#55 Pedants In A Big Box — Part Six

This column is Part Six of a multipart glossary of computer terms…

Last November, I received an e–mail from my editor, Tom Kenny saying “…We have a feature on network storage systems that we’re trying to figger out (so) what we’d like from you, if you agree, is a glossary of common storage and network terms. An IT glossary for the uninitiated pro audio folks. Whammy think? A whole column of pedants in a box.” So began this month’s Bitstream, a bass ackwards version of my usual offering.

Granted, I could never compete with the many excellent IT glossaries out there on the web but, I’ve tried to gather the most common TLAs, techie phrases and geek–speak for your edification. For those who need a bit of a mental housecleaning, this month will either sweep away some cobwebs or increase the BBF by several orders of magnitude!

Part One, Two, Three, Four and Five of Pedants In A Big Box was published in March and June of 2004. Note that bold words have their own definitions in this glossary…


peripheral —
When used in the IT sense as a noun, a peripheral means any additional device added to an existing computer systems to improve the functionality. Common peripherals are displays, printers, direct–attached storage and HUI products.

PEBKAC — Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair
A brain fart, A.K.A. operator error. See also code 18.

PHY —
The physical transmission pathway in a network, usually “copper” (copper wire), glass “fibre” or POF. PHY often refers to the physical “layer” or Layer 1 of the OSI model.

platform —
Platform is oblique marketing–speak for the combination of software and, to a lesser degree, hardware, chosen for a product’s or service’s design. This catchall phrase is usually used in reference to a CE product, like the use of the Symbian “platform,” as opposed to Windows CE, for a converged PDA/cell phone.

PoE — Power over Ethernet
See 802.3af

POF — Plastic Optical Fiber
In the world of fibre optics, the actual fiber strand can be manufactured from glass or plastic. Plastic fibre has poor internal reflection, as opposed to glass’s quite high efficiency in transmitting light from one end to the other. Though POF is very low cost, this high loss results in much higher susceptibility to jitter and makes it suitable only for low data rate, short haul connections. The AES Type II and 1394b standards both specify POF as a PHY media choice.

POTS — Plain Ol’ Telephone Service
Telephone service is based on a circuit–switched network over UTP.

PPC — PowerPC
A highly optimized RISC CPU design co–developed by IBM, Motorola and Apple Computer. Used by both IBM in their more advanced server lines and Apple in all their computer products, the POWER architecture has remained a viable competitor to Intel’s 32 bit Pentium and 64 bit Itanium families.

program —
A file that instructs a computer to perform certain tasks. These days, programs are usually called applications.

pseudo–stream, pseudo–streaming —
Pseudo–streaming describes the use of HTTP protocols and services for streaming rather than the more appropriate RTSP or UDP protocols and services.

PSTN — Public Switched Telephone Network
The public circuit–switched telephone network, paid for in large part with our tax dollars, that originally carried POTS around the world.

QoS — Quality Of Service
Network performance metrics that include data loss rate and delay, aggregate throughput and packet priority. Usually implied to mean some guarantees that certain levels of performance are met.

QT — QuickTime
An ad hoc standard created by Apple Computer which provides a scalable, cross–platform wrapper for a wide variety of media data types. QuickTime has been incorporated into the MPEG-4 standard. QuickTime is a wrapper file format.

rich media —
Rich Media describes digital multimedia presentations which integrate streaming audio and video with images, text, hypertext or any other media type. SMIL is one method for delivering rich media.

RISC — Reduced Instruction Set Computer
As opposed to CISC computers, RISC architecture is only capable of a select or streamlined number of tasks, but they perform those select tasks with great alacrity. This is akin to BMW’s supercharged Mini against a normally aspirated Chevy Camaro. Intel and AMD sell more CISC CPUs while Sun and IBM make RISC CPUs.

router, to route —
A router connects multiple nodes and directs packets from one node to one or more other nodes. The forwarding mechanism “looks” within each packet header for address data. A router specializes in exchanging packets between subnets. A TCP/IP router is a basic Layer 3 or Network Layer device that provides media–independent, dynamic packet forwarding.

