Acronym Buster

I sometimes have problems in trying to remember a few of the acronyms in common usage by the IT and Communications industry. I’m building this table to help. I hope you will find use for it in your work as well.

Acronym Stands For Comment
ABA Attacker Behavior Analytics looking at how cyber criminals are attacking an IT network
ACI Application-Centric Infrastructure Cisco’s SDN approach launched in 2013
AICPA American Institute of Certified Public Accountants US-based authority publishing auditing standards
APIC Application Policy Infrastructure Controller Cisco’s controller providing policy management as part of its ACI SDN
API Application Programmable Interface source code based specification intended to be used as an interface by software components to communicate with each other, according to Wikipedia
APU Advanced Processing Unit microprocessor type
ASHRAE American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers standards body
ASP Average Selling Price the division of revenues by nit shipments
ASP Application Service Provider supplier type
AVS Application Virtual Switch Cisco switch implementing ACI policies at the virtual networking layer
BIPS Billions of Instructions per Second microprocessor speed
BPaaS Business Process as a Service a workload-oriented description of SaaS
Brexit Britain’s exit (from the EU) a term originating in the UK – now also applied to the election of Donald Trump as US president
BRIC Brazil, Russia, India, China regional grouping used for targeting ‘growth’ markets
BOM Bill Of Materials stock keeping item
CAD Computer Aided Design application and workload description
CAMSS Cloud Analytics Mobile Social Security IBM’s target markets for the z System
CBT Computer Based Test standard way of monitoring events
CCA Carbon Change Agreement UK government plan
CCL Carbon Change Levy UK government tax
CEC Central Electronics Complex An IBM term to define a mainframe or high-end storage machine
CI Converged Infrastructure an integrated system including server, storage, networking and orchestration management software
CI/CD Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery software development technique for building, testing and deploying code
CICS Customer Information Control System IBM mainframe transaction server
CIFS Common Internet File Services application type
CSIRT Computer Incident Response Team a group responsible for reacting to security attacks, as in the single point of contact for implementation of the EU’s NIS directive in a member state
CO COntrolling part of SAP ERP programmes
CoD Capacity on Demand charging for processors once switched on
CPU Computer Processing Unit microprocessor type
CRAC Carbon Room Air Conditioning data centre air handling unit
CRC Carbon Reduction Commitment UK government plan
CRCEES Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Reduction Scheme UK government plan
CRM Customer Relationship Management A type of software application for interacting with clients and prospects
CSP Cloud Service Provider typically a supplier of SaaS; could also include IaaS and PaaS vendors
CSR Corporate and Social Responsibility part of company strategy
CXO Chief X Officer X’ = anything
DACH Deutschland (Germany), Austria, Confoederatio Helvetica (Switzerland) the main German speaking nations
DAS Direct Attached Storage storage devices attached directly into the bus of a server or PC
DB2 Data Base 2 IBM relational database
DB2 Analytics Accelerator DB2 Analytics Accelerator IBM PureData for Analytics (Netazza) attachable to System z
DDoS Distributed Denial of Service a type of security attack
DDR Double Data Rate for synchronous dynamic random access memory
DECC Department of Environment and Climate Change UK government department
DIMM Dual In-line Memory Module microprocessor component
DLP Data Loss Prevention software/service to prevent the loss of data
DMZ De-Militarised Zone data centre protected space
DSP Digital Service Supplier one target of the EU’s NIS Directive
ECC Error Checking and Correction microprocessor component
EDR Endpoint Detection and Response a cloud delivered service providing security for PCs’ smartphones, tablets and virtual desktops
EMEA Europe Middle East and Africa regional grouping sub regions
ERP Enterprise Resource Planning workload
ETL Extract, Transform, Load process of database management used in datawarehousing
EU European Union regional political grouping
FC-NVMe Non-Volatile Memory express using Fibre Channel storage architecture
FCM Flash Core Module a high-end component incorporating solid NAND disks
FCoE Fibre Channel over Ethernet networking for storage
GDPR General Data Protection Regulation EU law governing the rights to privacy for EU citizens to be implemented on May 25th 2018
