Glossary

Instant EtherFast® Series

10BaseT - An Ethernet standard that uses twisted wire pairs.

100BaseTX - IEEE physical layer specification for 100 Mbps over two pairs of Category 5 UTP or STP wire.

Adapter - Printed circuit board that plugs into a PC to add to capabilities or connectivity to a PC. In a networked environment, a network interface card is the typical adapter that allows the PC or server to connect to the intranet and/or Internet.

Boot - To cause the computer to start executing instructions. Personal comput- ers contain built-in instructions in a ROM chip that are automatically executed on startup. These instructions search for the operating system, load it and pass control to it.

Buffer - A buffer is a shared or assigned memory area used by hardware devices or program processes that operate at different speeds or with different sets of priorities. The buffer allows each device or process to operate without being held up by the other. In order for a buffer to be effective, the size of the buffer and the algorithms for moving data into and out of the buffer need to be considered by the buffer designer. Like a cache, a buffer is a "midpoint hold- ing place" but exists not so much to accelerate the speed of an activity as to support the coordination of separate activities.

CAT 5 - ANSI/EIA (American National Standards Institute/Electronic Industries Association) Standard 568 is one of several standards that specify "categories" (the singular is commonly referred to as "CAT") of twisted pair cabling systems (wires, junctions, and connectors) in terms of the data rates that they can sustain. CAT 5 cable has a maximum throughput of 100 Mbps and is usually utilized for 100BaseTX networks.

CSMA/CD (Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Detection) - The LAN access method used in Ethernet. When a device wants to gain access to the net- work, it checks to see if the network is quiet (senses the carrier). If it is not, it waits a random amount of time before retrying. If the network is quiet and two devices access the line at exactly the same time, their signals collide. When the collision is detected, they both back off and each wait a random amount of time before retrying.

Domain - A subnetwork comprised of a group of clients and servers under the control of one security database. Dividing LANs into domains improves per- formance and security.

EtherFast® 10/100 Compact USB Network Adapter

Ethernet - IEEE standard network protocol that specifies how data is placed on and retrieved from a common transmission medium. Has a transfer rate of 10 Mbps. Forms the underlying transport vehicle used by several upper-level protocols, including TCP/IP and XNS.

Fast Ethernet - A 100 Mbps technology based on the 10Base-T Ethernet CSMA/CD network access method.

Hardware - Hardware is the physical aspect of computers, telecommunica- tions, and other information technology devices. The term arose as a way to dis- tinguish the "box" and the electronic circuitry and components of a computer from the program you put in it to make it do things. The program came to be known as the software.

Hub - The device that serves as the central location for attaching wires from workstations. Can be passive, where there is no amplification of the signals; or active, where the hubs are used like repeaters to provide an extension of the cable that connects to a workstation.

IEEE - The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. The IEEE describes itself as "the world's largest technical professional society -- promot- ing the development and application of electrotechnology and allied sciences for the benefit of humanity, the advancement of the profession, and the well- being of our members."

The IEEE fosters the development of standards that often become national and international standards. The organization publishes a number of journals, has many local chapters, and several large societies in special areas, such as the IEEE Computer Society.

IPCONFIG - A Windows NT or 2000 utility that provides for querying, defin- ing and managing IP addresses within a network.

IPSec - IPSec (Internet Protocol Security) is a developing standard for securi- ty at the network or packet processing layer of network communication. A big advantage of IPSec is that security arrangements can be handled without requiring changes to individual user computers.

LAN - A local area network (LAN) is a group of computers and associated devices that share a common communications line and typically share the resources of a single processor or server within a small geographic area (for example, within an office building).