L

L for Linux

Abbreviation / acronyms	Term	Definition
l10n	localization	There are ten letters between the "l" and the "n"
L1 / L2 cache	level-1/2 cache	L1: the memory cache that is closest to the CPU or included within it. L2: a memory cache outside the CPU
L2CAP	Logical Link and Control Adaptation Protocol	a Bluetooth Specific Protocol
L2F	Layer 2 Forwarding	a tunneling protocol from Cisco Systems. L2F has been submitted to the IETF for approval as a standard.
L2S	Layer 2 Switch	Layer 2 Switch
L2TP	Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol	A protocol that combines the features of Microsoft's PPTP and Cisco Systems' L2F to support multiprotocol or private-address IP traffic across a public IP network. L2TP is a mature Internet Engineering Task Force standard that has been widely implemented.
L3F	Layer 3 Forwarding	a tunneling protocol from Cisco Systems. L3F has been submitted to the IETF for approval as a standard.
L3S	Layer 3 Switch	Layer 3 Switch
L3TP	Layer Three Tunneling Protocol	an extension to the PPP protocol that enables ISPs to operate VPNs. L3TP merges the best features of three other tunneling protocols
LA	Load Address	LA is an IBM term
LAC	L2tp Access Concentrator	Device attached to the switched network or located on an end system supporting L2TP to pass PPP traffic
LACNIC	Latin American and Caribbean Internet Addresses Registry	one of four regional Internet registries that supply and administer IP addresses.
LACP	Link Aggregation Control Protocol	Part of an IEEE specification (802.3ad) that allows to bundle several physical ports together to form a single logical channel
LADDR	Layered Device Driver	s SCSI device driver architecture used in early versions of OS/2.
LAI	Location Area Identity	the information carried in the SIM of GSM handsets that identify the subscriber's home area. This is used for billing and sub-net operation purposes.
LAIPE	Link And In Parallel Execute	a high-performance package for scientific and engineering computing, programmed in MTASK. http://www.equation.com/
LAMP	Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP	Also defined as Linux, Apache, MySQL and Pythor or Perl. The term LAMP is used to describe a web based solution produced using PHP (scripting), MySQL (database), Apache (web-server) under Linux (operating system), each of which are free to download. It therefore describes a website using free off-the-shelf components.
LAN	Local Area Network	A network of interconnected workstations sharing the resources of a single processor or server within a relatively small geographic area. Typically, this might be within the area of a small office building.
LANE	Local Area Network Emulation	A set of services and protocols that provide for the emulation of LANs, using ATM as a backbone to allow connectivity among LAN and ATM attached end stations
LAPD	Link Access Procedures on the D channel	specified in ITU-T Q.920 and ITU-T Q.921, is the second layer protocol on the ISDN protocol stack in the D channel.
LAS	logical application structure	A structure of the application to be deployed that is made up of software definitions.
laser	light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation	Analog transmission device in which a suitable active material is excited by an external stimulus to produce a narrow beam of coherent light that can be modulated into pulses to carry data. Networks based on laser technology are sometimes run over SONET.
LASINT	laser intelligence	Technical and geolocation intelligence derived from laser systems; a subcategory of electro-optical intelligence.
LAT	Local Address Table	A table containing the IP address range that is inside a firewalled network
LATA	Local Access and Transport Area	Denotes a geographical area established for the provision and administration of communications service. It encompasses one or more designated exchanges, which are grouped to serve common social, economic, and other purposes.
LBA	Logical Block Addressing	a method of accessing hard disk drives. It allows IDE disks larger than 504 megabytes (1024 cylinders) in size to be fully partitioned using the MS-DOS fdisk command.
LBAC	label-based access control	A security mechanism that uses security labels to restrict user access to individual table rows and columns.
LBS	Location-based service	Services or applications that center around a user’s location in a mobile environment. Services include finder applications that let mobile phone users locate friends or family, businesses or landmarks.
LBG	load balancing group	A grouping of Fast Path input messages that are ready for balanced processing by one or more copies of a Fast Path program.
LBO	line buildout	Abbreviation for line buildout. Synonym building out.
LCC / LLCC	Leaded Chip Carrier / Leadless Chip Carrier	A square chip package with pin connectors on each side. a type of packaging for integrated circuits which has no "leads", but instead rounded pins through the edges of the ceramic package.
LCC	Limited combustible cable	also called CMP-50 cable, is fire-resistant cable with insulation made of a synthetic material called fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP).
