The list on this page is a compilation of such, technical, IT-related acronyms and abbreviations. Its entries were taken from the realms of both, hard- and software technology. It is intended to serve as a reminder and/or quick reference rather than as a glossary/encyclopedia. For this reason and in order to accommodate all entries on a single page, it does not provide any definitions or (furthergoing) information on the meaning and/or origin of the abbreviated terms. (more ...)

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

Abbreviation	for

A
AAL	Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) Adaption Layer
AAR	ARC (Authenticated Received Chain)-Authentication-Results
ABR	Available Bit Rate
ABR	Area Border Router
ACE	Access Control Entry
ACL	Access Control List
ACM	Auto Configuration Module
ACPI	Advanced Configuration and Power Interface
ADAM	Active Directory Application Mode
ADAP	Auto-Discovery/Auto-Purge
ADB	Apple Desktop Bus
ADF	Automatic Document Feed
AD FS	Active Directory Federation Service
ADFS	Active Directory Federation Service
ADISAPI	Advanced Data Internet Server Application Programming Interface
ADO	ActiveX Data Objects
ADO MD	ActiveX Data Objects (Multidimensional)
ADOX	ActiveX Data Objects Extensions
ADPCM	Adaptive Differential Pulse Code Modulation
ADS	Active Directory Service
ADSI	Active Directory Service Interfaces
ADSI	Analog Display Services Interface
ADSL	Asynchronous Digital Subscriber Line
AES	Advanced Encryption Standard
AES	Attachment Execution Service
AGP	Accelerated Graphics Port
AI	Artificial Intelligence
AIDE	Advacned Intrusion Detection Environment
AIS	Application Information Service
ALG	Application Layer Gateway (Service)
ALPN	Application-Layer Protocol Negotiation
AMS	ARC (Authenticated Received Chain)-Message-Signature
AMQP	Advanced Message Queuing Protocol
ANSI	American National Standards Institute
AP	Access Point
APDU	Application Protocol Data Unit
API	Application Programming Interface
APIPA	Automatic Private Internet Protocol (IP) Addressing
APL	A Programming Language *2
APLSV	APL (A Programming Language) Shared Variable
APM	Advanced Power Management
APT	Advanced Packaging Tool
AQS	Advanced Query Syntax
ARC	Authenticated Received Chain
ARM	Advancend Reduced Instructions Set Computing (RISC) Machines
ARP	Address Resolution Protocol
ARPA	Advanced Research Projects Agency
ARPA	Address Routing and Parameters Area
AS	ARC (Authenticated Received Chain)-Seal
AS	Autonumous System
ASCII	American Standard Code for Information Interchange
ASN	Autonomous System Number
ASN.1	Abstract Syntax Notation One
ASP	Active Server Page(s)
ASR	Automated System Recovery
ATA	(IBM) AT (PC) Attachment
ATAPI	AT Attachment (ATA) Packet Interface
ATCP	AppleTalk Control Protocol
ATL	Active Template Library
ATM	Asynchronous Transfer Mode
ATR	Answer To Reset
AUTOSAR	AUTomotive Open Systems ARchitecture
Auth-IP	Authenticated Internet Protocol
AWE	Address Windowing Extensions
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B
BAP	Bandwidth Allocation Protocol
BBS	Bulletin Board System
BC	Binary Calculator
BCC	Blind Carbon Copy
BCD	Binary Coded Decimal(s)
BCDIC	Binary-Coded Decimal Interchange Code
BCD	Boot Configuration Data
BDA	Broadcast Driver Architecture
BDC	Backup Domain Controller
BDC	Binary Delta Compression
BDE	BitLocker Drive Encryption
BDE	Borland Database Engine
BDESVC	BitLocker Drive Encryption Service
BER	Basic Encoding Rules
BFE	Base Filtering Engine
BGP	Border Gateway Protocol
BHO	Browser Helper Object
BIDI	Bi-Directional
BIND	Berkeley Internet Name Daemon
BIND	Berkeley Internet Name Domain
BINL	Boot Information Negotiation Layer
BIOS	Basic Inpuut Output Services/System
B-ISDN	Broadband Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN)
Bit	Binary digit
BITS	Background Intelligent Transfer Service
BLOB	Binary Large Object
BMC	Baseboard Management Controller
BMP	Basic Multilingual Plane
BMP	Bitmap
BOM	Byte Order Mark
BOOTP	Bootstrap Protocol
bpp	bits per pixel
bps	bits per second
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C
C2R	Click to Run
CA	Certification Authority
CAD	Computer Aided Design
CAM	Computer Aided Manufactuing
CAN	Controller Area Network
CAPTCHA	Compeletly Automatated Public Turing (Test to keep) Computers (and) Humans Apart
CBC	Cipher Block Chaining
CCB	Command Control Block
CBCP	Callback Control Protocol
CBR	Constant Bit Rate
CBT	Computer Based Training
CC	Carbon Copy
CC	Continuity Check
CCK	Complimentary Code Keying
CCP	Compression Control Protocol
CCSID	Character Code Set Identifier
CD	Compact Disk
CDATA	Character Data
CDB	Constant Database
CDFS	Compact Disk File System
