IT Definitions and Glossary

C

C

The programming language created by Dennis Ritchie at the former Bell Laboratories in 1972. C provides very precise control of the computer's operation.

C++

An extension to the C language defined by Bjarne Stroustrop at Bell Laboratories in 1986. As a superset of C, it provides additional features for data abstraction and object-oriented programming. C++ can be used to develop programs for almost all computers. Together, C and C++ are the among the most common programming languages in use today.

CA (certification authority)

Also known as a "certificate authority," this is an internal or third-party entity that creates, signs and revokes digital certificates that bind public keys to user identities. A repository or directory stores digital certificates and certificate revocation lists (CRLs) to allow users to obtain the public keys of other users and determine revocation status. Typically, the repository is a traditional X.500 directory or a database that supports Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP).

cable service provider

An entity that owns cable  infrastructure and provides cable TV (and increasingly telecom services). Examples include, Comcast, Time Warner Cable.

CAC (connection admission control)

A function in asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) networks that checks whether network resources are available to support the quality of service and traffic parameters of an incoming connection. Also known as "call admission control."

CAC (context-aware computing)

Context-aware computing (CAC) centers around the concept of leveraging information about the end user to improve the quality of the interaction with the end user. The term "context-enriched services" describes software that uses information about an end user's environment, community, process and identity to enrich a core function. These services are one of CAC's fundamental building blocks. Enterprises can leverage CAC to better target prospects, increase customer intimacy, and enhance associate productivity and collaboration.

cache

A temporary storage area for instructions and data near a computer's central processing unit (CPU), usually implemented in high-speed memory. It replicates information from main memory or storage in a way that facilitates quicker access, using fewer resources than the original source. Because data is closer to the CPU, it can be retrieved more quickly.

caching server

A device that efficiently stores frequently requested data from protocols such as Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP) and File Transfer Protocol (FTP) and has the ability to "prefetch" additional data at preset intervals. A network caching server has the ability to listen on the network and intercept protocol requests on its associated Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) ports. This alleviates the need to have the enterprise's browser configured to "know" where the server sits on the network.

CAD (computer-aided design)

High-speed workstations or personal computers that use specialized software and input devices such as graphic tablets and scanners for specialized use in architectural, electrical and mechanical design. With few exceptions, CAD systems rely extensively on graphics.

CADAM (Computer-Aided Design and Manufacturing)

A computer-aided design program by IBM consisting of three-dimensional construction, modification, analysis and display (geometrical representation) of mechanical parts, including a control system for automated machine tools to manufacture the parts.

CAD/CAM (computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing)

CADD (computer-aided design and drafting)

Interactive graphic programs that automate the methodologies of drafting and design layouts. A few programs are successful enough so that it is difficult to justify designing layouts manually. Applications include integrated circuits and printed circuit boards.

CADDY (Computer-Aided Dossier and Data Supply)

An electronic dossier interchange and archiving format used in registering agrochemical products, such as pesticides .

CAE (computer-aided engineering)

An area of automated manufacturing and design technology for building end products that had its roots in finite element methods, but today it includes all types of performance systems, e.g., heat transfer, structural, electromagnetic, aeronautics and acoustic analysis. Major improvements have been in the architecture, mechanical, electronic and electrical-engineering disciplines.

CAGR (compound annual growth rate)

The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) is the annualized average rate of revenue growth between two given years, assuming growth takes place at an exponentially compounded rate. The CAGR between given years X and Z, where Z – X = N, is the number of years between the two given years, is calculated as follows:

CAGR, year X to year Z = [(value in year Z/value in year X) ^ (1/N)-1]

For example, the CAGR for 2006 to 2011 is calculated as:

CAGR, 2006 to 2011 (X = 2006, Z = 2011, N = 5) = [(value in 2011/value in 2006) ^ (1/5)-1]

CAI (common air interface)

Technical parameters of control and information signals are passed between a radio transmitter and receiver so that equipment manufactured by different companies can communicate.

call

In networking, a call is any demand to set up a connection. In telecommunications, it is a unit of telephone traffic.

call accounting system

A device that tracks outgoing calls and records data for reporting. See call detail recording (CDR) and station message detail recording (SMDR).

call center

A group or department where employees receive and make high volumes of telephone calls. Call centers can have internal customers (e.g., help desks) or external customers (e.g., customer service and support centers). The call center uses a variety of technologies to improve the management and servicing of the call (see call center suite). A center that use both phone- and non-phone-based communication channels (e.g., e-mail or the Web) is known as a "contact center" (see separate entry).

call center suite

A product that offers a suite of integrated components to support a call center (e.g., a help desk or a customer service and support center). In the past, integrating these components often required the services of an independent integrator; however, as call center functions move to open software platforms, many vendors now offer bundled suites of call center functionality.

An all-in-one call center suite provides a complete set of call center functions as a single platform, within the control of a single administrative view. Components include:

• An open computing platform (usually Windows NT or Unix)
• Telephone switch functionality and computer-telephony integration (CTI)
• Intelligent routing, based on business rules or agent skills
• Automatic call distribution (ACD), interactive voice response (IVR) and voice mail functions
• Outbound (e.g., predictive) dialing
• Application integration interfaces and tools
• "Cradle to grave" contact reporting, and component administration

A multifunction call center suite differs from an all-in-one suite in that it does not require switching integration. Instead, the switch functionality can be on a separate platform, controlled via CTI links and administered separately.

caller ID

A telephone service that records the telephone numbers of incoming calls; it is a form of automatic number identification (ANI). Caller ID systems can be integrated with customer databases to streamline call management processes. This integration gives the agent receiving a call instantaneous access to relevant information about the caller. For example, when a customer calls, that customer's name immediately appears on the agent's computer screen. The screen might include information about the product a customer purchased and the purchase date. The system could also display the client's previous call history, information about other products the customer owns and price promotions on products that might also be appealing to that caller, based on a profile in the database.

call information logging

Automatic recording of information on chargeable calls made on a private branch exchange (PBX) system, including the extension number, exchange line number, time, call duration and digits dialed. This can be used for call accounting or billing.

call processing

The sequence of operations performed by a switching system from the acceptance of an incoming call through the final disposition of the call.

call record

All recorded data pertaining to a single call.

CALS (Continuous Acquisition and Life Cycle Support)

A joint project of industry and the U.S. Department of Defense to exchange technical-support information in digital form. (The acronym originally stood for "Computer-Aided Acquisition and Logistics Systems," and is now sometimes expanded as "Commerce at Light Speed.") It has become a common set of programs for integrating electronic commerce initiatives, intended to enhance the development of pro forma and de facto standards (particularly for graphics exchanges) and to drive new methods for concurrent manufacturing in the automotive, aerospace, electronics and heavy-equipment industries. CALS is a useful way for manufacturing enterprises to combine a number of productivity-enhancing initiatives under one umbrella.

CAM (computer-aided manufacturing)

The manufacturing of goods controlled and automated via computer and robot. Frequently used in conjunction with computer-aided design (CAD).

CAMA (centralized automatic message accounting)

An automatic message accounting system that is located at an exchange but that serves various adjacent exchanges.

campaign management and lead management

Campaign management applications help organizations segment, target and manage multichannel marketing messages. Elements of functionality include data mining, customer segmentation, customer-event triggering, next-best-action recommendation engines and campaign optimization. Lead management applications encompass lead generation, centralized lead collection, lead qualification, lead prioritization, lead augmentation and enhancement, lead distribution, and closed-loop measurement and analysis.

CAP (carrierless amplitude phase modulation)

A multilevel, multiphase encoding method for transmitting data over twisted pair lines. It is a superset of the legacy protocol used by analog modems. It is simple to implement in silicon, uses less power than discrete multitone (DMT), is supported by Paradyne and a number of original equipment manufacturer (OEM) providers, and is currently in use in several Internet service providers' digital subscriber line (DSL) services.

CAPE (concurrent art-to-product environment)

CAPE represents the third wave of design. It requires a wide variety of synergistic applications to work together, including visualization, rapid prototyping, analysis, materials selection, machining and cost estimation. Key to CAPE are application frameworks, data management and product geometry exchanges, so that any person who is involved in product design and approval can participate in the process.

Seven elements comprise the technological foundation of the CAPE system architecture:

• Hardware independence
• Software architecture
• Framework incorporation
• Application integration
• Data exchange
• Data management
• Enterprise pricing policies

Beyond these base elements, CAPE systems include technological components targeted to specific application areas. These application-specific elements are grouped into three markets – mechanical design, process plant design and electronics design – which account for the majority of industrial design activity.

CAPP (computer-aided process planning)

Application software used to develop work instructions and product manufacturing or assembly steps in discrete manufacturing operations.

CAR (committed access rate)

A metric used Internet quality of service (QOS) agreements to classify and limit customer traffic and manage excess traffic according to the network policy.

card

A removable board that carries the necessary circuits for a particular computer function; such cards (or boards) are designed to fit expansion slots provided by computer manufacturers.

card cage

A frame for holding circuit cards in a midsize computer system. Also referred to as a card chassis.

carrier alarm

An alarm condition that occurs when excessive zeros or all zeros are transmitted.

carrier frequency

The frequency of a carrier wave, measured in cycles per second, or Hertz, that is modulated to transmit signals.

carrier loss

An alarm condition that occurs when 32 consecutive zeros are transmitted.

carrier network infrastructure

Carrier network infrastructure can be defined as a combination of the following basic functions:

• Voice switching, control and applications
• Optical transport
• Service provider routers and switches
• Mobile core
• Mobile radio
• Fixed access

carrier signaling

Any of the signaling techniques used in multichannel carrier transmission. The most commonly used techniques are in-band signaling, out-of-band signaling and separate channel signaling.

carrier system

The means of obtaining a number of channels over a single path by modulating each channel on a different carrier frequency and demodulating at the receiving point to restore the signals to their original frequency.

cascade control

A control strategy that uses the output of one controller as the set point for another.

cascading faults

Network faults (outages) that generate other faults.

cascading hubs

A hierarchy of hubs enabling many local-area network (LAN) segments to be connected to a backbone efficiently but without great expense.

CASE (computer-aided software engineering)

An umbrella term for a collection of applications development tools designed to increase programmer productivity. They include technologies such as application generators and PC-based workstations that provide graphics-oriented automation of the front end of the development process.

