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Pump up some IT vitamins
LOAD your brains with these frequenty used IT-terms.
Broadcast: To simultaneously send the same message to multiple recipients. Broadcasting is a useful feature in e-mail systems. It is also supported by some fax systems. In networking, a distinction is made between broadcasting and multicasting. Broadcasting sends a message to everyone on the network whereas multicasting sends a message to a select list of recipients.
Broadcast storm: A state in which a message that has been broadcast across a network results in even more responses, and each response results in still more responses in a snowball effect. A severe broadcast storm can block all other network traffic, resulting in a network meltdown. Broadcast storms can usually be prevented by carefully configuring a network to block illegal broadcast messages.
Multicast: To transmit a single message to a select group of recipients. A simple example of multicasting is sending an e-mail message to a mailing list. Teleconferencing and videoconferencing also use multicasting, but require more robust protocols and networks.
Standards are being developed to support multicasting over a TCP/IP network such as the Internet. These standards, IP Multicast and Mbone, will allow users to easily join multicast groups. Note that multicasting refers to sending a message to a select group whereas broadcasting refers to sending a message to everyone connected to a network. The terms multicast and narrowcast are often used interchangeably, although narrowcast usually refers to the business model whereas multicast refers to the actual technology used to transmit the data
IP Multicast: Sending out data to distributed servers on the MBone (Multicast Backbone). For large amounts of data, IP Multicast is more efficient than normal internet transmissions because the server can broadcast a message to many recipients simultaneously. Unlike traditional net traffic that requires separate connections for each source-destination pair, IP Multicasting allows many recipients to share the same source. This means that just one set of packets is transmitted for all the destinations.
Narrowcast: To send data to a specific list of recipients. Cable television is an example of narrowcasting since the cable TV signals are sent only to homes that have subscribed to the cable service. In contrast, network TV uses a broadcast model in which the signals are transmitted everywhere and anyone with an antenna can receive them. Internet uses both a broadcast and a narrowcast model. Most Web sites use a broadcast model since anyone with Internet access can view the sites. However, sites that require you to log-in before viewing content are based more on the narrowcast model. The various push technologies are another form for narrowcasting. Perhaps the best example of narrowcasting are e-mail lists where messages are sent only to individuals who subscribe to the list. The terms multicast and narrowcast are often used interchangeably, although narrowcast usually refers to the business model whereas multicast refers to the actual technology used to transmit the data.
Teleconference: To hold a conference via a telephone or network connection. Computers have given new meaning to the term because they allow groups to do much more than just talk. Once a teleconference is established, the group can share applications and mark up a common whiteboard. There are many teleconferencing applications that work over private networks. One of the first to operate over internet is Microsoft’s NetMeeting.
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