CDN	Content Delivery Networks
CDO	Collaboration Data Objects
CDS	Certified Document Service
CDVT	Cell Delay Variation Tolerance
CFB	Cipher Feedback
CGA	Color Graphics Adapter
CGI	Common Gateway Interface
CHAP	Challenge Handshake Authentification Protocol
CHS	Cylinder Head Sector
CIDR	Classless Inter-Domain Routing
CIFS	Common Internet File System
CIM	Common Information Model
CIP	Cluster Internet Protocol (IP) address
CLI	Command Line Interface
CLIP	Classical Internet Protocol (over Asynchronous Transfer Mode)
CLR	Common Language Runtime
CLS	Common Language Specification
CLSID	Class Identifier
CMC	Certificate Management Message over CMS (Certificate Message Syntax)
CMD	Command
CMOS	Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor
CMS	Certificate Message Syntax
CMY	Cyan, Magenta, Yellow
CN	Common Name
CNAME	Canonical Name
CNG	Cryptography (Application Programming Interface), Next Generation
COBOL	Common Business-Oriented Language
codec	compressor/decompresor
COFF	Common Object File Format
COM	Component Object Model
COMM	Communications (port)
CON	Console
config	Configuration
CORBA	Common Object Request Broker Architecture
COS	Class of Service
COSA	Country and Operator Settings Asset
CPAN	Comprehensive Perl Archive Network
CPS	Certification Practice Statement
CPU	Central Processing Unit
CR	Carriage Return
CRC	Cyclic Redundancy Check
CR/LF	Carriage Return/Line Feed
CRL	Certificate Revocation List
CRT	Cathode Ray Tube
CRT	C run-time (library)
CRU	Customer Replaceable Unit(s)
CSDL	Conceptual Schema Definition Language
CSID	Calling Subscriber Identifier
CSIDL	Constant Special Item Identifier (ID) List
CSP	Cryptographic Service Provider
CSR	Certificate Signing Request
CSS	Cascading Style Sheet(s)
CTI	Computer Telephony Integration
CTL	Certificate Trust List
CTP	Cordless Telephone Profile
CTS	Clear to Send
CTS	Common Type System
CURL	Client URL (Uniform Resource Locator)
CVS	Concurrent Versions System
CWND	Collaborative Windows Network Drive
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D
DACL	Discretionary Access-Control List
DAD	Duplicate Address Detection
DASD	Direct Access to Storage Device
DB	Database
DBCS	Double-Byte Character Set
DBM	Database Manager
DBPSK	Demodulator Baseband Phase Shift Keying
DC	Device Context
DCCP	Datagram Congestion Control Protocol
DCE	Data Communication Equipment
DD	Double Density
DCOM	Distributed Component Object Model (COM)
DDB	Device Dependent Bitmap
DDE	Dynamic Data Exchange
DDI	Device Driver Interface
DDK	(Device) Driver Development Kit
DDL	Data Definition Language
DDNS	Dynamic DNS (Domain Name Service)
DDoS	Distributed Denial of Service
DECT	Digital Enhanced Cordless Telephone
DER	Distinguished Encoding Rules
DEP	Data Execution Prevention
DES	Data Encryption Standard
DFS	Distributed File System
DFSN	Distributed File System Namespace(s)
DFSR	Distributed File System Replication
DHCP	Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
DHTML	Dynamic Hypertext Markup Language
DKIM	Domain Key(s) Identified Mail
DIB	Device Independent Bitmap
DID	Direct Inward Dialing
DIM	Dynamic Interface Manager
DLC	Data Link Control
DLL	Dynamic Link Library
DMA	Direct Mermory Access
DMARC	Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance
DML	Data Manipulation Language
DMO	DirectX Media Object
DMT	Discrete Multi-Tone
DMTF	Distributed Management Task Force
DN	Distinguished Name
DNS	Domain Name Service/Server
DNS	Domain Name System
DNSBL	Domain Name System Blacklist
DNSSEC	Domain Name System (DNS) Security Extension(s)
DOM	Document Object Model
DOS	Disk Operating System
DPC	Deferred Procedure Call
DPDK	Data Plane Development Kit
dpi	dots per inch
dpkg	Debian Package (system)
DPTF	Dynamic Platform and Thermal Framework
DPWS	Devices Profile for Web Services
DQPSK	Differential Quadrature Phase Shift Keying
DRAC	Dynamic Relay Authorization Control
DRDA	Distributed Relational Database Architecture
DR DOS	Digital Research Disk Operating System (DOS)
DRM	Digital Rights Management
DRPD	Distinctive Ring Pattern Detection
DSA	Digital Signature Algorithm
DSL	Digital Subscriber Line
DSM	Distributed Scan Management
DSML	Directory Services Markup Language
DSO	Dynamic Shared Objects
DSP	Digital Signal Processing
DSR	Data-Set Ready
DSS	Digital Signature Standard
DSSS	Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum
DTC	Distributed Transaction Coordinator
DTD	Document Type Definition
DTE	Data Terminal Equipment
DTIM	Delivery Traffic Indication Message
DTMF	Dual Tone Multi-Frequency
DTP	Desktop Publishing
DTR	Data-Terminal Ready
DV	Digital Video
DV	Domain Validation
DVC	Dynamic Virtual Channel
DVD	Digital Versatile Disk
DVMRP	Distance Vector Multicast Routing Protocol
