IT Definitions and Glossary

A

AA (application architecture)

The AA describes the layout of an application's deployment. This generally includes partitioned application logic and deployment to application server engines. AAs rely less on specific tool or language technology than on standardized middleware options, communications protocols, data gateways, and platform infrastructures such as Component Object Model (COM), JavaBeans and Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA). The application architect is tasked with specifying an AA and supporting the deployment implementation.

ABC (activity-based costing)

An improved approach to understanding where and why costs are incurred within an enterprise. It provides the information for activity-based management, which focuses on the decisions and actions needed to reduce costs and increase revenue. ABC differs from traditional cost accounting in explicitly recognizing that not all cost objects place an equal demand on support resources.

ABM (activity-based management)

The use of activity-based costing (ABC) principles in the ongoing management of costs and resources. See ABC.

access method

1. The portion of a computer's operating system responsible for formatting data sets and their direction to specific storage devices. Examples from the mainframe world include Virtual Storage Access Method (VSAM) and Indexed Sequential Access Method (ISAM).
2. In local-area networks, the technique or program code used to arbitrate the use of the communications medium by granting access selectively to individual stations. Examples are Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection (CSMA-CD) and token passing.

ACMA (Australian Communications and Media Authority)

Regulator of broadcasting, radio communications, telecommunications and online content in Australia, formed from two earlier bodies, the Australian Communications Authority and the Australian Broadcasting Authority.

ACT I (application, channel, technology and industry)

A Gartner acronym representing the "survival locations" for integrated document management (IDM) vendors. A survival location is a market segment where a vendor can develop sustainable competitive advantage. A critical mass of sustainable competitive advantage is necessary for a vendor to thrive in the long term in any market.

active data dictionary

A facility for storing dynamically accessible and modifiable information relating to midrange-system data definitions and descriptions.

Active Directory

The "directory service" portion of the Windows 2000 operating system. Active Directory manages the identities and relationships of the distributed resources that make up a network environment. It stores information about network-based entities (e.g., applications, files, printers and people) and provides a consistent way to name, describe, locate, access, manage and secure information about these resources. It the central authority that manages the identities and brokers the relationships between these distributed resources, enabling them to work together.

ActiveX

An application programming interface (API) that enhances Microsoft's OLE protocol. Often compared to Java, ActiveX facilitates various Internet applications, and therefore extends and enhances the functionality of Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser. Like Java, ActiveX enables the development of interactive content. When an ActiveX-aware browser encounters a Web page that includes an unfamiliar feature, it automatically installs the appropriate applications so the feature can be used.

AD (applications development)

The function of creating applications for an enterprise. The term refers not simply to programming, but to the larger overall process of defining application requirements, planning the application structure, developing the code, monitoring development progress and testing results.

adapters

Adapters are small, focused programs that expose functionality and/or data in a legacy application. Our use of this term includes not only the programs, but also the framework for designing and developing adapter programs. Adapters can be deceptively complex, with "thick" adapters performing a variety of functions that include recognizing events, collecting and transforming data, and exchanging data with platform, integration suite or other middleware. However, "thin" adapters may only "wrap" a native application interface, exposing another more-standard one for application access. Adapters can also handle exception conditions and can often dynamically (or with minor reconfiguration) accommodate new revisions of source or target applications.

Adapters are often sold in conjunction with integration middleware products, such as ESBs, integration suites or portal servers, or are offered as a stand-alone product, such as an adapter suite. Among the different adapters, high-level categories include technical and application adapters.

A comprehensive suite should include adapters for:

• Common technologies, such as COM, Enterprise JavaBeans and Web services
• Industry protocols, such as EDI, Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication and RosettaNet
• Common applications, such as SAP or PeopleSoft
• Proprietary applications, such as an adapter development kit

ADF (automated document factory)

Gartner's term for an architecture and set of processes to manage the creation and delivery of mission-critical, high-volume digital documents. The ADF applies factory production concepts to the document production – raw materials, including data and preparation instructions, enter the ADF, where they are transformed into digital documents and prepared for delivery.

ADKAR

"Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, Reinforcement" goal-oriented change management model; see Hiatt, J.M., ADKAR: a Model for Change in Business, Government and Our Community: How to Implement Successful Change in Our Personal Lives and Professional Careers, Prosci Research, ISBN 1930885504, Aug. 10, 2006.