CASE analysis and design tools

Graphical, interactive tools for the analysis and design phases of application software development.

CASP (content and applications service provider)

Includes providers focusing primarily on information and media services, content, entertainment and applications services. Examples include, Yahoo, Google.

catalog

Data sets grouped and placed permanently in a storage device for use when required.

catalog content management

Processes, services and applications used to allow electronic catalog creation and updating in an e-commerce environment.

CAU (controlled access unit)

An intelligent hub on a token ring network.

C-band

Refers to the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum allotted for satellite transmissions in the 4GHz to 8GHz frequency range. C-band satellite antennas are used frequently in areas of the world where signals can become degraded due to heavy rain or other intense climate-related conditions. As a rule, C-band satellite antennas range in size from 1.8 meters to 2.4 meters. C-band satellite communications suffer less from rain attenuation, but they require larger antennas and typically are used in Asia, Africa and Latin America. See also antenna, frequency bands, Ka-band, Ku-band and satellite dish.

CBD (component-based development)

A set of reuse-enabling technologies, tools and techniques that allow applications development (AD) organizations to go through the entire AD process (i.e., analysis design, construction and assembly) or through any particular stage via the use of predefined component-enabling technologies (such as AD patterns, frameworks, design templates) tools and application building blocks.

CBL (Common Business Language)

Commerce One's Extensible Markup Language (XML) schema development effort.

CBP (constraint-based programming)

A technique that looks for a workable solution by reducing the search space (i.e., possibilities) by processing the necessary conditions to be satisfied. Configuration engines, planning and scheduling systems are among its most successful applications.

CBQ (class-based queuing)

A mechanism that defines various levels of service for access to the Internet and can be used with or without Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP). CBQ divides traffic into queues and assigns each a specific amount of network bandwidth.

CBR (case-based reasoning)

An artificial-intelligence problem-solving technique that catalogs experience into "cases" and correlates the current problem to an experience. CBR is used in many areas, including pattern recognition, diagnosis, troubleshooting and planning. These systems are easy to maintain in comparison to rule-based expert systems.

CBR (constant bit rate)

An asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) service category, defined by the ATM Forum, that guarantees a constant bandwidth with low delay, jitter and cell loss. Circuit emulation is a typical application.

CBR (content-based retrieval)

Search methodology for retrieving information based on words or phrases in the text.

CC (control code)

A multibit code reserved for controlling hardware, such as printers.

CCA (Compatible Communications Architecture)

A protocol for transmission of asynchronous data over X.25 lines.

CCD (charge-coupled device)

A semiconductor device capable of both photo-detection and memory, which converts light to electronic impulses. One-and two-dimensional CCD arrays are used in scanners to perform the first stage in converting an image into digital data. They are particularly attractive because they can step the signals from each detector across the array in response to a clock signal, permitting each scan line to be read through a single electrical connection.

CCD+ (Cash Concentration and Disbursement plus addenda)

One of the primary message formats necessary for enterprise-initiated payments to traverse the U.S. national banks' clearinghouse system. The format is limited to a single addendum record (one invoice, one payment), and many banks can process it.

CCIR (Comite Consultatif International des Radio Communications)

Abbreviation of the French name for the International Radio Communications Consultative Committee, now part of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

CCIS (Common Channel Interoffice Signaling)

An electronic means of signaling between any two switching systems independent of the voice path.

CCL (common-carrier line)

A type of access charge paid by interexchange carriers (IXCs) to local-exchange carriers (LECs). A usage-sensitive portion is included, even though the actual costs to the LECs are not usage-sensitive.

c-commerce (collaborative commerce)

Collaborative, electronically enabled business interactions among an enterprise's internal personnel, business partners and customers throughout a trading community. The trading community could be an industry, industry segment, supply chain or supply chain segment.

C conditioning

A type of line conditioning that controls attenuation, distortion and delay distortion so they lie within specific limits.

CCOW (Clinical Context Object Workgroup)

A group that defines standards for collaboration among visual (GUI-based) applications on clinical workstations. Originally an independent consortium, CCOW is now technical committee of the Health Level Seven (HL7) standards organization.

CCP (Certified Computer Professional)

A technology credential issued by the Institute for Certification of Computing Professionals (ICCP). To receive CCP certification, applicants must have four years of industry experience and pass a series of core and specialty exams.

CCS (hundred call seconds)

A metric used in calculating call center enquiry volume or efficiency.

CCSA (common control switching arrangement)

An automatic switching arrangement in which the control equipment necessary for the establishment of connections is shared, being associated with a given call only during the period required to accomplish the control function.

CCSA access

The provision of inward and outward service between the private branch exchange (PBX) and the Common Control Switching Arrangement (CCSA) network.

CD (carrier detect)

A signal indicating that a connection has been made. Also known as a received line signal detector (RLSD) signal.

CDIF (CASE Data Interchange Format)

The primary interchange standard for computer-aided software engineering (CASE) tools.

CDLA (Computer Dealers and Lessors Association)

A trade association of North American-based computer dealers and lessors. The principal purpose of the organization is to promote professional integrity among its members. It also promotes alternate instruments for computer financing.

CDM (Common Data Model)

A metadata rendering of the data elements used within i2 Technologies products.

CDMA (code division multiple access)

Spread-spectrum technology standard that assigns a pseudo-noise code to all speech and data bits, sends a scrambled transmission of the encoded speech over the air and reassembles the speech in its original format. By assigning a unique correlating code to each transmitter, several simultaneous conversations can share the same frequency allocation.

cdma2000

Commercial name for the IMT-2000 CDMA Multicarrier (MC-CDMA) standard developed through the 3GPP2 standards organization of the ITU. It is an evolving family of cellular networking specifications that offers enhanced voice and data capacity over cdmaOne. The family includes 1xRTT, EV-DO, EV-DO Rev. A, EV-DO Rev. B and EV-DO Rev. C. See also IMT-A.

CDN (content delivery networks)

Pay-TV and VOD services are both delivered to homes using some form of content delivery network (CDN) that the carrier deploys over its core, aggregation and broadband access networks. The CDN usually takes the form of a managed IP network overlay that links the user's STB to the subscriber management server, VOD streaming servers and multicast TV headend. In the case of broadcast channels, the CDN needs to be able to multicast hundreds of channels from the headend without too much jitter or packet loss. In the case of on-demand services, the CDN must have the capacity and intelligence to handle bandwidth-intensive unicast streams, all carrying different content to different customers.

A CDN is necessary to ensure that high quality of service (QOS) requirements for video are met. Customers will not pay for TV services that are erratic or of poorer quality than what they are used to with traditional technologies.

CDO (care delivery organization)

A legal entity whose primary mission is the delivery of health care related products and services.

CDPD (cellular digital packet data)

Cellular data that is transmitted over a cellular network. In early deployments, packet data moved at 19.2 Kbps over ever-changing unused intervals in the voice channels. Modern deployments use dedicated data channels. CDPD is an IP-based network with RC4 encryption that allows cellular networks to offer remote and mobile computing.

CDR (call detail recording)

A means of capturing telephone system information on calls made, including who made the call, where it went and what time of day it was made, for processing into meaningful management reports. With such information, it is easier to spot exceptions to regular calling patterns such as out-of-hours calling, international calls, significant variances from previous reporting periods and call destinations that do not reflect normal calling patterns for the enterprise. Also known as station message detail recording (SMDR).

CDR (clinical data repository)

A database for storage of clinical information in a computer-based patient record (CPR).

CD-ROM (compact disc read-only memory)

A version of the standard compact disc intended to store general-purpose digital data. CD-ROMs can store a wide variety of data such as music, video and graphics. CDs are often used by software companies to deliver programs like word processing or spreadsheet applications, because they store significantly more data (650 megabytes) than a typical floppy disk.

CD-RW (compact disc rewritable)

A drive that permits the user to back up data to compact discs (CDs).

CDSS (clinical decision support system)

An application that enhances decision making by health caregivers by providing context-sensitive advice relating to clinical situations.

CE (concurrent engineering)

A collaborative, team-based approach for designing products that combines multiple departments and disciplines into a project team.

CEBP applications segmentation

There are many ways in which enterprises could integrate communications with business processes – click-to-call and dial-by-directory are the simplest examples – but they do not easily demonstrate significant business benefits. This is because the personal productivity improvement associated with this type of application is difficult to evaluate. We have also seen early traction in customer-service applications such as proactive alerts of flight delays or changes in the travel sector, account-balance notifications and potential credit card fraud alerts via Short Message Service (SMS). These can be viewed as customer enhancements, but not as having a positive impact on business processes, because alerts that do have a positive impact on business processes have to be actionable and not just purely sent for information purposes only.

Gartner has identified three key segments of CEBP application integrations. These segments demonstrate a positive impact on the efficiency of business processes and they provide a greater cost-justifiable rate of return, rather than focusing on less tangible personal productivity improvements. They are:

• Contextual presence.
• Flexible media and conferencing switching.
• Notification services.

cell

Area covered by one fixed BTS in a cellular radio network. It may vary in size from less than a 0.5-km radius to more than a 120-km radius, depending on technology, capacity, atmospheric conditions and power.

cell controller

A supervisory computer used to sequence and coordinate multiple machines and operations.

cell-fi

Cell-Fi devices combine cellular and Wi-Fi capabilities, potentially enabling voice and data users to roam seamlessly across public or private 802.11 wireless networks and public GSM or CDMA cellular networks. Some Cell-Fi handsets are available, but commercial and technical limitations (such as completion of the 802.11r standard) will delay widespread use until 2009. See also 802.11r.

cell relay

A transmission mode that utilizes fixed-length cells as the bearer mechanism, as with asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), which uses 48 bytes of payload plus five overhead bytes as the standard cell size.

cell site

Entire set of equipment needed to receive and transmit radio signals for cellular voice and data transmission; typically includes transmitters, receivers, power amplifiers, combiners, filters, a digital signal processor, a power supply and network interface modules.

cell splitting

A means of increasing the capacity of a cellular system by subdividing or splitting cells into two or more smaller cells.

cell transfer delay (see CTD)

cellular

Wireless services in the 800 megahertz (MHz) radio spectrum.

cellular PDA

Data-centric mobile device with rich-PDA functionality. From 2008, Gartner included these devices in its smartphone category. See also basic phone, enhanced phone, entry-level smartphone and feature smartphone.

cellular radio

Method of increasing the number of simultaneous radio conversations that can be supported by a fixed number of radio frequency (RF) channels by limiting the range of transmitters to a single cell, to which a proportion of the available channels is allocated. Adjacent cells are allocated to a different set of RF channels to avoid interference and conversation blocking. Frequencies can be reused in cells at intervals sufficient to avoid interference.

center of excellence

A central clearinghouse for knowledge capital that is used across all business transformation projects.

