NACHA
National Automated Clearinghouse Association.
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NACHA FORMAT
An ACH record format that meets specifications set out in the NACHA Operating Rules and Guidelines. ACH participants warrant that they have agreed to and will abide by formats established for ACH payments.
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NANOSECOND (NSEC)
One billionth of a second.
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NATIONAL AUTOMATED CLEARING HOUSE ASSOCIATION (NACHA)
The association that is responsible for developing and maintaining rules, standards, and procedures for the exchange of ACH items.
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NATIONAL CHANGE OF ADDRESS SYSTEM (NCOA)
A correction service, licensed by the USPS, that matches mail file records against a database of recent movers and their forwarding address. The USPS compiles this database from change of address cards. It contains the last 18 months of movers and is updated twice each month. Private sector vendors, who meet USPS criteria, may be selected to perform this process for a fee.
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NATIONAL STANDARD FORMAT (NSF)
A flat file data set for submitting non-institutional health care claims electronically and producing electronic remittance notices. The data set is a set of record segments, each 320 positions in length, comprised of required and optional data elements. NSF claims may be submitted to processors of Medicare, Medicaid, CHAMPUS, private and commercial claims.
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NCOA
National Change of Address System.
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NCOA MATCHED
Records that were compared against an NCOA file. Actual forwarding address is not returned. A series of footnotes and the move date are returned.
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NEGOTIABILITY
Characteristic of certain bank instruments which permits their value to be transferred from one party to another.
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NESTING
Placing documents within other documents. Nesting allows a user to access material in a non-linear fashion. This is the primary factor needed for developing hypertext.
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NETBIOS
see Network Basic Input/Output System. The standard interface to networks on IBM PC and compatible systems.
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NETWARE
NetWare is a network operating system (NOS) from Novell. Several different versions of NetWare are currently (or have been) available.
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NETWORK
A network consists of multiple computers, called nodes or stations .The computers are connected to, and/or can communicate with, each other in some way. Nodes run special software for initiating and managing network interactions. With the help of networking software, nodes can share files and resources. Refers to two or more computers that have been linked together to enable them to communicate with each other, exchange information, and share resources. A collection of two or more computers interconnected by telephone lines, coaxial cables, satellite links, radio and/or some other communication technique. A computer network is a group of computers which are connected together and which communicate with one another for a common purpose. Computer networks support "people and organization" networks, users who also share a common purpose for communicating.
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NETWORK ADDRESS
See Internet address or OSINetwork Address.
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NETWORK BASIC INPUT/OUTPUT SYSTEM (NETBIOS)
A layer of software to link a network operating system with specific hardware on the system. Although NetBlOS was originally developed by ISM, it has become an industry standard language often referred to as NetBIOS-compatible LANs. NetBIOS actually spans the fifth, sixth, and seventh layers and includes capabilities for monitoring sessions to make sure they are running smooth\y. This protocol links the Network Operating System (NOS) with specific hardware.
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NETWORK DRIVER
Software that performs the data link protocol in the network.
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NETWORK FILE SYSTEM (NFS)
A distributed file system developed by Sun Microsystems which allows a set of computers to cooperatively access each other's files in a transparent manner.
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NETWORK INTERFACE CARD (NIC)
A card that plugs into a computer and adapts the network interface to the appropriate standard.
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NETWORK LAYER
The third layer of the OSI reference model. It controls underlying telecommunications functions such as routing, relaying and data link connections. The OSI layer that is responsible for routing, switching and sub network access across the entire OSI environment.
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NETWORK MANAGEMENT STATION (NMS)
The system responsible for managing a (portion of a) network. The NMS talks to network management agents, which reside in the managed nodes, via a network management protocol.
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NETWORK NEWS TRANSPORT PROTOCOL (NNTP)
The protocol used by client and server software to carry USENET postings back and forth over a TCP/IP network.
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NETWORK OPERATIONS CENTER
Any center tasked with the operational aspects of a production network. These tasks include monitoring and control, trouble-shooting, user assistance and so on. I
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NETWORK TIME PROTOCOL (NTP)
A protocol built on top of TCP that assures accurate local time keeping with reference to radio and atomic clocks located on the Internet. This protocol is capable of synchronizing distributed clocks within milliseconds over long time periods.
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NETWORKED INFORMATION CENTER (NIC)
Generally, any office that handles information for a network. The most famous of these on the Internet is the InterNIC, which is where new domain names are registered.
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NETWORKING TOPOLOGIES
Describes the network configuration. There are six major types of network topologies: Star, Point-to-point, Multi-point, Bus, Ring and Hierarchical. The first three are more of a centralized structure where a centralized CPU mainframe performs all of the processing and users are connected at a remote site. Bus, hierarchical and ring are distributed topologies where processing is distributed among multiple remote sites.
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NIBBLE
Half a byte. A combination of four bits. I
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NIC
Networked Information Center or Network Interface Card.
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NIC (NETWORK INTERFACE CARD)
A printer may have a network interface card (NIC) and run its own print server software. This type of printer can connect directly to the network and function as a regular node.
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NIGHT CYCLE
The latest scheduled time that an ODFI can transmit an ACH file to its ACH operator for end-of-day processing.
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NINE-DIGIT ZIP CODE
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NIXIE
An inaccurate name or address that is undeliverable.
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NMS
Network Management Station.
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NNTP
Network News Transport Protocol.
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NOC
Network Operations Center or Notification of Change.
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NODE
A member of a network or a point where one or more functional units interconnect transmission lines. A VAX is a node on a DECnet.
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NODES
The computers in a network may be used for workstations, servers, or both. A network can include PCs, Macintoshes, minicomputers, and even mainframes. PCs need a network interface card (NIC) installed for networking capabilities. Macintoshes and Sun workstations come with networking capabilities built in, so that a special card is not required to use the native network architecture for these machines. The NICs mediate between the computer and the network by doing the necessary processing and translation to enable users to send or receive commands and data on the network. NICs are designed to support particular network architectures, such as Ethernet, ARCnet, or Token Ring.
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NOISE
Data or unidentifiable marks picked up in the course of scanning or data transfer that do not correspond to the original. Undesirable signals bearing no desired information and frequently capable of introducing errors into the communication process.
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NONPROFIT BULK MAIL
Nonpreferential second and third class mail sent by mailers, that are accorded special nonprofit status and discounted postage rates by the USPS (e.g., churches, charities and educational foundations).
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NON-READ (NO-READ, NON-SCAN)
Lack of data output when a scan line is scanned due to a defective code, incorrect orientation or speed of scan, scanner failure or operator error. The decode algorithm succeeds in detecting the error and rejects the data "observed" as invalid.
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NOS (NETWORK OPERATING SYSTEM)
The software that controls and operates functions on the network, like security and administrative tools.
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NOTIFICATION OF CHANGE (NOC)
A non-monetary ACH communication from the RDFI to the ODFI, notifying the ODFI that previously valid information for a transaction receiver has become outdated or is otherwise erroneous, and providing the corrected information.
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NOVELL NETWARE
is a popular network operating system (NOS) from Novell. There are several different versions of NetWare are currently (or previously) available. These versions differ in the hardware they support, in the networking services they provide, and in some special features (such as fault tolerance).
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NOVELL NETWORK
A local area network that uses the Novell NetWare operating management system.
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NUMERIC
Denoting a character set that includes only numbers.
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