ADSL (asymmetric DSL)

ADSL offers downstream data rates of up to 9 Mbps on short loops.

ADSL2

Among other improvements on basic ADSL, ADSL2 offers downstream data rates of up to 12 Mbps on short loops, and extends ADSL's reach by approximately 600 feet.

ADSL2+

Among other improvements, ADSL2+ doubles the downstream frequency of ADSL2 and enables downstream data rates of more than 25 Mbps on short loops.

AD technology profile

A Gartner method of assessing an enterprise and its methodology. It includes:

• Development process profile: Life cycle coverage, ease of use, change management, methodologies supported, project management, information model, templates/componentware.
• Development technology profile: Workgroup support, development platform, repository, object-oriented (OO) component concepts, technical quality, openness, integration.
• Target environment profile: Execution platforms, human interface, database management systems, middleware supported, portability, communications protocols, execution technology, reliability.
• Application capabilities profile: Application topology, application types, complexity supported, transaction volume, security, usability support, type of users supported.
• (Built-in) execution environment profile: Application servers, middleware, database gateways, wrapper facilities, workflow engine, rules engine, dynamic repartitioning.

advanced technology

A technology that is still immature but promises to deliver significant value, or that has some technical maturity but still has relatively few users. Among current examples: artificial intelligence, agents, speech and handwriting recognition, virtual reality and 3-D visualization, smart cards, real-time collaboration, enhanced user authentication, data mining, and knowledge management.

agile NeoRAD

This type of project approach applies agile methods, such as extreme programming. Models are sketches, rather than first-class development artifacts. There are few concerns about standardization in terms of reusing analysis and design patterns and frameworks. There is little model-based code generation.

AHP (analytical hierarchy process)

A process that uses hierarchical decomposition to deal with complex information in multicriterion decision making, such as information technology vendor and product evaluation. It consists of three steps:

1. Developing the hierarchy of attributes germane to the selection of the IT vendor.
2. Identifying the relative importance of the attributes.
3. Scoring the alternatives' relative performance on each element of the hierarchy.

Developed by Thomas Saaty while he was teaching at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, the AHP is recognized as the leading theory in multicriterion decision making.

AI (artificial intelligence)

A wide-ranging discipline of computer science that at its core seeks to make computers behave more like humans. The term was coined by John McCarthy of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1956. AI attempts to resolve problems by "reasoning," similar to the process used by the human mind. AI involves the capability of a machine to learn (to remember results produced on a previous trial and to modify the operation accordingly in subsequent trials) or to reason (to analyze the results produced in similar operations and select the most favorable outcome). Today, applications of artificial intelligence include voice recognition, robotics, neural networks and expert systems (i.e., systems that can make decisions an expert would otherwise have to make to, for example, forecast financial performance, or diagnose illnesses).

AIM (AOL Instant Messenger)

A free, public instant-message service and one of the earliest. A variety of free client software is available, supporting Windows and Macintosh PCs, Palm operating system (OS), Microsoft's Pocket PC and Symbian handheld devices. See also instant messaging (IM).

AM (asset management)

A system of practices intended to address shortcomings, inefficiencies, waste and unavoidable failures in managing technology and information technology equipment. It involves five major areas:

1. Requisition
2. Procurement
3. Deployment
4. Maintenance
5. Retirement strategies

At its core is an integrated data repository that contains:

• Asset tracking – technical information about the equipment or software
• Portfolio information – acquisition and financial details
• A contracts database – summarizing key software and maintenance contracts terms and conditions

AMD (architected, model-driven development)

AMD is the most sophisticated end of the SOA modeling spectrum. It focuses on quality, performance and reuse. It comes in two "flavors": AMD composition and AMD development. AMD composition presumes that the needed services exist and can be "assembled" into an application (business service), possibly with a new user interface (generally portal-based, using Web services). Organizations can generally use AMD composition models to generate the specifications for use by workflow orchestration technologies in the runtime environment.