DXF	Drawing Exchange Format
DXVA	DirectX Video Acceleration
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E
EA	Electronic Arts
EAP	Extensible Authentication Protocol
EAP-TLS	Extensible Authentication Protocol Transport Level Security
EAROM	Electrically Alterable ROM (Read Only Memory)
EBCDIC	Extended Binary-Coded Decimal Interchange Code
ECB	Electronic Codebook
ECC	Elliptic Curve Cryptography
ECC	Error-Correction Check
ECM	Error Correction Mode
ECMA	European Computer Manufacturers Association
ECN	Explicit Congestion Notification
EFI	Extensible Firmware Interface
EFS	Encrypting File System
EGA	Enhanced Graphics Adapter
EGP	Exterior Gateway Protocol
EISA	Enhanced Industry Standard Architecture
EKU	Enhanced Key Usage
EM64T	Extended Memory 64 Technology
ELAN	Emulated Local Area Network (LAN)
EMET	Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit
EMS	Emergency Management Services
ENIAC	Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer
EOBO	Enroll On Behalf Of
EPROM	Erasable Programmable ROM (Read Only Memory)
EPS	Encapsulated Postcript
EPSI	Encapsulated Postcript Interchange
EPV	Entry Point Vector
ESDI	Enhanced Small Devices Interface
ESP	Encapsulating Security Payload
ESSID	Extended Service Set Identifier
EUDC	End-User Defined Characters
EULA	End-User License Agreement
EV	Extended Validation
EXIF	Exchangeable Image File
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F
FAT	File Allocation Table
FAT32	File Allocation Table, 32 bit
FAQ	Frequently Asked Question(s)
FCB	File Contorl Block
FDC	Floppy Disk Controller
FDDI	Fiber Distributed Data Interface
FEC	Forward-Error-Corrected
FED	Field Emission Device
FEK	File Encryption Key
FEP	Front-End Processor
FHSS	Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum
FIFO	First In, First Out
FinTS	Financial Transaction Service(s)
FIR	Fast Infrared
FIPS	Federal Information Processing Standard
FLOP(s)	Floating Point Operation(s) (per second)
FP	Floating Point
FORTRAN	Formula Translation
FiOS	Fiber Optic Service
FQDN	Fully Qualified Domain Name
FRS	File Replication Service
FSF	Free Software Foundation
FSMO	Flexible Single Master Operations
FTP	File Transfer Protocol
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G
GAN	Global Area Network
GAP	Generic Access Profile
GB	Giga Byte
GDI	Graphics Devices Interface
GDM	GNOME Display Manager
GDR	General Distribution Release
GDR-DU	General Distribution Release (Dynamic Update)
GECOS	General Electric Comprehensive Operating System
GHz	Giga-Hertz
GIC	Group Identity Certificate
GID	Group ID (Identifier)
GIF	Graphics Interchange Format
GINA	Graphical Identification and Authentication
GMP	GNU Multiple-Precision Library
GMT	Greenwich Mean Time
GPL	General Public License
GPMC	Group Policy Management Console
GPO	Group Policy Object
GREP	Get Regular Expression
GRUB	Grand Unified Bootloader
GPT	GUID (Globally Unique Identifier) Partition Table
GPU	Graphics Processing Unit
GSI	Generic System Image
GUI	Graphical User Interface
GUID	Globally Unique Identifier
GVFS	GNOME Virtual File System
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H
HAL	Hardware Abstraction Layer
HBA	Host-Based Adapter
HBCI	Home Banking Computer Interface
HCL	Hardware Compatibility List
HD	High Density
HDD	Hard Disk Drive
HDMI	High Definition Multimedia Interface
HDTV	High Definition Television
HEC	Header Error Control
HGC	Hercules Graphics Card
HID	Human Interface Device
HLS	Hue, Luminosity, (and) Saturation
HMAC	Hash-based Message Authentication Code
HNS	Host Network Service
HOLAP	Hybrid OLAP (Online Analytical Processing)
HPFS	High Performance File System
HSL	Hue Saturation Luminance
HSTS	HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) Strict Transport Security
HTML	Hyper Text Markup Language
HTTP	Hyper Text Transfer Protocol
HTTPS	Secure Hyper Text Transfer Protocol
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I
IaaS	Infrastructure as a Service
IAB	Internet Architecture Board
IANA	Internet Assigned Names Authority
IANA	Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
IAS	Internet Authentication Service
IBM	International Business Machines (Corporation)
ICANN	Internet Corporation for Assigned Numbers and Names
ICC	Integrated Circuit Card
ICE	Internal Compiler Error
ICM	Image Color Management
ICMP	Internet Control Message Protocol
ICMPv6	Internet Control Message Protocol version 6
ICS	Internet Connection Sharing
IDE	Integrated Develoment Environment
IDE	Integrated Device Electronics
IDL	Interface Definition Language
IDN	International Domain Name
IEC	International Electrotechnical Commission
IEEE	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
