Acrobat: A universal file reader that will allow you to read or view files saved in the format of various applications (e.g. Word, Excel, etc.), without actually carrying those applications on your PC.

America Online (AOL): A value-added on-line service that provides many services besides Internet access, including making holiday reservations, shopping, and access to popular chat groups.

Anonymous FTP: Using the FTP program one can log on to another computer to copy files, even though you don't have an account on the computer. When you log on, you enter anonymous as the username and your e-mail address as the password (e.g. like a guest account).

Application: A piece of software designed to meet a specific purpose (e.g. Word).

ARPANET: The original ancestor of the Internet, funded by the US Department of Defense.

Article: A message that someone sends to the news group which can be read by everyone who enters the news group.

Attachment*: A computer file that is electronically stapled to an e-mail message and sent with it.

AUP: Abandoned and Unclaimed Property

BBS (bulletin board systems): An electronic message system that you can dial up directly to read and post messages.

BDM: Business Development Manager (the term for sales professionals)

Bit: The smallest unit of measure for the computer data. A bit can be on or off (1 or 0) and a string of bits, in various combinations, are used to represent different kinds of information.

Bitmap: Little dots are put together to make a black-and-white or color picture. Effectively, a bitmap file defines the color of each dot to make this picture.

Bounce: To return as undeliverable. If you mail a message to a bad address, it bounces back to your mailbox.

BPO: Business Process Outsourcing

Browser: An all-singing, all-dancing program that lets you read information on the World Wide Web (e.g. Netscape or Internet Explorer). These are revolutionary in that they can show a page containing text, graphics, video and sound and are fully interactive.

Byte: A group of eight bits. Computer memory is usually measured in bytes.

CBT: Computer-Based Training

Channel: In Internet Relay Chat (IRC), a group of people chatting together. AOL and CompuServe call these rooms. Value-added providers use "channel" to mean a major interest area that you can get to easily, like a TV channel.

Chat: To talk live to other network users from any part of the world. To do this on the Internet, you use Internet Relay Chat (IRC). America Online and CompuServe have similar services.

CIO: Chief Information Office

Chief Information Officer (CIO): The senior executive in a company responsible for information management and for delivering IT services.

CKO: Chief Knowledge Officers

Client: A computer that uses the services of another computer, or server. If you dial another system your computer becomes a client of the system you dial.

Client/model server: A division of labor between computers. Computers that provide another service that computers can use are called a server. The users are the clients. Typically a network is used and computer processing is distributed among many individual PCs (clients) and a more powerful, central computer (server). Clients can share files and retrieve data stored on the server.

Collaborative software: GroupWare, these allow haring of resources, files and offer services to make working in an group easier (i.e. version control), e.g. Lotus Notes or Microsoft Exchange.

Computer-aided design (CAD): Refers to any computer-enabled method of design; also called computer-assisted design.

Database: A computer software package for storing data.

Data-mining: The process of discovering previously unknown information from the data in data warehouses by performing clever searches.

Data warehouse: A place-virtual or physical-in which business knowledge and information are stored.

Digest: A compilation of the messages that have been posted to a mailing list over the last few days.

Domain: Part of the official name of a computer on the Net-for example, iecc.com. To register a domain name, go to http://www.iternic.net.

Domain name server (DNS): A computer on the Internet that translates between Internet domain names, such as xuxa.itec.com, and Internet numerical addresses, such as 140.186.81.2. Sometimes just called name server.

Download: To copy a file from a remote computer "down" to your provider.

Dumb terminal: A screen and a keyboard and not much else. Dumb terminals connect to a mainframe computer, which does the processing and data storage.

EBKS: See E-Business Knowledge Source

E-business: The use of Internet technologies to perform business. This generally refers to both business to consumers (e.g. selling on the Web) and business to business (systems integration between different businesses and business processes).

E-Business Knowledge Source: A PwC global, cross line of service, e-business database where new items, wins, events and documents are posted.

E-Business Center (TLS): An e-business helpdesk to answer any e-business questions, be they business oriented or tax technical. Also a central point for other lines of service to call if they wish to add a tax element to their e-business proposals.

