IT Glossary
Key Terms To Know In The IT Industry
Open Source Contribution
Participating in the development of open-source software by contributing code, documentation, bug fixes, or features.
You will find this term commonly used in Software Development, Community
Open Source Development Tools
Tools and software that are freely available to use, modify, and distribute, which are used in the development of software applications and systems.
You will find this term commonly used in Software Development, Open Source
Open Source Initiative (OSI)
A non-profit organization that advocates for open-source software and aims to promote and protect open-source software by certifying licenses that adhere to their definition of open source.
You will find this term commonly used in Software Development, Legal
Open Source Intelligence (OSINT)
The collection and analysis of information that is gathered from public, or open, sources.
You will find this term commonly used in Cybersecurity, Intelligence
Open Source License
A type of license for computer software and other products that allows the source code, blueprint, or design to be used, modified, and/or shared under defined terms and conditions.
You will find this term commonly used in Software Development
Open Source Licensing
The legal framework used to dictate how software can be freely used, modified, and shared, under defined terms and conditions by its users.
You will find this term commonly used in Legal, Software Development
Open Source Model
The decentralized development model that encourages open collaboration, as seen in open-source software projects where the source code is made freely available for anyone to study, modify, and distribute.
You will find this term commonly used in Software Development, Community
Open Source Software
Open-source software is computer software with its source code made available and licensed under terms that allow users to study, modify, and distribute the software freely, promoting collaboration and community-driven development.
You will find this term commonly used in General IT, Software Development, Collaboration
Open Standards
Standards that are publicly available and can be used by anyone. They are designed to ensure interoperability, data exchange, and compatibility among products and services.
You will find this term commonly used in General IT, Web Development
Open System
A system that uses open, public interfaces and standards, making it interoperable with other open systems over a network.
You will find this term commonly used in Networking, Systems Design
Open Systems
Systems that are interoperable with other systems and can be extended or customized using standard interfaces and protocols.
You will find this term commonly used in Systems Integration, Interoperability, General IT
Open Systems Interconnection Model
The Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model is a conceptual framework that standardizes the functions of a telecommunication or computing system into seven abstraction layers, facilitating interoperability between different systems and devices.
You will find this term commonly used in Networking, Standards
Open Virtual Appliance (OVA)
A package that contains all of the information and files necessary to create a virtual machine, including the virtual disk and configuration settings.
You will find this term commonly used in Virtualization, Cloud Computing
Open Virtualization Format (OVF)
An open standard for packaging and distributing software applications for virtual machines.
You will find this term commonly used in Virtualization, Cloud Computing
Open vSwitch
An open-source multilayer virtual switch designed to enable network automation through programmatic extension, while still supporting standard management interfaces and protocols.
You will find this term commonly used in Networking, Virtualization
Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP)
An online community that produces freely available articles, methodologies, documentation, tools, and technologies in the field of web application security.
You will find this term commonly used in Security, Web Development
Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) Top Ten
A regularly-updated report outlining the most critical security concerns for web application security, serving as a guideline for developers and security professionals.
You will find this term commonly used in Cybersecurity, Web Development
Open Web Interface for .NET (OWIN)
A specification that defines an abstraction between .NET web servers and web applications. It aims to decouple server and application, encourage the development of simple modules for .NET web development.
You will find this term commonly used in Web Development, .NET
Open-Source Hardware
Physical hardware designs that are made publicly available for anyone to study, modify, and distribute.
You will find this term commonly used in Hardware Design, DIY Projects, General IT
Open-Source Software Development
The collaborative development of software where the source code is made freely available for anyone to use, modify, and distribute.
You will find this term commonly used in Software Development, Collaboration, General IT
Open/Close Principle
A principle in object-oriented programming that states software entities (classes, modules, functions, etc.) should be open for extension, but closed for modification.
You will find this term commonly used in Software Development, Principles
Open/Save Dialog Box
A common graphical user interface element in many operating systems and applications that allows users to choose files to be opened or specify the destination of a file to be saved.
You will find this term commonly used in User Interface Design, Application Development
OpenAI
An AI research laboratory consisting of the for-profit corporation OpenAI LP and its parent company, the non-profit OpenAI Inc. The organization is focused on advancing digital intelligence in a way that can benefit humanity as a whole.
You will find this term commonly used in AI, Research
OpenBSD
A free and open-source, security-focused, Unix-like operating system based on the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD).
You will find this term commonly used in Operating Systems, Security
OpenCL (Open Computing Language)
An open standard for parallel programming of heterogeneous systems that include CPUs, GPUs, and other processors.
You will find this term commonly used in Programming, High-Performance Computing
OpenFlow
A communications protocol that gives access to the forwarding plane of a network switch or router over the network.
You will find this term commonly used in Networking, Security
OpenID
An open-standard authentication protocol that allows users to be authenticated by co-operating sites using a third-party service.
You will find this term commonly used in Security, Web Development, General IT
OpenID Authentication
A decentralized authentication protocol that allows users to authenticate using a third-party service provider, simplifying login processes across multiple websites.
