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  • Back-end
    A "back-end" application or program serves indirectly in support of the front-end services, usually by being closer to the required resource or having the capability to communicate with the required resource, such as a database.
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  • Back office
    For a store or any commercial concern, the expression "back office" typically, refers to the set of activities that are not directly visible to customers, but are the foundation for the concern's ability to operate. See also front office.
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  • Bandwidth
    Literally, the frequency width of a transmission channel, but often used as an expression of the amount of data that can be sent through a circuit in a fixed amount of time.
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  • Bankcard
    A payment card issued by a bank.
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  • Banner
    An area of the screen (usually at the top of the page) that contains a logo, site title, copyright notice, or other information that is consistently displayed.
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  • Basic authentication
    An authentication mechanism built into the HTTP protocol with which a Web server requests a username and password from a client. These are passed unencrypted across the Internet. It is possible, however, to request authentication via a channel that is encrypted at the transport level (for example, SSL or PCT), in which case, the username and password are encrypted.
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  • Bastion host
    A system that has been hardened to resist attack, used as a component of a firewall. Performs functions that cannot be done by the firewall router.
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  • Baud
    A unit of measurement of digital data transmission speed, corresponding to the number of signal transitions per second. Often used for modems and other communications devices. Example: a 28,800 baud modem.
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  • BBN
    Bolt, Beranek and Newman; the last names of the three founders of BBN Technologies and the original name of the company. Two Massachusetts Institute of Technology professors, Richard Bolt and Leo Beranek, and former M.I.T. student Robert Newman, founded BBN as an acoustics consulting firm in 1948.
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  • BCC
    Blind Courtesy Copy or Blind Carbon Copy. A way to send an e-mail message to multiple recipients without the parties seeing that an identical message was sent to others.
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  • Bin
    Abbreviation for "binary." bin is frequently used as the name of a directory on a UNIX file system intended to contain executable programs, such as operating system utilities, or CGI programs in asubdirectory of a Web server's content root.
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  • Biosurveillance
    The monitoring for new disease reports to detect any potentially infectious outbreaks and enable a quick response.
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  • Bits
    Ones and Zeros. When information is digitized, it is turned into ones and zeros, so all digital information is made up of bits.
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  • Blog
    An on-line journal, usually in chronological order, where people post their own opinions on any subject of interest to them. The word "blog" is derived from a combination of ìwebî and ìlog.î
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  • Boolean
    A system for searching and retrieving information from computers by using and combining terms such as AND, OR, and NOT to select data.
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  • BPS, TBPS, GBPS, MBPS, KBPS, TBPS, GBPS, etc..
    Refers to data transmission rates. The higher the rate, the more data that can be transmitted. B usually means bytes and b usually bits. There are eight bits in a byte. T is for Tera, G is for Giga, M is for Mega and K is for Kilo. K is a thousand bits or bytes. M is a million, G is a billion and T is a trillion.
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  • Broad Vocabulary
    In speech recognition technology, the ability to dictate on any subject matter, with few restraints on acceptable vocabulary.
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  • Browser
    Shorthand for Web browser. A program that "reads" hypertext and displays it as formatted text and images. Browsers allow users to view the contents of a site and navigate from one site to another. Netscape and Internet Explorer are browsers commonly used on the World Wide Web.
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  • Browser-safe colors
    The 216 colors that are browser-safe, or are able to be read by any Web browser. These colors will remain true regardless of platform or browser.
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  • Bulletin Boards
    Areas where users of an interactive service can communicate publicly with other users. Anyone can post a message for all to read; a reply also can be read by everyone.
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  • Bytes
    Bytes are typically eight bits put together to create a single computer character.
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