E-Business Technology Forecast: A PwC publication containing e-business forecasts and simple explanations of e-business technologies and business models. An ideal companion or reference text when dealing with e-business clients, or as background reading.

E-commerce: Business transactions conducted over Extranets or the Internet. Generally this refers to the Business to Consumer part of on-line retailing and provision of customer service.

Electronic data interchange (EDI): Electronic transmission of documents through point-to-point connections (dedicated connections between one business and another) using a set of standard forms, messages and data elements this can be via leased lines, private networks or the Internet.

E-mail: A system that enables computer users to send messages to one another's machines; ideally it should allow them to attach files and find other users' mail addresses.

Enterprise resource planning: An integrated system of operation applications combining logistics, production, distribution, contract and order management, sales forecasting, and financial and HR management (e.g. SAP, Oracle, etc.).

E-Tax.NET: Web enabled tax compliance center run by PwC for clients. PwC contracts to take care of compliance for a multinational across the globe. Information is fed into a private website which the HQ tax director can access to review subsidiaries' compliance status (dashboard) or interactively plan using the PwC - TLS E-Business product.

E-Tax Transformation: Globally replicating PwC database that houses granular tax technical information, TLS E-business initiatives, strategies, presentations, training materials and resources.

Extranet: An extended intranet, based on Internet standard protocols which allows access to the intranet, via the Internet, by people outside the enterprise. Typically there are restrictions as to what parts they can access.

Eudora: A popular mail-handling program that runs on Macintosh and under Windows.

FAQ (Frequently asked questions): An article that asks questions when they come up. Many newsgroups have FAQs that are posted regularly.

Flame: To post angry, inflammatory, or insulting messages. Do not do it!

Flame war: Two or more individuals involved in a lot of flaming.

Firewall: A computer than connects a local network to the Internet but, for security reasons, only lets in or out certain kinds of information. If anyone asks, we have lots of them.

FreeTel: Point to Point chat software (including text).

FTP (File transfer protocol): A method of transferring files from one computer to another over the net.

FTP server: A computer on the Internet that stores files for transmission by FTP.

Gateway: A computer that connects one network with another, where the two networks use different protocols.

GECH: Global Employment Clearing House

Gigabyte: 1,000,000,000, bytes or characters of data.

GKM: Global Knowledge Management

GTKM: Global Tax Knowledge Management

GUID: Global User ID

Handle: A user's nickname or screen name.

Hardware: The magnetic, mechanical and electrical components of a computer and its peripheral devices.

Header: The beginning of an e-mail message containing to and from addresses, subject, date, and other codes important to the programs that handle your mail.

Home page: A web pate about a person or an organization. Usually the first page you access when you enter a web site.

Host: A computer on the Internet.

Hostname: The name of the computer on the Internet, e.g. iecc.com.

HR: Human Resources

HTML (HyperText Mark-up Language): The language used on the World Wide Web. This language lets the text include both viewable text, and hidden codes that define fonts, layout, embedded graphics and hypertext links. This allows the seamless integration of different media and styles on one page.

HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol): A variant of HTML that encrypts messages for security. The way in which the World Wide Web is transferred over the net.

Infopreneur: A word used to denote the entrepreneur of the information society.

Infotainment: A word used to describe the products that result from the convergence of information and entertainment.

Information highway or superhighway: A collective slogan used to refer to the Internet and other digital technologies.

Information mapping: The process of locating important information and knowledge in an organization, then publishing a list or diagram showing where to find it.

Information systems (IS) strategy: The identification and prioritization of systems and applications for development.

Information technology (IT): A collective term used to refer to the hardware and software that is used to process information.

Intangible asset: A non-physical asset, such as a patent, a brand name or goodwill; it also encompasses the know-how embodied in employees or working practices.

Internet: The global computer network.

Internet Explorer: A popular web browser from Microsoft that comes in Windows and Mac flavors.

Intranet: A private network within an organization, often using popular tools like browsers, usually protected from Internet traffic by a "firewall" (software that controls access from the outside).

InterNIC: The Internet Network Information Center, a central repository of information about the Internet itself.

ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network: A faster, digital phone service that operates at speeds of up to 128 kilobytes per second.