CERT (Computer Emergency Response Team)

A group formed in 1998 by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency — and coordinated through Carnegie Mellon University's Software Engineering Institute (SEI) — to research and report on Internet-related security problems. SEI's CERT Coordination Center publishes security information and advisory bulletins through its Web site at www.cert.org.

certificate chaining

Recognition by one certificate of the root key of a different certification authority.

CEX (capabilities exchange)

A method whereby applications "understand" device attributes such as screen size, color vs. monochrome, resolution, amount of storage and bandwidth available.

CFI (Computer-Aided Design Framework Initiative)

A nonprofit organization formed to develop framework standards to facilitate the integration of CAD tools, particularly in the electronics design arena.

CGI (Common Gateway Interface)

A data-passing specification used when a Web server must send or receive data from an application such as a database. A CGI script passes the request from the Web server to a database, gets the output and returns it to the Web client.

change integration

Occurs at the back end of the change management process to coordinate and schedule requested changes, with the goal of reducing downtime and risk.

change management

Automated support for development, rollout and maintenance of system components (i.e., intelligent regeneration, package versioning, state control, library control, configuration management, turnover management and distributed impact sensitivity reporting).

channel

A channel is defined by a combination of three factors: A target device, for example, a mobile phone, personal digital assistant (PDA) or a PC; an interaction paradigm, for example, a graphical user interface (GUI), e-mail, voice response or video; and business practices, that is, channel-specific elements of business that may include payment services, shipment processes, taxation, customer support and authentication

channel analytics

A superset of Web analytics (see separate entry), channel analytics are not restricted to Web channels, but include direct mail, the customer contact center, mass media, store or branch locations, and all other distribution or customer-contact channels. The different elements of business — for example, payment and shipment processes, and customer support and authentication — need to be measured and analyzed. Channel analytics examine costs, usage, efficiency, integrity, integration with other systems and the value of each channel, separately and in relation to each other.

channel assembly

A sales channel initiative aimed at offloading much of the system assembly task from the initial manufacturers to an intermediate dealer or distributor. The reseller or distributor then assembles the system to the buyer's specifications.

channel bank

The equipment typically used in a telephone central office that performs multiplexing of lower-speed, digital channels into a higher-speed composite channel. The channel bank also detects and transmits signaling information for each channel and transmits framing information so that time slots allocated to each channel can be identified by the receiver.

channel capacity

An expression of the maximum data traffic that can be handled by the channel.

channel integration

Strategies aimed at consolidating – either physically or logically – customer information and its use to provide an all-encompassing view of the customer.

check digit

A number added to each character in a coded system which allows for the detection of errors; through the use of a mathematical formula, recording errors such as number reversals can be noted. See parity bit.

checksum

A value calculated from a block of data, used to detect errors in transmitted data.

CHESS (Comprehensive Health Enhancement Support System)

An ongoing research project at the University of Wisconsin focused on providing seriously ill patients with free computers loaded with educational software, access to databases with information about their diagnosed illnesses and access to support groups.

CHIME (College of Healthcare Information Management Executives)

An organization formed in 1992 to advocate more effective use of information management in healthcare, and to meet the professional-development needs of healthcare CIOs.

CHIN (community health information network)

An encompassing term to describe any community-based network open to (and perhaps required for) all healthcare organizations.

chip

An integrated circuit that is the foundation of computer processing and data storage. It holds the logic circuitry that responds to and processes the basic instructions that run all types of computers. Chips are used in everything from watches and calculators to personal computers (PCs) and high-performance computers.

chip cards

Smart cards and memory cards. A smart card includes embedded microcontroller silicon. A memory card includes embedded silicon memory and possibly other functions, such as cryptography, but no microprocessor.

choke packet

A packet sent to a transmitter which informs it that congestion exists and requests that it reduce its sending rate.

cHTML (compact HTML)

Proprietary microbrowser system, designed for use on i-mode services. See also i-mode.

CI (competitive intelligence)

Analysis of an enterprise's marketplace to understand what is happening, what will happen and what it means to the enterprise. CI business goals may be offensive — positioning the company in the marketplace, plotting a course for future positioning, and allocating short- and long-term resources. Goals may also be defensive — knowing what is happening, what may happen and how to react.

CI (Computer Interconnect)

The local-area network (LAN) used in a Virtual Address Extension (VAX) cluster.

CIC (circuit identification code)

An end-point identifier (ISDN term).

CIDR (classless interdomain routing)

The successor to class-oriented domains for Internet routing, it allows for better allocations of Internet addresses. It combines a number of Class C Internet Protocol (IP) addresses to reduce the burden on routing tables in the Internet.

CIF (customer information file)

A system that consolidates customer account information and combines it with basic demographic information to create a current snapshot of a customer relationship. CIFs are often a central component of integrated banking application packages and are primarily used to support operational activities with current, as opposed to historical, data. See MCIF.

CIFS (Common Internet File System)

A remote file system access protocol that allows groups of users to work together and share documents via the Internet or their corporate intranets. CIFS is an open, cross-platform technology based on the native file-sharing protocols built into Microsoft Windows and other operating systems, and is supported on numerous platforms, including Unix. Microsoft submitted a preliminary draft of the CIFS 1.0 protocol specification to the Internet Engineering Task Force in December 1997.

CIM (Common Information Model)

A modeling schema that describes managed system, hardware, and software objects. CIM is a component of the Web-Based Enterprise Management (WBEM) initiative, an emerging Web-oriented systems management standard controlled by the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF).

CIM (computer-integrated manufacturing)

The integration of manufacturing operations by integrating human systems, information systems and manufacturing systems. The goal of such systems is to combine electronically the systems and functions necessary to manufacture products more effectively.

CIM (customer information management)

The systematic support of business strategy through customer knowledge.

CIMA (customer information management and application)

A six-step process starting with a business plan followed by a technology plan. The six steps are:

1. planning
2. information acquisition
3. information compilation, storage and maintenance
4. information analysis
5. information application
6. information distribution

CIO (chief information officer)

The person responsible for planning, choosing, buying and installing a company's computer and information-processing operation. Originally called data-processing managers, then management information system (MIS) directors, CIOs develop the information technology (IT) vision for the company. They oversee the development of corporate standards, technology architecture, technology evaluation and transfer; sponsor the business technology planning process; manage client relations; align IT with the business; and develop IT financial management systems. They also oversee plans to reinvest in the IT infrastructure, as well as in business and technology professionals. They are responsible for leading the development of an IT governance framework that will define the working relationships and sharing of IT components among various IT groups within the corporation.

CIR (committed information rate)

In a frame relay network, the minimum speed to be maintained between nodes.

circuit

1. A continuous electrical connection between any two points.
2. The means of two-way communication between two or more points.
3. A group of electrical/electronic components connected to perform a specific function. See channel.

circuit board

A flat card with connections for electronic components; part of an electronic system.

circuit grade

The data-carrying capability of a circuit; the grades of circuit are broadband, voice, subvoice, and telegraph.

circuit switching

Temporary direct connection of one or more channels between two or more points to provide the user with exclusive use of an open channel with which to exchange information. A discrete circuit path is set up between the incoming and outgoing lines, in contrast to message switching and packet-switching, in which no such physical path is established. Also called line switching.

CIRP (cyber incident response plan)

Also known as a "computer incident response plan," this is formulated by an enterprise to respond to potentially catastrophic, computer-related incidents, such as viruses or hacker attacks. The CIRP should include steps to determine whether the incident originated from a malicious source – and, if so, to contain the threat and isolate the enterprise from the attacker. (See cyber incident and CIRT.)

CIRT (cyber incident response team)

Also known as a "computer incident response team," this group is responsible for responding to security breaches, viruses and other potentially catastrophic incidents in enterprises that face significant security risks. In addition to technical specialists capable of dealing with specific threats, it should include experts who can guide enterprise executives on appropriate communication in the wake of such incidents. The CIRT normally operates in conjunction with other enterprise groups, such as site security, public-relations and disaster recovery teams. (See cyber incident and CIRP.)

CISC (complex instruction set computer)

A computer in which individual instructions may perform many operations and take many cycles to execute, in contrast with reduced instruction set computer (RISC).

CISO (chief information security officer)

CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional)

A certification program administered by the International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium (ISC2).

Citizen Developer

Gartner defines a "Citizen Developer" as a user operating outside of the scope of enterprise IT and its governance that creates new business applications for consumption by others either from scratch or by composition. In the past, end-user application development (EUAD) mostly meant Excel spreadsheets and Access databases. Next-generation Citizen Developers leverage shared services and 4GL-style development platforms, sometimes delivered as cloud computing services. This shift enables end users to unlock tacit knowledge and release IT resources to do what each does best, if IT leaders allow it.

CKO (chief knowledge officer)

Articulates and champions the knowledge management (KM) vision, provides the enterprise level leadership to implement and sustain KM, and is the ultimate focal point for knowledge creation, sharing and application.

CLA (Corporate License Agreement)

A licensing agreement option under Novell's "Customer Connections" program. It offers an alternative for midsize organizations that cannot qualify for Novell's Master License Agreement (MLA).

cladding

In fiber-optic cable, a colored, low refractive index material that surrounds the core and provides optical insulation and protection to the core.

claims analytics

Gartner defines "claims analytics" as the use of business intelligence, reporting solutions, dashboards, data mining, and predictive modeling technologies to improve, manage and analyze claims data and performance. Overall, three processes are supported in claims analytics tools: claims analysis, reporting and predictive modeling.

clamshell

A computer system that weighs less than 3 pounds and opens lengthwise to expose a keyboard and screen.

class

A specification that defines the operations and the data attributes for a set of objects.

