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A glossary of terms important to IBM mainframe machines
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Kaleida: Joint venture company set up by Apple and IBM in October 1991 to develop multimedia systems. It all came to a sad end in November 1995 when Kaleida was closed down, and folded back into Apple. See also ScriptX.
Karat: Architecture cum family of products for distributed systems management – first saw the light of day September 1994. Includes NetView and supports NetView APIs, so that existing NetView users can continue to use all their NetView systems under the Karat regime. IBM encouraged third party support, published the APIs, and used the CORBA object technology to make the thing fairly open. First products appeared for AIX and OS/2 in April 1995 – SystemView Series. Like SystemView, no one talks about Karat anymore, especially now that Tivoli has NetView.
KBS: See Knowledge Based Systems.
KCA: Key Certification Authority.
KDB: See Kernel Debugger.
KEE: Knowledge Engineering Environment. IBM’s z/OS version of Intellicorp’s LISP expert system (which IBM and Intellicorp co-promoted on the RT PC). IBM withdrew from the joint marketing agreement in March 1990.
Kerberos: Security system for Unix environments derived from MIT’s Project Athena. Uses a trusted server to ensure that there are no unwanted systems in the network. It is not an all-singing, all-dancing security system àla RACF with file and record-level security, etc. In z/OS, Kerberos support has been modernized and moved from Communications Server to z/OS itself.
Kermit: A protocol for file transfers once widely used in public-domain communications software packages in the PC world. Originated in PC-mainframe file transfer software from Columbia University.
Kernel: The core of an operating system that performs basic functions such as allocating hardware resources.
Kernel Debugger: A debug facility for the AIX1 kernel.
Key: Although it has several security-related meanings, not to mention other computing meanings, it can also refer to an authenticator.
Keykos: A z/VM-compatible operating system developed for internal use within McDonnell Douglas and launched into a totally indifferent market in the mid 1980s.
Key pair: A private key and its related public key.
Key ring: A named collection of digital certificates.
Kicker: An upgrade, modification, or enhancement to a moribund product to keep it going.
Killer app: An application that creates a mass market for an emerging technology. First used to describe VisiCalc and Lotus 1-2-3 in the early 1980s after it became evident that demand for the spreadsheet had been the catalyst for the sale of IBM PCs in the enterprise. Netscape was once described as the Internet’s killer app.
Kilobit: 1024 bits, or 2 to the 10th power, when referring to processor storage, real and virtual storage, and channel volume. However, when referring to disk storage capacity it is 1000 bits. Abbreviated as Kb.
Kilobyte: 1024 bytes, or 2 to the 10th power, when referring to processor storage, real and virtual storage, and channel volume. However, when referring to disk storage capacity it is 1000 bytes. Abbreviated as KB.
Kimono: To open the Kimono is a particularly tacky bit of IBMspeak meaning to reveal some secret information, usually to customers. A less offensive way of expressing the same notion was to talk about Glasnost and Perestroika – and look what they led to.
K-map: See Knowledge Map.
KMIGRATE: A free IBM software tool that migrates existing DCE2 and z/OS users to Kerberos.
Know How: Short-lived Consultancy/Services operation set up by IBM UK in mid 1991. 2,000 staff were diverted from their previous IBM duties into Know How, which sold consultancy, training, implementation, and so on. Part of IBM’s on-going attempt to change its main source of revenue from boxes to services. See also MCD.
Knowledge Based Systems: Generic term for systems (also known as KBS) incorporating the knowledge of a human expert. Used more or less synonymously with expert systems.
Knowledge Map: See Discovery Server.
KnowledgeTool: z/OS and z/VM expert system shell. Based on PL/I, it provides strong rule-processing algorithms for use by professional programmers. Withdrawn February 1996. See also ESE.
Knowledge Utility: KnU is a general purpose hypermedia system offering intelligent information retrieval and management. To quote IBM: KnU allows groups of users to weave together all forms of data, connecting knowledge into meaningful patterns which aid users in retrieving appropriate information. Replaced by KnowledgeX. See Agent, WBI.
KnowledgeX: See Knowledge Utility.
KnU: See Knowledge Utility.
KPE: Knowledge Processing Environment.
KSDS: Key Sequenced DataSet. One of type of VSAM dataset (file) in which the logical records are placed in sequence of a key which is held as part of each record (e.g., invoice number). Usually, each key is unique and is located in the same place in the record. Replaces ISAM2.
K-station: Lotus Knowledge Station. The tools to provide Web browser access to a broad range of data, including Web applications, Microsoft Office documents and host data.
KWIS: Knowledge Worker Information Systems.