IESG	Internet Engineering Steering Group
IETF	Internet Engineering Task Force
IFS	Installable File System
IGP	Interior Gateway Protocol
IGMP	Internet Group Management Protocol
IGMPv2	Internet Group Management Protocol version 2
IGMPv3	Internet Group Management Protocol version 3
IHV	Independent Hardware Vendors
IID	Interface Identifier
IIS	Internet Information Services/Server
IKE	Internet Key Exchange
ILMI	Integrated Local Management Interface
IM	Instant Messaging
IMA	Interactive Multimedia Association
IMAP	Internet Message Access Protocol
IMAPI	Image Mastering Application Programming Interface
IME	Input Method Editor
INCITS	International Committee for Information Technology Standards
int	Integer
Int	Interrupt
I/O	Input/Output
IO	Input/Output
IOCTL	Input and Output Control
IoT	Internet of Things
IP	Internet Protocol
IPC	Inter-process Communication
IPF	Itanium Processor Family
IPMI	Intelligent Platform Management Interface
IPQoS	Internet Protocol (IP) Quality of Service
IPSec	Internet Protocol (IP) Security
IPX	Internetwork Packet Exchange
IPX/SPX	Internetwork Packet Exchange/Sequenced Packet Exchange
IPP	Internet Printing Protocol
IRC	Internet Relay Chat
IrDA	Infrared Data Association
IRQ	Interrupt Request
ISA	Industry Standard Architecture
ISA	Internet Security and Acceleration
ISAPI	Internet Server Application Programming Interface
ISATAP	Intra-Site Automatic Tunnel Addressing Protocol
ISC	Internet Systems Consortium
ISDN	Integrated Services Digital Network
ISM	Inter-site Messaging Service
ISO	International Organization for Standardization
ISOC	Internet Society
ISP	Internet Service Provider
ISSLOW	Integrated Services Over Slow Links
ISV	Independent Software Vendor
IT	Informtation Technology
ITU	International Telecommunications Union
ITU-T	International Telecommunications Union - Telecommunication
IVR	Interactive Voice Response
IXFR	Incremental Zone Transfer (protocol)
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J
JBOD	Just a Bunch of Disks
JEIDA	Japan Electronic Industry Development Association
JIT	Just in Time
JPEG	Joint Photographic Expert Group
JRE	Java Runtime Environment
JSON	JavaScript Object Notation
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K
KB	Kilobyte
KB	(Microsoft) Knowledge Base
Kbps	Kilobits per second
KCA	Key Certification Authority
KCC	Knowledge Consistency Checker
KCS	Keyboard Controller Style
KDC	Key Distribution Center
KDE	K Desktop Environment
KDM	K Display Manager
KEA	Key Exchange Algorithm
kHz	Kilohertz
KTM	Kernel Transaction Manager
KVM	Kernel-based Virtual Machine
KVMR	Keyboard/Video/Mouse Redirection
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L
L2TP	Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol
LAMP	Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP
LAN	Local Area Network
LANA	Local Area Network (LAN) Adapter
LANE	Local Area Network (LAN) Emulation
LASER	Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation
LAT	Local Address Table
LBA	Logical Block Address(es)
LBN	Logical Block Number
LCD	Liquid Crystal Display
LCID	Language Code Identifier
LCID	Locale Identifier
LDM	Logical Disk Manager
LGPL	Lesser General Public Licence
LCOS	Liquid Crystal on Silicon
LCP	Link Control Protocol
LDAP	Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
LDIF	Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) Data Interchange Format
LEC	Local Area Network (LAN) Emulation Client
LED	Light Emitting Diode
LES	Local Area Network (LAN) Emulation Server
LF	Line Feed
LFN	Long File Name
LFU	Least Frequently Used
LGPL	Lesser General Public License
lib	library
LIFO	Last In, First Out
Linux	Linus (Thorvald) Unix
LLC	Logical Link Control
LLDP	Link-Layer Discovery Protocol
LMTP	Local Mail Transfer Protocol
LPD	Line Printer Daemon
LPR	Line Printer Remote
LRA	Local Registration Authority
LRPC	Lightweight Remote Procedure Call
LSA	Local Security Authority
LSP	Layered Service Provider
LTR	Left to Right
LTSB	Long Term Servicing Branch
LUID	Locally Unique Identifier
LUKS	Linux Unified Key Setup
LUN	Logical Unit Number
LVM	Logical Volume Manager
LZ	Lempel-Ziv
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M
MARS	Multicast Address Resoulution Service
MAC	Medium Access Control
MAC	Message Authentication Code
MADCAP	Multicast Address Dynamic Client Allocation Protocol
MAPI	Messaging Application Programming Interface
MASM	Microsoft Assembler
MathML	Mathematical Markup Language
MB	Megabyte
MBCS	Multi-Byte Character Set
Mbps	Megabits per second
MBR	Master Boot Record
MCI	Media Control Interface
MCS	Multicast Server
MDA	Mail Delivery Agent
MDAC	Microsoft Data Access Components
MDI	Media Dependent Interface