CLI (Common Language Infrastructure)

A platform-independent development system from Microsoft that enables programs written in different programming languages to run on different types of hardware. CLI is part of Microsoft's .NET platform and is expected to become an ECMA standard. The CLI includes the Common Type System (CTS) and Common Language Specification (CLS). No matter which programming language they are written in, CLI applications are compiled into Intermediate Language (IL), which is further compiled into the target machine language by the Common Language Runtime (CLR) software. See CLS, CTS, .NET and IL.

clicks and bricks

The combining of e-business channels and network-based processes with selective investment in physical locations to control local markets, distribution channels, and critical labor accessibility.

clickstream analysis

A form of Web analytics (see separate entry), clickstream analysis is the tracking and analysis of visits to Web sites. Although there are other ways to collect this data, clickstream analysis typically uses the Web server log files to monitor and measure Web site activity. This analysis can be used to report user behavior on a specific Web site, such as routing, stickiness (a user's tendency to remain at the Web site), where users come from and where they go from the site. It can also be used for more aggregate measurements, such as the number of hits (visits), page views, and unique and repeat visitors, which are of value in understanding how the Web site operates from a technical, user experience and business perspective.

click-through

Term applied to the act of clicking with a mouse button on a Web page advertisement, which brings the user to the advertiser's site.

client

A system or a program that requests the activity of one or more other systems or programs, called servers, to accomplish specific tasks. In a client/server environment, the workstation is usually the client.

client appliance

A type of computing appliance that provides end-user access to applications. Examples include network computers and certain handheld computers. See computing appliance.

client computing hardware services

This segment includes PC services and workstation services.

• Personal computer services – PCs are single-user systems and include desk-based, notebook and ultraportable PCs. This also includes workstations which are single-user systems based on high-end Intel or reduced instruction set computer (RISC) CPU architectures with high-performance graphics, OSs and system architecture.

client/server

The splitting of an application into tasks performed on separate computers connected over a network. In most cases, the "client" is a desktop computing device (e.g., a PC) or a program "served" by another networked computing device (i.e., the "server"). Gartner has defined five styles of client/server computing, based on how presentation, application logic and data management functions are partitioned between the client and server device — see separate definitions for "distributed presentation," "remote presentation," "distributed function," "remote data management" and "distributed data management."

clipping

1. Loss of parts of words or of syllables in the operation of voice-actuated devices.
2. Distortion of a signal that has reached the limit of its modulation parameter (e.g., amplitude) and can no longer be effectively modulated.

clock, clocking

Repetitive, regularly timed signals used to control synchronous processes.

closed-loop MRP (closed-loop material requirements planning)

A system built around MRP that also includes production planning, master production schedule, and capacity requirements planning. Once the planning phase is complete and the plans have been accepted as realistic and attainable, the execution functions come into play. These include the shop floor control functions of input/output measurement, detailed scheduling and dispatching, as well as anticipated delay reports from both the shop and vendors, purchasing follow-up and control, and other functions. The term "closed loop" implies that not only is each of these elements included in the overall system, but also that there is feedback from the execution functions so the planning can be kept valid at all times.

cloud

Gartner has identified the "cloud" as a purely abstract concept, originating in the presentation representations of the Internet and networks for many years. The cloud comes into existence when one or more cloud services is delivered to one or more customers.

cloud communications service provider

An entity that leverages the cloud environment to provide  telecommunication and other services.

cloud computing

Gartner defines cloud computing as a style of computing where massively scalable IT-enabled capabilities are delivered 'as a service' to external customers using Internet technologies. First and foremost is the concept of delivering services (that is, results as opposed to components)...

• Read the full cloud computing definition

cloud engineering

Gartner defines cloud engineering as the process of designing the systems necessary to leverage the power and economics of cloud resources to solve business problems.

cloud service brokerage (CSB)

A cloud service brokerage is a model (including a set of activities) for conducting cloud service governance (CSG) and integration as a service (IaaS). A CSB is a business that conducts cloud service brokering. A cloud service broker is a piece of technology (for example, software or an appliance) that's used to deliver CSG or IaaS. A CSB brokers a relationship between a service consumer and a service provider. It's also a business that delivers brokering as a service.

cluster controller

A device that handles the remote communications processing for multiple (usually dumb) terminals or workstations.

clustered system

An architecture that ties together uniprocessor, symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) and/or massively parallel processing (MPP) systems with all nodes sharing access to disks. Also called a shared-disk system.

clustering

The capability to define resources on one or more interconnected midrange systems as transparently available to users and applications from within the specified group of loosely coupled systems in a local-or metropolitan-area network.

CLV (constant linear velocity)

One of two standards for rotating storage media, in which the disk spins at a higher speed on the outside tracks than on the inside tracks (where the circumference is smaller), so that all data moves past the head at the same rate. The other standard is constant angular velocity (CAV), in which the disk spins at the same rate at all times.

CM (configuration management)

CM software includes both stand-alone products and suites of products that can initially provision/configure desktops, servers or mobile devices, and then manage the change of configuration settings, software, and increasingly the files and data on those elements on an ongoing basis. Included in this category are stand-alone products for software distribution, various discovery requirements, remote control, software packaging, personality migration, software usage metering and mobile device management. Also included here are product suites that lead with provisioning and CM but may include features such as asset discovery, automated backup, bare-metal boot, self-healing functionality, data synchronization, security, virtualization — both application and hosted virtual desktops (HVD) — or even help desk features. When these features are sold as stand-alone products, revenue is counted in other categories. There are many tools that offer one or more of the functions above, and these are included as well. Some solutions for servers, for instance, offer robust configuration auditing and remediation, and others have more-targeted solutions with deep configuration auditing and reporting to meet a variety of auditing requirements (such as security, regulatory, Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, "gold" or trusted configuration baselining). This category also contains CM database tools and supporting technology to discover and populate them, which includes IT service dependency mapping tools.

CM is for production systems only. CM is distinct from software configuration management (SWCM), which is used by programmers to manage the change and configuration of development systems. Some SWCM and CM vendors are partnering to provide a linkage between systems. Finally, the CM category does not include vendors that position products primarily as electronic software distribution or as content distribution used in Internet distribution scenarios (B2B or business-to-consumer [B2C]).

CM (content management)

A broad term referring to applications and processes to manage Web content, document content and e-commerce-focused content. See also enterprise content management

CM (course management)

The administrative module that is used to place a structure around computer-based training (CBT) content to:

1. Create a recommended set and order of courses based on job description, skills assessment results or regulatory requirements.
2. Provide a "registrar" function, where students "sign in" to take classes they need.
3. Perform tracking and reporting, keeping track of the results of the course taken, how well the student performed in the course, and what the student should take next. This information would be stored and forwarded to other human resources (HR) systems.

CMC (common messaging calls)

A set of calls developed by the X.400 API Association (XAPIA) for use on top of any existing messaging system. Programmers developing applications using these calls may request services of whatever messaging system is accepting the call. The number of calls is limited to the most popular messaging and directory lookup functions. CMC is similar to simple Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAPI) in its breadth of services, but provides greater portability of applications.

CME (corporate and major enterprise)

An organization with more than 500 employees.

CMMS (computerized maintenance management system)

Application software used to provide for work and materials management of maintenance activities in a manufacturing organization. See EAM.

CMNS (Connection Mode Network Service)

Extends local X.25 switching to Ethernet, token ring or Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI) networks.

CMOL (CMIP over LLC)

A proprietary network management draft developed jointly by 3Com and IBM that specifies using Common Management Information Protocol (CMIP) over Logical Link Control (LLC) to provide network management of devices on mixed-media local-area networks (LANs).

CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor)

A semiconductor technology that uses less power and generates less heat (enabling higher circuit density), but is typically slower than bipolar technologies.

CMOT (CMIP over TCP/IP)

Use of the Common Management Information Protocol (CMIP) to manage gateways in a Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) network.

CMP (Cellular Multi-Processing)

A heterogeneous server technology from Unisys that can run any combination of operating systems.

• that are part of more comprehensive facilities management or network planning applications.

CMS (campaign management system)

An application used by marketers to design multichannel marketing campaigns and track the effect of those campaigns, by customer segment, over time.

CMV (controlled medical vocabulary)

An approved list of terms coded in a fashion that facilitates the use of the computer. Controlled vocabularies are essential if clinical applications are to function as intended. Widely used systems include the American College of Radiology (ACR) Code, Current Procedural Terminology (CPT), Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) and the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9).

CMYK (sometimes YMCK or "process color printing")

A subtractive color model used in color printing. This color model is based on mixing pigments of the following colors to make other colors: cyan, magenta, yellow and black.

CNP (Certified Network Professional)

An information technology certification by the Network Professional Association (NPA) requiring two years of experience, two vendor certifications and a passing grade on the core fundamentals exam.

CNS (converged network services)

The delivery of voice, data, video and other forms of network services with the following characteristics:

1. Services are usually from a customer premises-based access concentrator, owned by a network service provider (NSP) that converts traffic to an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) or Internet Protocol (IP) stream
2. Service is delivered via one means of access, transmitted via one facility, with one switching infrastructure

coaxial cable

Cable consisting of an outer conductor surrounding an inner conductor, with a layer of insulating material in between. Such cable can carry a much higher bandwidth than a wire pair.

COBIT (Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology)

An auditing standard developed by the Information Security Audit and Control Association for assessing information security risk.

CoDA (context delivery architecture)

Gartner defines CoDA as an architectural style that builds on service-oriented architecture (SOA) and event-driven architecture (EDA) interaction and partitioning styles, and adds formal mechanisms for the software elements that discover and apply the user's context in real time. CoDA provides a framework for solution architects that allows them to define and implement the technology, information and process components that enable services to use context information to improve the quality of the interactions with the user. The technologies may include context brokers, state monitors, sensors, analytic engines and cloud-based transaction processing engines.

Codd's Rule Zero

Ted Codd, whose theoretical work on relational databases stimulated today's plethora of relational products, defined a fundamental "Rule Zero" for classifying relational database management systems (RDBMSs). The intent of this rule was to help enterprises focus on the requirement for a consistent integrity layer in the RDBMSs they evaluated: "For any system that is advertised as, or claimed to be, a relational database management system, that system must be able to manage databases entirely through its relational capabilities, no matter what additional capabilities the system may support."

codec (coder/decoder)

A device used to convert analog signals, such as speech, music, or television, to digital form for transmission over a digital medium, and back again to the original analog form. One is required at each end of the channel.

cognitive radio

Dynamically identifies how spectrum is being used and chooses appropriate frequencies, protocols and modulation to coexist with other devices. Cognitive radio builds on the principles of SDR and generally requires changes in legislation controlling how spectrum is allocated and exploited; thus, it's unlikely to be mainstream before 2012. See also SDR.

