ICQ

"I seek you". A program used on the Internet that notifies you when other people log on or are already online.

IEEE

Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers. Another standard-making organisation, responsible for things such such as communications standards (IEEE 802.3 is Ethernet).

Imagemap

A graphical image with 'hot-spots' so that clicking on a particular part of the image will take the user to another page or series of pages.

Intranet

A private network inside a company that uses the same software you would find on the Internet to distribute information.  Intranets are only for internal use, and from the outside world (ie. the Internet) users cannot normally view the intranet pages, as they may contain company - sensitive data.

Internet

Technically the Internet is a collection of interconnected networks and computer systems to make up the whole. Could be summarised as a large network comprising of smaller networks.

IP Address

A numerical address currently consisting of 4 sets of octets separated by periods (full stops) which are unique to a particular computer. An example would be 10.1.0.1, or 145.149.100.1

IRC

Internet Relay Chat. A real-time world-wide 'chat' system where users participate in an on-screen 'conversation'. Similar in principle to a BBS, but the appearance is completely different.

ISDN

Integrated Services Digital Network. A digital telephone line which is faster than orginal analogue phone lines, which the traditional telephone network runs on. In certain situations allows you to use the Internet and talk on the phone at the same time.

ISP

Internet Service Provider. A company whose network a consumer connects to via a modem in order to gain access to the Internet.