Research Terms, Term Paper Example

Abstract

The paper is designed to provide a brief description of several terms used for IT purposes. The paper utilizes a number of Internet resources. The major goal of the paper is to reconsider the meaning of each term below and its usefulness in the IT field.

Broadband transmission is the type of information transmission, in which a single medium carries several channels at once (Webopedia, 2009a). Cable TV is the bright example of how broadband transmission works in practice. Broadband transmission can be fairly regarded as the distinctive feature of economically developed countries: it took only six years for the U.S. to link 10 million homes into one single broadband transmission network (UCLA, 2009).

Database management systems are “suites of software applications that together make it possible for people or businesses to store, modify, and extract information from a database” (WiseGeek, 2009a). Very often, database management systems are referred to as database managers, and in simple terms, DBMS let computers access and use data from databases (Tech Target, 2009a). That DBMS use databases does not mean that they undermine their performance; on the contrary, database managers work to ensure security and integrity of data in the database (Tech Target, 2009).

Asynchronous communication is the type of communication, which does not require that the receiver and the sender synchronize before transmission begins (Mick Farmer, 2005). Regardless of how much time passes between transmissions, the sender is simply to wait and the receiver is simply to receive information as it arrives. Asynchronous communication makes it possible for people to connect at any time, at each person’s convenience and schedule (Ashley, 2003).

Synchronous communication is the form of direct communication, when all parties are present at the same time (Define That, 2009). Board meetings and telephone conversations are the examples of synchronous communication. With the increasing bandwidth capacity, synchronous communication became increasingly prevalent (Nide, 2009).

Encryption “is the process of encoding information in such a way that only the person or computer with the key can decode it” (Tyson, 2006a). Encryption is based on cryptography; in symmetric-key encryption computers use a secret code encrypted in a packet of information which is sent to another computer in the network, while asymmetric-key encryption uses the two different keys (public and private). Thus, encryption makes is impossible to read an encrypted file unless a user has the password, which decrypts the data (Webopedia, 2009b).

IP Security (IP Sec) provides users with an opportunity to secure communications across public and private WANs, LAN, and across the Internet (Stallings, 2009). IP Sec is actually a combination of security protocols, which provide a security solution for an IP network (Anonymous, 2005). Some kinds of IP Sec services include user data encryption for privacy, authentication of the message integrity, and protection against security attacks (Anonymous, 2009).

Medium Access Control (MAC) is used to form the data link of the Ethernet LAN system (Fairhurst, 2009). MAC is an effective method for LAN devices to share their interconnecting media (Ethernet Tutorial, n.d.). In order for MAC to fulfill its tasks, it should (1) decide when the data is to be sent; (2) resolve the conflicts and collisions between different data; and (3) to determine the right time for transmission after collision was resolved (Ethernet Tutorial, n.d.).

Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) work to detect unauthorized access to computer systems, and they are the first line of computer defense systems (IDS, 2001). The two major types of IDS today include network based IDS and host based IDS (IDS, 2001). Top 5 Intrusion Detection Systems are Snort, OSSEC HIDS, Fragroute, BASE, and Squil (Insecure, 2009).

Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) provides rules and policies for network traffic, works together with Intrusion Detection Systems to alert administrators and networks of suspicious traffic, and gives administrator an opportunity to react to the alert (Webopedia, 2009c). IPS are sometimes called the next step in the development of IDS, and although the definitions of IPS vary, they are always about detecting attacks and stopping them (Desai, 2003).

Network Operating System (NOS) “is a computer operating system that is designed primarily to support workstation, personal computer, and in some instances, older terminal that are connected on a local area network (LAN)” (Tech Target, 2009b). Typically, NOS are used for computers which work as servers and create capabilities for running networks (CTDP, 2005).

Network Address Translation (NAT) is about how to tie the whole network to one single IP address (OpenBSD, 2009). It also means that NAT increases the effectiveness of using scarce IP addresses (Tech FAQ, 2009). NAT becomes increasingly useful, when the number of computers in the network exceeds the number of IP addresses assigned to this network (OpenBSD, 2009).

Routing is the process of moving data from its source to the required destination (Webopedia, 2009d). Router is the element, without which such movement becomes impossible. Routing is the key feature of the Internet and its robustness (LINFO, 2005).

Switching is used to split the packets of information in usable and manageable pieces (WiseGeek, 2009b). Sometimes switching is described as “the controlling or routing of signals to execute logical operations or to transmit data between specific points in a network” (ITS, 1996).

Service Set Identifier is a sequence of characters used to assign a wireless local network with a unique name (Search Mobile Computing, 2009). Usually, SSID includes 32 characters and is attached to the header of packets and act as a password whenever a mobile device seeks to connect t the BBS (Wi-Fi Planet, 2009).

Virtual Private Network is a network, which utilizes the benefits of public infrastructure, e.g. the Internet, to connect individual users to the central office or user (Search Enterprise, 2009). Instead of using real-world connections, VPN use virtual connections, which are routed through the Internet, and which also give distant users a capability to work together (Tyson, 2006b).