AMD development assumes that new organizations need to develop software services prior to composition. AMD development tools can reuse the same business models developed by those doing AMD composition. But, generally, IT personnel refine these into more detailed models to generate as much of the code as possible ― 70% to 100% ― depending on the service type. AMD also includes the set of methods that promote "executable" models (that is, where there is no explicit transformation to implementation).

AMG (access media gateways)

An access media gateway (AMG) serves as the bridge between a circuit-based voice switch and a packet-based IP or ATM access network. An AMG takes care of the PSTN-to-packet-network transition at the local-loop level and is connected to the local exchange or an access node. It has Class 5 switch interfaces and supports VoIP and/or VoATM.

Included in the AMG segment are inverse AMGs, which make the transition from the packet-access domain – DSL, cable hybrid fiber-coax, power line and local multipoint distribution service – to a PSTN Class 5 local exchange via Generic Requirement (GR)-303, V5.x interface and Primary Rate Interface (PRI) (Q.931) V5.2 access node (AN), and GR-303 remote digital terminal (RDT).

AMIA (American Medical Informatics Association)

A not-for-profit organization dedicated to the development and application of medical informatics in the support of patient care, teaching, research and healthcare administration. The AMIA serves as an authoritative body in the field of medical informatics and represents the United States in the informational arena of medical systems and informatics in international forums.

AMIS (Audio Messaging Interchange Specification)

An enhanced key system feature for voice/call processing that enables enterprise locations to transfer and forward voice messages between systems. It is a voice processing standard that specifies the procedures to network voice processing systems, regardless of who manufactures the system.

AMO (application management outsourcing)

The ongoing maintenance, management, conversion, enhancement and support of an application portfolio by an external company. AMO, a subset of application outsourcing (see separate entry), includes changes that generally take less than some predefined time to implement (e.g., 10 days or 30 days). Examples of maintenance include regulatory changes, software upgrades, new release installations and "fix it if it breaks" troubleshooting. AMO may involve the transfer of people and application software to the vendor.

AMOLED (active matrix organic light-emitting diode [OLED])

Display consisting of pixels of electroluminescent organic compounds "printed" in a matrix onto a flexible polymer layer, and which emits light of different colors. Unlike liquid crystal displays, OLED displays do not require a backlight and consume very little power, making them suitable for battery-powered devices. Active matrix OLEDs use a thin-film transistor (TFT) to control the pixels.

AMPS (advanced mobile phone service)

U.S.-originated analog cellular standard, now largely obsolete.

AMR (adaptive multirate)

GSM codec that lowers the codec rate in response to interference, affording a greater level of error correction and potentially enabling operators to reduce capital expenditures by reducing the number of cell sites needed to support the user base.

AMS (automation management system)

A subsystem of the warehouse management system. It controls automated material-handling equipment such as carousels, pick to light, in-line scales, and conveyors. The AMS is designed to provide a standardized interface between the warehouse management system and the automated material-handling equipment.

analog

Electronic transmission accomplished by adding signals of varying frequency or amplitude to carrier waves of a given frequency.

analog copiers

Image capture and transfer using optical or "light lens" technology in which the image is flash illuminated on the platen and transferred to the photoconductor through a series of lenses and mirrors. The latent image is then transferred from the photoconductor to paper through the electrophotographic process.

analytics

Gartner defines an "analytic" application as packaged BI capabilities for a particular domain or business problem.

analytics for CRM

These applications enable data preparation, data quality management, measurement and reporting, predictive modeling, profitability, and optimization.

andon

Visual control device from the Japanese word for "lantern," implying an andon display that sheds light on current performance.

android

Open-source mobile phone platform based on the Linux OS, launched in November 2007 by the Open Handset Alliance. The first commercial phone using the Android OS, the G1 (based on the HTC Dream handset), was launched in September 2008 by T-Mobile. The alliance is led by Google and includes operators and mobile phone and chipset vendors, such as HTC, Intel, LG, Motorola, Nvidia, Qualcomm, Samsung Electronics and T-Mobile. See also Open Handset Alliance (OHA).

ANOVA (analysis of variance)

Acronym for "analysis of variance," a statistical tool for analyzing the variability in a process.