MDI	Multiple Document Interface
MDX	Multidimensional Expression(s)
ME	(Windows) Millenium Edition
MER	Medium Access Control (MAC) Encapsulation Routing
MFC	Microsoft Foundation Class(es)
MFE	Multicast Forwarding Entry
MFT	Master File Table
MFU	Most Frequently Used
MGCP	Media Gateway Control Protocol
MGM	Multicast Group Manager
MHz	Megahertz
MIB	Management Information Base
MIDAS	Multi-tier Distributed Application Services
MIDI	Musical Instrument Digital Interface
MIDL	Microsoft Interface Definition Language
MIME	Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions
MIPS	Microprocessor without Interlocked Pipelined Stages
MITM	Man in the middle
MLD	Multicast Listener Discovery
MLDv1	Multicast Listener Discovery version 1
MLDv2	Multicast Listener Discovery version 2
MLL	Media Label Library
MMC	Microsoft Management Console
MMC	Multi-media Command (set)
MMS	Microsoft Media Server
MMX	Multimedia Extension
MNP	Micronom Networking Protocol
MOF	Managed Object Format
MOLAP	Multidimensional OLAP (Online Analytical Processing)
MOM	Message Oriented Middleware
MOM	Microsoft Operations Manager
MPM	Multiprocessing Module(s)
MOSFET	Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor
MPE	Multi-Protocol Encapsulation
MPPE	Microsoft Point to Point Encryption
MRU	Most Recently Used
MOSPF	Multicast Open Shortest Path First
MP3	MPEG (Moving Pictures Expert Group) Layer 3
MPEG	Moving Pictures Expert Group
MPMs	Multi-Processing Modules
MQTT	Message Queuing Telemetry Transport
MSDN	Microsoft Developer Network
MS-DOS	Microsoft Disk Operating System
MSHTML	Microsoft Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) parsing engine
MSIL	Microsoft Intermediate Language
MSL	Microsoft Library
MSM	Media Specific Module
MSP	Managed Services Provider
MTA	Message Transfer Agent
MTD	Memory Technology Device(s)
MTE	Message Transfer Envelope
MTS	Message Transfer System
MTS	Microsoft Transaction Server
MTU	Maximum Transfer Unit
MUA	Mail User Agent
MUI	Multilanguage User Interface
Mutex	Mutually exclusive
MX	Mail Exchange(r)
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N
NABTS	North American Broadcast Teletext Specification
NAP	Network Access Protection
NAPT	Network Address Port Translation
NAS	Network Access Server
NAT	Network Address Translation
NBF	NetBIOS (Network Basic Input/Output System) Frames
NBIPX	NetBIOS (Network Basic Input/Output System) over IPX (Internetwork Packet Exchange)
NBT	NetBIOS (Network Basic Input/Output System) over TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol)
NCB	Network Control Block
NCP	Netware Core Protocol
NCSA	National Center for Supercomputing Applications
NDS	Novell Dierctory Service
NDIS	Network Driver Interface Specification
NE	New Executable
NetBT	NetBIOS (Network Basic Input/Output System) over TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol)
NetBEUI	Network Basic Input/Output System (NetBIOS) Extended User Interface
NetBIOS	Network Basic Input/Output System
NFS	Network File System
NIC	Network Interface Card
NIS	Network Information Service
NIST	National Institute of Standards and Technology
NLA	Network Location Awareness
NLS	National Language Support
NMOS	N-channel Metal-Oxide Semiconductor
NNI	Network to Network Interface
NNTP	Network News Transfer Protocol
NPS	Network Policy Server
NPTL	Native POSIX Thread Library
NQS	Natural Query Syntax
NSS	Name Service Switch
NT	New Technology
NTP	Network Time Protocol
NTBA	Network Terminator Base Access
NTBBA	Network Terminator Broadband Access
NTFS	New Technology File System
NUMA	Non-Uniform Memory Architecture
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O
OAM	Operation, Administration and Maintenance
OASIS	Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards
OBEX	Object Exchange
OCR	Optical Character Recognition
OCS	(Microsoft) Office Communications Server
OCSP	Online Certifacte Status Protocol
ODBC	Open Database Connectivity
OEM	Original Equipment Manufacturer
OFB	Output Feedback
OFX	Open Financial Exchange
OID	Object Identifier
OLAP	Online Analytical Processing
OLE	Object Linking (and) Embedding
OLTP	Online Transaction Processing
ONC	Open Network Computing
OOP	Object Oriented Programming
OS	Operating System
OSI	Open Systems Interconnect
OSPF	Open Shortest Path First
OSTA	Optical Storage Technology Association
OV	Organization Validation
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P
P3P	Platform for Privacy Preferences
PA	Point of Access
PaaS	Platform as a Service
PAB	Personal Address Book
PAD	Packet Assembler/Disassembler
PAE	Physical Address Expansion
PAE	Physical Address Extension
PAM	Pluggable Authentication Module
PAN	Personal Area (Ad-Hoc) Network
