V.32 - A standard naming convention used in determining modem communications, all starting with "V." This one is for specifying the Hayes standard of bi-directional 9600 baud transmission.

V.32bis - This is the standard that came after V.32 which increased the speed from 9600 baud to 14.4 KB baud.

V.34 - This is the most recent dramatic improvement of modem communications. It has doubled the speed of the V.32bis standard to 28.8 KB.

V.34+ - This standard was made by US Robotics to indicate that their modems are superior to a standard V.34 modem in that they run at 33.6 KB baud instead of the slower 28.8 KB baud.

V.42 - This is the name given to the standard for transmitting at 2400 baud.

V.42Bis - This is not a speed standard like V.32 and V.34. It is an error correction and compression method that is hardware-based. Its major improvement comes from knowing when compression will be beneficial and when it will not be.

V.90 - This is the ITU's newest standard for 56K modem communications. It will supercede X2 and 56kflex to become the ultimate 56K standard. Most X2 and 56kflex modems will be able to upgrade to V.90 for free. Contact your modem manufacturer for details.

V.Everything - This is US Robotics' designation for their Courier Dual standard modems, which support all types of analog modem communications.

V.Fast - This standard was made between the time of V.32bis and V.34. It is also a 28.8 KB baud speed, but is not as reliable as the approved V.34 standard.

Value Added Reseller (VAR) - This refers to an individual or company that resells computer hardware and/or software. They "add value" to the items they sell by integrating it or customizing it as needed. VARs are part of the channel.

VAR - see Value Added Reseller

VAX - see Virtual Address eXtension.

VB - see Visual Basic

Vector - A vector is a set of scalar numbers that refers to a point in space. Say, for example, you are in a two-dimensional space. A vector may be (5,6), which is 5 units across the X axis, and 6 units up the Y axis. See also scalar.

Vector Graphics - As opposed to raster graphics, vector graphics are composed of groups of colored lines. If you've ever seen those old Atari arcade games like Tempest, Battlezone, or Asteroids, that's vector graphics. At one point a company even made a home game machine based on vector graphics--it was called the "Vectrex." Nowadays, the only time you see things that look like vector graphics is when you are creating 3D models and you haven't rendered them yet.

Vertical market - This refers to an industry or group of companies that can be marketed to in a similar manner because they have similar needs. Common examples of vertical markets include the government, health care, and insurance.

Vertical Market Application - This is an application written specifically for a particular vertical market, as opposed to more generic multi-purpose applications such as office suites. One example is a program written for the insurance industry that computes insurance rates. Such an application is useless in any market besides the insurance industry.

Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) - This refers to the amount of transistors that are incorporated in a chip. A VLSI processor has on the order of 100,000 or more transistors. See also ULSI, LSI, MSI, and SSI.

VESA - See Video Electronics Standards Association

VESA Local Bus - This is a 32-bit extension of a 16-bit ISA slot. This architecture predated PCI and allowed users to break the bottleneck that occurred when the ISA bus slowed down graphics speed. It allowed speeds of up to 40 MHz, compared to ISA's measly 8.3 MHz. The fact that it had twice as many pins to transmit data helped out as well. VL-Bus was big on 486-66 machines, when it first came out, but was quickly displaced by PCI. PCI cards have some modest speed advantages and are much smaller. All VL-Bus cards were full-length cards.

VGA - see Video Graphics Array

Video Card - A device in computers that deals specifically with displaying to a monitor. Without one, you cannot see what's going on in your computer and may have to resort to the ancient method of using a printer as a monitor.

Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) - This is a group that sets standards for certain peripheral devices and their connectors, such as the VESA Local Bus and VESA standard monitor specification.

Video Graphics Array (VGA) - This is a video standard that allows for resolutions up to 640x480 with up to 16 colors at a time. It also allows for 320x200 resolution with 256 colors. Many older games were written to take advantage of the 320x200 resolution because of the comparatively high color depth. SVGA and XGA replaced VGA, but VGA compatibility remains an important part of most graphics cards. If your video driver is messed up, Win95 and Windows NT let you go in under VGA mode and fix it.

Video Random Access Memory (VRAM) - Memory made specifically for video applications (such as a video card). Much faster and more expensive than DRAM.

Virtual Address eXtension (VAX) - This is a line of 32-bit servers sold by the former Digital Equipment Corp. Initially, VAX computers ran only the VMS operating system, but later versions supported UNIX as well as VMS.

Virtual Classroom - This refers to any means of live or pre-programmed Internet broadcast of information meant to function in a teaching capacity. For example, you could say "see you in the virtual classroom" and meet at a particular URL that is dispensing information.

Virtual LAN (VLAN) - A VLAN is created when a bunch of physically connected ports are grouped together by network hardware that supports VLANs. These VLANs are each treated as completely separate entities and can only be joined together by a router. This scheme is useful for grouping departments together for security and minimizing network traffic.

Virtual Memory - This is a section of a hard drive used to augment a computers RAM. Different operating systems have different ways of dealing with virtual memory. UNIX and Linux use a separate hard drive partition dedicated to virtual memory, while Windows can use part of any hard drive partition. Virtual memory is used when the operating system runs low on physical memory or RAM. Virtual memory is also used to swap out lesser used portions of physical memory, freeing it up for other operations.

Virtual Memory System (VMS) - Designed in 1976, this is the operating system that ran on Digital Equipment Corps VAX operating system. Eventually, DEC ported VMS to run on the Alpha processor, and added POSIX functions into the operating system, renaming it OpenVMS.

Virtual Private Network (VPN) - This is a "virtual" network constructed by connecting computers together over the Internet and encrypting their communications so that other people cannot understand the communications. The benefit is that people can connect to the LAN from anywhere on the Internet. This allows easier connectivity and lower phone bills for travelling salespeople. They just sign up with a national ISP and call local POPs from their hotels as they travel the country and easily connect back to their company's local network. Microsoft's answer to VPNs is PPTP.

Virtual Reality (VR) - Virtual Reality is a world created for you that only exists in a computer, often experienced by looking through 3D goggles that detect which way your are looking and then display what should be there. Another form is a world created in your imagination by stories on the computer, such as a MUD.

Virtual Reality Markup Language (VRML) - Virtual Reality Markup Language An enhancement to the HTML format used to make virtual worlds out of Web pages.

Virus - A program that makes unbidden copies of itself. Sometimes these copies are added on to executable files, and other times they are part of Word or Excel documents, called Macro Viruses. The virus will usually have some eventual effect on systems that are infected. Often, the intent of a virus is malicious. Sometimes the intent is not malicious, but due to the spreading of the virus, it becomes a malicious act.

Visitor - When a user arrives on a website, he or she is considered one visitor regardless of how many pages he or she looks at.

Visual Basic (VB) - This is a software product developed by Microsoft. Its purpose is to bring programming down to a drag-and-drop level to speed up development cycles. In many ways, that goal has been achieved. VB's main competitor is Borland's Delphi. Both programs offer similar functionality. The actual code for the program is BASIC and you can go in and edit the nitty-gritty if you want to.

Visual C++ - This is a Microsoft product that is basically VB on steroids. It features a similar visual interface with drag-and-drop functionality, but the code is C++, which is more robust than BASIC. It's also much faster when compiled.

VLAN - see Virtual LAN

VLB - see VESA Local Bus

VLSI - see Very Large Scale Integration

VMS - see Virtual Memory System

VPN - see Virtual Private Network

VR - see Virtual Reality

VRAM - see Video RAM

VRML - see Virtual Reality Markup Language

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