Glossary of CICS, IBM mainframe computer software, and data center terms

This is a list of commonly used terms that you might encounter in our press releases or on www.hwcs.com:

3270 terminal
An IBM 3270 Information Display System terminal.
batch processing
A type of data processing in which a number of similar input items are grouped for processing serially with a minimum of operator intervention and no end user intervention.
C++
A high-level programming language developed by Bell Labs. It is used extensively for developing graphical applications.
CCS
Common Communication Support.
CICS
Customer Information Control System. CICS is an IBM-licensed program that enables transactions entered at remote terminals to be processed concurrently by several different applications. CICS provides a common terminology and a set of programming commands that allow programmers to develop consistent user interfaces regardless of the type of terminal being used.
CRM
Customer Relationship Management.
CWS
CICS Web Support. CWS enables CICS to work over the Web.
DB2
Short for Database 2, which is an open database environment supported on several computing platforms.
EAI
Enterprise Application Integration. EAI is a means of sharing data and processes in an unrestricted manner and allowing that data to be accessed by a wide variety of systems.
J2EE
Short for Java 2 Platform Enterprise Edition. Developed by Sun Microsystems, J2EE allows developers to build and launch Web-based enterprise applications online.
Java
A high-level programming language developed by Sun Microsystems. Java works on most computer systems including Macintosh, UNIX, and Windows.
Linux
An open-source implementation of UNIX. Linux is distributed free of charge, and it runs on many platforms.
mainframe
A very large computer that is able to support thousands of users at the same time. Users access the mainframe through a terminal.
middleware
Software that connects two separate applications. For example, middleware can connect a database to a Web server.
OLTP
Online Transaction Processing. See online processing.
online processing
A type of data processing in which data is processed as it is entered into the system. Online processing provides immediate feedback to the user. It is the opposite of batch processing.
OS/390
An operating system developed by IBM for mainframe computers.
server
A device that manages many resources. For instance, a database server is a computer that houses a database and processes information into and out of that database as instructed by the other computers that connect to the server. A server is typically dedicated to its task and cannot be used for other functions.
terminal
An input device such as a keyboard or touch-screen coupled with a computer monitor or LCD display.
Visual Basic
Software from Microsoft that is used for creating Windows-based applications.
VSAM
Virtual Storage Access Method. VSAM is a file management system used on IBM mainframe computers.
VTAM
Virtual Telecommunications Access Method.
Web Services
A standardized way of integrating Web-based applications. It allows organizations to share data without needing to know the details of other organizations' computer systems.
WebSphere
Software from IBM used for creating Web-based applications that are supported on many platforms.
z/OS
An operating system from IBM that is highly secure and provides high performance for mainframe computers.