LCD	liquid crystal display	A low-powered, flat-panel display technology. LCD displays create images using liquid crystal molecules controlled by an electrical field.
LCI	local component installer	In IBM Tivoli Kernel Services, the component that pulls and runs native code, shared libraries, and installation scripts that are needed for deploying components.
LCM	Life Cycle Management	the management of the entire life of a program including the three typical phases: transition, transformation & end-state
LCN	local communication network	A communication network within a TMN (telecommunications management network) that supports data communication functions (DCFs) normally at reference points q1 and q2.
LCO	language context object	A context server object that mediates the routing of inbound customer interactions as well as the supply of outbound responses in a language-appropriate manner.
LCOS	Liquid Crystal On Silicon	TV technology for flat screen displays; a technology that most major technology and equipment manufacturers have shunned after experimentation.
LCP	Link Control Protocol	Part of the PPP to establish, configure, and test data link connections
LCR	least cost routing Lifetime Clinical Record Line Concentration Ratio Local Continuous Replication	Method for automatic selection of the least costly facility for transmission of a call. Synonyms: Most Economical Route Selection (MERS); Route Optimization; Automatic Route Selection; Flexible Route Selection. A computer-based patient record system from Siemens Medical Solutions Health Services. LCR provides a longitudinal view of patients' lifetime clinical histories. A CO (Central Office) design and engineering term for the optimization of system capacity through the classic act of balancing cost and performance. Microsoft Exchange's ability to replicate locally between two disk volumes
LCS	Liquid Cooling System Live Communications Server	a type of cooling system in a computer, which consists of one or more water blocks, a pump, a radiator, one or more fans, tubing, cooling liquid, and may also include a reservoir and fittings. Microsoft collaboration infrastructure
LD	Laser Disc	An optical disc which stores information that can be read by a laser beam. Laser discs can be used to store data, but are usually used for video and audio together. Laser discs come in 8" and 12" diameters.
LDA	Local delivery agent	A mail service agent that transfers mail messages from incoming mail storage to the email recipient’s inbox.
LDAP	Lightweight Directory Access Protocol	If you want to make directory information available over the Internet, this is the way to do it. LDAP is a streamlined version of an earlier directory standard called X.500. What makes LDAP so useful is that it works great over TCP/IP networks, so information can be accessed through LDAP by anyone with an Internet connection.
LDCM	LANDesk Client Manager	developed by Intel, is a management tool that constantly monitors networked personal computers and workstations for hardware problems.
LDIF	LDAP Data Interchange Format	a file format that is widely used for building a database of directories that are stored on multiple servers, for adding large numbers of directories to a directory database, and for synchronizing the contents of those directories. The servers on which the directories are stored must support the LDAP protocol.
LDM	limited distance modem	limited distance modem
LDP	Label Distribution Protocol	A fundamental concept in MPLS is that two Label Switching Routers must agree on the meaning of the labels used to forward traffic between and through them
LDPC	low-density parity-check code	an error-correcting code and a method of transmitting a message over a noisy transmission channel.
LDR	Light Dependent Resistor	This is a special type of resistor and is sometimes called a photoconductor. LDRs are made so that their resistance decreases as the level of light falling on them increases.
LDS	logical data stream	In bidirectional text representation, a stream of data that is organized in a readable sequence.
LDT	Lightning Data Transfer (Bus)	An interconnection standard introduced by AMD that allows for fast data transfers among the Northbridge part of a chipset, the PCI bus(es), and the Southbridge part.
LEAP	Lightweight Extensible Authentication Protocol	also known as Cisco-Wireless EAP, is a Cisco security technology that builds on Wi-Fi's WEP encryption.
LED	light-emitting diode	A semiconductor that produces light when activated.
LEED	Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design	LEED) consists of a suite of rating systems for the design, construction and operation of high performance.
LEL	Link, Embed and Launch-to-edit	Lotus term
LEO	Low Earth Orbit	the orbit between 700 and 2,000 kilometers above the Earth for Mobile communications satellite.
LER	Label Edge Router	Converts IP packets into MPLS packets, and MPLS packets into IP packets. On the ingress side, the LER examines the incoming packet to determine whether the packet should be labeled.
LF	Line Feed	Feeding the paper through the printer just far enough to print the next line. Also, a button or computer instruction that activates a line feed
LFB	look-ahead-for-busy	Information concerning network resources available to support higher precedence calls.
LFS	Linux From Scratch	Project that provides you with the steps necessary to build your own custom Linux system
LGA	Land Grid Aray	also known as socket T,means that the pins are on the Motherboard, not the Processor. The Prescott is using the LGA 775 socket.
