Monday, July 1, 2002		ITerminology

Single signon

An authentication process in a client/server relationship where the user, or client, can enter one name and password and have access to more than one application or access to a number of resources within an enterprise. Single signon takes away the need for the user to enter further authentications when switching from one application to another. Single signon is also spelled single sign on or single sign-on and abbreviated as SSO.

ODS

Short for operational data store, a type of database that serves as an interim area for a data warehouse in order to store time-sensitive operational data that can be accessed quickly and efficiently. In contrast to a data warehouse, which contains large amounts of static data, an ODS contains small amounts of information that is updated through the course of business transactions.

Favicon

Short for favourite icon, a customised icon that is used by Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) versions 5.0 and later. When a user bookmarks a specific Web page, that Web page loads a customised icon into the user's browser, typically a tiny version of a company or Website's logo. The favicon is displayed next to the Web site's name in the Favorites list and can also be displayed in the Links toolbar. When a site has not created a favicon, IE will load the IE logo into the browser by default.

Livelock

A condition that occurs when two or more processes continually change their state in response to changes in the other processes. The result is that none of the processes will complete. An analogy is when two persons meet in a hallway and each tries to step around the other but they end up swaying from side to side getting in each other's way as they try to get out of the way.