STANDARDS of data telecommunication

ISDN    Integrated Services Digital Network:
An integration of voice and data services offered by telephone companies
(and other commercial carriers) to business customers, for the transmission
of digital signals (as opposed to analog signals)

EDI     Electronic Data Interchange:
Developed by EDS [Ross perot, GM]. Used by businesses for day to day
transactions with remote locations, suppliers, and franchises.

TOP/MAP   Transmission Ofiice Protocol/Manufacturing Apllications Protocol:
Developed to serve the "paperless office" and automated manufacturing
facilities.

FTP     File Transfer Protocol:
Used to transfer files, e.g. downloading files off the Internet.

TCP/IP  Transmission Communication Protocol/Internet Protocol:
The current standard for Internet/Intranet development.  Recognizes html
files, cgi, & perl.

OSI/ISO   Open Systems Interconnection/Internat'l Stds. Organization:
A "seven-layer" approach, where each layer describes a different area in
which communicating systems must be compatible. (e.g. from common plugs
[the "physical" layer] to common meaning of data.  


PDF  Portable Document Format
A newer Adobe based protocol for document exchange.

HTTP  Hyper Text Markup Language