You will find this term commonly used in Cybersecurity, Web Development
OpenID Connect
An authentication protocol that extends OAuth 2.0 to provide identity verification services for web and mobile applications.
You will find this term commonly used in Security, Web Development, General IT
OpenID Provider (OP)
A service that specializes in registering OpenID URLs or XRIs. OpenID allows users to be authenticated using a third-party service following the OpenID standards.
You will find this term commonly used in Security, Web Development
OpenMP (Open Multi-Processing)
An application programming interface (API) that supports multi-platform shared-memory multiprocessing programming in C, C++, and Fortran, on most processor architectures and operating systems.
You will find this term commonly used in Programming, High-Performance Computing
OpenPGP
An open standard for encrypting and decrypting email over the internet using public key cryptography to provide increased confidentiality and authenticity.
You will find this term commonly used in Security, Communications
OpenSSH (Open Secure Shell)
A suite of secure networking utilities based on the Secure Shell (SSH) protocol, which provides a secure channel over an unsecured network in a client-server architecture.
You will find this term commonly used in Networking, Security
OpenStack
An open-source cloud computing platform for building and managing public and private clouds.
You will find this term commonly used in Cloud Computing, Virtualization, General IT
OpenStack Swift
An open source object storage system that is scalable and redundant, part of the OpenStack suite of software, used for storing and retrieving lots of data with a simple API.
You will find this term commonly used in Cloud Computing, Storage
OpenType
A format for scalable computer fonts that was built on its predecessor TrueType, retaining TrueType's basic structure and adding many intricate data structures for prescribing typographic behavior.
You will find this term commonly used in Software Development, Typography
OpenVMS
An operating system from the Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) that runs in its VAX and Alpha lines of computers. OpenVMS is known for its high-level of reliability, availability, scalability, and security.
You will find this term commonly used in Operating Systems
OpenVPN
An open-source software application that implements virtual private network (VPN) techniques to create secure point-to-point connections.
You will find this term commonly used in Security, Networking, General IT
Operating Environment
The environment in which a computer program or software runs. It is a term that can refer to a software environment in which applications or programs run or the hardware/software environment of a computer system.
You will find this term commonly used in General IT, Software Development
Operating Model
A framework that defines how an organization's IT infrastructure and resources are organized and managed to support its business objectives.
You will find this term commonly used in Business Strategy, IT Management, General IT
Operating System
Software that manages computer hardware and provides common services for computer programs.
You will find this term commonly used in General IT
Operating System (OS)
Software that manages hardware resources and provides a user interface for interacting with a computer system.
You will find this term commonly used in General IT
Operating System Security
The process of ensuring OS integrity, confidentiality, and availability. OS security encompasses the protection of resources and data from unauthorized access and their secure use.
You will find this term commonly used in Security, Operating Systems
Operating System Virtualization
Operating system virtualization is the process of running multiple operating systems on a single physical machine concurrently, using virtualization technology to partition resources and isolate operating environments.
You will find this term commonly used in Virtualization, Operating Systems
Operational Business Intelligence
Real-time, dynamic business intelligence that delivers reporting and analysis to business operations, integrating operational activities with analytical tools to increase efficiency and improve decision-making.
You will find this term commonly used in Business Intelligence, Data Analysis
Operational Data Store (ODS)
A database designed to integrate data from multiple sources for additional operations on the data, unlike a master data store, the data is not passed back to operational systems. It may be passed for further operations and to the data warehouse for reporting.
You will find this term commonly used in Data Management, Business Intelligence
Operational Database
Databases designed for managing dynamic data in real-time, supporting day-to-day operations of an organization with transactions, updates, and queries.
You will find this term commonly used in Database Management, Real-time Processing
Operational Efficiency
A measure of the efficiency of any operation, particularly in business, to convert input resources (such as labor and materials) into outputs like goods and services.
You will find this term commonly used in General IT, Business Management
Operational Excellence
A philosophy in the workplace where problem-solving, teamwork, and leadership results in ongoing improvement in an organization. In IT, it involves improving processes through technology and aligning IT services with business needs.
You will find this term commonly used in Business Management, General IT
Operational Risk Management (ORM)
The process of identifying, assessing, and controlling risks to an organization's earnings and capital arising from operational failures. In IT, this includes risks related to IT systems, data breaches, and cybersecurity threats.
You will find this term commonly used in Risk Management, IT Management
Career Path?
Comprehensive IT User Support Specialist Training: Accelerate Your Career
$51.60 – $169.00
IT Project Manager Career Path
$51.60
Cisco Network Engineer Career Path
$51.60
Data Analyst Career Path
$51.60
Entry Level Information Security Specialist Career Path
$51.60
Google DevOps Engineer Career Path
$51.60
Leadership Mastery: The Executive Information Security Manager
$51.60
AWS Cloud Practitioner Career Path
$51.60
Video Editor Career Path
$51.60
AZ-104 Learning Path : Become an Azure Administrator
$51.60 – $169.00
ICD 9, ICD 10, ICD 11 : Medical Coding Specialist Career Path
$39.00
Pentester Career Path
$51.60