COL (Component Object Library)

The object library in Microsoft's Component Object Model (COM).

COLD (computer output to laserdisc)

Microfiche replacement system. COLD systems offer economies as a replacement medium when rapid or frequent access to archived documents is necessary. Typically, a 12-inch optical-disc platter holds approximately 1.4 million 8.5-by-11-inch pages of information, equal to 7,000 fiche masters.

COM (communications port)

A port that allows an application to access a modem.

COM (Component Object Model)

A component architecture in Microsoft's desktop operating system. A distributed version of COM (i.e., DCOM — the Distributed Component Object Model) enables the development of applications in which components are distributed over several computers (e.g., a client and one or more servers).

COM (computer output to microfilm or microfiche)

A system in which digital data is converted into an image on dry processed microfilm.

co-management processes

Co-management processes are "a set of shared processes that enable internal and external IT service providers and business clients to continuously align IT service delivery to changing internal and external conditions." Co-management processes are the visible aspect of a governance framework.

commerce platform servers

Commerce (B2B and B2C) software servers and tools are used to build systems that sell, service, market and buy products to customers and businesses through the Web and channel partners. These servers build systems for enterprises to automate their Web sales process and customer experience, gain insight into customer behavior and preferences, improve visibility into channel activities and performance, and improve customer satisfaction and loyalty. This market segment is made up of servers and tools that are used to build and sell these solutions, not the applications themselves.

communications as a service (CaaS)

This is communications functionality that may include telephony, messaging, conferencing, presence and notification, based on assets owned, managed and co-located by third parties.

communications service provider (see CSP)

community

A constantly changing group of people collaborating and sharing their ideas over an electronic network (e.g., the Internet). Communities optimize their collective power by affiliation around a common interest, by the compression of the time between member interactions (i.e., communicating in real time), and by asynchronous "postings" that potentially reach more participants and permit more reflection time than real-time interactions.

community antenna television (see CATV)

community of practice

People associated and interlinked in a communication or knowledge network because of their shared interest or shared responsibility for a subject area. Examples are people who hold similar job functions (project managers, department managers, team leaders or customer service agents); all the people on a project team; and people interested in specific technologies (e-commerce or network management). Communities continually emerge and dissolve, and their membership, processes and knowledge continually change and evolve.

compandor

The combination of a compressor at one point in a communications path, for reducing the volume range of signals, followed by an expandor at another point, for restoring the original volume range. It is designed to improve the ratio of the signal to the interference entering the path between the compressor and expandor.

compass technology

A digital compass, or magnetometer, which is a sensor measuring the Earth's magnetic field to determine the direction to the magnetic poles. Critical for mobile devices is the implementation of 3-axis compasses or magnetometer sensors in combination with accelerometer sensors to provide tilt compensation when the device is not held horizontally.

competency center

An organizational structure used to coordinate IT skills with an enterprise. Competency centers provide expertise for project or program support, acting both as repositories of knowledge and resource pools for multiple business areas. Skills-based competency centers, the most common type in an information services organization, are used for application development, software language skills, data management, Internet development and network design. Within the enterprise, it is increasingly common to find competency centers (or shared services) for travel, finance and human resources. Repository-based competencies act exclusively as sources of information.

component

Technically, a dynamically bindable package of functionality that is managed as a unit and accessed through documented interfaces that can be discovered at runtime. Pragmatically, components tend to fall into two major groups: technical components, which perform a technology-specific task that is application-independent (e.g., a graphical user interface control), and business components, which encapsulate a piece of business functionality.

composite application

An emerging applications architecture in which functionality and data from multiple applications are exploited to present an integrated user interface. A composite application is one that has the appearance of a single application (from the point of view of the end user) but is, in fact, composed of multiple, independently designed applications. They defragment the end user's view into data, providing, for example, a "customer-centric" perspective in which all relevant information on a customer is accessible from a single user interface. The enabling software required for a composite application is essentially a hub for connections between back-end (often legacy) systems and systems designed to interact with end users (e.g., Windows clients, Web servers and integrated computer-telephony systems).

composite content applications (CCAs)

Composite content applications is the term Gartner uses to define frameworks and templates that are built on enterprise content management and/or business process management platforms. CCAs describe the orchestration of people, process and content based on repeatable solutions delivered by vendors and their domain expert partners in vertical and horizontal application development.

computing appliance

A computing device that provides pre-defined services, and that has its underlying operating (OS) software hidden beneath an application-specific interface. Computing appliances offer reduced complexity (e.g., installation, administration and maintenance) and faster deployment by hiding the operating software and embedding the application within the device. A computing appliance may be based on a general-purpose OS (e.g., Windows, Solaris or Linux) if the OS's complexity is hidden and the ability to load arbitrary services is removed.

Computing appliances can provide one or more services; however, they not general-purpose devices in that they are not flexible in the services they provide. Administrators do not need platform expertise — just limited application and appliance-specific expertise.

Gartner has defined four fundamental types of computing appliances – see separate entries for server appliance, storage appliance, network appliance and client appliance.

computing platform products

Computing platform products are defined as follows:

• Server systems – The server segment comprises all multiuser systems. Please note that Gartner no longer classifies supercomputers and mainframes as discrete segments. As the technology, use and positioning differentiation between the server segments has eroded, all multiuser systems are now classified as general-purpose servers.
• Workstations – Workstations are single-user systems including high-end, midrange, and entry-level workstations. Workstations are typically high-end complex instruction set computer (CISC), explicitly parallel instruction computing or RISC-based CPU architectures with high-performance graphics, OS and system architecture. In general, workstations must include integrated floating-point processing, integrated networking, a 32-bit or 64-bit multitasking OS, as well as configurations that support high-resolution graphics capabilities and 3D graphics functionality. The workstation market includes traditional Unix workstations, such as Linux and workstations running Windows 2000/XP or other advanced OSs. Gartner classifies workstations by the primary market for which they are designed and bases its data collection on desktops branded as workstations. Systems shipped with Windows Media Center Edition are generally counted as PCs and not included in the workstation category and, because they are not branded as workstations, neither are Apple Macintosh desktops. Examples of x86-based workstations are IBM's IntelliStation family, Dell Precision Workstations and HP Workstations. Note that the Intel-compatible 32-bit CPU (x86-32) category refers to Intel Architecture (IA)-compatible, x86-based workstations and covers a variety of chipset and processor designs not offered by Intel. Note also that the Itanium processor family of CPUs, such as Itanium2 and 64-bit extensions to CISC architecture, including as AMD's Opteron- and Athlon64-based workstations, will be listed separately under the titles of IA-64 and (Intel-compatible 64-bit CPU) x86-64, respectively.
• PCs — PCs are single-user systems including x86 (Intel-compatible CPU) server, desk-based and mobile PCs. A PC is a general purpose computer that is distinguished from other computers by its adherence to hardware and software compatibility. This compatibility drives high-unit volumes of commoditylike products that do not require on-site technical support. High-performance features, such as networking, graphics and a virtual multiuser/multitasking OS, are normally optional and not integral system features. IBM/IBM-compatible and Apple PCs are two platforms in this product segment. A single-user PC's resident OS is typically Windows, Mac OS and Linux. PCs have a performance ceiling that is lower in system compute performance, input/output (I/O) channel speed and disk speed than advanced workstations. Standard graphics are in the 1024 x 768 to 1280 x 1068-pixel range, and optional high-end graphics are limited compared with workstations. Gartner views a PC system as a single unit, which includes a CPU, a monitor, a mouse and a keyboard. Furthermore, Gartner does not include thin-client terminal.

concentrator

A device that merges many low-speed asynchronous channels into one or more high-speed synchronous channels to achieve economies of data transmission.

concurrent backup

A system-level facility to allow a database or disk file to be backed up to another disk or to magnetic tape while it is still open for application access.

concurrent database restore

A system-level facility to allow a database or portion thereof to be restored while the database is still open for application access.

concurrent use

A way to measure the usage of software licenses. Software can be licensed in one of the following ways: individual (it cannot be shared with other users); site (a limited number of people can use the software); concurrent use (usage is limited to a maximum number of users at a particular time). The software vendor usually sets the guidelines on the type of software license. Monitoring is facilitated by the vendor or by the user. When software usage is measured by the user, the vendor can require a user to supply detailed reports or can rely on the user's pledge. Enterprises can avoid liability and save money by accurately measuring the number of users.

conditioning

A procedure that restricts transmission impairments of a circuit to certain specified limits.

conductor

1. Any equipment, such as a wire or cable, that can carry an electric current.
2. One wire of a multiwire cable.

connection

A unique, active service access point to a network. This includes machine-to-machine network access as well as human access. In mobile networks, this may be taken to refer to an active subscriber identity module (SIM). A single subscriber may operate several different cellular connections and multiple connections may be associated with one customer or one mobile device.

connectionless

The interconnection model in which communication takes place without first establishing a connection.

connectionless service

In a connectionless service, no fixed path is set up between sender and recipient. Every unit of data that is exchanged is self-contained in that it contains all the necessary control and address information to ensure correct delivery, e.g., packet switching.

connection-oriented service

A service in which a connection (real or virtual) is set up and maintained for the duration of the communication. See circuit switching.

connect time

The amount of time that a circuit, typically in a circuit switched environment, is in use. See holding time.

console

The part of a computer used for communicating between the user and the system. A cathode ray tube (CRT) terminal with mouse and keyboard is the most common type.

consumer broadband access revenue

This is revenue from retail broadband services provided to residential customers. The revenue here reflects only that generated from providing the physical broadband access connection into the home. Revenue generated from providing Internet access services over this connection are not counted under this segment but rather under the Internet access revenue segment, even though it is very common for customers to pay a single charge for both services as a single non-transparent fee. That said, there are plenty of markets where consumers buy broadband access and Internet access separately and sometimes from different providers. In markets where broadband access and Internet access are sold as a bundled single product, we calculate the relative revenue splits between the two services, primarily by using broadband access wholesale rates offered by carriers to ISPs for resale as a guide.
Broadband access is divided into four areas:

