N

N for network

abbreviation / acronyms	term	definition
NAB	Not A Bug	Used as a reason when rejecting a bug report
NAC	network access control network attached connection	NAC process evaluates the security state of a system or user as it connects to the network; monitors the security state of systems that are already connected. A particular type of connection that allows a connection directly to the active part of a network.
NACHA	National Automated Clearing House Association	A financial industry organization that develops electronic solutions to improve the payments system. Although it has retained the "NACHA" acronym, the organization now uses "NACHA — The Electronic Payments Association" as its full name.
NAI	Network Associates Inc.	A network security vendor headquartered in Santa Clara, California. now McAfee
NAK	Negative acknowledgement or not acknowledged	The opposite of the ACK signal. It indicates a message was not received correctly, or that the terminal is not ready to send.
NAM	Number Assignment Module	The component of a wireless phone that holds its telephone number and electronic serial number in memory.
NAMPS	Narrowband Advanced Mobile Phone Service	an improved version of AMPS systems. NAMPS is a cellular call-handling system that uses digital signalling techniques to split the existing 30 kHz wideband voice channels into three 10 kHz narrowband voice channels.
NaN	Not a Number	a value or symbol that is usually produced as the result of an operation on invalid input operands, especially in floating-point calculations
NANAE	News.Admin.Net-Abuse.Email	Usenet newsgroups
NANOG	North American Network Operators Grou	provides a forum for the exchange of technical information, and promotes discussion of implementation issues that require community cooperation. http://www.nanog.org/
NANP	Identifies the electrical conditions on the circuit.	The numbering plan used in the United States, Canada, Bermuda, Puerto Rico, and certain Caribbean Islands. The NANP format is a 10-digit number that consists of a 3-digit NPA code (Area Code), 3-digit NXX code (Exchange), and 4-digit code (Line).
NAP / NAPs	network access points	a public network exchange facility where ISPs can connect with one another in peering arrangements. The NAPs are a key component of the Internet backbone because the connections within them determine how traffic is routed. They are also the points of most Internet congestion.
NAP	Network Access Protection	A client feature supported by Windows Vista that provides for monitoring and isolation of computers on a Longhorn server-based network that do not meet administrator-defined health status requirements.
NAS	network access server Network Application Support network-attached storage	also known as a "media gateway" or a "remote access server" (RAS), is an access control point for remote users connecting to a company's internal network or to an ISP via analog modems or ISDN. a term and action originated by DEC. It was the way the industry came to support applications integration across a distributed multivendor environment. NAS is hard disk storage that is set up with its own network address rather than being attached to the department computer that is serving applications to a network's workstation users.
NASDAQ	National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations	the largest electronic screen-based equity securities trading market in the United States http://www.nasdaq.com/
NASS	Network Attachment Subsystem	a component in the IP Multimedia Susbsystem (IMS)
NASTRAN	NASA Stress Analysis	Software that is used to solve large stress analysis problems.
NAT	Network Address Translation	NAT translates the IP addresses of computers in a local network to a single IP address. This address is often used by the router that connects the computers to the Internet. In a firewall, the conversion of secure IP addresses to external registered addresses.
NAV	Norton Anti Virus	Symantec AV brand
NAVSTAR	NAVigation Satellite Timing and Ranging	the official government name for the satellite system that supports GPS devices.
NBC	National Broadcasting Company	NBC is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago.
NBSP	Non-Breaking Space	An HTML command that is used to display a single text space without a visible character in that space.
NC	Network Computer	An Internet PC from Oracle, designed for Internet use only.
NCC	Norton Control Center	Norton Utilities' program by Symantec
NCCM	Network Configuration and Change Management	tools focus on discovering and documenting network device configuration files, auditing changes, comparing configurations to the policy or "gold standard" for that device, and deploying configuration updates to multivendor network devices.
NCI	Network Channel Interface	Identifies the electrical conditions on the circuit.
