Backbone
A high-speed line (or a series of connections) that forms a major pathway within a network.

Bandwidth
The amount of data you can send through a connection, usually measured in bits per second . A full page of English text is about 16,000 bits. A 56K modem can move about 56,000 bits (3.5 pages of text) in one second.

Banner
A paid advertisement in the form of a graphic (usually rectangular in shape) displayed on a Web page. When viewers click on a banner, they are taken to the advertiser's Web site.

BBS
Bulletin Board System: A computerized meeting system. BBS users can have discussions, make announcements, and upload or download files. There are thousands of BBSs around the world; many of them rely on a direct modem-to-modem connection over a phone line, using a single computer.

Bit
This is the smallest measure of computerized data, either 1 or 0. Eight bits equal one byte, or one character.

BPS
Bits per second: A measurement of how fast data is moved from one place to another. A 28.8K modem can move 28,800 bits per second, or about 3600 characters per second.

Browser
A client program used to view various kinds of Internet resources. You use a browser (e.g., Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer) to view Web pages from your computer.

Byte
A byte is a set of 8 bits that represent a single character.