COBRA/IIOP: Common Object Request Broker Architecture/Internet Inter-ORB Protocol, the most widely-used specification for cross-platform and multiple-language communication and coordination between objects.

COM/DCOM: Component Object Model/Distributed Component Object Model, DCOM is the distributed form of Microsoft's COM object technology, some examples of which are OLE and ActiveX components.

EJB: Enterprise JavaBeans, Sun's new standard for distributed, interoperable, cross-platform objects.

EDI: Electronic Data Interchange, a set of standards for transferring data between hosts. Most commonly used to refer to the ANSI X12 Transaction Set Standard.

LDAP: Lightweight Directory Access Protocol, a simplied form of the X.500 directory standard, typically used to access information directories, such as a user database.

OBI: Open Buying over the Internet, a B2B standard primarily designed for high-volume purchases, developed by the Internet Purchasing Roundtable, and now promoted by the OBI Consortium.

SET: Secure Electronic Transaction, a standard for electronic data transfer, particularly credit card transactions, supported by vendors including Netscape, Microsoft, Visa and Mastercard.

SSL: Secure Sockets Layer, a frequently-used protocol developed by Netscape which encrypts data sent over the SSL connection.

XML: eXtensible Markup Language, a specification designed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to define data forms which can be transferred across the Internet in a standard fashion.