ANSI (American National Standards Institute)

ANSI coordinates the development and use of voluntary consensus standards in the U.S. and represents the needs and views of U.S. stakeholders in standardization global forums. ANSI is actively engaged in accrediting programs that assess conformance to standards.

antenna

Equipment used for transmitting or receiving radio waves/signals. In WLAN communication systems, in addition to transmitting and receiving signals, antennas may be used to focus signal energy to suit the installed environment. Common antenna types include: omnidirectional, which creates a spherical pattern; parabolic, which flattens the spherical pattern of the omnidirectional pattern and creates a larger circular coverage area; patch, which creates a semicircular pattern; and yagi, which narrows the antenna energy into a tubular pattern that is often used in long aisles, where coverage is needed. In satellite-based communication systems, the antenna usually consists of a parabolic reflector or dish and a feed horn. In a receiving system, the reflector focuses radio waves onto the feed horn for detection and conversion into electrical signals that are then are transmitted to an end-user device such as a PC or a TV, via a satellite modem/receiver. In transmitting systems, the reflector concentrates the radio waves or signals emitted by the feed horn into a narrow beam aimed back up toward the satellite. See also satellite dish.

AOA (angle of arrival)

Technology for determining the location of a cellular mobile phone. AOA requires a complex and expensive antenna array at each base station to determine the angle from which a cellular signal comes. It works best when detecting voice transmissions. See also location-based services (LBS).

AP (access point)

Pico base station or network access point in a WLAN radio network, consisting of a radio (often more than one) and a network connection, enabling WLAN clients to access network resources connected to a home or enterprise network.

applet

A small program that runs within an application. Applets are commonly used to make otherwise static Web pages more interactive. Examples include animated graphics, games, configurable bar charts and scrolling messages. Applets also play an important role in network computers (NCs). They increase an NC's independence from the server because they do not have to communicate with the operating system (resident on the server) to function once the applet has been received by the NC.

appliance

An appliance is a preconfigured bundle of hardware and software integrated at the factory, created for a specific purpose, and typically packaged with services at time of sell.

application development

The AD software market comprises tools that represent each phase of the software development life cycle (application life cycle management [ALM], design, construction, automated software quality and other AD software).

application infrastructure suites

Because the market has evolved, products that were previously referred to as integration suites within this segment are now included with ESB suites. The application infrastructure suite market now includes only application platform suite functionality. Application platform suites are products composed of portals, integration middleware, BPM and business component engineering. They are geared toward supporting a variety of different project styles, including composite applications, new SOA applications and process integration.

application integration

The process of 1) keeping redundant copies of data (in independently designed applications) consistent, or 2) enabling end-users to access data and functionality from independently designed applications on a single user interface.

application management

Application management provides a wide variety of application services, processes and methodologies for maintaining, enhancing and managing custom applications, packaged software applications or network-delivered applications.

application portfolio analysis

A tool to divide current and proposed applications into three categories – utility, enhancement and frontier – based on the degree to which they contribute to the enterprise's performance. The utility category is essential but does not enhance the enterprise's performance (e.g., payroll); the enhancement category contains applications that improve the enterprise's performance based on the use of established technology (e.g., documentation automation); and the frontier category is aimed at greatly improving enterprise performance (e.g., through aggressive use of rules-based decision support) but usually entails substantial risk. The management issues for each category are, respectively, cost, opportunity identification and innovation. The planning process should consider the best balance among the three categories to gain optimal future performance and the appropriate value from the application of IT.

application program

Software programs in a system are either application programs or supervisory programs, also called system software. Application programs contain instructions that transfer control to the system software to perform input/output and other routine operations, working through the application programming interface (API).

application server

An application server is a modern form of platform middleware. It is system software that resides between the operating system (OS) on one side, the external resources (such as a database management system [DBMS], communications and Internet services) on another side and the users' applications on the third side. The function of the application server is to act as host (or container) for the user's business logic while facilitating access to and performance of the business application. The application server must perform despite the variable and competing traffic of client requests, hardware and software failures, the distributed nature of the larger-scale applications, and potential heterogeneity of data and processing resources required to fulfill the business requirements of the applications.