LGPL	Lesser General Public License (GNU)	An evolution of the Library GNU
LID	local identifier	In distributed relational database, an identifier or short label that is mapped by the environmental descriptors to a named resource. A 1-byte identifier assigned to parts of the data stream to facilitate PSF processing.
LIDE	Light emitting diode In-Direct Exposure	Scanner technology by Canon
LIFO	last in, first out	A type of message queuing that puts the last message received first in line.
LINAC	Linear Accelerator	a particle accelerator commonly used for external beam radiation treatments of cancer patients. LINAc uses microwave technology to accelerate charged particles.
Lion / Li-ion	Lithium-ion	a type of rechargeable battery widely used in portable computers.
LION	Lower Indian Ocean Network	LION cable system
LIP	Loop Initialization Process	The process by which a Fibre Channel arbitrated loop network initializes when started up, or recovers after a failure occurs or a new device appears on the network.
LIPS	Logical Inferences Per Second	In artificial intelligence, the speed at which an application can process instructions. The human brain works at about 2 LIPS.
LIS	Laboratory information system	a class of software which handles storing information generated by laboratory processes. These systems often must interface with instruments and other information systems such as HIS.
Lisp	List Processor or List Processing	A programming language developed at MIT in the 1950s by John McCarthy.
LKM	Loadable Kernel Modules	allow for the adding of additional functionality directly into the kernel while the system is running.
LL	local loop	A generic term for the connection between the customer’s premises (home, office, etc.) and the provider’s serving central office
LLC	Logical Link Control	IEEE 802.2 LAN protocol that specifies an implementation of the LLC sublayer of the data link layer.
LLDP	Link Layer Discovery Protocol	LLDP is a vendor-neutral Layer 2 protocol that allows a network device to advertise its identity and capabilities on the local network.
LLDP-MED	Link Layer Discovery Protocol-Media Endpoint Discovery	LLDP-MED is an enhancement to the LLDP that is designed to allow auto-discovery of LAN policies
LLI	Low Latency Interrupts Lower Layer Interface	allows latency-sensitive packets to be processed with the lowest latency. Part of layer 7 with PROFIBUS, in which layer 7 services are mapped onto layer 2 services
LLTD	Link Layer Topology Discovery	A feature that helps users to troubleshoot their networks. LLTD automatically detects multiple network devices and gives a graphical presentation of the connected hardware to identify configuration errors.
LLU	local loop unbundling	LLU is the process of allowing competitive telecommunications operators to use the twisted-pair telephone connections from the incumbent telephone exchange's central office to the customer premises. This local loop is owned by the ILEC.
LMA	Lightspeed Memory Architecture	nVidia term
LMDS	Local Multipoint Distribution Services	This is a fixed point (non-mobile) wireless technology that operates in the 28 GHz band and offers line of sight coverage over distances up to 5 kilometers. It can deliver data and telephony services to 80,000 customers from a single node.
LMP	Link Manager Protocol	a data link layer protocol in the Bluetooth protocol stack. LMP carries out link setup, authentication, link configuration and other protocols.
LMPP	Lighttpd/MySQL/PHP/Python	A web application stack based upon lighttpd, MySQL, , and/or (compare to LAMP).
LMS	Learning Management System	a software package, that enables the management and delivery of learning content and resources to students. Most LMS systems are web-based to facilitate "anytime, anywhere" access to learning content and administration.
LNA	launch numerical aperture Low Noise Amplifier	The numerical aperture of an optical system used to couple (launch) power into an optical fiber. a receiving preamplifier having very low internal noise characteristics placed very near the antenna of a receiver to capture the C/N before it can be further degraded by noise in the receiving system.
LNIB	like new, in box	slightly used but supplied with original packaging
LNO	Loop Nest Optimization	a special case of loop transformation which deals with nested loops that makes possible large reductions in the cache bandwidth necessary for some pervasive algorithms.
LNP	Local Number Portability	Subscribers' ability to switch local or wireless carriers and still retain the same phone number, as is possible now with long-distance carriers.
LNS	L2tp Network Server	Maintains L2TP sessions with whatever is connected to the LAC
LOB	large object	A sequence of bytes with a size ranging from 0 bytes to 2 gigabytes less 1 byte. A data type used by databases for large objects.
LOB	Line-of-Business	Used to refer to a business critical application, i.e. an application that is essential to the trading or survival of a business. Normally written as "LOB app" or "LOB application".
LOC	Lines of Code	A measure of the size of a program.
