Refers to the technology developed by Microsoft to link desktop applications to the World Wide Web. With an ActiveX-enabled browser, ActiveX controls can be downloaded as part of a Web document to add functionality to the browser (similar to Java applets). In particular ActiveX enables seamless viewing of Windows files of all types in combination with other technologies such as Java and scripting languages, making possible the development of complex Web applications. For example, Word and Excel documents can be viewed directly in Web browsers that supports ActiveX. While ActiveX is a useful technology, the downside is that you need to have an up-to-date version of ActiveX installed on your machine in order to use ActiveX-enabled content.

Short for Application Programming Interface. This is a set of routines, protocols, and tools for building software applications. A good API makes it easier to develop a program by providing all the building blocks. A programmer puts the blocks together. Most operating environments, such as MS-Windows, provide an API so that programmers can write applications consistent with the operating environment. Although APIs are designed for programmers, they are ultimately good for users because they guarantee that all programs using a common API will have similar interfaces. This makes it easier for users to learn new programs.

Short for Advanced Systems Format, a streaming multimedia file format developed by Microsoft. This is the foundation container format for Windows Media, which holds audio, video, meta-data (titles, author, etc.), indexes and scripts. ASF originally stood for Active Streaming Format but was changed by Microsoft to Advanced Systems Format to eliminate the streaming-only connotation.

Content management applications serve as an interface to integrate contents received from outside the portal. These can be contents published from web content management systems which allow you to build organization-wide informational content sites. Content Organizer enables you to integrate content of various formats from these systems into the portal. It also serves as a content management integration framework and helps users organize contents which they have already viewed or they intend to view. It also allows users to share these contents to other users.

Content Organizeraddresses the following three objectives:

A portal wide content integration platform for contents coming from various content management systems such as Web Content Publisher (WCP), Documentum, Interwoven TeamSite, and Vignette Content Management Server. Content Organizer provides an interface with frameset and service classes for easy and reliable integration with these content management systems. It adds a content abstraction layer to the portal which makes content from different sources and formats available to the portal users in a harmonized and aggregated way.

• content management application which enables administrators to integrate content formats (for example, press release, or financial results) or use predefined standards, such as Rich Site Summary (RSS) channel items in the portal.

• A pre-configured lightweight content management application which supports users in dealing with contents. Content Organizer comes with two preconfigured formats:

• RSS channel item for contents that has been published in this format.
• An internal Content Organizer format used for managing contents.

Content Organizer ships as a portal application within ieHIP Media Connect as well as in the ieHIP Media Connect Server. The content access and storage capabilities are contributed by the resource engine.

Short for File Transfer Protocol, the protocol used on the Internet for exchanging files. FTP works in the same way as HTTP for transferring Web pages from a server to a user's browser and SMTP for transferring electronic mail across the Internet in that, like these technologies, FTP uses the Internet's TCP/IP protocols to enable data transfer. FTP is most commonly used to download a file from a server using the Internet or to upload a file to a server (e.g., uploading a Web page file to a server).

Short for Hypertext Markup Language, the document format language used on the World Wide Web. Web browsers read HTML and display the page. It is a markup language used to create hypertext documents that are platform independent. HTML documents are SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language) documents with generic semantics that are appropriate for representing information from a wide range of domains. HTML markup can represent hypertext news, mail, documentation, and hypermedia; menus of options; database query results; simple structured documents with in-lined graphics; and hypertext views of existing bodies of information.

Short for HyperText Transport Protocol. This is used to transfer HTML documents of the World Wide Protocol, the underlying protocol used by the World Wide Web. It defines how messages are formatted and transmitted, and what actions Web servers and browsers should take in response to various commands. It is a "stateless" request / response system. The connection is maintained between client and server only for the immediate request. After the HTTP client establishes a TCP connection with the server and sends it a request command, the server sends back its response and closes the connection. For example, when you enter a URL in your browser, this actually sends an HTTP command to the Web server directing it to fetch and transmit the requested Web page.

Short for Internet Protocol. It specifies the format of packets, also called datagrams, and the addressing scheme. Most networks combine IP with a higher-level protocol called Transport Control Protocol (TCP), which establishes a virtual connection between a destination and a source. IP by itself is something like the postal system. It allows you to address a package and drop it in the system, but there’s no direct link between you and the recipient. TCP/IP, on the other hand, establishes a connection between two hosts so that they can send messages back and forth for a period of time.

Refers to Microsoft’s Media Center Edition 2005. This is an all-inclusive media software system that is sold as a package with Microsoft XPE operating system.