IT: Information Technology

IT productivity paradox: A term used at both the macro- and micro-level to describe the apparent gap between what companies spend on technology and the increase - or not in their business performance.

Java: A computer language invented by Sun Microsystems. Java programs can run on any modern computer systems (unlike say Windows which will only efficiently run on a PC), which makes it ideal for the Internet.

Kilobyte: One thousand bytes or characters of data.

KnowledgeCurve (KC): The goal of KnowledgeCurve is to give all of us a means of accessing and sharing the information, knowledge and skills we have within PwC globally - something we have not been able to do very easily up to now. With its many active links, both to internally generated information and to external web sites, KnowledgeCurve looks and acts like an Internet web site. Through it you will be able to access the home pages and content of each service line, industry, geography and functional unit as they come online. It is designed so that users can access the system, locate the information they need quickly, and get back out in a minimum of time. And, as an Intranet, KnowledgeCurve is a private and secure internal network located behind "firewalls" that screen out non-PwC users. A password is required - John Fegan

Knowledge Management (KM): A term with many meanings; it includes deliberate efforts to maximize an organization's performance through creating, sharing and leveraging knowledge and experience from internal and external sources.

Link: A Hypertext connection that can take you to another document or another part of the same document. To follow a link to the page it is attached to you click on the highlighter material.

Lotus Notes: Proprietary software that allows users to share many different types of unstructured and semi-structured information. Lotus is owned by IBM.

Lurk: To read a Usenet newsgroup, mailing list, or chat-group without posting any messages. Someone who lurks is a 'lurker'. Lurking is okay.

Mail Server: A computer on the Internet that provides mail services.

Mailing list: A collection of e-mail addresses grouped under one name, or a special kind of e-mail address that re-mails all incoming mail to a list of subscribers on that list. Each mailing list has a specific topic, so you subscribe to the ones that interest you.

Mainframe: The central processing unit of a large computer, usually receiving input from a number of terminals.

Marketspace: The marketplace in e-commerce.

Megabyte: One million bytes or characters of data.

Microprocessors: Complex electronic circuits that comprise a computer's central information processing unit.

Mirc: IRC chat line.

Modem: A separate piece of technology that allows your computer to connect and talk on the phone or cable TV.

MPEG: A format of video file found on the Net. This compresses the large amounts of information necessary to store a video on a computer into a more manageable sized file. Many different compression techniques exist and compete to be the industry standard.

NEIS: New Engagement Information System.

Netscape: Browser, allowing access to the web site.

Networks: Computers that are connected together. Those in the same or nearby buildings are called local area networks (LAN); when you interconnect all the computer networks in a company say across a country or the world this uniting network is called a WAN. When you interconnect all the computer networks over the world you get the Internet!

Node: A computer on the net also called the host.

OGC: Office of the General Counsel.

Page: A document or hunk of information, available on the WWW, which may be communicated through any combination of various media, e.g., text, video, sound, interactive forms, etc.

Paradigm shift: Term used to describe a complete re-thinking of the business or economic outlook, caused by a profound technology change ("a starting intellectual" or "technological discontinuity").

PC: It once meant 'not IBM', then 'not Macintosh' - now it refers to any personal computer.

PDF file: A method for distributing formatted documents over the Internet. You need a special reader called Acrobat.

Plug-in: A computer program to add a Web browser that helps handle special file types (e.g. Flash Graphics).

Ping: A program that checks to see whether you can communicate with another computer on the Internet. It sends a short message to which the other computer automatically responds. If you can't ping another computer, you probably can't talk to it any other way, either.

Point of Presence (POP): This is a high caliber full time link direct to the Internet. This is generally only owned by Internet service providers or large companies due to the expense and the need to run it all the time. An individual will usually dial in through telephone lines or connect through an intranet to a POP server in order to access the Internet. This server will have collected your mail as it arrives throughout the day, for retrieval by you. The speed of your connection will depend on the speed of your connection to the POP.

Post Office Protocol: A system by which a mail server on the Internet lets you pick up your mail and download onto your Mac/PC, i.e., it allows you access to the mail server (where the mail is stored, awaiting your collection).

Program: A set of digitally coded definitions and instructions that enables a computer to perform a particular task (e.g. Word).