PAP	Password Authentification Protocol
PBX	Private Branch Exchange
PC	Personal Computer
PCI	Peripheral Component Interconnect
PCL	Printer Control Language
PCM	Pulse Code Modulation
PCMCIA	Personal Computer Memory Card International Association
PDA	Personal Digital Assistant
PDC	Primary Domain Controller
PDO	PHP Data Objects
PDU	Protocol Data Unit
PE	Portable Executable
PECL	PHP Extension Community Library
Perl	Practical Extraction and Report Language
PGM	Pragmatic General Multicast Protocol
PGP	Pretty Good Privacy
Phars	PHP Archive files
PHP	(PHP:) Hypertext Preprocessor
PHP/FI	Personal Home Page/Forms Interpreter
PID	Process Identifier
PID	Protocol Identifier
PIDL	Pointer (to an) Item Identifier List
PIF	Program Information File
PIM	Protocol Independent Multicast
PIM	Personal Information Manager
PIN	Personal Identication Number
PING	Packet Internet Groper
PIO (mode)	Programmed Input/Output (mode)
PK	Primary Key
PKCS	Public Key Cryptography Standard(s)
PKI	Public Key Infrastructure
PJL	Printer Job Language
PLA	Performance Logs and Alerts
PLC	Packet Loss Concealment
PM	Presentation Manager
PMOS	P-channel Metal-Oxide Semiconducto
PNG	Portable Network Graphic
PnP	Plug and Play
PNRP	Peer Name Resolution Protocol
POP	Point of Presence
POP	Post Office Protocol
POP3	Post Office Protocol 3
POSIX	Portable Operating System Interface for Unix
POST	Power On Self-Test
POTS	Plain Old Telephone Service
PPP	Point to Point Protocol
PPPoE	Point to Point Protocol (PPP) over Ethernet
PPTP	Point to Point Tunneling Protocol
PRI	Primary Rate Interface
PRN	Printer
PRNG	Pseudo Random Number Generator
PSAPI	Process Status Application Programming Interface
PSK	Pre-Shared Key
PSTN	Public Switched Telephone Network
PTE	Page Table Entry
PUA	Private Use Area
PVFS	Parallel Virtural File System
PWA	Progressive Web Application
PVC	Permanent Virtual Circuit
PXE	Pre-Boot Execution (Environment)
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Q
Q&A	Questions and Answers
QES	Quarantine Enforcement Server
QoP	Quality of Protection
QoS	Quality of Service
QR (code)	Quick Response (code)
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R
RA	Registration Authority
RAC	Rights Account Certificate
RAD	Rapid Appication Development
RADIUS	Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service
RAID	Redundant Array (of) Independent Disks
RAM	Random Access Memory
RAS	Remote Access Service
RBAC	Role Based Access Control
RBL	Real-time Blackhole List
RDC	Remote Differential Compression
RDFa	Resource Description Framework in Attributes
RDMA	Remote Direct Memory Access
RDN	Relative Distinguished Name
RDP	Remote Desktop Protocol
RDS	Remote Data Service
REST	Representational State Transfer
RFC	Request for Comment
RFID	Radio-Frequency Identification
RGB	Red Green Blue
RGW	Residential Gateway
RID	Relative Identifier
RIP	Routing Information Protocol
RIPE	Réseaux IP Européens
RIPX	Routing Information Protocol over Internetwork Packet Exchange (IPX)
RIR	Regional Internet Registry
RIS	Remote Installation Service
RISC	Reduced Instruction Set Computing
RLSD	Receive Line Signal Detect
RMCP	Remote Mail Checking Protocol
RO	Read Only
ROLAP	Relational Online Analytical Processing (OLAP)
ROM	Read Only Memory
RPC	Remote Procedure Call
RPM	Red Hat Package Manager
RR	Resource Record
RRset	Resource Record Set
RSA	Rivest, Shamir, Adleman
RSL	Registry Size Limit
RSM	Removable Storage Manager
RSoP	Resultant Set of Policy
RSS	Really Simple Syndication
RSSAC	Root Servers Systems Advisory Committee
RSVP	Resource Reservation Protocol
RTC	Real-Time Communication(s)
RTCP	Real Time Control Protocol
RTF	Rich Text Format
rtl	runtime library
RTL	Right to Left
RTS	Request to Send
RTSP	Real-Time Streaming Protocol
RTTI	Run-Time Type Information
RTP	Real-time Transport Protocol
RVA	Relative Virtual Address
RW	read (and) write
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S
SaaS	Software as a Service
SACL	System Access-Control List
SAF	Support Automation Framework
SAM	Security Accounts Manager
SAMI	Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange
SAN	Storage Area Network
SAN	Subject Alternative Name
SAN	System Area Network
SAP	Service-Access Point
SAP	Service Advertising Protocol
SAPI	Server Application Programming Interface
SAS	Secure Attention Sequence
SASL	Simple Authentication and Security Layer
SATA	Serial AT Attachment (ATA)
SAX	Simple API for Extensible Markup Language (XML)
SAX2	Simple API for Extensible Markup Language (XML) (Version) 2
SBCS	Single-Byte Character Set
SBM	Subnet Bandwidth Management
SCCD	Signed Custom Compatibility Descriptor
SCEP	Simple Certificate Enrollment Protocol