LOCK	local object creator and killer	In IBM Tivoli Kernel Services, the component that starts, monitors, stops, and restarts an ORB.
LODA	Lombardi On-Demand Assistance	IBM Websphere On-Demand Delivery
LOFS	LOopback File System	A file system type that lets the user create a new virtual file system. The user can access files using an alternative path name
LOM	LAN On Motherboard	This is a network device that is built onto the motherboard (or baseboard) of the machine
Loran	long-range radio navigation	A long-range radio navigation position-fixing system consisting of an array of fixed stations that transmit precisely synchronized signals to mobile receivers.
LOS	Line of Sight Loss of signal	describes an unobstructed radio path or link between the transmitting and receiving antennas of a communications system. a condition where the received signal drops below threshold due to a terrain obstruction or other phenomenon increasing the link budget loss beyond design parameters.
LPA	Linear Power Amplifier link pack area	The final amplification stage in a multicarrier transmitter that has been designed and optimized to produce a linear response. The portion of virtual storage below 16MB that contains frequently used modules.
LPAR / LP	logical partition	A set of key or RID pairs in a nonpartitioning index that is associated with a particular partition. One or more subsets of a single system that contains hardware resources and operates as an independent system. In a partitioned database environment, a database partition server on a processor that has more than one database partition server assigned to it. A subset of the processor hardware that is defined to support an operating system.
LPB	Low Ping Bastard	Network multiplayer games attribute
LPC	Linear Predictive Coding Local Procedure Call	a speech encoding scheme that uses periodic pulses to excite a filter, similar to the way human voice is produced. A mechanism that loops remote procedure call without the presence of a network so that the client and server portion of an application can reside on the same machine.
LPD	line printer daemon	The receiving portion, or target, of a file transfer that receives the spooled file that was sent and places the file on a local output queue. The printer server that allows other hosts to access its printer.
LPDA	Link Problem Determination Aid	A series of procedures used by products to test modem or other DCE operations, and to provide information about the DCE and the data link.
LPF	League for Programming Freedom Low-Pass Filter	A nonprofit organization dedicated to "bringing back the freedom of programmers to write programs," in the face of the recent trend toward complicated copyright and patent lawsuits. http://www.lpf.org/ A signal filter which would be installed in a customer premises ADSL modem (ATU-R), which would not modify the low frequencies present in its input signal
LPFM	low-power FM radio	A broadcast service that permits the licensing of 50- to 100-watt FM radio stations within a service radius of up to 3.5 miles and 1- to 10-watt FM radio stations within a service radius of 1 to 2 miles.
LPI	lines per inch Linux Professional Insitute	a measure of the resolution of a halftone screen Serves the community of Linux and open source software users vendors and developers, in the interest of increasing and supporting professional use of such software throughout world. See also http://www.lpi.org/
LPP	Land Pre-Pits	Addressing aid in writing DVD-R
LPPL	Latex Project Public License	http://www.latex-project.org
LPR	line printer requester	The sending portion, or client portion, of a spooled file transfer. A client that lets the local host submit a file for printing on a remote printer server.
LPT	line print terminal	The designation for a parallel connection to a printer or other parallel device.
LPTV	low-power television	A broadcast service that permits program broadcasting via television translators operating with low power. LPTV service includes the existing translator service and operates on a secondary basis to regular television stations.
LPWA	Lucent Personalized Web Assistant	Anonymous web browsing service
LPX	Low Profile eXtension / Extended	a motherboard form factor used for low-profile computer cases. LPX boards use a riser card arrangement for expansion cards, which means that installed expansion cards are parallel to the motherboard instead of perpendicular to it.
LQA	link quality analysis	In adaptive high-frequency (HF) radio, the overall process by which measurements of signal quality are made, assessed, and analyzed.
LQSR	Link Quality Source Routing	a routing protocol for wireless mesh networks. The protocol was developed by Microsoft for use with their MCL technology, which facilitates the interconnection of computers into a mesh network
LR	Lightroom	Adobe Photoshop Lightroom is a photography software program developed by Adobe Systems for Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows, designed to assist professional photographers managing thousands of digital images, and do post production work. www.adobe.com/products/photoshoplightroom/
LRC	longitudinal redundancy check Loop Resiliency Circuit	A system of error control based on the formation of a block check following preset rules. Hub circuitry that allows devices to be inserted into or removed from an active FC-AL loop.