Generation Y Y = 1980s the latest generation entering the workforce (born into a technological world, rather than learning it as it develops)
GPL General Public Licence software licence type
GPU Graphical Processing Unit microprocessor type
GRT Granular Restore Technology a feature of Symantec/Veritas backup software
HADR High Availability Disaster Recovery techniques for ensuring systems against failure and data loss
HCI Hyper-Converged Infrastructure an integrated system including hardware, hypervisor and virtualisation management software
HDMI High-Definition Multimedia Interface audio visual connector
HTTP HyperText Transfer Protocol the foundation of communications via the World Wide Web
HUGI Hurry Up (and) Get Idle microprocessor term
IAM Identity Access Management software for protecting IT applications and resources from unauthorised users
ICS Industrial Control System computer systems used to monitor and control industrial processes
ICT Information and Communications Technology a name for the whole computing and telecommunications market
I/O Input/Output hardware type
IaaS Infrastructure as a Service Cloud Computing workload
IAM Identity Access Management a way of preventing security attacks
IDS Intruder Detection System a method for discovering cybersecurity attacks
IFL Integrated Facility for Linux IBM mainframe term for offloading Linux workloads
iLO integrated Lights Out an internal HP server management system
IOT Integrated Operating Team IBM operational territories such as North America
ITOM Information Technology Operations Management IBM term for software management and analytics offerings
ISMS Information Security Management System term for the process of securing corporate IT systems
JBOD Just a Bunch Of Disks Raw storage connected in an array without RAID configuration
JBOM Just a Bunch Of Memory Raw memory (DRAM or NAND) connected in an array without RAIM configuration
IP Internet Protocol the communications protocol that routes traffic across the Internet
IP Intellectual Property relating to the owner of patents for technology or methods
IP Instruction Processor the building block of System z machines
IPS Intrusion Protection System a method for spotting security attacks
IPV6 Internet Protocol version 6 uses a 128-bit address, allowing 7.9×1028times as many as IPv4, which uses 32-bit addresses
ISAM IBM Indexed Sequential Access Method a way of indexing data for fast retrieval, originally developed for mainframe computing
ISV Independent Software Vendor supplier type
ITC Information Technology and Communications a name for the whole computing and telecommunications market
ITIL Information Technology Infrastructure Library certifiable and formal IT processes
JBOD Just a Bunch Of Disks simple storage implementation without RAID
JBOF Just a Bunch Of Fals disks simple flash storage implementation without RAID
JCL Job Control Language scripting language for IBM mainframe operating systems
KVM Kernel-based Virtual Machine in this case not Keyboard Video Monitor
L2 Level Two used for cache memory
LAN Local Area Network hardware type
LUN Logical Unit Number unique identifier of SCSI drives (0 to 7)
LoB Line of Business a description of organisational users/buyers outside the IT shop
M&O Management and Orchestration a description of system and virtualisation software used by VCE
MCA Micro Chip Architecture not in this case Micro Channel Achitecture, which was a feature of IBM’s PS/2
MDR Managed Detection and Response security service identifying threats and dealing with them proactively
MEDR Managed Endpoint Detection and Response security service identifying threats to PCs, smartphones, tablets and virtual desktops and dealing with them proactively
MIPS Millions of Instructions per Second microprocessor sped
MemCache Memory Caching used to speed up dynamic database-driven websites by caching data and objects in RAM
MPLS Multi-Protocol Label Switching networking type
MQ Message Queue IBM message orientated middleware
MSP Managed Service Provider cloud delivering IT services supplier
MSSP Managed Security Service Provider cloud delivering security supplier
NAND Negated And a logic gate which produces an output that is false only if all its inputs are true used in solid state memory devices
NGFW Next Generation FireWall a newer type of firewall
NAS Network Attached Storage storage system type
NIC Network Interface Card component added to a computing device to enable connectivity to an IT network
NIS Directive Network and Information Security Directive EU legislation enacted by member states in 2018 setting out the legal obligations on providers to protect critical services by improving cyber-security.
