Industry Terminology
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SAN – Storage Area Network. A dedicated high-speed network that establishes a direct connection between storage elements and the back end of the server.
SAX - Short Axis - tape insertion and extraction movements of the robotic mechanism.
SCM - Supply Chain Integration.
SCSI (n.) - Small Computer System Interface; a hardware standard for interfacing to devices such as disks and tape drives.
SCSI-1 - A device referred to just as SCSI generally refers to the original, 5 MB/s, 8-bit SCSI, also sometimes called SCSI-1 in reference to the original SCSI standard. This is also called Regular SCSI.
SCSI-2 - Same as SCSI-1, but uses a 50-pin connector instead of a 25-pin connector, and supports multiple devices. This is what most people mean when they refer to plain SCSI.
SCSI-3 - Uses a 16-bit bus and supports data rates of 40 MB/sec. Also called Ultra Wide SCSI.
(Differential SCSI) - See Differential.
(Fast SCSI) - Fast SCSI refers to the use of a 10 MHz SCSI bus speed on an 8-bit bus. It is also sometimes called Fast SCSI-2. The maximum transfer rate is 10 MB/s.
(Fast Wide SCSI) - Uses a 16-bit bus and supports data rates of 20 MB/sec.
(Ultra SCSI) - Uses an 8-bit bus, and supports data rates of 20 MB/sec.
(Ultra2 SCSI) - Uses an 8-bit bus and supports data rates of 40 MB/sec.
(Wide SCSI) - Wide SCSI refers to devices that use a 5 MHz SCSI bus speed on a 16-bit wide bus. It is also sometimes called Wide SCSI-2. The maximum transfer rate is 10 MB/s, and up to 16 devices are supported per bus.
(Wide Ultra2 SCSI) - Uses a 16-bit bus and supports data rates of 80 MB/sec.
SCSI ID Switch - The rotary switch on the back of Spectra 10000 and Spectra 2000 tape libraries used to set specific SCSI IDs for the library and drives.
SCSI Sense Key - Error information returned to the host through the SCSI interface.
SDC - Single Ended to Differential converter used in Spectra 10000 library products
Single-Ended SCSI - This is "regular" SCSI, and uses the type of conventional signaling that is used on other buses. Basically, a positive voltage is a "one" and ground (zero voltage) is a "zero" and each signal is carried on one wire. This is by far the most common type of SCSI, and therefore offers the most flexibility. However, the cable length of the bus is extremely limited.
Search Engines – A type of software that creates indexes of databases of Internet sites based on the titles of files, key words, or the full text of tiles.
Server – A computer that provides shared resources, such as files and printers, to the network.
Shareware - Software that is copyrighted, but may be downloaded and used for a limited time for free, after which the user is asked to voluntarily send the author a small payment
SLS - Shared Library Services.
SMDS - Switched Multimegabit Data Service. A high-speed data communications service developed by Bellcore for connecting local area networks over the public telephone lines.
SMPP – Shared Memory Parallel Processing. A symmetrical multiprocessing system in which memory is physically shared.
SMTP – Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. TCP/IP protocol governing electronic mail transmissions.
SNA – Systems Network Architecture. A networking protocol standard for IBM mainframes and IBM-compatible mainframes.
SNMP – Simple Network Management Protocol. A TCP/IP-derived protocol governing network management and monitoring of network devices.
SoIP – Storage Over IP.
SPAM – Refers to the practice of blindly posting commercial messages or advertisements to a large number of unrelated and uninterested newsgroups.
SSA – Serial Storage Architecture. An IBM proprietary interface especially useful with applications that require very high data rates.
SSCL - Serial to SCSI Command Language.
Star Topography – A network topology in which nodes are connected to a common device such as a hub or a concentrator.
Striping – The process of recording data across multiple disks rather than on one drive. Data is divided into segments, each of which is written to successive drives.
Supply Chain Execution (SCE) – The ability to move the product out the warehouse door.
Switch – A network device that switches traffic between workstations and other nodes.
Synchronous Transmission – A data transmission method in which the interval between transmitted characters is fixed so that start and stop bits are not required.