LRF	Little Rubber Feet	Support devices for computer cases and other equipments
LRN	Location Routing Number	The ten-digit (NPA-NXX-XXXX) number assigned to a switch/POI used for routing in a permanent local number portability environment.
LRU	least recently used	Pertaining to an algorithm used to identify and make available the cache space that contains the data that was least recently used.
LS	Loop-Start Signaling	A type of switched access line signaling in which the network provides a battery source. To initiate a call, customer premise equipment will provide a loop closure that causes DC loop current to flow, which is detected by the network.
LSA	Local Security Authority	The Local Security Authority is the service provided to manage local security, domain authentication, and Active Directory processes. The Security Accounts Manager, Net Logon and Protected Storage services run within the context of lsass.exe
LSAP	Link Service Access Point	including both DSAP and SSAP, is the identifier field to indicate data types.
LSAS	Local Security Authentication Server	Verifies validity of user logons to PC/Server.
LSASS	Local Security Authority Subsystem Service	Provides an interface for managing local security, domain authentication, and Active Directory processes. The Security Accounts Manager, Net Logon and Protected Storage services are components of LSA
LSB	Least Significant Bit	The bit of a binary number which is farthest to the right, indicating the number of ones; also designated as bit zero.
LSH	Locality-Sensitive Hashing	an algorithm for solving the (approximate/exact) Near Neighbor Search in high dimensional spaces.
LSI	Large Scale of Integration	IC manufacturing integration level: it's the process of placing from 3,000 to 100,000 transistors on one chip
LSM	Linux Software Map Local Service Manager	a standard text format for describing Linux software. LSM for a program is a single text document, named software_package_name.lsm. In IBM Tivoli Kernel Services, a component that runs on each system that is part of the distributed system.
LSP	License Service Provider	An Netware Loadable Module (NLM) that responds to requests from NLS clients and licensing service managers for licensing information or license units
LSR	label switch router Leaf Setup Request Line Service Request Local Service Request	The role of an LSR is to forward packets in an MPLS network by looking only at the fixed-length label. An ATM term. A setup message type used when a leaf node requests connection to existing point-to-multipoint connection or requests creation of a new multipoint connection. Document in the LEC world which is used for porting requests, directory listing changes, trunk ordering etc. A term that was spawned by the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which formalized competition in local telecommunications. A LSR is a form, or series of forms, used by a CLEC to request local service from the ILEC.
LSR	local shared resource	A file that shares a common pool of buffers and a common pool of strings; that is, control blocks supporting I/O operations, with other files. In the VSAM, a resource in the local resource pool.
LSSGR	LATA Switching System Generic Requirements	Multi-volume set of Bellcore technical references dealing with basic switching requirements used by switch manufacturers, procurement staffs, planners, and switch technicians.
LTC	line traffic coordinator	In a DDN switching center, the processor that controls traffic on a line.
LTE	Lite Terminating Equipment Long-Term Evolution	ATM equipment terminating communications facility using SONET Lite Transmission Convergence (TC) layer. Usually reserved for end user or LAN equipment. next-generation network standard developed by the 3GPP as an evolution of today's 3G mobile networks. The standard, which relies on Internet Protocol end-to-end, aims to deliver higher capacity and greater throughput in a given cell, with maximum target speeds of 100 Mbps downstream and 50 Mbps upstream.
LTF	Leap To Frogans	http://www.frogans.com/
LTM	Local Traffic Managers	F5 product to provide offloading of SSL, connections, compression; intelligent traffic management
LTPA	Lightweight Third Party Authentication	An authentication framework that allows single sign-on across a set of Web servers that fall within an Internet domain. A protocol that uses cryptography to support security in a distributed environment.
LTRAN	local transaction	A recoverable unit of work managed by a resource manager and not coordinated by an external transaction manager. In a multisystem environment, a transaction that is processed totally by the system in which it is defined.
LTRS	Letters Shift	A code character used to command a Teletype - like device to perform a physical shift for alphabetic characters
LTS	Leaning Toothpick Syndrome	Expresses readability in PERL regular expressions
LU	Logical Unit	IBM's term for a logical node that is the user's "port" into a SNA network. LU 1 is a high-performance print and 3270 data stream. LU 6 enables host-to-host data exchange, and provides a peer-to-peer data stream.
LU-LU	between two logical units	a session between two logical units (LUs) in an SNA network. It provides communication between two end users, or between an end user and an LU services component.
LUF	lowest usable high frequency	The lowest frequency in the HF band at which the received field intensity is sufficient to provide the required signal-to-noise ratio for a specified time period, e.g., 0100 to 0200 UTC, on 90% of the undisturbed days of the month.