NTA Network Traffic Analysis cloud delivered service analysing and reporting on an organisation’s network data flows
NFS Network File System networking type
NFV Network Functions Virtualization the decoupling of network functions from dedicated hardware devices – part of SDN
NGD Next Generation Data Company name
NIC Network Interface Controller a device connecting a computer or storage device to a network
NOR Not Or a digital logic gate that implements logical NOR used in solid state memory devices
NSK Non Stop Kernel HP (originally Tandem) operating system
NSX unknown acronym VMware’s SDN
NYSE New York Stock Exchange organisation name
NVMe Non-Volatile Memory express a way of building flash-based storage systems using PCIe without emulating SAS or SATA disk drives
NVMeoF Non-Volatile Memory express over Fabric a way of building flash-based storage systems without emulating SAS or SATA disk drives
NVMe oI NVMe over Infiniband SAN connected via Mellanox made Infiniband
NVMeoFC NVMe over Fibre Channel NVMe drives connected via a Fibre Channel SAN
ODCA Open Data Center Alliance user group
ODM Original Design Manufacturer supplier role purchasing components to make its own systems – often to provide cloud services
OEM Original Equipment Manufacturer supplier role in taking another’s product and rebranding it as its own
OES Open Enterprise Server Novell LAN operating system
OES Operator of Essential Services one target of the EU’s NIS Directive
OMAP Open Multimedia Application Platform software standard
OpenCL Open Computing Language software development standard
OpenGL Open Graphics Library software development standard for graphics
OSS Operations Support Systems computers used by Telcoms suppliers to manage their networks
OT Operational Technology computers used for industrial – as opposed to administrative – purposes
OTT Over The Top used to describe application delivery which avoids traditional delievery and sales channels
PaaS Platform as a Service Cloud Computing workload
PACS Picture Archiving and Communication System storage systems standard
PC AT Personal Computer advanced Technology the first PC to be shipped with an integrated hard disk
PCIe Peripheral Component Interconnect express standard connector built into servers and storage area arrays for adding FCMs
Physical Access an attack involving the theft of physical equipment from an organisation or individual
PIGS Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain sometimes ‘Italy’ – not ‘Ireland’
PIIGS Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain includes Italy and Ireland
PKI Public Key Infrastructure an IT system protected through the use of encryption
PLM Product Lifecycle Management software driven process of managing the design and manufacturing of products
PoP Point of Presence the location of resources (data centres, offices, etc.)
prosumer pro(ducer con)sumer consumers adding content to the Internet
PDU Power Distribution Unit physical connection to electricity, typically in the data centre
PUE Power Usage Efficiency a rating of the electrical efficiency, typically in the data centre
QoS Quality of Service a guaranteed level of performance based on an SLA
RAID Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks various combinations of raw storage connected to provide protection from physical breakages and data loss
RAIM Redundant Array of Independent Memory various combinations of memory (DRAM or NAND) connected to provide protection from physical breakages and data loss
RBAC Role-Based Access Control the restriction of system access to authorised users
RDMA Remote Direct Memory Access communications protocol
RHEL Red Hat Enterprise Linux product name
RHEV Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization product name
RIM Research In Motion Company name
RISC Reduced Instruction Set Computing chip architectures used in IBM Power and Oracle/Sun Solaris Unix servers
RoCE RDMA over Converged Ethernet network protocol
RoHS Reduction of Hazardous Substances EC legislation restricting the use of noxious materials in electrical equipment
RPO Recovery Point Objective The planned amount of data to be recovered in a storage failure
RTO Recovery Time Objective The planned period of time to recover from a storage failure
SaaS Software as a Service Cloud Computing workload
SAN Storage Area Network storage system type
SAM Serviceable Available Market the part of the ‘TAM’ for which a supplier has relevant offerings
SAS Serial-attached SCSI (Small Computer System Interface) a low cost disk drive and an acronym of acronyms
SATA Serial Advanced Technology Adopter a computer bus interface connecting host bus adaoptors to storage devices
SCADA Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition computer systems which display the process under control and provide access to control functions