NCp	Netware Core Protocol	The set of procedures that Novell NOSs use to handle all network client requests.
NCP	Network Control Program	A program that controls the operation of a communication controller. A program used for requests and responses exchanged between physical units in a network for data flow control. An IBM licensed program that provides communication controller support for single-domain, multiple-domain, and interconnected network capability.
NCQ	Native Command Queuing	A technology designed to increase performance of SATA hard disks under certain situations by allowing the individual hard disk to internally optimize the order in which received read and write commands are executed.
NDC	networked data center	A service that goes beyond making data center functionality available on a network. An NDC employs networking technology to treat multiple data centers and the network as a single system to efficiently access and process applications.
NDM	Network Data Mover	File transmission protocol software.
NDMP	Network Data Management Protocol	A standard protocol — proposed by storage technology vendors Network Appliance and Legato Systems — that storage management applications can use to back up data in a network of heterogeneous servers. NDMP defines a standard agent that can operate on any file server, regardless of hardware platform or operating system.
NDIS	Network Driver Interface Specification	Windows specification for how communication protocol programs (such as TCP/IP) and network device driver should communicate with each other.
NDP	Neighbor Discovery Protocol	a protocol in the Internet Protocol Suite used with IPv6
NDr	Non-Delivery Receipt	When an e-mail message is composed and sent to an invalid e-mail address the receiving, or in some cases the sending, e-mail server attempts to send an NDR to the sender of the e-mail message, to inform them that the e-mail address used is invalid.
NDS	Netware Directory Services	Novell's name for the tree structured hierarchy within Novell NOSs that includes all network resources and services.
NEC	National Electric Code NEC	A nationally recognized safety standard for the construction, design and maintenance of electrical circuits. A leading manufacturer and supplier in all commercial electronics industries worldwide. They have several International manufacturing and operations locations. See them at HTTP://WWW.NEC.COM.
NEl	Network Element Layer	An abstraction of functions related specifically to the technology, vendor, and the network resources or network elements that provide basic communications services.
NEMs	network equipment manufacturers	network equipment manufacturers
NES	Nintendo Entertainment System	Nintendo is a Japanese company that produces very popular arcade-like video games that require their own dedicated game equipment.
net-J	Internet disc jockey	In addition to the development of VJ's (video jockeys for music television) there is also the performance position of the Internet disc jockey (or "net-J"). Many enterprising webcasters have begun their own radio stations broadcasting strictly over the Internet.
NetApp	Network Appliance	NETAPP Inc. is a major vendor in the network attached storage (NAS) arena
netbeui	NetBios Enhanced User Interface	It is an enhanced version of the NetBIOS protocol used by network operating systems. Netbeui was originally designed by IBM for their Lan Manager server and later extended by Microsoft and Novell.
NETBIOS	network basic input/output system	allows applications on separate computers to communicate over a local area network (LAN)
Netizen	citizen of the Internet	someone who uses networked resources. The term connotes civic responsibility and participation.
newbie	New beginner	Internet slang for someone who hasn't been using computers or the internet long.
NEWS	Network Extensible Window System	A window system based on PostScript that Sun developed and licenses
NEXT	Near-End Crosstalk	an error condition that can occur when connectors are attached to twisted pair cabling. NEXT is usually caused by crossed or crushed wire pairs.
NF / NFs	Normal Forms	the structures and algorithms to normalize a relational database. One can only describe a database as having a normal form if the relationships between quantities have been rigorously defined.
NFC	Near-field communication	a short-range, wireless, personal-area technology designed to interact with consumer electronics, mobile devices and PCs. http://www.nfc-forum.org
NFF	No Fault Found. Notes Flat File	No Fault Found. An interchange format for the Lotus Notes/Domino platform based on XML.
