Industry Terminology

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | XYZ

MAN – Metropolitan Area Network. A network capable of high-speed communications over distances up to about 80 kilometers.

MAPI – Messaging Applications Programming Interface. Programming interface specification that enables an application to send and receive mail over a Microsoft Mail message system.

Marquis Partners I – Key strategic relationships.

MAX - Medium Axis - front-to-back movement of a robotic mechanism.

Megabit (Mb) – 1,024 kilobits. Used to describe data transfer rate.

Megabyte (MB) – 1,024 kilobytes. A unit of data storage size which represents one million characters of information.

Metadata – The information associated with a file but separate from the data in the file; required to identify data in the file and its physical location on a disk.

MHz – Megahertz. A million cycles per second. Describes the operation speed of a computer’s processor (CPU).

MIC – Medium Interface Connector. A type of connector for fiber-optic cable that uses a plug and socket and has been used with FDDI and local area networks.

Mirroring – A data redundancy technique in which data is recorded identically and simultaneously on multiple separate disks. When the primary disk is off-line, the alternate takes over, providing continuous access to data. Defined as RAID 1 configuration.

Modem – A conversion device installed in pairs, at each end of an analog communications line. Converts digital signals to analog at the origination point and reverses the process at the receiving end.

Motherboard - The main circuit board inside a computer, which contains the central processing unit, the bus, memory sockets, expansion slots, and other components. Additional boards, called daughter boards, can be plugged into the motherboard.

MPEG – Motion Pictures Experts Group. A digital video standard for compression of full-motion images.

MR – Magneto Resistive. A magnetic recording method in which the magnitude of the readback signal is independent of tape speed.

MTBDL – Mean Time Before Data Loss. The average time before the failure of a RAID system component causes data to be lost or corrupted.

MTBF - Mean Time Between Failures. A figure that gives an estimate of the reliability of a piece of equipment. The higher the MTBF, the longer the equipment should last. For example, if the MTBF is 10,000 hours, the equipment should run, on the average, for 10,000 hours before failing.

MTDA – Mean Time of Data Availability. The average time before non-redundant components fail, causing data inaccessibility without loss or corruption.

MTTR – Mean Time To Repair. The average time required to bring a RAID storage subsystem back to full fault-tolerance.