A high-end online-transaction-processing-style application server delivers business applications with guaranteed levels of performance, availability and integrity. An application server also supports multiple application design patterns, according to the nature of the business application and the practices in the particular industry for which the application has been designed. It typically supports multiple programming languages and deployment platforms, although most have a particular affinity to one or two of these. Some application servers that implement standard application interfaces and protocols, such as Java Enterprise Edition (Java EE), are entirely proprietary. At present, the proprietary application servers are typically built into OSs, packaged applications, such as portals and e-commerce solutions, or other products and are not offered as stand-alone products. Proprietary and Java EE-compliant application servers are estimated in our Market Share and Forecast reports.

As the application server market matures, high performance becomes a stronger criterion, and thus where vendors now incorporate extensions to application servers, such as extreme transaction processing and event-based processing capabilities, these are also included in this market segment.

application sharing

The ability of two or more participants to have equal and simultaneous control over the content of a document inside an application (e.g., a word processing document, spreadsheet or conference slide) over a wide-area network, local-area network or modem connection. Enables users in different locations to work together on the same documents, with shared control and editing capabilities. A component of data conferencing.

application software services

This segment includes back-office, ERP and supply chain management (SCM) software services, as well as collaborative and personal software services. It also covers engineering software and front-office CRM software services.

• ERP and SCM software services – ERP is an application strategy focused on several distinct enterprise application suite markets. ERP is typically referred to as a back-office application set, but ERP applications typically automate and support more than administrative processes and include the support of production and inventory processes, as well as the asset management aspects of an enterprise SCM is a business strategy to improve shareholder and customer value by optimizing the flow of products, services and related information from source to customer. SCM encompasses the processes of creating and fulfilling the market's demand for goods and services. It is a set of business processes that encompasses a trading partner community engaged in a common goal of satisfying the end customer. Thus, a supply chain process can stretch from a supplier's supplier to a customer's customer.
• Content, communications, and collaboration software services – 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 iages, 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.
• Other applications software services – Other applications software includes, but is not limited to: commerce applications; e-discovery; e-learning; engineering applications; enterprise search; enterprise social software; geographic information systems; governance, risk and compliance; media and entertainment; mobile and wireless applications; and product life cycle management.
• CRM software services – CRM technologies should enable greater customer insight, increased customer access, more effective customer interactions, and integration throughout all customer channels and back-office enterprise functions. CRM is a business strategy, the outcome of which optimizes profitability, revenue and customer satisfaction by organizing around customer segments, fostering customer satisfying behaviors and implementing customer-centric processes. The CRM software sector, part of the enterprise software market, provides functionality to enterprises in three segments: sales, marketing, and customer service and support.
• Office suite software services – Office suites are software packages that bundle office or business management applications that include word processing, spreadsheets and presentation graphics. Other forms of office suites that are not included in this market definition are database tools, graphics suite, e-mail and calendaring, shared work space and team collaboration tools, and social software offerings that may have content authoring capabilities.

applications outsourcing

An outsourcing arrangement for a wide variety of application services including new development, legacy systems maintenance, offshore programming, management of packaged applications and staff augmentation. While this form of outsourcing generally involves a transfer of staff, the use of the term has recently broadened to include arrangements where this is not the case, as in staff augmentation. It does not include systems integration activities.

App Store

Apple's download service for iTunes mobile applications, developed using the iPhone software development kit (SDK) for the iPhone and iPod touch. Generically the term has come to refer to a variety of mobile application services, including Android Market, Ovi Store, Windows Marketplace for Mobile and BlackBerry App World.

APR-DRG (advanced payer revised DRG)

An enhanced diagnosis-related group (DRG) scheme that provides more granular, appropriate groupings.

APS (advanced planning and scheduling)

A subcomponent of supply chain planning, contextually describing manufacturing planning and scheduling.

architecture

1. In reference to computers, software or networks, the overall design of a computing system and the logical and physical interrelationships between its components. The architecture specifies the hardware, software, access methods and protocols used throughout the system.
2. A framework and set of guidelines to build new systems. IT architecture is a series of principles, guidelines or rules used by an enterprise to direct the process of acquiring, building, modifying and interfacing IT resources throughout the enterprise. These resources can include equipment, software, communications, development methodologies, modeling tools and organizational structures.