Protocol: The language that one computer uses to communicate with another and the rules upon which the computers agree and rely to talk amongst themselves. Typically this is a series of processes to establish a correct connection and then confirm the message has been sent in full e.g.:A: "Hello, is computer A there? I am Computer B and I speak English."B: "Hello computer B. I am Computer A, send message."A: "send message…"A: "message complete and 10 words long"B: "received message 10 words long"A: "OK, Goodbye"B: "Goodbye"

QuickTime: A type of viewing program that allows you to view certain types of full-motion video.

R&D: Research and Development

Realaudio: A popular streaming audio file format that lets you listen to programs over the Net.

Router: A computer that connects two or more networks.

Serial port: The plug to which the modem is connected.

Server: A computer that provides a service to other computers.

Shockwave: A standard for viewing interactive multimedia on the Web.

SMTP (Simple mail transfer protocol): The misnamed method by which the Internet delivers mail from one computer to another.

Software: The programs that are run on a computer system.

STC: State Tax Consulting

Streaming: Receiving data continuously as you view or run something (typically sound or video) from a CD or the Internet. This means that you do not have to wait to load the entire program at once, and allows the information to be live or as real time.

Supercomputer: An extremely powerful computer, designed to deal with very large amounts of data at very high speed, and often used for military or scientific tasks.

Surfing: Wandering around the WWW, looking for interesting material.

T1: A high capacity telecommunications standard (that carries 24-voice calls or data 1.4 million BPS over a pair of telephone lines).

TBL: Technology Based Learning

TCP/IP: A protocol, the system networks use to communicate with each other on the Internet.

Tax News Network: An extranet which clients can pay to access (US) or is given free to client (EMEA). This contains tax news, discussion forums, tools and resources. This is very well respected in the US and is being ramped up in EMEA.

Technology Forecast: An internationally respected PwC publication containing technology forecasts and simple explanations of technologies (one paragraph). An ideal companion or reference text, or useful as background reading.

Telnet: A program that lets you log into other computers on the net.

UNIX: An operating system developed by AT&T.

Uuencode/uudecode: Programs that encode files to make them suitable for sending as e-mail. When the message arrives, the recipient can run uudecode to turn it back into the original file.

Value chain: Concept widely associated with the management thinker Michael Porter that focuses on a company's internal processes and the interactions between different elements of the organization. Analysis of it shows how and where value is added.

Virtual organization: An organization whereby the physical location of various business functions is not relevant and may change, supported by the advent of the improved communications and technologies of the Internet. Typically few of the business processes will be run or owned by the virtual organization, rather brought in from third part suppliers. An elusive combination of technology, expertise and networks with little or no physical infrastructure.

Virtual reality: A 3D visual computer simulation that responds to your inputs so realistically that you feel you are there. Computer-generated but almost lifelike simulated environments.

Vision Now: Value added Services for International Organizations

VOIP Voice Over Internet Protocol, A technology that allows voice calls to be made over high speed internet connections.

VRML: A language used for building virtual reality pages on the web.

WAV file: A popular format for sound files found on the Internet.

Web page: A document that can be accessed on the WWW, Intranet, or extranet through a Web browser.

Winzip: A program that lets you expand and compress files regarding information.

Winsock: A standard way for Windows programs to work with TCP/IP. You use it if you directly connect your Windows PC to the Internet, either with a permanent connection or with a modem by using SLIP or PPP.

Ws_ftp32: The transfer protocol on the Internet, which allows remote access of the hard-drive of a remote computer.

WWW (World Wide Web): An application, which runs on the Internet. It provides a standard way of publishing and accessing information. This is a hypermedia (i.e. allows the use of a variety of different media: video, sound, text, etc.), that lets users browse through information.

Yahoo!: A set of web pages that provides links by subject.

Zip file: A file that has been compressed to a more manageable size using a PKZIP, Winzip, or a compatible program. To access the files in a zip file, you usually need Winzip, PKUNZIP, or a compatible program.

Zone: The last part of an Internet host name, also called a top-level domain name. A two-letter zone name represents the country code where the organization that owns the computer is located. A three-letter zone name indicates the code relating to the type of organization that owns the computer.