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618 Glossary

trade secret Any intellectual work or product used for a business during a specified time period. Also called on-demand computing
purpose that can be classified as belonging to that business, or usage-based pricing.
provided it is not based on information in the public domain.
transaction costs Costs incurred when a firm buys on the value chain model Model that highlights the primary or support
marketplace what it cannot make itself. activities that add a margin of value to a firm’s products or
transaction cost theory Economic theory stating that firms grow services where information systems can best be applied to
larger because they can conduct marketplace transactions achieve a competitive advantage.
internally more cheaply than they can with external firms in the value web Customer-driven network of independent firms
marketplace. who use information technology to coordinate their
transaction fee revenue model An online e-commerce revenue value chains to collectively produce a product or service for a
model where the firm receives a fee for enabling or executing market.
transactions. virtual company Organization using networks to link people,
transaction processing systems (TPS) Computerized systems assets and ideas to create and distribute products and services
that perform and record the daily routine transactions necessary without being limited to traditional organizational boundaries or
to conduct the business; they serve the organization’s operational physical location.
level. Virtual Private Network (VPN) A secure connection between
transborder data flow The movement of information across two points across the Internet to transmit corporate data.
international boundaries in any form. Provides a low-cost alternative to a private network.
Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/ Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) A set of
IP) Dominant model for achieving connectivity among specifications for interactive three-dimensional modeling on the
different networks. Provides a universally agree-on method for World Wide Web.
breaking up digital messages into packets, routing them to the virtual reality systems Interactive graphics software and
proper addresses, and then reassembling them into coherent hardware that create computer-generated simulations that
messages. provide sensations that emulate real-world activities.
transnational Truly global form of business organization with no virtualization Presenting a set of computing resources so that they
national headquarters; value-added activities are managed from a can all be accessed in ways that are not restricted by physical
global perspective without reference to national borders, configuration or geographic location.
optimizing sources of supply and demand and local competitive Voice over IP (VoIP) Facilities for managing the delivery of voice
advantage. information using the Internet Protocol (IP).
Trojan horse A software program that appears legitimate but
contains a second hidden function that may cause damage. war driving Technique in which eavesdroppers drive by buildings
tuple A row or record in a relational database. or park outside and try to intercept wireless network traffic.
Web 2.0 Second-generation, interactive Internet-based services that
enable people to collaborate, share information, and create new
Unified communications Integrates disparate channels for voice services online, including mashups, blogs, RSS, and wikis.
communications, data communications, instant messaging, Web 3.0 Future vision of the Web where all digital information is
e-mail, and electronic conferencing into a single experience woven together with intelligent search capabilities.
where users can seamlessly switch back and forth between Web beacons Tiny objects invisibly embedded in e-mail messages
different communication modes. and Web pages that are designed to monitor the behavior of the
unified threat management (UTM) Comprehensive user visiting a Web site or sending e-mail.
security management tool that combines multiple security Web browser An easy-to-use software tool for accessing the World
tools, including firewalls, virtual private networks, intrusion Wide Web and the Internet.
detection systems, and Web content filtering and anti-spam Web hosting service Company with large Web server computers to
software. maintain the Web sites of fee-paying subscribers.
uniform resource locator (URL) The address of a specific Web mining Discovery and analysis of useful patterns and
resource on the Internet. information from the World Wide Web.
unit testing The process of testing each program separately in the Web server Software that manages requests for Web pages on the
system. Sometimes called program testing. computer where they are stored and that delivers the page to the
UNIX Operating system for all types of computers, which is user’s computer.
machine independent and supports multiuser processing, Web services Set of universal standards using Internet technology
multitasking, and networking. Used in high-end workstations and for integrating different applications from different sources
servers. without time-consuming custom coding. Used for linking systems
unstructured decisions Nonroutine decisions in which the of different organizations or for linking disparate systems within
decision maker must provide judgment, evaluation, and insights the same organization.
into the problem definition; there is no agreed-upon procedure Web site All of the World Wide Web pages maintained by an
for making such decisions. organization or an individual.
user interface The part of the information system through which Wi-Fi Standards for Wireless Fidelity and refers to the 802.11 family
the end user interacts with the system; type of hardware and the of wireless networking standards.
series of on-screen commands and responses required for a user Wide Area Network (WAN) Telecommunications network that
to work with the system. spans a large geographical distance. May consist of a variety of
user-designer communications gap The difference in cable, satellite, and microwave technologies.
backgrounds, interests, and priorities that impede wiki Collaborative Web site where visitors can add, delete, or modify
communication and problem solving among end users and content, including the work of previous authors.
information systems specialists. WiMax Popular term for IEEE Standard 802.16 for wireless
Utilitarian Principle Principle that assumes one can put values in networking over a range of up to 31 miles with a data transfer
rank order and understand the consequences of various courses rate of up to 75 Mbps. Stands for Worldwide Interoperability for
of action. Microwave Access.
utility computing Model of computing in which companies pay
only for the information technology resources they actually use

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