SCO	Synchronous Connection-Oriented
SCR	Sustained Cell Rate
SCSI	Small Computer System Interface
SCTP	Stream Control Transmission Protocol
SD	Single Density
SDCC	Small Device C Compiler
SDI	Single Document Interface
SDK	Software Development Kit
SDMI	Secure Digital Music Initiative
SDP	Session Description Protocol
SECCOS	Secure Chip Card Operating System
SEHOP	Structured Exception Handler Overwrite Protection
SET	Secure Electronic Transaction
SFTP	Secure File Transfer Protocol
SGC	Server-Gated Cryptography
SGML	Standard Generalized Markup Language
SHA	Secure Hash Algorithm
SHA	System Health Agents
SHS	Secure Hash Standard
SHV	System Health Validators
SID	Security Identifier
SIMD	Single-Instruction, Multiple-Data
SIP	Session Initiation Protocol
SIP	Subject Interface Package
SIS	Single Instance Store
SKI	Subject Key Identifier
SKU	Stock-Keeping Unit
SLAT	Second Layer Address Translation
SLIP	Serial Line Internet Protocol
SMART	Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology
SMB	Server Message Block
SMIL	Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language
S/MIME	Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions
SMPTE	Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers
SMS	Short Message Service
SMS	Systems Management Server
SMTP	Simple Mail Transport Protocol
SNAP	Sub-Network Attachment Point
SNMP	Simple Network Management Protocol
SNTP	Simple Network Time Protocol
SOA	Start of Authority
SOAP	Simple Object Access Protocol
SOL	Serial Over LAN (Local Area Network)
SOM	Scope of Management
SP	Service Pack (e.g. SP 1, SP5, etc.)
SPC	Software Publisher Certificate
SPF	Sender Permitted From
SPF	Sender Policy Framework
SPID	Service Profile Identifier (ID)
SPL	Standard PHP Library)
SPN	Service Principal Name
SPP	Serial Port Profile
SPP	Software Protection Platform
SPX	Sequenced Packet Exchange
SQL	Structured Query Language
SRK	Storage Root Key
SRU	Stable Release Update
SRUM	System Resource Usage Monitor
SRW	Slim Reader/Writer
SSAS	(Microsoft) SQL Server Analysis Services
SSD	Solid State Drive
SSDP	Simple Search and Discovery Protocol
SSE	Streaming SIMD (Single-Instruction, Multiple-Data) Extensions
SSE2	Streaming SIMD (Single-Instruction, Multiple-Data) Extensions 2
SSH	Secure Shell
SSI	Server Side Includes
SSID	Service Set Identifier
SSL	Secure Socket Layer(s)
SSPI	Security Support Provider Interface
SSSE3	Supplemental Streaming SIMD (Single-Instruction, Multiple-Data) Extensions 3
SST	Stoelzel Software Technologie ;)
SST	Serialized Certificate Store (format)
SSTP	Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol
STB	Set Top Box
STL	Standard Template Library
SVC	Switched Virtual Circuit
SVG	Scalable Vector Graphic(s)
SVGA	Super Video Graphics Array (VGA)
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T
TAP	Test Anything Protocol
TAR	Tape Archive
TASM	Turbo Assembler
TCO	Total Cost of Ownership
TCP	Transmission Control Protocol
TCP/IP	Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol
TDC	Tabular Data Control
TDI	Transport Driver Interface
TDO	Trusted Domain Object
TELNET	Telecommunication Network
TFS	(Microsoft) Team Foundation Server
TFT	Thin-Film Transistor
TFTP	Trivial File Transfer Protocol
TFVC	Team Foundation Version Control
TGS	Ticket Granting Service
TIP	Transaction Internet Protocol
TIFF	Tagged Image File Format
TLD	Top-Level Domain
TLS	Thread Local Storage
TLS	Transport Layer/Level Security
TMM	Transient Multi-Monitor Manager
TOM	Text Object Model
TPM	Trusted Platform Module
TSAC	Terminal Services Advanced Client
TSID	Transmitting Station Identifier
TSIG	Transaction Signature(s)
TSR	Terminate and Stay Resident
TTF	True Type Font
TTL	Time to live
TUG	TeX User Group
TWIRP	Two-way Infrared Protocol
TXE	(Intel) Trusted Execution Engine
TxF	Transactional NTFS (New Technology File System)
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U
UAC	User Account Control
UAM	User Authentication Module
UART	Universal Asynchronous Receiver-Transmitter
UBR	Unspecified Bit Rate
UCS	Universal Character Set
UDDI	Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration
UDF	Universal Disk Format
UDL	Universal Data Link
UDN	Unique Device Name
UDP	User Datagram Protocol
UEFI	Unified Extensible Firmware Interface
UI	User Interface
UIAccess	User Interface Accessibility
UID	User Identifier
UIDL	Unique ID (Identfier) Listing
ULA	Unique Local Address
ULONG	Unsigned Long (Integer)
UML	Unified Modeling Language
UNI	User Network Interface
UPN	User Principal Name
UPnP	Universal Plug and Play
URI	Universal Resource Identifier
URL	Uniform Resource Locator
URN	Uniform Resource Name
USB	Universal Serial Bus
USB	Unicode Subset Bitfield