NFI	Near Field Imaging	Touch screen where the screen itself is the sensor. NFI uses a sophisticated sensing circuit that can detect a conductive object - a finger or conductive stylus - through a layer of glass, as well as through gloves or other potential barriers
NFS	Network File System	A method of sharing files across a computer network. Pioneered by Sun Microsystems, it is now a de facto standard in the Unix environment. NFS is built on TCP/IP and Ethernet.
NGC	Next Generation Communications	Next Generation Communications
NGN	Next-Generation Network	a broad term to describe some key architectural evolutions in telecommunication core and access networks that will be deployed before 2020. The idea is that one network transports all information and services by encapsulating these into packets, as on the Internet.
NGOSS	next-generation operational support system solutions	NGOSS is the TeleManagement Forum’s initiative to drive operational efficiency and cost reduction among telecom networks. NGOSS is a comprehensive, integrated framework for developing, procuring and deploying operational and business support systems and sofware.
NHIN	Nationwide Health Information Network	An interoperable network based on standards that is across the nation and enables the secure exchange of heath information.
NHM	Next Human Network	an Internet content service operator headquartered in Seongnam, South Korea and established in 1998. It operates the Naver portal, which is the most popular Internet portal and search engines in South Korea, and Hangame, the country's number one online game portal.
NHRP	Next Hop Resolution Protocol	Protocol used by routers to dynamically discover the MAC address of other routers and hosts connected to an NBMA network.
NIC	Network Information Center Network Interface Card	Generally, any office that handles information for a network. The most famous of these on the Internet was the InterNIC, which was where most new domain names were registered until that process was decentralized to a number of private companies. Pronounced "nick," this is the card that physically makes the connection between the computer and the network cable. These cards typically use an Ethernet connection and are available in 10, 100, and 1000 Base-T configurations.
nicad	nickel-cadmium	a type of rechargeable battery formerly used in laptop computers. Nickel-cadmium batteries are toxic and should not be discarded in ordinary trash.
NICAM	Near Instantaneous Companded Audio Multiplex	A technique for including digital audio when broadcasting analogue TV. NICAM is intended to provide CD quality stereo for TV broadcasts. Basically it is a digital sound TV carrier signal said to be very robust, even when analogue reception was poor. In reality this was not the case and in areas where signal strength was poor, switching to mono gave favourable results like on FM radio broadcasts
NICE	Narrative, Immersive, Collaborative Environment	Rechargeable battery technology
NID	Network Interface Device	a device that terminates copper pair from the serving central office at the user’s destination and which is typically located outside that location.
NIH	not invented here (syndrome)	An informal term used to describe a vendor's reluctance or refusal to support technologies it did not develop itself.
NILO	Network Interface LOader	Boot Linux, FreeBSD, Windows 95/98/NT4 and support the Intel PXE standard, and is suitable for burning into ROM. It is an evolution of the previous Etherboot and Netboot projects. See http://www.nilo.org/
NIM	Network Interface Module	the interface provided, up to two per carrier, for the PSTN used by V.32 dial backup modules (DBMs) and dial/lease modems, and for the switched 56 kbps digital service used by the 2-wire and 4-wire switched 56 DBMs.
NiMH	Nickel Metal Hydride	batteries do not suffer from the memory effect as the NiCad counterpart. Compared to a NiCad battery of equal size, NiMH batteries run for 30% longer on each charge cycle.
NIP	Non-Impact Printer	A printer that prints without striking the paper; for example, a laser printer or an inkjet printer. Non-impact printers are quieter than impact printers, such as dot matrix or daisy wheel printers.
NIR	Near-Infrared	A portion of the electromagnetic spectrum representing light waves approaching infrared.
NIS	Network Information Service Norton Internet Security	Sun Microsystems' client-server protocol for keeping track of user and host names on a network. Symantec - Software
NIST	National Institute of Standards and Technology	Founded in 1901, NIST is a non-regulatory federal agency within U.S. Commerce Department's Technology Administration.
