December 01, 2000
Meetings & Conventions: Planner's Portfolio December
2000

December 2000
PLANNER'S PORTFOLIO:TECH FILES
BY BOB WALTERS
A GLOSSARY OF ESSENTIAL TERMS
To understand new communications technologies, begin by
learning the lingo
Not so long ago, the language of communications consisted
primarily of the words telephone and operator.
Today, new terms arrive almost daily, many of them quickly becoming
a part of our everyday vocabulary. Here are some you need to
know.
Appliance.
Often referred to as a "network appliance," this is a low-cost PC
designed specifically for Internet access or a specialized business
use. Examples are the Apple iMac and Compaq iPAQ.
Bandwidth.
Simply, how fast data is transmitted over a phone line, coaxial
cable, by wireless transmission, etc. The larger the bandwidth, the
faster information travels.
Bluetooth.
An industry standard referring to the wireless process that
interconnects mobile phones, computers and personal digital
assistants. It permits your Palm Pilot to act as a phone, to sync
up with data on your PC and to send a fax or e-mail.
Broadband.
This is the ability to carry huge volumes of voice and video over a
network or the Internet. Broadband enables the transmission of
video and games to a PC without jumpy images. Cable modem. Enables
you to link your PC to a local cable coaxial line and receive data
at up to 1.5 Mbps (megabits per second). The service is similar to
that provided through DSL (see below), but speed deteriorates as
more users are plugged into the local lines.
DSL (digital subscriber line).
Brings high bandwidth to homes and offices via copper phone lines.
Limited service areas are still a problem, as you need to be close
to the phone company's central office or substation to receive
it.
Ethernet.
This popular local-area-network (LAN) technology links PCs equipped
with a network card to each other. The connection used to need a
cable or special twisted-pair wires, but now wireless transmitters
work, too. Gateway. This is a network point that acts as an
entrance to another network. Think of the network at your office or
ISP (Internet service provider) as your gateway to the Internet.
You move from server to server, each a new gateway, to get to the
information you are searching for.
Peer-to-peer applications.
These allow people to use the Internet to exchange files with each
other directly from their hard drives. Napster was peer-to-peer:
Subscribers could copy music files from other subscribers' hard
drives.
TCP/IP (transmission control protocol/Internet
protocol).
This is the basic language of the Internet. The TCP portion slices
a message or file into small packets of data for transmission; the
information is received by another TCP control, which reassembles
the packets. The IP portion handles the packet's address to make
sure it arrives at the correct destination.
WAP (wireless application protocol).
A communications protocol that standardizes the way wireless
devices access the Internet. An example of this is the installation
of wireless Internet service in Austin-Bergstrom International and
Dallas/Fort Worth International airports, permitting users with a
radio-based Ethernet card to connect to the Internet anywhere
within the terminal and baggage-claim area.
XML (extensible markup language).
With the explosion of the Internet as a repository for information,
a common format for sharing data between diverse systems was
needed. XML was created as a standard code to describe data. For
example, {phonenum} indicates that what follows is a phone
number. This standardization allows diverse databases and
applications to share data.
Bob Walters, based in Fair Oaks Ranch,
Texas, is the founder of Phoenix Solutions and developer of
MeetingTrak software.
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