ICC
International Colour Consortium.

ICM
Image Colour Matching.

IDE
Integrated Device Electronics. A type of disk-drive interface where the controller electronics reside on the drive itself, eliminating the need for a separate adapter card.

IE
See Microsoft Internet Explorer.

IEAK
Internet Explorer Administration Kit. A set of tools that make possible the fine-tuning of Internet Explorer browsing software installations.
IEAK Profile Manager
A tool that network or workgroup administrators can use to create custom Active Desktop and Active Channel configurations and deploy them to users.

IEEE
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

Impersonation
A technique by which one process can take on the security attributes of another process, as when a server process impersonates a client process to complete a task involving objects to which the server does not normally have access.

INF file
A file that provides Windows 98 Setup with the information required to set up a device, such as a list of valid logical configurations for the device, the names of driver files associated with the device, and so on. An INF file is typically provided by the device manufacturer on a disk.

Infrared Data Association (IrDA)
Publisher of a wireless connectivity standard, which makes it possible to connect computers and hardware devices without using cables.

INI files
Initialisation files used by Windows-based applications to store per-user information that controls application startup. In Windows 98, such information is stored in the registry, and INI files are supported for backward compatibility.

Interactive television
Television combined with interactive content and enhancements.

Interlacing
A video display technique in which the electron beam refreshes (updates) all odd-numbered scan lines in one sweep of the screen and all even-numbered scan lines in the next. Interlacing takes advantage of both the screen phosphor's ability to maintain an image for a short time before fading and the human eye's tendency to average subtle differences in light intensity. By refreshing alternate lines, interlacing halves the number of lines to update in one screen sweep.

International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
An international association of member countries, each represented by its leading standard-setting organization—for example, ANSI (American National Standards Institute) for the United States. The ISO works to establish global standards for communications and information exchange.

Internet
A set of dissimilar computer networks joined together by means of gateways that handle data transfer and the conversion of messages from the sending network to the protocols used by the receiving networks. These networks and gateways use the TCP/IP suite of protocols.

Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA)
The Internet group that assigns groups of IP addresses to organizations.

Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP)
A network-level Internet protocol that provides error correction and other information relevant to IP packet processing.

Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
A consortium that introduces procedures for new technology on the Internet. IETF specifications are released in Requests for Comments.

Internet Protocol (IP)
The part of TCP/IP that is responsible for addressing and sending TCP packets over the network.

Internet Protocol Control Protocol (IPCP)
A protocol used to configure, enable, and disable IP Protocol modules at both ends of the link.

Internet Service Provider (ISP)
A public provider of remote connections to the Internet.

Interrupt
An asynchronous operating condition that disrupts normal execution and transfers control to an interrupt handler. Interrupts are usually initiated by I/O devices requiring service from the processor.

Interrupt request (IRQ)
A method by which a device can request to be serviced by the device's software driver. The system board uses a programmable interrupt controller to monitor the priority of the requests from all devices.

Intranet
Use of Internet standards, technologies, and products within an enterprise to function as a collaborative processing infrastructure. The term is generally used to describe the application of Internet technologies on internal corporate networks.

IP
Internet Protocol.

IP address
Internet Protocol address. A unique address that identifies a host on a network. It identifies a computer as a 32-bit address that is unique across a TCP/IP network.

IPX/SPX
Internetwork Packet Exchange /Sequenced Packet Exchange. On Novell NetWare systems, IPX is a network layer protocol used in the file server operating system; SPX is a transport layer protocol built on top of IPX and used in client/server applications.

IRQ
See interrupt request.

ISA
Industry Standard Architecture. An 8-bit (and later, a 16-bit) expansion bus that provides a buffered interface from devices on expansion cards to the PC internal bus.

ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network)
A completely digital telephone /telecommunications network that carries voice, data, and video information over the existing telephone network infrastructure. It is designed to provide a single interface for hooking up a telephone, fax machine, computer, and so on.