ARAD (architected rapid application development)

ARAD has developed from object-oriented analysis and design tools, and incorporates analysis and design patterns and frameworks. Typically, organizations can generate 50% to 70% of source artifacts from the patterns, frameworks and (optional) models. Increasingly, organizations are blending traditional iterative methods used with ARAD with agile principles and practices to create a hybrid approach.

ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network)

The ARPANET, the forerunner of the Internet, was a pioneering long-haul network funded by the U.S. Department of Defense's Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA). It served as the test bed for many areas of internetworking technology development and testing, and acted as the central backbone during the development of the Internet. The ARPANET was built using packet-switching computers interconnected by leased lines.

ARPU (average revenue per unit/user)

Average revenue per connection, per month.

ARQ (automatic repeat request)

An error control technique that requires retransmission of a data block which contains detected errors.

ARS (automatic route selection)

Provides automatic routing of outgoing calls over alternative customer facilities based on the dialed long-distance number.

ASG (access service gateway)

WiMAX network element that aggregates feeds from a number of base stations and connects them to the core network.

ARU (audio response unit)

A device that provides prerecorded spoken responses to digital inquiries from a telephone caller once the connection is established. Also called voice response unit (VRU).

AS (ambulatory suite)

An application suite consisting of practice management, contract management, and ambulatory computer-based patient record (A-CPR) application components.

AS (autonomous system)

An administrative domain. All members of an AS that share route information can handle traffic to and from any destination.

ASA (average speed of answer)

A standard quantitative method for measuring the speed at which call center calls are answered.

ASC (Accredited Standards Committee)

An organization, certified by the American National Standards Institute, that produces standard communication protocols for electronic data interchange.

ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange)

A standard table of seven-bit designations for digital representation of uppercase and lowercase Roman letters, numbers and special control characters in teletype, computer and word processor systems. Some IBM systems use similar code called Extended Binary-Coded Decimal Interchange Code (EBCDIC). Since most computer systems use a full byte to send an ASCII character, many hardware and software companies have made their own nonstandard and mutually incompatible extensions of the official ASCII 128-character set into a 256-character set.

ASD (automated supply dispensing)

An extension of supply chain management capabilities to automated and monitored dispensing of tangible supplies.

ASEM (Application Server Evaluation Model)

A Gartner server-selection tool that seeks to provide selection guidance using a standard set of selection criteria that remain consistent for all application types. An enhanced version of the Gartner System and Server Evaluation (SSEM) model.

ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit)

A chip on which the pattern of connections has been set up exclusively for a specific function.

ASM (abnormal situation management)

The process of and systems supporting the handling of a deviation to the normal procedures involved with the control and management of a manufacturing or other production process.

ASN (advanced shipment notice)

An electronic data interchange (EDI) message sent from the shipper to the receiver prior to the departure of the shipment from the shipper's facility. The message includes complete information about the shipment and its contents. In today's environment, this message is more often an "as shipped notice" sent after the departure of the shipment.

ASN (autonomous system number)

A number assigned to a local network, registered into the carrier's routing community and placed under the umbrella of an administrative domain called an autonomous system (see AS).

ASO (automated system operations)

Often referred to as "lights-out operations." This is a combination of hardware and software that allows a computer installation to run unattended — that is, without the need for a human operator to be physically located at the site of the installation.

ASP (application service provider)

An enterprise that delivers application functionality and associated services across a network to multiple customers using a rental or usage-based transaction-pricing model. Gartner defines the ASP market as the delivery of standardized application software via a network, though not particularly or exclusively the Internet, through an outsourcing contract predicated on usage-based transaction pricing. The ASP market is composed of a mix of service providers (Web hosting and IT outsourcing), independent software vendors and network/telecommunications providers.

ASP (average selling price)

Typical "street" price of any product. In Gartner communications research, it generally refers to the typical price of a mobile phone.

asset management

This category includes products that provide one or all of the following: asset discovery; asset management; an asset database/repository; asset portfolio management; and tracking of purchases, leases, contracts and disposal pertaining to IT assets, including hardware and software. Links to general ledger accounting system modules, such as the capital asset ledger, are common. Integration with capacity products, user administration products, and order entry and e-procurement is desirable. When paired with an IT service desk (ITSD), asset management can become part of a complete solution for the business management of an IT department or IT outsourcer.

associativity

The ability to link computer-aided design (CAD) data and models together in a manner that allows design changes to be reflected automatically. Unidirectional or downstream associativity permits model changes to automatically change downstream data such as drafting, analysis or computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) data. Bidirectional associativity allows downstream changes, such as in drawings, to change the model.

