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Near-line storage
Near-line storage is used by corporations, including data warehouses, as an inexpensive, scalable way to store large volumes of data. Near-line storage devices include DAT and DLT tapes (sequential access); optical storage such as CD-ROM, DVD, and Blu-ray; magneto-optical which utilize magnetic heads with an optical reader; and also slower P-ATA and SATA hard disk drives. Retrieval of data is slower than SCSI hard disk which is usually connected directly to servers or in a SAN environment. Near-Line implies that whatever media the information is stored on, it can be accessed via a tape library or some other method electronically as opposed to off-line which signified some human intervention is required, such as retrieving and mounting a tape. Near-line can be slower, but the type of data (historical archives, backup data, video, and others) dictates that the information will not require instant access and high throughput that SAN and SCSI can provide and is less expensive per byte.

Network-attached storage(NAS)
A network-attached storage (NAS) device is a server that is dedicated to nothing more than file sharing. NAS does not provide any of the activities that a server in a server-centric system typically provides, such as e-mail, authentication, or file management. NAS allows more hard disk storage space to be added to a network that already utilizes servers without shutting them down for maintenance and upgrades. With a NAS device, storage is not an integral part of the server. Instead, in this storage-centric design, the server still handles all of the processing of data but a NAS device delivers the data to the user. A NAS device does not need to be located within the server but can exist anywhere in a LAN and can be made up of multiple networked NAS devices.

Nyquist’s Law
Also called Nyquist’s Theorem. Before sound as acoustic energy can be manipulated on a computer, it must first be converted to electrical energy (using a transducer such as a microphone) and then transformed through an analog-to-digital converter into a digital representation. This is all accomplished by sampling the continuous input waveform a certain number of times per second. The more often a wave is sampled the more accurate the digital representation. Nyquist’s Law, named in 1933 after scientist Harry Nyquist, states that a sound must be sampled at least twice its highest analog frequency in order to extract all of the information from the bandwidth and accurately represent the original acoustic energy. Sampling at slightly more than twice the frequency will make up for imprecisions in filters and other components used for the conversion.

Light archive
In reference to data storage, an archive that can be accessed by many authorized users. Access to the data is open to all the members of the “community” that have a need for the data.

Lightbox
In digital asset management (DAM) systems, an area within the web site (or web service) or other internal DAM where users can create and store a list of assets they want to reference or use at a later time. Lightboxes are common on stock photo web sites where registered users can store images until they are ready to download them.

Linear tape open
Linear tape open (LTO) is a technology that was developed jointly by HP, IBM, and Certance (Seagate) to provide a clear and viable choice in an increasingly complex array of tape storage options.  LTO technology is an “open format” technology, which means that users have multiple sources of product and media. The open nature of the technology also provides a means of enabling compatibility between different vendors’ offerings.

Local area network
A local area network (LAN) is a communications infrastructure—typically Ethernet—designed to use dedicated wiring over a limited distance (typically a diameter of less than five kilometers) to connect a large number of intercommunicating nodes.

Lost cluster
Also called a lost allocation unit, or a lost file fragment. A data fragment that does not belong to any file, according to the system’s file management system, and, therefore, is not associated with a file name in the file allocation table. Lost clusters can result from files not being closed properly, from shutting down a computer without first closing an application, or from ejecting a storage medium, such as a floppy disk, from the disk drive while the drive is reading or writing.

Low-level format
(n.) A formatting method that creates the tracks and sectors on a hard disk. Low-level formatting creates the physical format that dictates where data is stored on the disk. Modern hard drives are low-level formatted at the factory for the life of the drive. A PC cannot perform an LLF on a modern IDE/ATA or SCSI hard disk, and doing so would destroy the hard disk. A low-level format is also called a physical format.

(v.) The process of performing low-level formatting.

iFCP
The Internet Fibre Channel Protocol (iFCP) allows an organization to extend Fibre Channel storage networks over the Internet by using TCP/IP. TCP is responsible for managing congestion control as well as error detection and recovery services. iFCP allows an organization to create an IP SAN fabric that minimizes the Fibre Channel fabric component and maximizes use of the company’s TCP/IP infrastructure.

Image

• In computer science an image is an exact replica of the contents of a storage device (a hard disk drive or CD-ROM for example) stored on a second storage device.
• Often used in place of the term digital image, which is an optically formed duplicate or other reproduction of an object formed by a lens or mirror.

Incremental backup
Any backup in which only the data objects that have been modified since the time of some previous backup are copied. Incremental backup is a collective term for cumulative incremental backups and differential incremental backups. Contrast with an archival, or full, backup, in which all files are backed up regardless of whether they have been modified since the last backup.

Information classification and management
Information classification and management (ICM) is a class of application-independent software that use advanced indexing, classification, policy and data access capabilities to automate data management activities above the storage layer.

Infrastructure
The combined set of hardware, software, networks, facilities, and other components (including all of the information technology) necessary to develop, test, deliver, monitor, control, or support IT services. Associated people, processes, and documentation are not part of an infrastructure.

Intelligent information management
Intelligent information management (IIM) is a set of processes and underlying technology solutions that enables organizations to understand, organize, and manage all sorts of data types (for example, general files, databases, and e-mails). Key attributes that define an IIM solution include the following:

Interrecord gap
The space between two consecutive physical blocks on a data recording medium, such as a hard drive or a magnetic tape. Interrecord gaps are used as markers for the end of data and also as safety margins for data overwrites. An interrecord gap is also referred to as an interblock gap.

Internet small computer systems interface
Internet small computer systems interface (iSCSI) is a transport protocol that enables the SCSI protocol to be carried over a TCP-based IP network. iSCSI was standardized by the Internet Engineering Task Force and described in RFC 3720.

IP storage
A technology being standardized under the IP Storage (IPS) IETF Working Group. Same as SoIP.