U

UN

United Nations. An international organisation composed of most of the countries of the world. It was founded in 1945 to promote peace, security, and economic development.

UN/EDIFACT

United Nations rules for Electronic Data Interchange for Administration, Commerce and Transport. The standard defines a set of guidelines for the electronic interchange of structured data, between computer applications. Even though the strict definition for EDIFACT is between two computer applications, EDIFACT is used in numerous cases as the data exchange format.

Recommended within the framework of the United Nations, the rules are approved and published by the UN/ECE in the United Nations Trade Data Interchange Directory (UNTDID) and are maintained under agreed procedures.

UNTDID

United Nations Trade Data Interchange Directory. Directory on the set of internationally agreed standards relating to trade in goods and services between computerized information systems

UNICAST

A message sent to an individual node on a network.

Also see Broadcast Multicast Network Node

Unicode

The ISO 10646 character set that uses 16-bit patterns to represent characters. It was created to describe every known language character and a large collection of special characters using unique bit patterns that computers can recognize and display.

UNIX

An operating system developed at Bell Laboratories in 1969. UNIX is an operating system which can run on a wide variety of hardware.

An Operating System typically written in C, and designed for multi-user environments. It has TCP/IP built in, and is therefore one of the most popular operating systems for servers on the Internet.

Upload

Transfer of files off a local computer up to a specified remote computer (as opposed to download where files are pulled off a remote machine).

URL

(Uniform Resource Locator) resource addressing scheme of the World Wide Web. Assists in locating and identification of multimedia resources or multiple copies of resources.

USB

(Universal Serial Bus). USB is a new type of connection device fitted to most PCs available today. It provides a way of connecting peripherals such as a printer, mouse, or a digital camera , to a host PC. Its main benefits are:

1. It reduces the need to install cards into dedicated computer slots and reconfigure the system.

2. It offers true plug and play set-up and hot swapping capability so devices can be added, removed or swapped while your PC is up and running.

USB ports now come as standard on the majority of desktop PCs. Check the back of the PC, look for the official USB logo or contact the manufacturer of your PC to confirm whether you have a USB port.

USB Hub

(Universal Serial Bus Hub). A USB Hub provides a method of connecting multiple USB peripherals such as a printer, mouse, or a digital camera , to one PC. It cannot connect PCs together.

Also see Hub USB USB Network Interface

USB Network Interface

Universal Serial Bus Network Interface. The USB Network Interface provides the link between a PC's USB port and an Ethernet network. It performs the same function as a standard Network Interface Card (NIC), without the need to open the PC to install the card.

Another key difference between the USB Network Interface and a conventional NIC is the transmission speed. NICs are available in 10Mbps or 10/100Mbps varieties, providing the highest speed connections between the PC and the network. The USB Network Interface, because of speed limitations of USB technology, is only available with a 10Mbps Ethernet connection.

Also see Ethernet NIC Mbps USB

Usenet

Specialised network linking thousands of newsgroups covering every subject under the sun.

UTP

(Unshielded Twisted Pair). Cabling consisting of one or more pairs of wires (used in a variety of network applications) that are bound in plastic. UTP is popular because it is very pliable and does not take up as much room as STP and other cables.

Also see Network STP Twisted Pair