ASSP (application-specific standard product)

An integrated circuit (IC) dedicated to a specific application market and sold to more than one user. A type of embedded programmable logic, ASSPs combine digital, mixed-signal and analog products. When sold to a single user, Gartner defines such ICs as "application-specific integrated circuits"

ASTN (Automatic Switched Transport Network)

asynchronous

Characterized by not having a constant time interval between successive bits, characters or events. Transmission generally uses one start and one stop bit for character element synchronization (often called start-stop transmission).

asynchronous transmission

A process in which each information character, and sometimes each word or small block, is individually synchronized, usually by the use of start and stop elements.

ATC (ancillary terrestrial component)

Refers to the terrestrial ground segment of a hybrid satellite-terrestrial wireless network where the Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) network and the ATC terrestrial network share the same MSS frequencies to communicate with end-user equipment. A hybrid satellite-terrestrial wireless network (MSS/ATC hybrid network) comprises one or more multispot beam satellites (space segments) and a nationwide network of terrestrial cell sites (the ATC) — as yet to be built. The space segment contains a satellite system that employs high-powered antennas, a large number of spot beams, and advanced frequency reuse technology to communicate with user devices on the ground. These dual-mode satellite/terrestrial wireless devices will likely be similar to current cellular/mobile user equipment and will enable a seamless user experience — moving from satellite to terrestrial operation — in a manner similar to traditional terrestrial cell-to-cell operation. Globalstar, MSV, TerreStar, ICO and Inmarsat are among the international mobile satellite operators vying to develop hybrid satellite-terrestrial networks using ATC ground segments. See also space segment, ground segment, MSS, spot beams and frequency reuse.

ATG (advanced technology group)

The role of the ATG is to provide a continuing stream of technology opportunities to the enterprise. It typically takes the lead in prototype and pilot projects.

ATM (Adobe Type Manager)

A program that enables the user to view type of any size with the highest resolution the user's monitor can provide.

ATM (asynchronous transfer mode)

A wide-area network (WAN) technology, a transfer mode for switching and transmission that efficiently and flexibly organizes information into cells; it is asynchronous in the sense that the recurrence of cells depends on the required or instantaneous bit rate. Thus, empty cells do not go by when data is waiting. ATM's powerful flexibility lies in its ability to provide a high-capacity, low-latency switching fabric for all types of information, including data, video, image and voice, that is protocol-, speed- and distance-independent. ATM supports fixed-length cells 53 bytes in length and virtual data circuits between 45 megabits per second (Mbps) and 622 Mbps. Using statistical multiplexing, cells from many different sources are multiplexed onto a single physical circuit. The fixed-length fields in the cell, which include routing information used by the network, ensure that faster processing speeds are enabled using simple hardware circuits. The greatest benefit of ATM is its ability to provide support for a wide range of communications services while providing transport independence from those services.

ATM (automated teller machine)

A public banking machine that is usually hooked up to a central computer through leased local lines and a multiplexed data network.

ATO (assemble to order)

A strategy allowing a product or service to be made to specific order, where a large number of products can be assembled in various forms from common components. This requires sophisticated planning processes to anticipate changing demand for internal components or accessories while focusing on mass customization of the final products to individual customers.

attenuation

A decrease in the magnitude of the current, voltage or power of a signal in transmission between points because of the transmission medium. Attenuation is usually expressed in decibels.

