| It is very important to educate your small | | | | are shared); although virtually any OS can be |
| business prospects and clients on key small | | | | configured for peer-to-peer networking, |
| business networking terms and buzzwords. After | | | | peer-to-peer networks are often assembled from |
| all, in order to "win them over", you need to be | | | | Microsoft's least expensive consumer OS's, such |
| speaking the same language. In fact, you may | | | | as Microsoft Windows 98, Microsoft Windows Me |
| even want to prepare a "cheat sheet", based on | | | | and Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition. |
| the below definitions, to help you in your prospect | | | | - RAID (redundant array of independent disks) is |
| and client pre-sales activities. | | | | technology generally used to increase a server's |
| If you'd like to order a license to reproduce these | | | | reliability -- by simultaneously writing data to |
| networking terms for client sales literature, please | | | | multiple hard drives. While many people also use |
| contact and put "Licensing Your LAN Buzzwords" | | | | RAID to improve server performance, RAID |
| in the subject line. | | | | eliminates a single point of hard drive failure. Years |
| - NIC (Network Interface Card) - a printed circuit | | | | ago, you could only get the benefits of RAID |
| board, adapter card or the underlying supporting | | | | through SCSI-based hard drives. Today, IDE hard |
| chipset that snaps into the motherboard of a | | | | drives can also enjoy entry-level RAID fault |
| desktop PC, notebook or server and transmits | | | | tolerance benefits. |
| and receives packets on a network; used to | | | | - SCSI (small computer systems interface) is a |
| connect to networks including a local area | | | | high-end interface for connecting both internal and |
| network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), or a | | | | external computer peripheral devices. Years ago, |
| broadband network for high-speed cable modem | | | | only SCSI-based storage devices were used in |
| or DSL-based Internet access or other dedicated | | | | most servers. |
| Internet access service; most common NIC used | | | | - Server - any computing device or peripheral on |
| by small businesses is the 10/100Mbps Ethernet | | | | a network designed to provide shared services |
| adapter. | | | | and resources to network users; primarily |
| - NOS (Network Operating System) - an OS | | | | characterized by multi-user usage, as compared |
| designed for communications between networked | | | | to a desktop or notebook PC; common servers |
| computer systems; popular NOS's include Apple | | | | include the file, printer, e-mail messaging and |
| Mac OS, Linux, Microsoft Windows NT/2000 and | | | | collaboration, Web, proxy and database server. |
| Novell NetWare. | | | | - Wireless Ethernet - set of standards and |
| - Peer-to-Peer Network - an inexpensive | | | | in-progress standards that allow Ethernet |
| alternative to a client/server network in which a | | | | networks to run without physical cabling and utilize |
| PC doubles as both a workstation (used by an | | | | radio waves for transmission. |
| end user) and a server (from which resources | | | | |