• FTTH/FTTP/Ethernet revenue — This segment includes services provided to residential customers that involve FTTH and FTTP combined with Ethernet in the last mile. This revenue includes the monthly recurring price for service (including the modem lease cost if there is any) and initial installation and activation/provisioning charges.
• DSL revenue — This revenue segment includes xDSL services provided to residential customers. This category comprises all variants of DSL but, in the main, refers to asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL), ADSL2/ADSL2+ and very high-bit-rate digital subscriber line (VDSL). Any access line that has any variety of xDSL (such as FTTN) in the last mile is counted as a DSL. DSL revenue includes the monthly recurring fee for the DSL services (including the modem lease cost if any) and a one-off charge for initial installation and activation/provisioning.
• Cable modem revenue — This revenue segment includes consumer retail revenue from residential cable modem and hybrid fiber-coaxial (HFC) services. The revenue forecast includes the monthly service cost for the cable modem. Initial installation and provisioning charges are also included in the revenue.
• Other high-speed access revenue — This revenue segment includes all consumer retail revenue from all other consumer broadband technologies in use to the home, where they are used as a mostly static fixed-line replacement technology for the main types of broadband access. They include fixed wireless (multichannel multipoint distribution service [MMDS], local multipoint distribution service [LMDS], proprietary and standards-based Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access [WiMAX]), satellite broadband and power lines. Wireless PC cards/dongles are not included in this forecast; they are included in the mobile forecast. The revenue forecast includes the lease cost of the customer premises equipment (CPE), where applicable.

consumer broadband connections

A broadband connection is a direct path between two termination points, one of which is in the consumer's home, the other at the carrier's central office (CO) or local broadband aggregation node. In the case of wireless broadband access, it is a wireless connection between the home and the aggregation node. The number of connections is equal to the number of in-service lines that are subscribed to by consumers.

consumer broadband services

• A broadband line is a connection between a consumer's home and a carrier's network that provides data access services of at least 256 Kbps. In most cases this is a physical connection using copper-based DSL, cable modem or FTTH/FTTP with Ethernet in the last mile in a building. However, Gartner also includes other emerging access technologies, such as wireless broadband, satellite and power lines when they are used as replacement technologies for residential fixed-line broadband.
• Broadband services revenue includes all the retail revenue associated with providing broadband access to consumers. This does not include IP services revenue — especially Internet access revenue — that is commonly bundled with the broadband line. Broadband access and Internet access are two different services, and Internet access revenue is reflected in the Internet segment.

consumer Internet access revenue

This is total consumer revenue produced by ISPs for providing Internet access services. Subscriptions are provided over a dial-up or broadband connection. Revenue associated with the broadband connection is not included at this point; it is included in the broadband subscription segment. Internet access revenue does not include value-added ISP services such as e-mail accounts, filtering and security.

consumer Internet services

• Consumer Internet services are data services provided by ISPs that connect subscribers to the Internet using either a dial-up connection over a PSTN line or over a broadband connection. Typically, these are flat rate or metered services based on time or data usage.
• Consumer Internet accounts represent the number of active fee-paying individual consumer accounts that can be associated with commercial ISPs. In general these accounts service subscribers who are connecting from home.

consumer NAS (consumer network attached storage)

Gartner defines a consumer NAS as a centralized, multifunction storage system for the home network. It can function as a file server with remote access to multiple PCs and media players, a print server, a media server, a backup and archive system, and temporary storage for Internet downloads or video-on-demand.

consumer voice access lines

Consumer voice access lines is the sum of PSTN (including consumer channel counts for consumer Integrated Services Digital Network [ISDN]) and VoIP connections. Note that "virtual" VoIP connections used for voice communications, usually via a broadband connection to the Internet or some other IP network. The "virtual" line has to be associated with a telephone number that allows it to receive incoming PSTN calls.

consumer voice revenue

Revenues from all PSTN and VoIP retail voice lines are combined into one total consumer revenue forecast. The components of this one line are made up of domestic and international calling and connection usage attributed to each type of voice line.

Consumer voice revenue is the sum of:

• Revenue from retail domestic and international consumer usage that can be identified as having taken place over the PSTN or via VoIP; including revenue for charges paid for on a per-minute basis or bundled/flat rate calling plan charges. Calling packages that are bundled into the monthly charges – for example, unlimited or 1,000 minutes – are also reflected here.
• Flat-rate revenue received by a service provider (PSTN or VoIP) on a monthly basis for providing the connection/line dial tone service, telephone number and any recurring voice value-added services. Revenue also includes one-off charges relating to the line, such as one-time installation changes.

consumer voice services

Voice service revenue and connections are made up of the sum of PSTN and voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) connections and their associated revenue. For clarification, IP-based voice "virtual" connections (VoIP) are those calls delivered over a broadband Internet connection or other IP network. A VoIP virtual line needs to be associated with a telephone number and be identifiable to the consumer as a VoIP-grade service. A VoIP line and PSTN line are not mutually exclusive — indeed, most consumers with VoIP lines still have a PSTN line.

contact center

Also called a "customer contact center," this includes all customer contact channels, including telephone, interactive voice response (IVR), speech recognition, e-mail, Web and fax. This is an inbound and outbound service-based environment in which customer service representatives handle all types of contacts regarding sales, customer service and support (CSS), marketing and other functions.

contact center customer service software

These applications or functions are designed to enable employees or agents of a company to support clients directly, usually within a call or contact center, typically with nonproduct support focused on service that is business-related (such as dissatisfaction and problems with shipment and billing).

contact center infrastructure

This infrastructure includes software and hardware designed to run a contact/call center. This includes automatic call distributors, integrated voice response units, computer-telephony integration, and universal communications or universal queue management, integrating any of these multiple channels for a call/contact center.

contact center suite

This contains all the components of a call center suite (see separate entry) with additional functions to support non-phone-based inquiry channels such as Web and e-mail communication. This added functionality includes:

• Web contact functions (e.g., Web chat and collaborative browsing)
• E-mail response management system (ERMS) functions
• Unified messaging
• Tools for integration with front- and back-office applications, or with applications that support customer relationship management (CRM) strategies

In this definition, the CRM applications that support marketing, sales, customer service and support, or field service and dispatch are not considered part of the suite. However, contact center suite functionality is often included with CRM applications and sold as a bundled CRM suite.

(See call center, contact center, ERMS and CRM.)

contact center systems

Gartner defines contact center systems as computer-based systems that provide call and contact routing for high-volume telephony transactions, with specialist answering "agent" stations and a sophisticated real-time contact management system. The definition includes all contact center systems that provide inbound contact handling capabilities and automatic contact distribution, combined with a high degree of sophistication in terms of dynamic contact traffic management.

Contact center systems are defined as follows:

• They are software applications typically residing on an adjunct server or switch-based processor system, located either at a customer's premises or at a third-party site. For routing phone calls, the system providing the call control may be an application-specific resource or may support a dual-function PBX/automatic call distributor installation. Newer architectures will support contact center call routing business rules on an "application server" which can direct and monitor calls through a telephony gateway using SIP or other softswitch protocols. The infrastructure may also be provided as an on-site "managed service;" as an off-site, dedicated "hosted service" solution; or as an off-site shared resource "software as a service" (SaaS) solution.
• They provide intelligent routing of an incoming communication (that is, a call, e-mail, text chat, Web collaboration or facsimile) to the appropriate resource (that is, agent-assisted or self-service) through an algorithm more sophisticated than simple hunt groups.
• They provide the ability to generate historical activity reports (covering at least 30 days) as well as supervisory capabilities including, but not limited to, real-time monitoring and reporting of a system's workload, agent status lookups, viewing the number of contacts in the queue, and the ability to change agent status.

contact center technical support software

These applications or functions are designed to enable employees or agents of a company to support clients directly, usually within a call or contact center, typically focused on clients' product use, implementation and problem resolution.

contact center workforce optimization

A workforce optimization solution integrates disparate contact center technologies — including contact center performance management, e-learning, interaction analytics, quality management and workforce management — which execute against a high-level framework encompassing strategic contact center planning; agent recruitment, deployment, monitoring, evaluation, improvement and motivation; and corporate accountability and contribution.

contact chips

Chips used in smart cards that are inserted into a reader to conduct transactions or pass information from the card to the reader. Contactless chips can perform a function by being passed near a reader. Contactless chips are often preferred for use in applications where speed is essential.

contact database

A database containing names, addresses and other information on sales contacts , used for contact tracking and management purposes.

contactless card

Chip-based Near Field Communication (NFC) card based on radio frequency identification (RFID) technologies that use RFs to transmit data, and which needs no physical contact to be read by readers or terminals. Contactless cards are waved near the reader to record transactions or to identify the user. Systems are either passive, with the readers generating the frequency, or active, in which case the card activates the reader. Sony's FeliCa chip card technology (which has been integrated into mobile phones for m-banking and m-commerce in Japan) is an example.

content

In commercial publishing, content refers to individual documents that can be graphic, textual or illustrative in nature, or amalgamations of documents that can be combined into individual articles or complete publications. On the Internet, the term refers to the content of Web sites.

content aggregation

The presentation of content from multiple sources at a single Web location for review by the customer.

content analytics

content analytics refers to applications that process unstructured data to derive answers to specific questions. It may consist of a single function — for example, fact or concept extraction — or a series of functions that pass results in a sequence from one operation to the next. It does not consist solely of new information access components, but it does depend on newer approaches to how processing steps are serialized and information is passed from one application to the next.

content-based retrieval (see CBR)

content, communications and collaboration

The content, communications and collaboration software market sector comprises software products, tools and hosted services to organize, access, use and share content. Content management and/or collaboration initiatives involve managing and interacting with a multitude of content types, including documents, records, images, forms and, increasingly, digital media. Included in this market sector are enterprise content management (ECM), e-mail and calendaring, Web conferencing and shared work spaces/team collaboration, IM, e-learning suites, information access with search, and ECM systems.