AUI (autonomous unit interface or attachment unit interface)

Most commonly used in reference to the 15-pin D-type connector and cables used to connect single- and multiple-channel equipment to an Ethernet transceiver.

authentication

The use of passwords, tokens (such as smart cards), digital certificates or biometrics (more commonly fingerprint, hand geometry and voice biometrics) to verify the identity of a user and better ensure against fraud.

authentication service

A mechanism, analogous to the use of passwords on time-sharing systems, for the secure authentication of the identity of network clients by servers and vice versa, without presuming the operating system integrity of either (e.g., Kerberos).

authorization

A process ensuring that correctly authenticated users can access only those resources for which the owner has given them approval.

automated backup

Delivers the most basic form of storage availability — recoverable data. Most enterprises are struggling with the implementation of this function. It is a conceptually complex and labor-intensive process. Backup design must address multiple elements (e.g., hardware, network, file system and application) across heterogeneous platforms and geographically dispersed sites. Labor intensive, departmental processes are replaced with automated, enterprise-level solutions to increase availability.

automated testing and quality management (distributed and mainframe)

Automated testing applies to commercially or internally developed software or services to assist in the testing process, including functional and load/stress testing. Automated tests provide consistent results and data points. The benefits are ease of maintenance, the ability to efficiently use resources in off-peak hours, and the capability to create reports based on the executed tests. Quality management tools include functionality for test planning, test case management and defect management (the governance piece of quality).

automatic error correction

A transmission system feature that automatically detects and corrects a proportion of errors in a received signal. It performs fault detection and isolation and reconfigures the system, dynamically invoking redundant components without the need to bring the system down.

automatic message-switching center

In a communications network, the location at which data is automatically routed according to its destination.

automatic restart

Also known as "warm recovery," this is the resumption of operation after a system failure with minimal loss of work or processes (as opposed to a "cold" restart, which requires a complete reload of the system with no processes surviving).

autonomation

Mechanism to implement the Japanese term jidoka, or automation with the human touch. It is the execution of the principle where a human can stop a production process if there is a quality issue.

autosensing

Automatic adjustment to differing operating conditions or to transmission type or speed.

autotopology

A feature of network management systems that automates the creation of a graphical network configuration map.

autovectorizing

Software used in technical document control systems to convert certain bitmapped data to geometrical values.

availability

The assurance that an enterprise's IT infrastructure has suitable recoverability and protection from system failures, natural disasters or malicious attacks.

availability and performance

These tools are software products, including enterprisewide consoles, that are used to monitor and manage the performance and availability of systems, networks (and increasingly storage) mainly beneath the DBMS and application layers. (Management of databases, applications and networks is covered in separate categories with those names.)

The service management category was merged with availability and performance because performance products and service management products were becoming indistinguishable. Performance (and service management) products provide a service-level view and analysis of end-to-end performance (and often of availability). These products are evolving toward a business activity view of the IT and Web infrastructure (BAM). This logical, higher-level management layer will focus on the quality-of-service and service-guarantee issues linked with underlying more-granular network, system, Web and application management. Performance (service) software is sometimes used in-house or is outsourced from a third-party provider, such as a telecommunications carrier or Web hoster.

Performance tools focus on comparing the expected quality of resource availability for a resource or "service" with actual results. The tools use historical data and include features such as baselining, trend analysis, historical usage analysis, service-level reporting, and, in some cases, interfaces to chargeback and billing systems. Included here are service-level agreement tools and customer response time measurement tools. Tools for internal chargeback and capacity planning, as well as tools that design an internetwork, are in this segment. Performance monitoring and analysis products are also included here.

avatar

Computer representation of users in a computer-generated 3-D world, used primarily in chat and entertainment Web sites. Potential business applications include customer support, training or sales, where avatars in an enterprise's Web site may assist potential customers through text or audio links.

AVD circuits (alternate voice/data circuits)

Circuits that have been conditioned to handle both voice and data traffic.

average ARPU (monthly)

This includes all IPTV-related revenue paid by the consumer directly to the IPTV service provider, averaged monthly over the year. These revenues can be in the form of subscriptions and/or pay per use charges, such as VOD fees.

average inventory

In an inventory system, this is the sum of one-half the lot sizes plus the reserve stock in formula calculations.

AVS (address verification service)

A fraud detection method in which the address provided by the buyer at the time of purchase is matched against the address registered with the card issuer. The result of this check (match/mismatch) is sent back to the merchant, but a mismatch does not result in automatic transaction denial. Since there are valid reasons for a mismatch, merchants are left to consider a variety of factors (e.g., size of the transaction) to determine whether to accept the purchase.

AWP (average wholesale price)

Sum of the factory gate price and shipment costs to the top tier of the distribution channel.




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