Short for Quality Of Service. A defined level of performance in a data communications system. For example, to ensure that realtime voice and video are delivered without annoying blips, a guarantee of bandwidth is required. The plain old telephone system (POTS) has delivered the highest quality of service for years, because there is a dedicated channel between parties. However, when data is broken into packets that travel through the same routers in the LAN or WAN with all other data, QoS mechanisms is one way to guarantee quality by giving realtime data priority over non-realtime data. The only other way is to overbuild the network so there is always sufficient bandwidth.

A multimedia player created by RealNetworks that plays RealAudio and RealVideo transmissions. Included is the technology for organizing music files and creating MP3 files from audio CDs. The name was changed to RealOne in 2001 along with several refinements and later renamed back to RealPlayer. A number of multimedia formats included are MP3, MPEG-4, QuickTime, etc.

Short for Realtime Control Protocol. It is a companion protocol to RTP that is used to maintain QoS (Quality Of Service). RTP nodes analyze network conditions and periodically send each other RTCP packets that report on network congestion.

Short for Realtime Transport Protocol. An IP protocol that supports realtime transmission of voice and video. It is widely used for IP telephony and audio and video streaming. It consists of a data and a control part. The data part of RTP is a thin protocol providing support for applications with real-time properties such as continuous media (e.g., audio and video), including timing reconstruction, loss detection, security and content identification. An RTP packet rides on top of UDP, the non-reliable counterpart of TCP, and includes time-stamping and synchronization information in its header for proper reassembly at the receiving end. Secure RTP (SRTP) is a version of RTP that provides confidentiality and message authentication.

Short for Realtime Streaming Protocol. RTSP is used to control an RTP session at the application layer. It enables functions such as pause, rewind and fast forward to be provided in the user's client software.

The file system displayed in the IBM Web Administration for iSeries interface uses a "tree structure" that is based on the configuration of your IBM HTTP Server and shows the hierarchical order and location of files and directories. The Server Area list represents this structure. For example, the server tree structure could show that extending under the server root is the document root where HTML files are located (htdocs by default), an HTTP Server log directory (logs by default), and an HTTP server configuration directory (conf by default). Another way of viewing and understanding the server tree structure is by titles of a family group. You have the "parent" directory which has a "child" directory under it. In this context, the server root (www) would be the parent and document root, log directory, and HTTP server configuration directory would be a child (subdirectories) of the server root. Considering that each HTTP Server is different, server tree structures are unique to each HTTP Server.

Short for Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language. (Pronounced as "smile.") A format for delivering and synchronizing multimedia content on the Web. Introduced in the summer of 1998 by the W3C, it is a document type (DTD) of XML and provides the timing commands that enable audio, video and graphics elements to be executed sequentially or in parallel. SMIL supports multimedia streaming protocols such as RTSP.

The ITS Streaming Video Service supports MPEG, MP3, QuickTime, Real, and Windows Media for video-on-demand. MPEG-2 is only available for on-campus viewers (because of bandwidth requirements). Webcasting is currently being offered in Real and QuickTime.

Which convention to select depends on several factors, including audience location, what streaming players your audience is most comfortable using, and what tools you are most comfortable using in preparing a streaming program. ITS is investigating transcoding equipment that would allow us to record / store in one format, but deliver multiple formats in real-time.

The following is a quick explanation of some of the basic terms you will encounter in streaming media discussions:

• CO-DEC - a COmpression-DECompression algorithm used for efficient storage and transmission of a data file, such as a video or audio file.

• MPEG - the Moving Picture Experts Group defines industry standards for the encoding, management, and delivery of content through various media.

• MPEG-1 - a codec designed for near-VHS quality video. MPEG-1 is primarily designed for CD-ROM delivery of content through various media.

• MPEG-2 - a codec designed for high-quality video. MPEG-2 is primarily used for DVD disc encoding and other high-quality archival solutions, but can be streamed over high-bandwidth connections, such as Internet2. MPEG-2 playback often requires additional software and / or hardware.

• MP3 - a codec designed for audio. MP3 is the most popular standard used for distribution on the Internet and in portable music players, such as Apple’s iPod. Note that MP3 stands for MPEG Audio Layer 3, not MPEG-3 (there is no MPEG-3). MPEG-4, QuickTime, Real, and Windows Media are all streaming media architectures. They can handle a variety of media such as audio, video, text, animation, and 3D. They also support some forms of metadata (information about the media asset) and interactivity.

• MPEG-4 - built around non-proprietary codecs, MPEG-4 excels at multi-architecture compatibility. Future codecs should enhance quality.

• QuickTime - built around several non-proprietary codecs, QuickTime excels at medium to high bandwidth clips. It supports MPEG-4.

• Real - built around proprietary RealNetworks codecs, Real format excels at low to medium bandwidth clips. It supports MPEG-4. Producers can use the SMIL (Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language) language to add interactivity.