For the enterprise application software segment, content, communications and collaboration software does not include products targeted at specific business functions or processes, such as engineering design or customer service and support, in which some form of collaboration and knowledge management capability is included as part of the packaged application.

content management (see CM)

content provider

An enterprise with information-based (i.e., content) products; it also includes services to access and manage the content.

contention

A method of line control in which the terminals request to transmit. If the channel in question is free, transmission proceeds; if it is not free, the terminal must wait until it becomes free.

context

Refers to meanings that are clear to the sender or receiver (e.g., application or person), either because they are stated elsewhere in the message or because they have been predefined (e.g., the number "30" means "30 pounds of flour" in one message and "30 cases of orange soda" in another message). Sender and receiver may have different interpretations of meaning (i.e., different context). For example, "customer" could be the party that pays the freight bill in a billing application, but the receiver of the item (which might not be the payer) in a warehousing application.

context delivery architecture (see CoDA)

Context-aware computing

Gartner defines context-aware computing as the concept of leveraging information about the end user to improve the quality of the interaction. Context-aware computing is about improving the user experience for customers, business partners and employees by using the information about a person or object's environment, activities, connections and preferences to anticipate the user's needs and proactively serve up the most appropriate content, product or service. Enterprises can leverage context-aware computing to better target prospects, increase customer intimacy, and enhance associate productivity and collaboration. From a software perspective, context is information that is relevant to the functioning of a software process, but is not essential to it. In the absence of this additional information, the software is still operational, although the results of the software's actions are not as targeted or refined.

context delivery architecture

An architectural style that builds on service-oriented architecture (SOA) and event-driven architecture (EDA) interaction and partitioning styles, and adds formal mechanisms for the software elements that discover and apply the user's context in real time. CoDA provides a framework for solution architects that allows them to define and implement the technology, information and process components that enable services to use context information to improve the quality of the interactions with the user.

context-enriched services

Gartner defines context-enriched services as those that use context to form compelling, situation-aware and intuitive functions that anticipate and react to end users' immediate needs.

context management engine

A core enabling technology for effective portals, this application collects, analyzes and distributes personalization and customization information.

contextual presence

Contextual presence is a context-specific list that is created according to specific and current needs. Contextual presence allows users such as medical staff, technical assistants and financial brokers to determine who is available to assist with a specific customer request. Contextual presence lists can be integrated with location services.

contingent workforce

An on-demand workforce staffing strategy using contract workers, agency staffing, independent contractors and people who will work directly for an enterprise on an on-call basis.

continuity check

In common-channel signaling, a test performed to check that a path exists for speech or data transmission.

Continuous Acquisition and Life Cycle Support (see CALS)

continuous improvement

A manufacturing methodology used to improve overall quality by continuously increasing precision in parts specification.

continuous moves

Normally used in conjunction with private truck fleets in process industries to keep the trucks moving with different loads and driver crews on regular routes with just-in-time materials. This concept is being adopted by public fleets to utilize their assets more effectively.

continuous operations

Those characteristics of a data-processing system that reduce or eliminate the need for planned downtime, such as scheduled maintenance. One element of 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week operation.

continuous process improvement (see CPI)

continuous production

A production system in which the productive units are organized and sequenced according to the steps to produce the product. The routing of the jobs is fixed, and setups are seldom changed.

continuous quality improvement (see CQI)

control character

A character inserted into a data stream to signal the receiving station to perform a function or to identify the structure of the message. Newer protocols are moving away from character-oriented control procedures toward bit-oriented control procedures.

control charts

A time series chart showing performance against upper and lower control limits (also known as tramline charts) that is generally associated with the practice of statistical quality control (SQC) or statistical process control (SPC).

cookie

A permanent code placed in a file on a computer's hard disk by a Web site that the computer user has visited. The code uniquely identifies, or "registers," that user and can be accessed for number of marketing and site-tracking purposes.

cooperative processing

The splitting of an application into tasks performed on separate computers. Physical connectivity can occur via a direct channel connection, a local-area network (LAN), a peer-to-peer communication link or a master/slave link. The application software can exist in a distributed processing environment, but this is not a requirement.

coordination mechanics

A term coined by Coordination Technology's founder, Anatole Holt. It generally refers to a class of workflow that is heuristic in nature; i.e., a higher form of workflow concentrating on human behavior.

COPICS (Communications Oriented Production Information and Control System)

A mainframe material requirements planning product from IBM.

CORBA (Common Object Request Broker Architecture)

An Object Management Group (OMG) interoperability standard for object-oriented applications communicating over heterogeneous networks.

CORE (COMPARE Operational Readiness Evaluation)

Gartner's CORE risk assessment and reporting steps are used to define business operational risks, to report risks to management, investors, regulators and customers in a consistent form, and to determine when contingency and recovery strategies are required.

core banking systems

The back-end data processing applications for processing all transactions that have occurred during the day and posting updated data on account balances to the mainframe. Core systems typically include deposit account and CD account processing, loan and credit processing, interfaces to the general ledger and reporting tools.

core storage management

Products in the core storage management segment provide basic data organization functions, such as file system and volume management, storage virtualization software, thin provisioning, disk utilities, access and path management, and emerging technologies that do not fit into one of the other segments. Storage virtualization software, whether on a server or in the storage network or in the disk array, creates an abstraction layer that separates physical storage from logical storage, masks complexities to simplify storage management and enables storage resource optimization via pooling. Network file systems, file systems that are part of the core OS or essential for the operation of the storage device, and high-availability (such as clustering) software products are not included.

COS (class of service)

An Internet service provider (ISP) offering that prioritizes which traffic is delivered before other traffic. With COS, when an ISP's network is not congested, all traffic is treated equally. When the network is congested, however, traffic that has been designated as a higher priority will be delivered first, while lower priority traffic will be held in a queue until the higher-class traffic has been transmitted.

COSE (Common Open Software Environment)

A now-defunct vendor consortium, which was formed to promote interoperability and portability across Unix platforms. The group's first project was the Common Desktop Environment (CDE) specification

country code

In direct distance dialing, a code characterizing a particular country. Codes corresponding to the world numbering plan start with a single digit that identifies a particular geographical area. This can be followed by one or two extra digits.

CPA (comprehensive production architecture)

Enables simultaneous and cost-effective production and archiving in print and Internet formats by integrating five key processes: document creation and retrieval, assembly and formatting, internal archiving, prepress and printing and Internet publishing.

CPC (collaborative product commerce)

An e-business strategy for exploiting new Web-based commerce opportunities across product development and product life cycle processes. CPC opportunities include both inbound (business-to-business) and outbound (business-to-consumer) commerce such as collaborative product development, customer driven design, collaborative product and component sourcing, manufacturing/supply-chain collaboration, and product maintenance self-service portals.

CPC (cost per click)

An online advertising metric which refers to advertising spending divided by the number of recipients who click on the message (e.g., a banner ad on a Web site or a link embedded in e-mail message).

CPE (customer premises equipment)

Any telephone apparatus — including telephone handsets, private branch exchange (PBX) switching equipment, key and hybrid telephone systems, and add-on devices — that is physically located on a customer's property, as opposed to being housed in the telephone company's central office or elsewhere in the network.

CPE business DSL router with embedded DSL modem

This is a business-class router similar to an external xDSL modem, but including additional routing functions. It can be a wired device or include a wireless access point.

CPEMH (computer-aided patient-entered medical history)

A system that presents a series of questions, thereby collecting data that traditionally would require a receptionist, a "traditional clipboard," a nurse and a doctor. These systems use knowledge management and branching logic to tailor each session to the individual patient. Once the data is collected, it can be parsed, translated and highlighted. The clinician then has access to data prior to seeing the patient and can better direct the encounter.

CPE external stand-alone modem

This modem does not go inside a PC, but has its own external casing and power supply, and is connected to a PC using a cable.

CPE internal modem

This modem is placed inside a PC. It is not a PC Card.

CPGA (cost per gross add)

Typically, the cost of sales and marketing, advertising and handset subsidies over total gross adds.

CPI (continuous process improvement)

A methodology for improving production, driven by formal metrics and measurement programs, including methodology upgrades.

CPM (corporate performance management)

CPM is an umbrella term that describes the methodologies, metrics, processes and systems used to monitor and manage the business performance of an enterprise. Applications that enable CPM translate strategically focused information to operational plans and send aggregated results. These applications are also integrated into many elements of the planning and control cycle, or they address BAM or customer relationship optimization needs.

CPM must be supported by a suite of analytical applications that provide the functionality to support these processes, methodologies and metrics.

CPM (critical path method or critical path management)

Critical path method is a project planning and management methodology that focuses on activities that control the total duration of a project.

CPMS (corporate property management software)

Software whose basic functionality is to produce basic rent rolls and feed to general ledger; to track simple information about leased or owned property (e.g., renewal dates, term dates, amount of square footage and basic breakdown of divisions or departments in space for space allocation); and to capture data regarding parties to agreement and basic contract information.

CPM suites

Gartner defines the main application components of a CPM suite as follows:

• Budgeting, planning and forecasting — These applications support the development of all aspects of budgets, plans and forecasts. They encompass short-term financially focused budgets, longer-term plans and high-level strategic plans. These applications should deliver workflow capabilities to manage budget/plan creation, submission and approval, as well as provide the ability to dynamically create forecasts and scenarios. They also should support the development of an enterprisewide planning model that links operational plans with financial budgets. In addition, they must be capable of sharing data with domain-specific applications, such as SCP.
• Profitability modeling and optimization — This includes activity-based costing (ABC) applications that determine and allocate costs at a highly granular level, and activity-based management applications that provide capabilities to enable users to model the impact on profitability of different cost and resource allocation strategies. Some applications have moved beyond the "traditional" ABC focus to enable revenue to be allocated in addition to costs to model packaging, bundling, pricing and channel strategies.
• Scorecard applications — A scorecard is a generic BI capability that includes the functionality of dashboards but that also has the capability to link key performance indicators (KPIs) to a strategy map, with a hierarchical cause-and-effect relationship among the KPIs. Scorecards are often used in conjunction with a particular methodology, such as the balanced scorecard, European Foundation for Quality Management, value-based management or Six Sigma.
• Financial consolidation — This type of application enables organizations to reconcile, consolidate, summarize and aggregate financial data based on different accounting standards and federal regulations. These applications are a fundamental part of CPM because they create the audited, enterprise-level view of financial information that must be shared with other CPM applications to analyze variance from targets.
• Statutory and financial reporting — CPM applications require specialized reporting tools that can format output as structured financial statements, and they may also need to support specific generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) presentation rules, such as U.S. GAAP or International Financial Reporting Standards. They also include visualization techniques that are specifically designed to support the analysis of variance from budgets or targets, such as hyperbolic trees.

