Data Backup, Recovery, Cloud Services & Mobile Business Technologies

Backup & Recovery

The process of creating copies of data (backup) and restoring them to a functional state after a loss (recovery).

Disaster Recovery Plan

A detailed process for recovering information or a system in the event of a catastrophic disaster like a fire or flood.

Business Continuity Planning

A plan that outlines how a business will continue operating its most critical functions during and after a disaster.

Virtualization

Creating multiple 'virtual' machines on a single physical device, allowing for more efficient hardware use.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

Delivering computer hardware (servers, networking, and storage) as an on-demand service.

Platform as a Service (PaaS)

Providing a platform (including operating systems and development tools) for customers to build and run applications without managing the underlying hardware.

Software as a Service (SaaS)

Delivering applications over the internet (e.g., Gmail or Salesforce) where the provider manages everything.

Scalability

How well a system can adapt to increased demands, such as more users or data.

Availability

The percentage of time a system is operational and accessible to users.

Reliability

The consistency of a system; ensuring it performs its intended function without failing.

Primary Key

A field (or group of fields) that uniquely identifies a specific record in a database table.

Foreign Key

A primary key of one table that appears as an attribute in another table to create a logical relationship between them.

Data Warehouse

A large, centralized collection of information from many different databases used for business analysis and decision-making.

Data Lake

A storage repository that holds vast amounts of raw data in its native format until it is needed for analysis.

Data Mart

A subset of a data warehouse, usually oriented to a specific business department like Marketing or Finance.

Data Cleansing/Scrubbing

The process of fixing or removing 'dirty data' (incorrect, incomplete, or duplicate information).

Blockchain

A distributed, immutable ledger technology that records transactions across many computers so that the record cannot be altered retroactively.

Data Integrity

A measure of the quality of data—ensuring it is accurate, complete, and consistent.

Bandwidth

The maximum amount of data that can pass from one point to another in a specific unit of time.

RFID (Radio-frequency identification)

Technology that uses electronic tags to identify and track objects wirelessly.

GIS (Geographic Information System)

A system designed to capture, store, manipulate, and present geographic or spatial data (like digital maps).

Digital Divide

The gap between those who have access to modern information technology (like high-speed internet) and those who do not.