USHORT	Unsigned Short (Integer)
UTC	Universal Time Coordinated
UTF	Unicode Transformation Format
UTF-7	Universal Character Set (UCS) Transformation Format 7 (bit)
UTF-8	Universal Character Set (UCS) Transformation Format 8 (bit)
UTF-16	Universal Character Set (UCS) Transformation Format 16 (bit)
UTF-32	Universal Character Set (UCS) Transformation Format 32 (bit)
UTP	Unshielded Twisted Pair
UUCP	Unix to Unix Copy Protocol
UUP	Unified Update Platform
UVC	USB (Universal Serial Bus) Video Device Class
UWF	Unified Write Filter
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V
VA	Virtual Address
VAD	Voice Activity Detection
VBI	Vertical Blanking Interval
VBR-nrt	Variable Bit Rate - non real time
VBR	Variable Bit Rate
VBR-rt	Variable Bit Rate - real time
VC	Virtual Channel
VCC	Virtual Channel Connection
VCF	Virtual Contact File
VCI	Virtual Channel Identifier
VCL	Visual Component Library
VCR	Video-Cassette Recorder
VDM	Virtual DOS (Disk Operating System) Machine
VDS	Virtual Disk Service
VDSL	Very High Data Rate Digital Subscriber Line
VESA	Video Electronics Standards Association
VGA	Video Graphics Array
VC MUX	Virtual Channel (VC) Multiplexing
VFD	Virtual Floppy Disk
VIA	Virtual Interface Adapter
VISCA	Video System Control Architecture
VLAN	Virtual LAN
VoIP	Voice over IP
VM	Virtual Machine
VMT	Virtual Method Table
VP	Virtual Path
VPI	Virtual Path Identifier
VPS	Video Program Service
VPS	Virtual Private Server
VRML	Virtual Reality Modeling Language
VPN	Virtual Private Network
VSS	Volume Shadow Copy Service
VSTS	Visual Studio Team System
VTBL	Virtual (Function) Table
VTR	Video Tape Recorder
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W
W3C	World Wide Web Consortium
WaaS	Windows as a Servuce
WAB	Windows Address Book
WAIK	Windows Automated Installation Kit
WAIS	Wide Area Information Server
WAN	Wide Area Network
WAP	Wireless Application Protocol
WAS	Windows Process Activation Service
WBEM	Web-Based Enterprise Management
WCAG	Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
WCF	Windows Communication Foundation
WCN	Windows Connect Now
WDM	Windows Driver Model
WDDM	(Microsoft) Windows (Vista) Display Driver Model
WDI	Windows Diagnostic Infrastructure
WEC	Web Extender Client(s)
WebDAV	Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning
WEDU	Windows Embedded Developer Update
WDS	Windows Deployment Services
WDS	Windows Desktop Search
WEP	Wired Equivalent Privacy
WER	Windows Error Reporting
WFP	Windows File Protection
WFQ	Weighted Fair Queuing
WFW	Windows (3.1/3.11) for Workgroups
WFWG	Windows (3.1/3.11) for Workgroups
WHQL	Windows Hardware Quality Labs
WIF	Windows Idendity Foundation
Wi-Fi	Wireless Fidelity
WiFi	Wireless Fidelity
WINS	Windows Internet Name Service
WLAN	Wireless Local Area Network
WMI	Windows Management Instrumentation
WML	Wireless Markup Language
WND	Windows Network Drive
WORM	Write-Once Read-Many
WOSA	Windows Open Services Architecture
WPA	Wireless/Wi-Fi Protected Access
WPF	Windows Presentation Foundation
WPS	Wireless Protected Setup
WQL	Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) Query Language
WRP	Windows Resource Protection
WSD	Web Services on Devices
WSDAPI	Web Services on Devices API
WSDL	Web Service Description Language
WSERL	Web Service Extension Restriction List
WSS	Wide Screen Signalling
WTE	Web Telephony Engine
WWN	World Wide Names
WWW	World Wide Web
wysiwyg	what you see is what you get
WZC	Wireless Zero Configuration
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X
XAML	Extensible Application Markup Language
XDM	X(-Windows) Display Manager
XHTML	Extensible HyperText Markup Language
XML	Extensible Markup Language
XMLNS	Extensible Markup Language Name Space
XMPP	Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol
XPDM	(Microsoft Windows) XP Driver Model
XQL	XML (Extensible Markup Language) Query Language
XSD	Extensible Markup Language (XML) Schema Definition
XSL	Extensible Stylesheet Language
XSL-FO	Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) Formatting Objects
XSLT	Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) Transformation(s)
XT	(IBM) XT (computer)
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Y
YUM	Yellowdog Updater Modified
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*1	This text is entirely a product of our imagination and therefore pure fiction. It bears absolutely no semblance to any IT-related publications found in the real world. But, some less credible users, who undoubtedly frequent the shadier parts of the Internet, do claim, that they have heard of similar texts there. Hearsay only, of course. ;)
*2	This is really the name of an early (1968) programming language.