E-business

 use of electronic means to enhance business processes

E-commerce

 electronically enabled transactions between a business and its customers.

Packet switching

Router

electronic hardware device that is located at the gateway between two or more networks. Forwards packets of data along the best route so data reaches destination

Protocol

standard data communication format that allows computers to exchange data

TCP/IP

transmission control protocol/Internet protocol. Created in the 1970's

Internet

global computer network or “information super-highway”. Interconnected networks

Backbone provider

 organization which supplies access to high-speed transmission lines that make up the main network lines of the Internet

Regional ISPs

connect to the backbone through lines that have less speed and capacity than the backbone

Local ISPs

connect individual users to the Internet

Web server

 computer and hard drive space that stores web pages and data

HTML

 hypertext markup language, not programming language

URL

 address you type in to research a website (http://www.google.com)

Domain name

unique name that identifies the Internet site (google.com)

Secure sockets layering (SSL)

encryption system in which the web server and the user’s browser exchange data in encrypted form

B2C

 Business to consumer E-commerce

B2B

 Business to business E-commerce

Bricks and mortar

 companies that work from purely traditional stores

E-tailers

 businesses that are purely web-based

Clicks and mortar

combined form of e-commerce (bricks and clicks)

Supply Chain

set of linked processes that take place from the acquisition and delivery of raw materials through the manufacturing, distribution, wholesale, delivery of the product to the customer

Intranet

private network accessible only to the employees of a company

Extranet

 similar to an intranet except it offers access to selected outsiders-buyers, suppliers, distributors, or wholesalers in the supply chain.

XBRL

 Extensible business reporting language XML based markup language developed for financial reporting. Provides a standards based method to prepare, publish, reliably extract, and automatically exchange financial statements

Internet EDI

uses the internet to transmit business information between companies (EDINET)