NJE	network job entry	In object distribution, an entry in the network job table that specifies the system action required for incoming network jobs sent by a particular user or group of users. A facility for linking single-processor systems or multi-access spool complexes into a processing network
NLA	Network Location Awareness	Enables Windows Sockets 2 applications to identify the logical network to which a Windows computer is attached and to which physical network interface a given application has saved specific information
NLB	Network Load Balancing	A clustering technology from Microsoft allowing network traffic to be evenly distributed across a number of servers. It also helps to provide high availability by detecting host failures and rerouting traffic to one of the available servers.
NLDF	national language dependent function	Any function of a hardware or software product that must be altered to suit a country, region, or language.
NLM	NetWare Loadable Module Network Lifecycle Management	Individual program that can be loaded into memory on a NetWare server and function as part of the NetWare network operating system. a key component of the HP Business Service Management (BSM) offering, which reduces service disruptions by improving visibility into the performance of networks and systems. HP Software Network Management Center provides NLM for automation.
NLO	net-liberated organization	A Gartner concept describing an organizational philosophy enabled by the advent of the Internet and related Web technologies.
NLOS	Near Line OF Sight	Used to describe radio transmission across a path that is partially obstructed, usually by a physical object. Many types of radio transmissions depend on line-of-sight between the transmitter and receiver.
NLP	Natural language processing	refers to the computer understanding, analysis, manipulation, and/or generation of natural language. NLP is a subfield of artificial intelligence and linguistics. It studies the problems of automated generation and understanding of natural human languages.
NLQ	Near Letter Quality	Print quality almost as good as an electric typewriter; quality similar to a cloth-ribbon typewriter. The characters are legible but not sharp. Some dot matrix printers print NLQ.
NLS	National Language Support	The set of system functions in 32-bit Windows containing information that is based on language and cultural conventions.
NLSP	Novell Link State Protocol	The equivalent of Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) /o for IPX /i RIP /r and SAP services. Much more efficient in its use of bandwidth and improved stability.
NLSR	Natural language speech recognition	This is a computer's ability to convert spoken input into text, or to interpret spoken commands. Special software is used to digitize vocal sounds and compares them with a library of sound patterns.
NMC	Network Management Center	an operations center used to manage network resources such as the MSC, location registers and base stations.
NMI	nonmaskable interrupt	An interrupt that cannot be disabled. Known as a trap (on some Intel processors), as a level 7 interrupt (Motorola), or by other names.
NMOS	Negative-channel Metal Oxide Semiconductor	A semiconductor technology that uses negatively charged base material. NMOS circuits are used with logic and memory chips.
NMS	Network Management Station Network Monitoring System	a server that runs a network management application. Network elements communicate with the NMS to relay management and control information. The NMS also enables network data analysis and reporting. An application to notify front-line support personnel about problems with applications running on remote machines
NNI	network-to-network interface	A term used to denote the interface between two public frame relay or asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) networks.
NNTP	Network News Transfer Protocol	For a message to be posted to a newsgroup, it must be sent through this protocol that interacts between news servers and newsreader programs. NNTP is basically the software foundation of a newsgroup server. It is what queries, distributes, posts, and retrieves news articles.
no-op	no operation	A machine instruction that does nothing in itself, but holds a place for an instruction to be entered later. Also called do-nothing operation.
NO/NC	Normally Open/Normally Closed	Generally pertains to a set of contacts on a switch or relay and the position that they are normally found in. NO is normally open and usually means the circuit is open. NC is normally closed and usually means the circuit is engaged and capable.
NOC	Network Operations Center	It is the central location where a company's servers and networking equipment are located. The NOC may reside either within a company's campus or at an external location.
NOS	Network Operating System	An operating system which makes it possible for computers to be on a network, and manages the different aspects of the network.
NPA	numbering plan area	A geographical boundary within which no two telephones will have the same seven-digit number. "N" is any number between two and nine, "P" is always one or zero; and "A" is any number excluding zero.
