MSP News

A Survival Guide to Tech Acronyms Before You Hit ITEXPO Sessions

By Carrie Schmelkin
MSPNews™ Web Editor

For a good number of us in the tech sector, it is easy to and many times expected that we will drop catchphrase acronyms like M2M, HTML5, UC, CRM and VoIP, and pretend that we 100 percent know what they mean. And we might. But do we know much else besides what these acronyms stand for?

Well, in honor of ITEXPO East 2012 commencing tomorrow, we thought we’d equip you with a trusty survival guide before you hit the showroom floor, just to make sure that you have your acronyms in order. After all, if you will be spending the next three days rubbing elbows with tech connoisseurs and schmoozing with IT intellectuals, you might need to know more than the fact that M2M means machine-to-machine technology.

M2M

Stands for: Machine-to-Machine technology

Layman’s terms: Machines talking to machines

Facts to Spew Out: Whether you are walking around the showroom floor, or getting ready to attend the collocated event M2M Evolution, make sure you use words like “ubiquitous” and “proliferation” when talking to fellow participants about M2M as the technology is showing no signs of slowing down. Conversely, M2M technology is finding a home in a variety of sectors from the healthcare to transportation to security to education verticals. 

Want some quick facts to blurt out on the expo floor? The number of embedded mobile M2M connections will reach 428 million by 2014. It is expected that the global mobile M2M market will reach $57 billion by 2014. And here’s one more to boot: The market for cumulative cellular M2M connections is expected to rise from about 110 million connections in 2011 to approximately 365 million connections by 2016.

HTML5

Stands for: Hyper Text Markup Language, version 5

Layman’s terms: The latest revision of the HTML standard, which was first created in 1990

Facts to Spew Out: The goal of HTML5 is to improve the language so that it can support the latest multimedia while still making sure that it is decipherable by humans and understood by computers and devices. While this might be a good fact to start with, if you plan on attending the collocated event HTML5 Developers Summit, you might also want to know that every browser company has embraced HTML5 and every device manufacturer has stated their commitment to HTML5. Simply put, the world is giving its stamp of approval to HTML5. From Adobe to Google to nVidia to AT&T, some of the leading tech giants have announced their support to the next generation of the Web so perhaps you should get a little bit more acquainted with the acronym, too.

MSP

Stands for: Managed Service Provider

Layman’s terms: A company that provides services for other companies or organizations

Facts to Spew Out: MSP is certainly an acronym you have been hearing about a lot lately as MSPs are increasingly playing a vital role in the reliability and dependability of IT services. MSPs are capable of managing IT for clients for a fraction of the cost and they can provide everything from IP telephony, VPNs, monitoring and reporting, and more. Want a little more before you stroll into the collocated event MSPWorld? Just spit out these impressive questions to your neighbor at the session. “Will the managed services and cloud industries fuse together?” and “Did you hear about issues with channel fraud and IP theft? What are your thoughts on that?” Trust us, you’ll look like an MSP expert.

So what about CRM, UC, SIP, VoIP… the list goes on, you might be thinking. Well then realize that the glory of ITEXPO is you can take a peek into any collocated event you like and learn about a field that perhaps you seldom dabble in. So go on. Take that dive into an unchartered market. We have brought the best and brightest in the industries to help you navigate the space.

Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO East 2012, taking place Jan. 31-Feb. 3 2012, in Miami, FL. ITEXPO offers an educational program to help corporate decision makers select the right IP-based voice, video, fax and unified communications solutions to improve their operations. It's also where service providers learn how to profitably roll out the services their subscribers are clamoring for – and where resellers can learn about new growth opportunities. For more information on registering for ITEXPO registration click here.

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