IT lexicon: Technical terms - B

#1: Big Data

What is big data? The term refers to the huge amounts of data that companies, for example, receive on a daily basis.Intelligent systems (AI analysis tools) are used to analyse, process and use these volumes of data - which are beyond our grasp - in a targeted manner (‘business intelligence’). This enables companies to improve their customer support or send personalised advertising and offers, for example. The data that a company uses for this can come from various sources - including search engines, smart home devices, customer master data or even social networks. The marketing optimisation of the company and the personal rights of the individual often ‘get in each other's way’. You can find more information on personal data in our blog post: ‘The issue with data’.

#2: BYOD

What does BYOD mean? BYOD stands for bring your own device and means that an employee, student or pupil brings their own mobile device (notebook, tablet, smartphone) to work or study at the company or school/university. This principle has both advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, companies and institutions spend less on hardware and the user does not have to ‘change’ (as they already know the device and operating system) and is also more flexible in terms of where and when they work/learn. On the other hand, the risk of data security should not be underestimated. This is because every device can represent a security vulnerability for the company network and, in the worst case, may already be infected with malware that spreads internally or allows hackers to access the network. Indulgence and the ‘mixing’ of internal and external devices can also lead to problems in the home office. You can find out more about this in our blog post: ‘Workplace 2.0: Data disaster in the home office’.

#3: Bit

What is a bit? This does not refer to the use of a drill, but the term from information technology, which stands for the unit of measurement of a digitally represented amount of data.The ‘binary digit’ (bit) describes the smallest binary unit of information. The multiple of a bit is displayed, for example, in the data transfer rate in Mbit or Gbit.

#4: Byte

What is a byte? Bits and bytes are often confused - a byte describes a unit of measurement in IT and consists of a sequence of eight individual bits. The difference is: While a bit and its multiples (Mbit, Gbit, etc.) describe the speed of data transmission, for example, the byte stands for the (storage) capacity. Here too, the multiples of a byte describe the respective memory sizes - e.g. megabyte, gigabyte or terabyte.

#5: Blockchain

What is a blockchain? Many people may be familiar with the term from trading cryptocurrencies such as bitcoins. The blockchain describes a register that is not centralised on a server, but decentralised, i.e. distributed across different systems. The advantage here is that a secure register exists, especially for ‘sensitive’ transfers such as crypto trading, which is well protected against counterfeiters and hackers - as they cannot simply change the data. The concept of blockchain technology was first publicly distributed with the trading of bitcoins. Nowadays, it is not only used in the field of cryptocurrencies, but also in the financial sector, the insurance industry and even the automotive industry, for example.

#6: Backup

What is a backup?The term backup refers to the backup copies created to restore data after a cyber attack, natural disaster, fire or other loss. A backup is essential for companies - and can also be extremely useful for private individuals.The backup copy contains information from the data carriers of a PC or notebook as well as from smartphones or tablets or, on a larger scale, from server and storage systems. Data stored in the cloud can also be saved as a backup copy on hard drives - or vice versa. There are even management systems for cloud backups that transfer and back up the data in real time. This means that in the event of a failure, all data can be restored without much effort.

You can find NAS systems that are suitable for backups, for private use as well as for SMEs, in our shop here.

#7: Blacklist

What is a blacklist? The ‘blacklist’ describes a type of filter that is used when receiving emails to automatically block messages from certain emails, IP addresses or domains that are on the blacklist. Addresses from which only spam or malware is known to be sent can be added to this list so that the recipient is protected from them. The counterpart to the blacklist is the whitelist - this contains recipients who have been categorised as particularly secure and trustworthy. You can find out more about phishing emails and social engineering in our blog post.

#8: Betriebssystem: what does operating system mean?

What is an operating system?The operating system (also known as OS for short) forms the interface between the user and the computer command that the user enters.To make the user interface as simple as possible, all system resources (hardware) of the computer are made available to the software (application programs) via the operating system.Without the operating system, a computer would not work - it would not be able to start up, nor could the hardware components be used for the software applications or vice versa.

The best-known operating systems in the PC sector are Microsoft Windows, macOS and Linux. For smartphones: Android, IOS and Windows Phone. In the server sector, Windows Server, Unix, Linux and NetWare operating systems are frequently used.

As with refurbished hardware, second-hand software can be a cost-effective and sustainable alternative to new software. You can find a large selection of Microsoft server operating systems or user CALs here.

#9: Beep codes

What are beep codes? A beep code is a signal tone that can be emitted by a BIOS when an error is detected during system startup. This acoustic signal is therefore also known as a BIOS beep. The respective errors are represented acoustically by various beeps (e.g. 1x short, 1x long, 1x long & 2x short) - if an error cannot be displayed on the screen (e.g. because the graphics card has not been installed correctly or is defective), it may be possible to localise the problem using the beep code. However, the signalling tones and the errors displayed differ from BIOS to BIOS.

#10: Broadcast

What is a broadcast? In a broadcast, the message or data packet to be sent is sent to all members of the respective network. The message is therefore sent from one to several participants in the communication network. This switching technology is a special form of multipoint connection and the opposite of a direct connection (connection between two points, sender and receiver).