Audit: (v) Used “to audit” to record the specifications and features on a machine.
(n) The results of recording the features and specifications of a machine, “the audit”.
Badges: The logo on a machine, usually used when referring to equipment made by one company, but sold by another.
Example: A Brocade® director badged HP.
Blade: A port card within a director.
Box: A euphemism for a computer or a peripheral. Usually the machine you are currently referring to.
Brokers: A middleman. A company that puts together buyers with sellers but does not take inventory positions.
Call Home: A feature that allows a piece of equipment to self dial the maintenance provider when a problem occurs.
Channel Adapters: The attach point on a processor through which data flows.
Channel Extender: A machine that transmits large amounts of data across large distances.
Channel Partner: A company authorized to sell equipment for a manufacturer.
Chassis: The frame of a director
Connectivity: Connection of data by using either switching or channel extension.
Control Cards: Card that controls a director’s chassis.
CTP for McData®, CP for Brocade®, Supervisor for Cisco®.
Customer Service Engineer: KCI term for our field support personnel.
DCX Backbone: Brocade® terminology for current version of director.
Disk Storage: Direct access disk storage.
Dealers: A company that buys and sells used equipment and maintains inventory.
Dial-in: Feature that allows a maintenance company to dial into a machine to see how it is functioning.
End-Of-Life: Equipment for which the manufacturer has announced end-of-manufacturer and end-of-support dates.
End-Of-Support: Support is no longer available from the manufacturer beyond this date.
End-user: The term used when referring to the company that uses IT equipment.
Enterprise: A large company.
ESCON: IBM term. Enterprise System Connectivity. A system protocol.
Fibre Channel Switching: Allows switching of data for SAN.
FISCON: IBM term. Fiber Connectivity. A system protocol.
Footprint: The space a machine occupies.
Gbps or Gb/s: Gigabits per second, speed of data transfer.
IT: Information Technology.
Legacy: Older equipment, usually referring to end-of-life or end-of-sale equipment.
Machine Room: Data Center.
Network Infrastructure: Switching and channel extension are sometimes referred to as Network Infrastructure.
Network Switching: Allows switching of network connections.
OEM: Original Equipment Manufacturer.
Original Ship Ground: The accessories the manufacturer ships with a machine, when the machine is new, (includes manuals, cables, etc.).
Peripheral: Devices that are connected to a processor.
Port: Attach points on a switch or director. A port can attach either a server or storage.
Processor: A computer, usually a large one.
Product Specialist: KCI term for customer engineer who is specialized in a particular product.
QLogic: A manufacturer of switches.
Rack Mount Kit: Shelf or sliding shelves that edge switches are mounted on.
Rail Kit: A shelf or sliding shelf on which to mount an Edge switch.
Recon Center or Refurb Center: Place where independent companies store and refurbish equipment. Terms are used interchangeably.
Refresh: Upgrade to newer technology.
Reseller: A company authorized by a manufacturer to resell a manufacturers product.
RoHS Compliant: European (EU) directive to restrict dangerous levels of lead, cadmium, mercury and several other trace elements in electrical equipment.
SAN: Storage Area Network.
Server: A computer, usually not a mainframe but bigger than a laptop.
SMARTnet: Cisco® maintenance program.
Specification “Spec”: The configuration of a machine suaully given in terms of the feature codes the machine has.
Storage: Two types: Disk Storage and Tape Storage.
Tape Storage: Sequential storage of data.
Third Party Company: A company that is neither the user nor the manufacturer that sells, maintains or leases equipment.
Vanilla: A machine without additional features.
Brocade® is the registered trademark of Broadcom Inc.
Cisco® is registered trademark of Cisco Systems, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and certain other countries.
McDATA® is a registered trademark of Brocade Communications.