. Other common names for the IS organization are:

• MIS (for "management information systems")

• Data processing

• Information processing

ISA (Industry Standard Architecture)
Bus architecture originally developed by IBM for personal computers. ISA has been largely superseded by the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) interface. See PCI.

ISAM (Indexed Sequential Access Method)
A disk access method that stores data sequentially, maintaining an index of key fields to all the records in the file.

ISAPI (Internet Server Application Programming Interface)
A proprietary Web server application programming interface (API) from Microsoft. It is designed to provide direct, function-level access to Microsoft's Internet Information Server (IIS). See API and IIS.

(ISC)² (International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium)
The nonprofit organization that administers the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certification program. See CISSP.

iSCSI (Internet SCSI)
A proposed network transport standard — supported by a group of vendors that include Cisco Systems, Adaptec and IBM — designed to enables storage area networks (SANs) to be built using Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) protocols. It works by encapsulating SCSI data in Internet Protocol (IP) packets for transport over IP-based networks. iSCSI (sometimes referred to as "SCSI over IP") is a draft standard of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), and its development is managed by the IETF's IP Storage working group. See IP, SAN and SCSI.

ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network)
A technical standard and design philosophy for digital networks. ISDN provides high-speed, high-bandwidth channels to subscribers via the public switched telephone network, achieving end-to-end digital functions with standard equipment interface devices. ISDN networks enable a variety of mixed digital transmission services to be accommodated at a single interface.

ISDN digital subscriber line (see IDSL)

ISDN User Part (see ISUP)

ISE (integrated SODA environment)
A suite of integrated development tools and technologies used for building service-oriented and composite applications. These applications will usually implement a service-oriented architecture (SOA) and are created using service-oriented development of applications (SODA) techniques. ISEs are producer platforms for creating Web services — much as application servers are provider platforms for hosting Web services, and portal servers are consumer platforms for using these services. See SOA and SODA.

ISIS (Image and Scanner Interface Specification)
A common interface standard that allows consistent scanner control dialogue. Created by Pixel Translations (now part of ActionPoint), ISIS has become a popular standard for document-imaging scanners. It was designed to provide a common interface that integrators could use to support and enable image scanning, compression and display for any imaging scanner with no code change.

ISO (International Organization for Standardization)
A voluntary, nontreaty organization established in 1949, as a technical agency of the United Nations, to promote international standardization in a broad range of industries. ISO's Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) Reference Model establishes guidelines for network architectures. See OSI.

ISO 17799
A comprehensive set of guidelines offering a code of practice for security management. Originally defined by the British Standards Institute as British Standard 7799 (BS 7799), the standard was renamed ISO 19977 by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) when the latter body adopted it as an international standard. The objectives of ISO 17799, which is geography-neutral in scope, are to provide a basis for organizational security standards and to enable the establishment of mutual trust among networked sites. Many information security service providers, in Europe and the rest of the world, are offering services associated with ISO 17799. See BS 7799 and ISO.

ISO 9000
An international standard for quality control, also known as BS5750 and EN29001 (the three standards are identical, but are numbered and published differently by different standards bodies). The worldwide standard is published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and is the one generally referenced. ISO 9000 is a generic standard that any enterprise or individual department can use. It is not specific to the IT industry. The standard is subdivided into three parts — ISO 9001, ISO 9002 and ISO 9003. Enterprises may use some or all of the parts, depending on the nature of their business. Any enterprise can claim that it complies with ISO 9000. To make the claim credible, an external assessor from an accreditation body must evaluate the enterprise's quality system. ISO 9000 certification does not guarantee quality; it guarantees consistency of approach.

ISOC (Internet Society)
A body dedicated to the development of Internet standards via its subgroup, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). See IETF.

isochronous
A communications term used to describe transmission where the signal recurs at known, equally spaced time intervals relative to a single time reference. It is a form of periodic transmission.

ISP (Internet service provider)
A company that provides Internet access to its customers. The majority of ISPs are too small to purchase access directly from the network access point (NAP), and instead buy pieces of bandwidth that are available from larger ISPs. ISPs are different from online services, although these services sometimes also provide access to the Internet. Online services provide access to exclusive content, databases and online discussion forums that are not available outside the service.

ISPF (Interactive System Productivity Facility)
An IBM-licensed program used for writing application programs. It serves as a full-screen editor and dialogue manager and provides a means of generating standard screen panels and interactive dialogues between the application programmer and the terminal user.