SCSI Small Computer Standard Interface a point-to-point connection protocol connecting disk drives to computers
SDDC Software Defined Data Centre an application-down approach to infrastructure including orchestration
SDN Software Defined Network an application-down approach to networking
SDS Software Defined Storage an application-down approach to storage, separating control and data planes
SIEM Security Information and Event Management a type of security software
SLA Service Level Agreement A formal contract to supply a set standard of computing experience – often over a specific time span
SKU Stock Keeping Units number of different configurations for sale
SMAC Social Mobile Analytics Cloud a description of modern application drivers
SMB Server Message Block a network sharing file protocol common of Microsoft Windows environments
SMB Small and Medium Business a description of user organisations by employee size – typically between 0 and 1,000 employees
SMP Symmetrical Multi-Processing processor design type
SME Small and Medium Enterprises a description of user organisations by employee size – typically between 0 and 1,000 employees
SoC System on Chip microprocessor design incorporating multiple components
SOC Security Operations Center physical offices for the detection of security attacks
SOC2 System and Organization Control 2 an SSAE financial auditing regulation including cyber security issues
Spear Phishing an attack on specific organisations and individuals with rogue email messages to acquire information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details
SPEC The Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation benchmarking body
SQL Injection an attack on data driven applications by including portions of SQL statements in an entry field in an attempt to get the website to pass a newly formed rogue SQL command to the database
SSAE Statement on Standards for Attestation Engagements auditing information of the AICPA
SSL VPN Secure Sockets Layer Virtual Private Network a method of providing use security protection by hiding IP addresses
SSO Single Sign On software which allows users of multiple applications to be authenticated once for all of them
STEM Science Technology Engineering Maths school curriculum focus on industry subjects
SVC Storage Virtual Controller IBM storage system offering
TAM Total Available Market marketing term for all spending associated with a market or sub-market
TB Terabyte storage capacity
TCA Total Cost of Acquisition used in comparing costs of old v new solutions
TCO Total Cost of Ownership used in comparing costs of old v new solutions
TEM Trusted Enterprise Manager
TPC Tivoli Storage Productivity Center IBM storage systems management offering
TLS/SSL Transport Layer Security/Secure Sockets Layer encryption techniques used by telcos and cloud suppliers for data in motion
Trojan Software an attack involving a non self-replicating Malware programme appearing to perform a desirable function, but providing backdoor entry for unauthorised access to the target computer
TSM Tivoli Storage Manager IBM storage systems management offering
UBA User Behaviour Analytics security process evaluating how users interact with an organisation’s IT
UCS Unified Computing System Cisco IT including servers
UPS Uninterruptible Power Supply redundant power provisioning unit
UTM Unified Threat Management software/service providing security from criminal intrusion into IT systems
VAAI vStorage API for Array Integration a VMware storage API
VADP vStorage API for Data Protection a VMware storage API for data protection
VASA vStorage API for Storage Awareness a VMware storage API
VCE Virtual Computing Environment company name (incorporating EMC, Cisco and VMware elements)
VDI Virtual Desktop Infrastructure PC virtualisation type
VM Virtual Machine a guest operating system running on top of a server hypervisor
VSAN Virtual Storage Area Network a collection of ports from connected Fibre Channel switches forming a virtual fabric offering high-level protocols such as FCP, FCIP, FICON or iSCSI
Web 2.0 2.0 = newer newer Internet companies
VVOL VMware Virtual Volumes a VMWare API
WAF Web Application Firewall a way of restricting the flow of data from HTTP applications
x86 x86 chip architectures using the x86 instruction set currently produced by Intel and AMD
XIV Latin for 14 an Israel-based storage systems company acquired by IBM in 2008
zAAP z Application Assist Processor IBM mainframe term for offloading Java workloads
zBX z BladeCenter eXtension IBM mainframe term for its attached processor cabinet
zIIP z Integrated Information Processor IBM mainframe term for offloading database workloads
XGS IBM Security Network Protection product range
XSS Cross-Site Scripting a type of security attack