• Windows Media - built around proprietary Microsoft codecs, Windows Media excels at medium bandwidth clips. It does not support MPEG-4.

Streaming video is one-way video transmission across a data network, which provides a continuous digital video and/or audio signal. As a viewer, you typically make a web browser-based player connection to a streaming server to receive a webcast (live programs) or video-on-demand (previously recorded programs). The program is sent from the server to your player in a continuous fashion, as opposed to having the entire program downloaded before viewing can begin. Viewing begins much quicker with streaming. No copy of the entire program is stored on the computer being used for viewing.

In the following graphic, the blue cylinder represents a server and the tan rectangle a personal computer. The top line shows the process for the typical file transfer: request asset, receive entire asset, then play asset. The lower line shows the process for streaming: request asset, start transmission, start playing, continue sending "chunks", end transmission, end playing.

Each viewer receives their own stream from the server, so bandwidth can be an issue for popular webcasts. The same video-on-demand program can be started at any time by different viewers.

Short for Transmission Control Protocol. A protocol used along with the Internet Protocol (IP) to send data in the form of individual units (called packets) between computers over the Internet. While IP takes care of handling the actual delivery of the data, TCP takes care of keeping track of the packets that a message is divided into for efficient routing through the Internet. For example, when a web page is downloaded from a web server, the TCP program layer in that server divides the file into packets, numbers the packets, and then forwards them individually to the IP program layer and establishes a connection between two hosts so that they can send messages back and forth for a period of time.

In client / server applications, a client designed to be especially small so that the bulk of the data processing occurs on the server.

Although the term thin client usually refers to software, it is increasingly used for computers, such as network computers and Net PCs, that are designed to serve as the clients for client/server architectures. A thin client is a network computer without a hard disk drive, whereas a fat client includes a disk drive.

Advantages of thin clients Obviously, boot image control is much simpler when only thin clients are used - typically a single boot image can accommodate a very wide range of user needs, and be managed centrally, resulting in:

1. Lower IT admin costs. Thin clients are managed almost entirely at the server. The hardware has fewer points of failure and the local environment is highly restricted (and often stateless), providing protection from malware.

2. Easier to secure. Thin clients can be designed so that no application data ever resides on the client (it is entirely rendered), centralizing malware protection.

3. Lower hardware costs. Thin client hardware is generally cheaper because it does not contain a disk, application memory, or a powerful processor. They also generally have a longer period before requiring an upgrade or becoming obsolete.

4. Worthless to thieves. Thin client hardware, whether dedicated or simply older hardware that has been repurposed via cascading, is useless or of little interest outside a client-server environment. Burglars interested in computer equipment have a much harder time fencing thin client hardware (and it is less valuable).

Advantages of thick clients

1. Less network bandwidth. Thick clients typically require less network bandwidth.

2. Fewer server requirements. A thick client server does not require as high of performance as a thin client server (since the thick clients themselves do much of the application processing). This results in drastically cheaper servers.

3. Better multimedia performance. Thick clients have advantages in multimedia-rich applications that would be bandwidth intensive if fully served. For example, thick clients are well suited for video gaming.

4. More flexibility. Many software products are designed for personal computers that have their own local resources. Trying to run this software in a thin client environment can be difficult.

Short for Uniform Resource Locator, the global address of documents and other resources on the World Wide Web. URLs are typed into a Web browser to access Web pages and files, and URLs are embedded within the pages themselves as hypertext links. A way of specifying the location of something on the Internet, e.g.,"http://www.photo.net/wtr/thebook/glossary.html" is the URL for this glossary. The part before the colon specifies the protocol (HTTP). Legal alternatives include encrypted protocols such as HTTPS and legacy protocols such as FTP, news, gopher, etc.

a) The part after the "//" is the server hostname ("photo.net").

b) The part after the next "/" is the name of the file on the remote server. Overall, the URL contains the protocol prefix, port number, domain name, subdirectory names and file name. If a port number is not stated in the address, port 80 is used as the default for HTTP traffic.

Having a large digital music collection is great, but organizing it can be tricky. While a collection of loosely arranged directories may suit some, using an application is a much better option.

The two main applications you're likely to come across are iTunes and Windows Media Player (WMP), both of which are free downloads. Here we'll look at the latest versions, iTunes 4.7 and WMP10.

One of the main changes in WMP10 is its built-in support for ripping tracks to MP3. Previous versions supported only WMA files natively, and users had to buy an MP3 codec. While WMA is a better format that produces higher-quality sound at lower bit rates, MP3 has wider support. This is particularly important if you buy a wireless receiver, as they all support MP3 but not all work with WMA.