RSTP — Real–time Streaming Protocol
An open, standards–based protocol for streaming multimedia content to an RTP client. RTSP provides better isochronous delivery than UDP.

RTP — Real-time Transport Protocol
The RTP protocol, part of the next generation IPv6 (IP version 6) spec, provides end-to-end network transport functions suitable for applications transmitting real–time data over multicast or unicast network services. Real–time or isochronous data, such as audio, video or simulation data, requires uninterrupted, time–critical transmission. RTP data packaging, which usually flows over UTP, does not address resource reservation or QoS issues.

SAIT —Super AIT
See AIT.

SAN — Storage Area Network
SANs are collections of initiators, such as servers or individual “workstation,” and storage devices, typically disk or tape-based, that are connected over a specialized or private LAN. The LAN can either have a copper or fibre PHY and usually employs either the iSCSI or FC protocols.

SAS — Serial Attached SCSI
SAS defines a fundamental change to the seemingly evergreen SCSI standard that defines a shielded serial connection in place of the unshielded parallel connection of prior versions. As with SATA, another protocol that was originally a parallel approach, SAS provides higher throughput and higher reliability with reduced form factor and lower overall cost when compared to the parallel version.

SATA — Serial ATA
See ATA.

scale, scalable —
In IT parlance, to scale means to change the size, capacity or functionality of a system. What is often implied is that the scaling can be done in a relatively easy or straightforward way, which is seldom the case.

SCSI — Small Computer Systems Interface
The SCSI standard defines a parallel, scalable interface that connects a peripheral, often storage devices, directly to a server or individual “workstation.” SCSI has largely been supplanted by other protocols, such as ATA, that are less costly or ones such as Fibre Channel, that provide higher sustained throughput and availability. As one of the oldest computer protocols extant, SCSI is still keeping up with market demand by yet again updating the standard. The ratification of the Serial Attached SCSI or SAS standard adds a new member to the already sizable SCSI family.

To be continued…

by Oliver Masciarotte

 

Sidebar: Show Me The (Virtual) Money or Is Digital As Good As Analog?

While writing this month’s column , I received a notice in my monthly bank statement. It informed me that, as of October 28th, 2004, the Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act takes effect. Since you may have received a similar insert, I thought it was a timely, real world case of information technology impacting your daily life. So, let’s take a look at what’s going on, behind the scenes, with your precious moolah…

My local Bank of the West, the North Beach branch of a really great regional banking corporation, had begun the adoption of this paperless system. According to the insert, “…It is intended to improve the efficiency and reliability of the nation’s check payment system.” The act was signed into law on October 28, 2003 and, according to the Federal Reserve Board’s web site,“…is designed to foster innovation in the payments system and to enhance its efficiency by reducing some of the legal impediments to check truncation.” Check truncation is the now common practice of digitizing a check on its way to clearing, so that the paper version can be retired and the electronic facsimile can be forwarded on to the paying institution.

“ Check 21,” as the law is known, facilitates check truncation by creating a new negotiable instrument called a “substitute check” which, the Fed says, would permit banks to truncate the original, “…process check information electronically, and to deliver substitute checks to banks that want to continue receiving paper checks.” Though the law does not require banks to accept checks in electronic form nor does it require banks to use the new authority granted by the act to create substitute checks, it does codify that “…a substitute check would be the legal equivalent” of the original. In other words, the digitized version is just fine by us, thank you very much.

Bank Of The West hopes that “Check 21 will reduce the time and cost of transporting billions of paper checks between banks. It will also reduce the vulnerability of the check payment systems to disruptions, such as extreme weather and natural disaster…” or terrorist threats. After all, this initiative was signed into law by our very alarmist Chief Executive. Humm, something beneficial for a change…

Bio — OMas spent a good part of this past month marveling at the incredible plasticity of the human mind. This column was written while under the hypnotic influence of my new Dyna-Flex gyroscopic exerciser and the addictive, slightly country grooves of the Cardigans’ Long Gone Before Daylight on Koch.