CPP (commercial parallel processing)

The use of parallel-processing systems for complex commercial applications.

CPR (computer-based patient record)

A system that contains electronically maintained information about an individual's health status and care. It focuses on tasks directly related to patient care, unlike other healthcare information systems that support providers' and payers' operational processes (which may, however, serve as source or feeder systems for the CPR). The CPR completely replaces the paper medical chart and thus must meet all clinical, legal and administrative requirements.

CPRI (Common Public Radio Interface)

An industry cooperation between Ericsson, Nortel, NEC, Siemens and Huawei to define an open and published interface between radio equipment control and the radio equipment. Although open and freely available, this interface is not defined by 3GPP and is targeting WCDMA.

CPS (certification practice statement)

A document defining all the operational practices that will be used to maintain the required level of public-key infrastructure (PKI) security. To prove that issued certificates are valid, an enterprise must demonstrate (usually through an audit) adherence to its CPS. The Internet Engineering Task Force's (IETF's) request for comment (RFC) 2527 contains draft guidelines for the format and content of a CPS.

CPT (Current Procedural Terminology)

A widely used controlled medical vocabulary authored by the American Medical Association, this system describes medical and surgical procedures in a hierarchical format with six major sections and more than 7,300 codes. A series of two-digit modifiers are used to increase specificity, allowing the reporting of a procedure under specific circumstances.

CPU (central processing unit)

The component of a computer system that controls the interpretation and execution of instructions. The CPU of a PC consists of a single microprocessor, while the CPU of a more powerful mainframe consists of multiple processing devices, and in some cases, hundreds of them. The term "processor" is often used to refer to a CPU.

CQI (continuous quality improvement)

A methodology for to continuous improvement of the quality of an enterprise's products, services or internal processes.

CRC (cyclic redundancy check)

An error detection technique using a polynomial to generate a series of two 8-bit block check characters that represent the entire block of data. These block check characters are incorporated into the transmission frame and then checked at the receiving end.

critical-path scheduling

A project-planning and monitoring system used to check progress toward the completion of a project by scheduling events, activities, milestones, etc.

critical ratio

A dispatching rule that calculates a priority index number by dividing the time to due date remaining by the expected elapsed time to finish the job. Typically ratios of less than 1.0 are behind, ratios greater than 1.0 are ahead, and a ratio of 1.0 is on schedule.

CRL (certificate revocation list)

A "hot lists" that identifies certificates that have been withdrawn, canceled or compromised or that should not be trusted because of other identified reasons. CRLs should be replicated to all subscribing servers to a specific root certification authority.

CRM (customer relationship management)

CRM (customer relationship management) is a business strategy whose outcomes optimize profitability, revenue and customer satisfaction by organizing around customer segments, fostering customer-satisfying behaviors and implementing customer-centric processes...

• Read the full CRM definition

CRM analytics

A set of analyses that support customer relationship management (CRM) on both an individual-customer and an aggregate level, including the real-time monitoring of day-to-day operations. A significant aspect of performing true CRM analytics (as opposed to product or channel analytics) is the capability to integrate data and analyses across various distribution channels and business units, creating a holistic understanding of relationships.

CRM printing

A subset of CRM publishing, CRM printing is enabled by the combination of digital, low-to-high-volume printing devices and technology-enabled marketing techniques. The latter provide the data necessary for the former to produce personalized materials.

CRM publishing

The concept of using CRM techniques to micro segment prospective, current and former customers and to deliver targeted marketing and sales information based on the recipients' requirements and preferred delivery method(s).

cross-certification

A process by which two enterprises are able to recognize and trust each other's digital certificates.

cross-compiler

A program that translates instructions from a high-level language on one computer to the machine language of another computer – the one on which the program is to be run.

cross-docking

The planning of warehouse "put away" assignments so that inventory can be moved from one shipment to another on a dock without movement to a rack or warehouse location. Although this type of inventory movement may violate lot and code date movement parameters, cross-dock planning is used frequently to minimize labor costs and handling in warehouses and distribution centers.

cross-modulation

Interference caused by two or more carriers interacting in a transmission system.

CRP (capacity requirements planning)

The process of specifying the level of resources (facilities, equipment and labor force size) that best supports the enterprise's competitive strategy for production.

CRUD (create, retrieve, update, delete)

Guidelines for defining how different people or communities within an organization deal with data elements owned by the organization.

CSD (circuit-switched data)

Data transmission over a wireless network using circuit switching rather than packet switching. Once a connection is established, the user is charged for the use of a dedicated circuit.

CSD (consolidated service desk)

The hub where the needs of support groups, distributors, suppliers and customers are consolidated, and where network and systems management (NSM) tools are integrated. The CSD has become the integration point for multiple management disciplines, the single point of contact for providing multiple IS services to the end users, and the source of automation for multiple workflow processes.

CSF (critical success factor)

A methodology, management tool or design technique that enables the effective development and deployment of a project or process.

CSP (communications service provider)

Includes all service providers offering telecommunication services or some combination of information and media services, content, entertainment and applications services over networks, leveraging the network infrastructure as a rich, functional platform. CSPs include the following categories: Telecommunications carrier, content and applications service provider (CASP), cable service provider, satellite broadcasting operator, and cloud communications service provider.

CSS (customer service and support)

Once known as the "complaint department," CSS is responsible for retaining and extending customer relationships once a product or service is sold. Due to the increasing complexity of customer interactions, customer service organizations need a complex technological infrastructure that is flexible, extensible and scalable and that integrates front-office applications with back-end processes and data. The components of CSS include

• Call management — The core functionality of CSS applications. This component is used to log all incoming telephone calls and transactions and to manage the transaction from initiation through closure.
• Internet-based customer service suites — Also known as e-service suites, these applications and tools empower customers, partners and prospects for self-service and interactions with the enterprise via the Web, an intranet or an extranet.
• Field service and dispatch (FS/D) systems — FS/D has become an essential element of complete CSS suites and is an important element of customer relationship management (CRM). FS/D software is evolving from solely back-office functionality to an enterprise system that tightly couples the back office with the front-office servicing systems.
• Contact centers — Traditional call centers handle voice-only customer contact, whereas contact centers include all types of channels of customer contact, including voice (e.g., telephone, IVR, speech recognition and voice verification), the Web, fax, video kiosks and e-mail. This is an inbound and outbound service-based environment in which agents handle all types of contacts regarding sales, customer service, marketing, telemarketing, collections and other functions.

CSU (channel service unit)

A device found on digital links that transfers data faster than a modem (in a range from 56 kilobits per second to 1.5 megabits per second) but does not permit dial-up functions. It also performs certain line-conditioning and equalization functions, and responds to loop-back commands sent from a central office. A CSU is the link between digital lines from the central office and devices such as channel banks or data communications devices.

CTI (computer-telephony integration)

The intelligent linking of computers with switches, enabling coordinated voice and data transfers to the desktop.

CTO (chief technology officer)

The CTO has overall responsibility for managing the physical and personnel technology infrastructure including technology deployment, network and systems management, integration testing, and developing technical operations personnel. CTOs also manage client relations to ensure that service objective expectations are developed and managed in the operations areas.

CTQ (critical to quality)

Critical to quality are those aspects of a product or service that a customer deems as must-have features to be satisfied.

CTR (click-through rate)

The number of times a Web page advertisement is clicked, compared to the number of times it is displayed. Royalties are often based on CTR. This term is also used in reference a Web site's ability to persuade a visitor to "click through" to another site.

CTX (clear to send)

A control circuit that indicates to the data terminal equipment that data can or cannot be transmitted.

CTX (corporate trade exchange)

An electronic-commerce standard format that allows for inclusion of 9,999 "addenda" records in addition to the primary financial records (i.e., amount being moved, bank routing number and checking-account number).

CU (compliance unit)

A logical partition of applications and data to be upgraded together.

CUG (closed user group)

A set-up that restricts access to and from one or more terminals to other members of the user group (found on packet switched systems, e-mail, etc.).

cumulative lead time

The longest length of time involved to accomplish the activity in question. For any item planned through material requirements planning, it is found by reviewing each bill-of-material path below the item, and whichever path adds up to the greatest number defines cumulative material lead time.

current loop

A transmission technique that recognizes current flows rather than voltage levels. It was traditionally used in teletypewriter networks incorporating batteries as the transmission power source.

customer communications management (CCM)

Customer communications management (CCM) is a strategy and a market fulfilled by different applications to improve the creation, delivery, storage and retrieval of outbound and interactive communications. CCM supports the production of marketing collateral, new product introductions, and transaction documents (for example, renewal notifications, insurance claims correspondence, payment notifications). These interactions can happen through a wide range of media and output, including print, e-mail, Short Message Service (SMS), and Web pages and customer self-service. CCM solutions support enterprises' communications with distributors, partners, regulatory bodies and customers. CCM is sometimes implemented as a composite content application. One technology descriptor common to most vendors is "document composition."

customer experience

Gartner defines the customer experience as "the customer's perceptions and related feelings caused by the one-off and cumulative effect of interactions with a supplier's employees, systems, channels or products."

customer experience management

Gartner defines customer experience management as "the practice of designing and reacting to customer interactions to meet or exceed customer expectations to increase customer satisfaction, loyalty and advocacy."

customer self-service and support

Customer self-service and support is a blend of customer-initiated interaction technologies that are designed to enable customers to service themselves. It includes electronic records management systems, chat and knowledge bases.

customized network management

Tools to allow assignment of levels of network management functions and capabilities to selected nodes throughout the network. With this, the degree of centralization vs. decentralization of network management can be varied depending on the environment.

custom key set

Specialized multibutton telephones designed expressly for a particular private branch exchange (PBX). Unlike the locking buttons on normal key telephones, the buttons on a custom key set are used to communicate with the system and are typically nonlocking buttons. Custom key set buttons can be arranged to activate specific features such as speed dialing and executive override, as well as to select lines.

cyber library

An electronic version of a physical library that is implemented on behalf of workers for information self-service.

cycle time

The time it takes to complete a process or service operation, including all value-adding and non-value-adding time.