LUN	logical unit number	A number used in a SCSI bus to identify a peripheral device (such as an attached storage system)
LUNT	line unit network termination	The customer side of any DSL that does not terminate on the customer installation (CI).
LUS	LookUp Service	Provides the functionality to discover and register services
LUW	logical unit of work	The processing that a program performs between synchronization points. The work that occurs between the start of a transaction and commit or rollback and between subsequent commit and rollback actions.
LVD	Low Voltage Differential	the Low Voltage Differential interface used in Ultra2 and Ultra3 SCSI.
LVDS	Low Voltage Differential Signaling	a low noise, low power, low amplitude method for high-speed (gigabits per second) data transmission over copper wire.
LVM	Logical Volume Manager Low Voltage Differential Signaling	Provides a higher-level view of the disk storage on a computer system than the traditional view of disks and partitions. This gives the system administrator much more flexibility in allocating storage to applications and users IBM term
LVOL / LV	logical volume	A collection of physical partitions organized into logical partitions, all contained in a single volume group. The combined space on all volumes for either the database or the recovery log. The storage medium associated with a single logical unit (LU).
LWL	long wavelength	A type of fiber-optic cabling that is based on 1300-mm lasers and supports link speeds of 1.0625 Gbps.
LWP	light-weight process	means of achieving multitasking. In contrast to a user thread, which is handled at the application level, a light-weight process is scheduled by the kernel.
LZH	Lempel-Ziv-Haruyasu	Compression algorithm with a sliding window and additional compression applied to the output of the LZSS compressor by dynamic Huffman coding
LZW	Lempel Ziv Welch	a standard algorithm widely used for compression of data.
	landline	A telephone circuit that travels over land-based circuits
	LANlord	The alpha geek responsible for an office's Local Area Network.
	laptop	A portable PC, with system unit, screen and keyboard crammed into one small package. They can do pretty much everything a desktop PC can do, but are substantially more expensive because of the extra miniaturisation required.
	last mile	The final leg in delivering connectivity in a telecommunications network. Often perceived as the most critical in terms of both service provision, cost and bandwidth.
	Latency	The time interval during which a network station seeks access to a transmission channel and access is granted or received.
	layer	In the OSI reference model, a layer is a collection of related network-processing functions that constitute one level of a hierarchy of functions.
	Lazy evaluation	a computation optimization technique that attempts to delay computation of expressions until the results of the computation are known to be needed.
	Leased Line	A private telephone line without inter-exchange switching arrangements. Also called Private Line and Dedicated Line
	Legacy	Term used to describe enterprise applications or systems installed in the distant past, but still being used. Typically, they are characterized by outdated technologies, but are still critical to day-to-day operations.
	LinkedIn	a social networking site (www.linkedin.com) designed for business professionals to use for work contacts and communication.
	Linux (“Linus’ UNIX”)	A widely used Open Source Unix-like operating system. Linux was first released by its inventor Linus Torvalds in 1991. There are versions of Linux for almost every available type of computer hardware from desktop machines to IBM mainframes.
	LISTSERV	a commercial software package for operating e-mail mailing lists and discussion groups, produced by L-Soft International (www.lsoft.com)
	load balancing	In routing, the capability of a router to distribute traffic over all its network ports that are the same distance from the destination address. Good load-balancing algorithms use both line speed and reliability information.
	lock	A data structure used to synchronize access to a shared resource. The most common use for a lock is in multithreaded programs where multiple threads need access to global data.
	log	A record of a computer's or application's activity, used for system information, backup, and recovery.
	Login	Noun or a verb. Noun: The account name used to gain access to a computer system. Not a secret (contrast with Password). Verb: the act of connecting to a computer system by giving your credentials (usually your "username" and "password")
	Longhorn	internal code name used for Windows Vista (Windows 6.0) before its release.
	lookup	searching a data structure for an item that satisfies some specified property.
	loopback	A diagnostic test that returns the transmitted signal back to the sending device after it has passed through a network or across a particular link. The returned signal can then be compared to the transmitted one. The discrepancy between the two help to trace the fault.
	lossy	If a process is lossy, it means that a little quality is lost when it is performed. If a format is lossy, it means that putting data into that format will cause some slight loss. Lossy processes and formats are typically used for performance or resource utilization reasons.
	lurker	A user who does not participate in an online discussion (e.g., in a chat room), but merely observes the activity.
	lycos	An Internet search engine (http://www.lycos.com/) created at Carnegie Mellon University.