Business definitions of IT terms and concepts

It took Dr Johnson over eight years to complete the first English dictionary. It is a good job he did not start the task in the Information Age. With the plethora of new terms and buzzwords that abound in IT he may never have finished the task. However, this also means that businesses are vulnerable to misconceptions and false expectations about IT investments if there are no understandable definitions of what IT concepts actually mean.
As a researcher who places an emphasis on explaining IT issues in business language, Peter Hind has set out to attempt to address this deficiency. Below are a number of definitions or explanations of IT concepts and terms that Peter has encountered in recent years. A plain English description of the term is placed alongside it. Peter would welcome emails (phind@launchpadmktg.com.au) from readers of terms not included in the dictionary for which they would like a plain English translation. In addition, if you wish to refine or challenge a definition please also feel free to contact me and I shall invite you to be a contributor to the site.