Internet technologies

This WhatIs.com glossary contains terms related to Internet technologies, including definitions about port numbers, standards and protocols and words and phrases about how the Internet works.
  • What is FTP? - File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a network protocol for transmitting files between computers over TCP/IP connections.
  • What is HTTP and how does it work? Hypertext Transfer Protocol - HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) is the set of rules for transferring files -- such as text, images, sound, video and other multimedia files -- over the web.
  • What is hybrid cloud? The ultimate guide - A hybrid cloud is a cloud computing environment that uses a mix of on-premises, private cloud and third-party public cloud services with orchestration among these platforms.
  • What is image metadata and how is it used? - Image metadata is text information pertaining to an image file that is embedded into the file or saved to a separate file that is associated with the image file.
  • What is IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6)? - Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) is a set of specifications from the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) that is responsible for identifying network devices and routing traffic across the internet.
  • What is LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol)? - LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) is a software protocol used for locating data about organizations, individuals and other resources, such as files and devices, on public and corporate networks.
  • What is mixed reality? - Mixed reality refers to advanced technology that combines both virtual reality (VR), a fully immersive computer-generated experience, and augmented reality (AR), which integrates digital elements into the physical world.
  • What is network-attached storage (NAS)? A complete guide - Network-attached storage (NAS) is dedicated file storage that enables multiple users and heterogeneous client devices to retrieve data from centralized disk capacity.
  • What is quantum computing? How it works and examples - Quantum computing is an area of computer science focused on the development of computers based on the principles of quantum theory.
  • What is Reddit? - Reddit is a social media platform and forum-style website where content is socially curated and promoted by site members through voting.
  • What is REpresentational State Transfer (REST) - REST (REpresentational State Transfer) is an architectural style for developing web services and systems that can easily communicate with each other.
  • What is SSH (Secure Shell) and How Does It Work? - SSH (Secure Shell or Secure Socket Shell) is a network protocol that gives users -- particularly systems administrators -- a secure way to access a computer over an unsecured network.
  • What is TCP/IP? - TCP/IP stands for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol and is a suite of communication protocols used to interconnect network devices on the internet.
  • What is the blue screen of death (BSOD)? - The blue screen of death (BSOD) -- also known as a stop error screen, blue screen error, fatal error or bugcheck -- is a critical error screen that can be displayed by Microsoft Windows operating systems (OSes).
  • What is the dark web (darknet)? - The dark web is an encrypted portion of the internet not visible to the general public via a traditional search engine such as Google.
  • What is the digital divide? - The digital divide is the gap between demographics and regions that have access to modern information and communications technology (ICT) and those with no or restricted access.
  • What is the Semantic Web? Definition, history and timeline - The Semantic Web is a vision for linking data across webpages, applications and files.
  • What is the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI)? - Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) is a specification for a software program that connects a computer's firmware to its operating system (OS).
  • What is unified endpoint management (UEM)? A complete guide - Unified endpoint management (UEM) is an approach to securing and controlling desktop computers, laptops, smartphones and tablets in a connected, cohesive manner from a single console.
  • white hat link building - White hat link building is a search engine optimization (SEO) technique for increasing the number of high-quality backlinks to a webpage.
  • whitelist (allowlist) - A whitelist (allowlist) is a cybersecurity strategy that approves a list of email addresses, IP addresses, domain names or applications, while denying all others.
  • wiki - A wiki is a web-based collaborative platform that enables users to store, create and modify content in an organized manner.
  • Windows Imaging Format (WIM) - Windows Imaging Format (WIM) is used for the creation and distribution of disk image files.
  • Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) - Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) is a set of specifications from Microsoft for consolidating the management of devices and applications in a network from Windows computing systems.
  • Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) - Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) is a security protocol, specified in the IEEE Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) standard, 802.
  • wireless broadband (WiBB) - Wireless broadband (WiBB) is high-speed internet and data service delivered through a wireless local area network (WLAN) or wireless wide area network (WWAN).
  • Wireless Transport Layer Security (WTLS) - Wireless Transport Layer Security (WTLS) is a security level for the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), specifically for the applications that use WAP.
  • World Wide Web (WWW) - The World Wide Web -- also known as the web, WWW or W3 -- refers to all the public websites or pages that users can access on their local computers and other devices through the internet.
  • XACML (Extensible Access Control Markup Language) - XACML (Extensible Access Control Markup Language) is an attribute-based access control policy language (ABAC) or XML-based language, designed to express security policies and access requests to information.
  • XML (Extensible Markup Language) - XML (Extensible Markup Language) is used to describe data.
  • XML Schema Definition (XSD) - XML Schema Definition or XSD is a recommendation by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to describe and validate the structure and content of an XML document.
  • XSL (Extensible Stylesheet Language) - XSL (Extensible Stylesheet Language) is a family of standards that specifies how to define Extensible Markup Language (XML) document transformation and presentation.
  • Yahoo - Yahoo, or Yahoo.
  • yak shaving - Yak shaving is programming lingo for the seemingly endless series of small tasks that have to be completed before the next step in a project can move forward.
  • Yammer - Yammer is a private microblogging and collaboration platform for enterprise social networking.