Extranet

A buzzword that refers to an intranet that is partially accessible to authorized outsiders. Whereas an intranet resides behind a firewall and is accessible only to people who are members of the same company or organization, an extranet provides various levels of accessibility to outsiders.

Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)

a generic name for digital lines that are provided by telephone companies to their local subscribers and that carry data at high speeds.

communications channel

The transmission of data from one computer to another, or from one device to another. A communications device, therefore, is any machine that assistsdata transmission.

Client/server network

Client/server describes the relationship between two computer programs in which one program, the client, makes a service request from another program, the server, which fulfills the request. Although the client/server idea can be used by programs within a single computer, it is a more important idea in a network.

Client

The client part of a client-server architecture. Typically, a client is an application that runs on a personal computer or workstation and relies on a server to perform some operations.

Cable modem

A modem designed to operate over cable TV lines. Because the coaxial cable used by cable TV provides much greater bandwidth than telephone lines, a cable modem can be used to achieve extremely fast access to the World Wide Web.

Biometric security measures

characteristics. In computer security, biometrics refers to authenticationtechniques that rely on measurable physical characteristics that can be automatically checked.