ISS (interactive selling system)
The integration of a marketing encyclopedia system, sales configuration system, proposal generation system and order management system under a common user interface. It is used to streamline and enhance the selling process. With an ISS, the salesperson can sit in front of the customer and pull up data to prove value, configure an order, create a proposal, and then turn the proposal into an order and book the order.

ISS (Internet Security Systems)
An security software vendor headquartered in Atlanta.

ISUP (ISDN User Part)
A Integrated services Digital Network (ISDN) protocol that defines call setup and control functions. See ISDN.

ISV (independent software vendor)
A software producer that is not owned or controlled by a major IT vendor. An ISV is a company whose primary function is to distribute software. Major hardware, operating-system and database vendors that also sell software (such as IBM, Microsoft and Oracle) are not ISVs, nor are companies in nontechnology industries (such as financial services) that may also sell software products.

IT (information technology)
The common term for the entire spectrum of technologies for information processing, including software, hardware, communications technologies and related services. In general, IT does not include embedded technologies that do not generate data for enterprise use.

ITAA (Information Technology Association of America)

Itanium
A new processor generation introduced by Intel in 2001, based on IA-64 architecture. Designed for high-end, enterprise-class servers and workstations, it offers increased performance over previous Intel processor generations through expansion from 32- to 64-bit technology, and the introduction of Explicitly Parallel Instruction Computing (EPIC) design. See EPIC and IA-64.

Itanium Processor Family (see IPF)

IT asset management
A systematic approach to managing IT assets throughout their life cycle, from procurement through retirement and disposal. See asset management.

IT consulting
An area of consulting that includes systems architecture design/development and IS organizational planning, as well as technical consulting — including technology assessment, and hardware and software tuning.

IT governance
The mechanism for assigning decision rights — and for creating an accountability framework that drives desirable behaviors — related to IT.

ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library)
An initiative developed by the Central Computing and Telecommunications Agency consultancy for the government of the United Kingdom. It offers a set of best practices in 24 service delivery and IT service support areas, including help desk, problem management, change management, software distribution and cost control.

IT infrastructure
The underlying technological components that constitute an organization's system architecture. The seven components of IT infrastructure are hardware, operating system, network, database, development environment, user interface and application.

ITO (IT outsourcing)
The contractual vehicle through which enterprises use external sources to provide life cycle service and support operations for their IT infrastructure. Outsourcing can be partial (i.e., modular or selective) or total, and can involve not only operations but also the acquisition of customer assets and personnel. IT outsourcing is divided into five primary market segments: data center operations, network operations, client/server operations, application management and desktop management.

IT outsourcing (see ITO)

ITS (international trade system)
An execution system designed to automate the import/export business process. The basic functional components are trade documentation generation and transmission, and regulatory compliance validation.

ITSEC (Information Technology Security Evaluation and Certification)
A European security evaluation performed by an independent body on a variety of commercial and military applications. ITSEC's evaluation assesses the effectiveness and the "correctness" of security mechanisms for both hardware and software. Effectiveness, a measure of the strength of the mechanisms, is defined at three levels: basic, medium and high. Correctness is assessed at seven levels of confidence that the security functions have been correctly implemented, ranging from E0 to E6. The higher the level, the more detailed and rigorous the analysis. A similar security evaluation — known formally as Trusted Computer System Evaluation Criteria (TCSEC) and informally as the Orange Book — has been defined by the U.S. federal government. See TCSEC.

ITU (International Telecommunication Union)
An international organization, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, within which governments and the private sector coordinate global telecommunications networks and services.

IT utility services
IT infrastructure resources available as on-demand services, with pricing based on service units of usage or capacity. IT infrastructures are externalized and standardized, enabling IS organizations to focus on applications and business processes. They can also help enterprises reduce operational costs and capital investment requirements, speed implementation and deployment, and exchange fixed costs for flexible costs.

ITV (see interactive TV)

IUnknown
The base interface in Microsoft's Component Object Model (COM) interface hierarchy. All COM interfaces are derived from IUnknown, which provides the mechanism for specifying an object's life span and navigating multiple interfaces.

IVR (interactive voice response)
A function whereby callers push buttons in response to voice prompts in order to listen to recorded information, or have their calls automatically routed to an appropriate party. IVR enables callers to have more flexibility to access information or leave messages. Use of this option can "offload" call volume from call center agents, or improve load balancing by having agents handle recorded messages during slow periods. A growing number of IVR developers are now using speech recognition in their applications.

IXC (interexchange carrier)
A long-distance telephone company in the United States that provides service between local access and transport areas (LATAs). See LATA.