References

Anonymous. (2005). IPSec overview, history, and standards. The TCP/ IP Guide. Retrieved November 20, 2009 from http://www.tcpipguide.com/free/t_IPSecOverviewHistoryandStandards-2.htm

Ashley, J. (2003). Synchronous and asynchronous communication tools. ASAE & The Center. Retrieved November 20, 2009 from http://www.asaecenter.org/PublicationsResources/articledetail.cfm?ItemNumber=13572

CTDP. (2005). Network Operating Systems (NOS). The Computer Technology Documentation Project. Retrieved November 20, 2009 from http://www.comptechdoc.org/independent/networking/cert/netnos.html

Define That. (2009). Asynchronous/ Synchronous communication definition. Define That. Retrieved November 20, 2009 from http://www.definethat.com/define/270.htm

Desai, N. (2003). Intrusion Prevention Systems: the next step in the evolution of IDS. Security Focus. Retrieved November 20, 2009 from http://www.securityfocus.com/infocus/1670

Ethernet Tutorial. (n.d.). Medium Access Control. Ethernet Tutorial. Retrieved November 20, 2009 from http://burks.bton.ac.uk/burks/pcinfo/hardware/ethernet/mac.htm

Fairhurst, G. (2009). Medium Access Control (MAC). Retrieved November 20, 2009 from http://www.erg.abdn.ac.uk/users/gorry/eg3561/lan-pages/mac.html

Farmer, M. (2005). Asynchronous communication. Retrieved November 20, 2009 from http://penguin.dcs.bbk.ac.uk/academic/technology/physical-layer/asynchronous/

IDS. (2001). An introduction to Intrusion Detection Systems and the Dragon IDS Suite. Intrusion Detection Systems. Retrieved November 20, 2009 from http://www.intrusion-detection-system-group.co.uk/

Insecure. (2009). Top 5 Intrusion Detection Systems. Insecure.org. Retrieved November 20, 2009 from http://sectools.org/ids.html

ITS. (1996). Switching. Retrieved November 20, 2009 from http://www.its.bldrdoc.gov/fs1037/dir-035/_5214.htm

LINFO. (2005). Routing definition. LINFO. Retrieved November 20, 2009 from http://www.linfo.org/routing.html

NIDE. (2009). Synchronous communication tools. NIDE. Retrieved November 20, 2009 from http://nide.snow.utoronto.ca/SyncComm/Synchronousindex.htm

OpenBSD. (2009). Network Address Translation. OpenBSD. Retrieved November 20, 2009 from http://www.openbsd.org/faq/pf/nat.html

Search Enterprise. (2009). Virtual Private Network. Search Enterprise. Retrieved November 20, 2009 from http://searchenterprisewan.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid200_gci213324,00.html

Search Mobile Computing. (2009). SSID. Search Mobile Computing. Retrieved November 20, 2009 from http://searchmobilecomputing.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid40_gci853455,00.html

Stallings, W. (2009). IP Security. Cisco. Retrieved November 20, 2009 from http://www.cisco.com/web/about/ac123/ac147/ac174/ac197/about_cisco_ipj_archive_article09186a00800c830b.html

Tech FAQ. (2009). What is NAT (Network Address Translation). Tech FAQ. Retrieved November 20, 2009 from http://www.tech-faq.com/nat-network-address-translation.shtml

Tech Target. (2009a). Database management system. TechTarget. Retrieved November 20, 2009 from http://searchsqlserver.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid87_gci213669,00.html

Tech Target. (2009b). Network operating system. Tech Target. Retrieved November 20, 2009 from http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid7_gci214124,00.html

Tyson, J. (2006a). How encryption works. How Stuff Works. Retrieved November 20, 2009 from http://computer.howstuffworks.com/encryption3.htm

Tyson, J. (2006b). How Virtual Private Networks work. How Stuff Works. Retrieved November 20, 2009 from http://computer.howstuffworks.com/vpn.htm

UCLA. (2009). Broadband transmission. UCLA. Retrieved November 20, 2009 from http://www.ph.ucla.edu/epi/snow/broadband.html

Webopedia. (2009a). Broadband. Webopedia. Retrieved November 20, 2009 from http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/B/broadband.html

Webopedia. (2009b). Encryption. Webopedia. Retrieved November 20, 2009 from http://www.webopedia.com/term/e/encryption.html

Webopedia. (2009c). Intrusion Prevention System. Webopedia. Retrieved November 20, 2009 from http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/I/intrusion_prevention_system.html

Webopedia. (2009d). Routing. Webopedia. Retrieved November 20, 2009 from http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/r/routing.html

Wi-Fi Planet. (2009). SSID. Wi-Fi Planet. Retrieved November 20, 2009 from http://wi-fiplanet.webopedia.com/TERM/S/SSID.html

WiseGeek. (2009a). What is Database Management System? WiseGeek. Retrieved November 20, 2009 from http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-database-management-system.htm

WiseGeek. (2009b). What is Packet Switching? WiseGeek. Retrieved November 20, 2009 from http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-packet-switching.htm