10BaseT
10 Megabit per second baseband Ethernet specification using two paris of twisted-pair cabling (Category 3, 4 or 5): one pair for transmitting data and the other for receiving data. 10BaseT has a distance limit of approximately 100 meters per segment.

100BaseT
100 Mebabit per second baseband Fast Ehternet specification using UTP wiring. Like the 10BaseT technology on which it is based, 100BaseT sends link pulses over the network segment when no traffic is present. However, these link pulses contain more information than those used in 10BaseT

A Record
An A record is part of the zone file. It is used to point Internet traffic to an IP address. For example, you can use an "A record" to designate abc.yourdomain.com to send traffic to your web site at IP address 165.12.33.155. You can also designate xyz.yourdomain.com to go to a separate IP address.

Active Channel
An Active Channel is a frequently updated information residing on a Web server. Users can subscribe to the channel if they have a CDF (Channel Definition Language) capable browser (e.g. Internet Explorer)

Access[Microsoft®
MS Access® published by Microsoft is an easy to use and highly integrated database creation and maintenance software. Capable of online databases, the software is supported with the NT® hosting platform.

Address
URL (Uniformed Resource Locator) is more frequently used for this purpose.

ADN
Advanced Digital Network. A 56kbps dedicated communication line.

ADSL
Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) is a fast-growing new technology that converts existing twisted-pair copper lines into high-speed, high-bandwidth digital lines.

Adult Sites Allowed
Some hosting companies block access to web sites that contain adult content. Some hosting companies will not host web sites that contain such adult content. If you plan to launch a web site that contains adult content, this is a feature that should be considered.

Alias
A name that points to another name. Aliases are used to make the original name easier to remember or to protect the site's identity.

Anonymous FTP (Anon FTP)
A method for downloading and uploading files using FTP protocol without having a username or a password. In place of a username, word "anonymous" is used, and in place of a password, email address is usually used. If a hosting plan offers this service, your users will be able to download or upload files with FTP without having their own account.

Anonymous Remailer
A SMTP server that allows sending anonymous email messages stripping all evidence of its sender and then forwarding it on to its intended recipient. This guarantess that the receiver will not be able to discover the sender's identity .

ANSI
American National Standards Institute.

Apache
Most UNIX hosting companies use Apache. Apache is an open-source (source code is freely available and can be shared) HTTP Web server software. According to Netcraft survey, it is currently the most popular web server on the Net. It is usually run on Unix operating system versions like Linux or BSD, but it can also be run on Windows. It is a full-featured server with many powerful add-ons freely available. Apache's major competitor is Microsoft's IIS.

Applet
An applet is an embedded program on a web site. Applets are usually written in the coding language called Java. They are normally used for creating a virtual object that may move or interact with the web site. An applet is like a small piece of executable code that needs a full application to run it.

Archie
A tool (software) for finding files stored on anonymous FTP sites. You need to know the exact file name or a substring of it.

Archive
Archives are large files containing valuable data. Archives are often compressed to save space.

ARPANet
(Advanced Research Projects Agency Network) -- The precursor to the Internet. Landmark packet-switching network established in 1969 by the US Department of Defense as an experiment in wide-area-networking that would survive a nuclear war.

ASCII
This is the de facto world-wide standard for the code numbers used by computers to represent all the upper and lower-case Latin letters, numbers, punctuation, etc. There are 128 standard ASCII codes each of which can be represented by a 7 digit binary number: 0000000 through 1111111.

ASP- Active Server Pages
Microsoft NT scripting language which allows YOU to design web pages that can make displaying, manipulating and editing databases quick and easy.

ASP- Application Service Provider
An applicant service provider (ASP) is a company that provides an application (such as Exchange) over the internet to be used by the client.

ATM
Asynchronous Transfer Mode. International sandard for cell relay in which multiple service types (such as voice, video, or data) are conveyed in fixed-length (53-byte) cells. Fixed-length cells allow cell processing to occur in hardware, thereby reducing transit delays. ATM is designed to take advantage of high-speed transmission media such as E3, SONET, and T3.

Audio Streaming
The process of providing audio content on a web site. This takes up a large amount of bandwidth, especially if you get a lot of visitors at your site. Some hosts do not allow audio or video streaming because of this.

Authentication
Authentication is used to confirm the identity of the other party involved in the data transmission.

Auto Responder
An automated program that acknowledges receipt of an e-mail message, and then sends back a previously prepared email to the sender, letting them know it was received or that certain actions are being taken. Most of you probably already have a basic idea of what this is when you go on vacation and you create an auto response at your work to let everyone that emails you know that you will be away for the next week.

Autoresponders are frequently used to handle requests for additional information or to confirm sales or other online transactions. Once you configure your autoresponder, it sends e-mail with no further action required on your part, making your web site interactive around the clock.

Availability or Uptime
Refers to the amount of time within a 24 hour period a system is active or available for servicing requests.