Information Technology Glossary F to J

Information Technology Glossary F to J

Federation Services:

Charlton Networks are a Microsoft Gold Partner and provide systems build around Active Directory (AD) Federation Services (FS). This provides a standards-based service that allows the secure sharing of identity information between trusted business partners across an extranet. AD FS allows Charlton Networks to provide access to resources based on one organisations network, from that of another organisation, securely and reliably via trust policies that map incoming requests to be authenticated and confirmed. 

Fibre optics:

Charlton Networks provide fibre-optic based networks that transmits data via light through glass fibres the size of a human hair. We used fibre-optic networks to connect distributed building, such as larger campus sites and where traditional cabled networks are limited. Speed and capacity of fibre-optic is much higher than cabling and typically now 10Gb/s is deployed.

Fibre-To-The-Cabinet (FTTC):

Charlton Networks provide Fibre-To-The-Cabinet (FTTC) for SME business customers that allows connectivity over fibre optic cable and copper cable to the Internet. The fibre cables runs from the local telephone exchange to local road-side cabinet. Standard telephone cable then provides the final connection to the business premises.

Fibre-To-The-Premise (FTTP):

Charlton Networks provide Fibre-To-The-Premises (FTTP) for SME business customers that allows connectivity over fibre optic cable all the way from the local telephone exchange to customers business premises.

Firewall:

Charlton Networks provide hardware and software based firewall systems that sit on your devices, servers, inside your network or at the perimeter of your network. These firewalls provide filtering and blocking of unwanted data and connections, they provide visibility of your network, users, and applications being used control who can access what.

Hewlett Packard:

Whether you’re looking for HP products, services, or support, Charlton Networks are an HP reseller ready to help.

Host based Intrusion Prevention System / HIPS:

A host-based intrusion prevention system (HIPS) provides critical protection for server systems that contain crucial company data. HIPS prevent viruses and malware from working and detects both known and unknown zero-day attacks. Charlton Networks provide HIPS via the Sophos Server products.

Hosted email:

Charlton Networks are an authorised Microsoft cloud partner providing hosted email based around the Office365 package. We take care of the set-up, migration, management and on-going support of your Office 365 Email.

Host Server:

A dedicated host server can be used for the dedicated hosting of a website or other application, either cloud based or on-premise. A host server is also used to run virtual machines or virtual servers too. Charlton Networks provides a range of solutions in this area.

Hosted Voice Telephony:

We provide a hosted voice telephony platform that we call Horizon. This is a cloud based PBX that provides an alternative to traditional PBX business phone systems. This cloud model provides a subscription based service, low capital expenditure, no equipment at your site, easy to manage and up-to-date. Our cloud PBX system from Charlton Networks is ideal for SME businesses like yours.

Hybrid cloud:

A cloud that combines public and private clouds, bound together by technology that allows data and applications to be shared between them. A hybrid cloud gives businesses greater flexibility to scale up and down, and offers more deployment options. 

Hypervisor:

A hypervisor is software that runs virtual machines or virtual servers on a host server. Charlton Networks provides and supports hypervisor technology from Microsoft (Hyper-V) and ESXi from VMware.

Incident Response Plan:

An action plan that covers the immediate response / actions an organisation will take in the event of a cyber-attack or other serious incident. Charlton Networks help SME companies develop incident response plans for cyber or other disaster recovery scenarios.

Instant Messaging:

Chatting with others using an Instant Messaging (IM) tool like Microsoft Skype for Business provides a good alternative to emails for immediate interaction with colleagues. Problems arise when people in a group are using different IM tools that don’t connect. One way around this is to use a common Voice over IP tool like Skype that also provides IM capability.

Internet Access:

We provide a range of services to connect your business to the Internet. These services include ADSL broadband, Bonded ADSL, FTTC, EFM, Ethernet, Leased Line and MPLS services.

Intranet:

Charlton Networks deploy and support Microsoft SharePoint to provide Intranet solutions. An Intranet is a private network provided for the exclusive use of your employees and is an ideal way of securely sharing policies, procedures and collaborative documents to any employee in any location.

Intrusion Detection / Prevention Services:

Charlton Networks install and support Intrusion Detection Services (IDS) and Intrusion Prevention Services (IPS) that typically monitor network access at the firewall gateway . IDS detects anomalies in traffic and looks for unusual patterns of activity. These patterns are associated with misuse of the IT systems and aim to catch bad behaviour, such as multiple login attempts and other known attack scenarios from internal or external network sources. IDS functionality can be incorporated in the Sophos XG / UTM device.

Inventory:

An IT asset inventory allows an organisation to understand what devices it owns, what software it runs, where company data is being used and stored and a range of other factors from finance, through to risk management. Charlton Networks provides an IT auditing service which provides such an inventory and allows these factors to be considered.

IP telephony:

IP telephony enables telephone services to be connected via computer based networks, either internal LANs or over the Internet or between customer sites. Charlton Networks build and support IP based telephony enabling lower cost calls, greater business flexibility and the ability to use 1-network for all IT services.

ISDN:

Integrated Service Digital Network (ISDN) was the primary technology used for their business communications. This is now obsolete and first introduced in the 1970’s. Many legacy phone systems still used ISDN and our Blog gives details on how to move on from this old technology. 

IT Hardware:

IT Hardware refers to he physical ‘tin’ or hardware components used in IT and network systems. IT hardware will often run ’embedded’ software that controls hardware devices and which should be regularly checked for updates and patched. See Cyber Security Managed Services service for more details.

IT Life Cycle:

IT Life Cycle is the cycle that IT products, systems or services follow and which covers introduction, early-adoption, growth, maturity and decline / obsolescence. All systems go through this process and Charlton Networks help business understand where they sit within this cycle, so that effective use and planning can be done via our IT Roadmap process.

IT Risk Management:

IT risk management assesses the business risk associated with using, owning, operating or adoption of IT systems, services or practices. Charlton Networks provide IT risk management via our Board Level IT services.

IT Software:

IT Software includes operating systems that are ‘loaded’ and run on IT hardware, such as virtual servers or computers. IT Software includes a wide range of programs taht need to be reviewed and patched to avoid cyber-security threats.

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