NPC	North Pacific Cable	NPC is cable system that connect USA and Japan
NPDA	Network Problem Determination Application	An IBM host- based program designed to aid in the isolation and diagnosis of network problems.
NPI	National Provider Identifier	A system for classifying all providers of health care services, supplies, and equipment covered under HIPAA.
NPL	Netscape Public License	an open-source license, one of the licenses under which Mozilla is distributed. Its most notable feature is that it gives the original developer of Mozilla
NPP	Network Payment Protocol	A non-proprietary standard governing how BIPS-enabled client software interfaces with bank payment processing systems. NPP messages are in Extensible Markup Language (XML) and begin with a Bank Internet Payment System (BIPS) XML header.
NPSI	nonpartitioned secondary index	An index on a partitioned table space that is not the partitioning index and is not partitioned.
NPU	Network Processor	similar to a microprocessor or CPU, is specially deisgned for use in applications involving network routing and packet processing. Many network processors feature multiple RISC CPUs running in parallel.
NRM	normal response mode	An operational mode of an unbalanced data link in which the secondary station starts transmission only as the result of receiving explicit permission, by polling, from the primary station.
NRO	Number Resource Organization	coordinating body for the five RIRs that manage the distribution of IP Address www.nro.net
NRZ	Non Return to Zero	a type of data stream where successive data pulses "ones" are continuous over several clock cycles without returning to the "zero" state between successive "ones".
NRZI	Non-Return to Zero Inverted	Also known as "invert-on-zero" coding, NRZI is an SDLC encoding technique where a change in state represents a binary 0 and no change in state represents a binary 1.
ns	Nanosecond	One billionth of a second. In this time, electrical pulses travel approximately 12 inches
NSA	Network Security Appliance	SonicWALL SMB firewall line
NSLookup	Name Server Lookup	a utility for converting IP addresses to the associated hostname and vice versa.
NSI	Network Solutions, Inc	the organization that, until 1998, had sole responsibility for maintaining the registry of TLDs ending in .com, .net, and .org, under a contract with the United States Government. Its web address is www.networksolutions.com.
NSLU2	Network Storage Link for USB 2.0	a NAS device made by Linksys introduced in 2004 and discontinued in 2008. It makes USB Flash memory and hard disks accessible over a network using the SMB protocol. http://www.linksysbycisco.com/US/en/products/NSLU2
NSFNET	National Science Foundation Network	a high speed network of networks which is hierarchical in nature. At the highest level is a backbone network which spans the continental United States.
NSM	Network and Security Manager	Juniper integrated, policy-driven security and network management products.
NSP	Network Service Provider	A company that provides Internet access to ISPs. NSPs offer direct access to the Internet backbone and to the Network Access Points (NAPs).
NSR	nonshared resources Non-Source Routed	Files with their own set of buffers and control blocks. Frame forwarding through a mechanism other than Source Route Bridging.
NSS	Network Switching Subsystem	a portion of a GSM network that manages the connections and communications within the network. The BSS and OSS complete the major components of the network.
NT	New Technology	Specifically refers to Microsoft's Windows NT 3.5 and NT 4 Windows operating systems. Later versions of Windows are built on NT, which is why references to NT remain in later versions of Windows.
NTCIP	National Transportation Communications for Intelligent Transportation System Protocol	a family of standards designed to achieve interoperability and interchangeability between computers and electronic traffic control equipment from different manufacturers.
NTE	Network Termination Equipment	Located in the home or office. Examples are set-top boxes, LAN cards.
NTF	No Trouble Found	IBM computer maintenance abbreviation.
NTFS	New Technology File System	The NTFS file system used in Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003. NTFS file system allows permissions to be assigned to individual files and folders.
NTO	Network Terminal Option	An IBM SNA environment program that allows non-SNA asynchronous and BSC devices access to the network via the communications control unit (3705/3725/3745).
NTP	network time protocol	Protocol for synchronizing the clocks of computer systems over packets switched, variable-latency data networks.
NTRU	Number Theory is Really Useful	Technology for high speed, low footprint public key cryptography, based on the mathematics of lattice reduction. (Marketed by NTRU Cryptosystems, Inc, http://www.ntru.com/)
NTT	network topology template Nippon Telegraph and Telephone	A template that depicts how the logical deployment template nodes communicate with each other. a telephone company that dominates the telecommunication market in Japan. NTT is the largest telecommunications company in Asia
NTSC	National Television System Committee	A specification for video transmission.
NUI	Natural User Interfaces	describes a wide-ranging category of technology that is perhaps most easily identified by what it lacks – the traditional methods of input including mice, keyboards, and controllers.
NUMA	Non-Uniform Memory Access	A multiprocessing architecture where each processor or small group of processors has its own group of memory chips. Accessing memory local to the processor is faster than accessing remote memory on other processor boards.
NVE	Network Visible Entity	A network addressable service (ie. protocol socket) that acts as a network service process (not a node.)
NZ-DSF	Non Zero-Dispersion-Shifted Fiber	a dispersion shifted Single Mode (SM) fiber that has the zero dispersion point near the 1550 nm window.
	N + 1	A configuration of clustered servers or storage subsystems that provides redundancy for improved reliability by using multiple primary systems and one backup system. This provides for improved scalability and reduced cost compared to two-times (1+1) configurations.
	n-tier architecture	"n" represents the number of tiers in an application architecture. Often, this will be a two- or three-tier client/server architecture. A three-tier client/server platform architecture is defined such that the server-based applications are separated from the DBMS or data repository.
	narcissus	A defect in infrared systems that appears as a dark circular area on a displayed image, caused by radiation reflecting into a detector. It can be reduced by low-reflective coatings or by altering the lens surface.
	narrowband	A low information capacity, equivalent to one speech channel (4kHz analogue or 64kbit/s digital signal).
	Navigate	To find one's way around the Internet.
	nesting	programming commands that are inside of another command. The term does not lend itself to any single language but generally to all that support nesting. Not all commands can be nested and not all combinations of commands can be nested.
	Netbeans	Open-source application development tools, www.netbeans.org
	netbook	basically a small, inexpensive yet Internet-ready computer with less computing power than a standard laptop.
	NetWare	Novell-developed NOS. Provides file and printer sharing among networks of PCs. Each network must have at least one file server, and access to other resources is dependent on connecting to and logging into file server.
	Network Topology	The physical and logical relationship of nodes in a network; the schematic arrangement of the links and nodes of a network typically in the form of a star, ring, tree or bus topology.
	Nexus	Cisco Nexus (introduced 2008), modular network switches designed for data centers Google Nexus (released 2010), a line of Android Devices produced
	Node	A collection of modems that provide local access to a system. When you dial your local access number, you are dialing into a generally local node which then connects you to the main ISP system. a single station on a network.
	noise	Unplanned energy introduced onto a communications path, resulting in transmission errors. Undesirable signals bearing no desired information The unpredictable difference between the observed data and the true process.
	northbridge	the chip or chips that connect a CPU to memory, the PCI bus, Level 2 cache and AGP activities. The Northbridge chips communicate with the CPU through the FSB. other is Southbridge.
	nuke	To intentionally delete the entire contents of a given directory, hard drive, or storage volume.
	Nuker	Now a generic term for several TCP/IP DoS attacks, but originally made (in)famous by the WinNuke DoS attack which crashed Windows machines that had not been suitably patched or firewalled.
	null	When a variable has no value, it considered to be null. Having a null value is different than having a value of 0, since 0 is an actual value. However, when used in a boolean test, both null and zero result in a FALSE value.
	Nx64k	This refers to a circuit bandwidth or speed provided by the aggregation of nx64 kbps channels (where n= integer 1).
	nym (server)	A computer that allows a subscribing user to send and receive e-mail messages using a nym, or assumed name, without revealing the user's true identity.