Scalability   The ability to grow incrementally. If an online commerce system is scaleable, it can grow in capacity, as the demand requires. Search Engine   One of the most essential tools on the Internet - they help you find web sites relating to a particular subject or the Email address of someone you know or articles posted to a Newsgroup or even companies which have a presence on the Internet. Most of the information provided by search engines is categorized so the search can be considerably refined before you even begin. The search engines are basically huge databases containing millions of records which include the URL of a particular Web page along with information relating to the content of the web page which is supplied in the HTML by the author. The search engine obtains this information via a submission from the author or by the search engines doing a "crawl" using "robot crawlers" of the Internet for information. Some search engines use Spiders to obtain information. The are a number of facilities available on the web that allow authors to submit their web pages to hundreds of web site at once. Some search engines use a technique known as ICE to locate information on related topics. SET   Is an acronym for the Secure Electronic Transaction protocol. It is a means for authenticating credit card purchases on the Net. All parties use digital signatures. Transaction information is encrypted using 1024 bit RSA encryption. Shopping Cart   Software that operates on an online storefront. The "shopping cart" keeps track of all the items that a buyer wants to purchase, allowing the shopper to pay for the whole order at once. SLIP   Serial Line Internet Protocol. Standards for using a regular telephone line (a serial line) and a modem to connect a computer as a real Internet site. SLIP is gradually being replaced by PPP. Smart Card   A credit card sized plastic card with an embedded microchip. The chip can be "recharged" with funds. The store of value on the card is debited as a transaction is made. The card can also store ID information, health care details and security information. S-Mime encryption   Protects the privacy of email. If the sender and receiver both have email clients that support the S-Mime protocol, they can communicate with email that is secured. SMTP   Simple Mail Transport Protocol. The main protocol used to send electronic mail on the Internet. SMTP consists of a set of rules for how a program sending mail and a program receiving mail should interact. Almost all Internet email is sent and received by clients and servers using SMTP, thus if one wanted to set up an email server on the Internet one would look for email server software that supports SMTP. Spam (or Spamming)   The Internet version of junk mail. Spamming is sending the same message to a large number of mailing lists or newsgroups usually to advertise something. SQL   Structured Query Language. A specialized programming language for sending queries to databases. Most industrial-strength and many smaller database applications can be addressed using SQL. Each specific application will have its own version of SQL implementing features unique to that application, but all SQL-capable databases support a common subset of SQL. SSL   Secure Sockets Layer. A protocol designed by Netscape Communications to enable encrypted, authenticated communications across the Internet. SSL used mostly (but not exclusively) in communications between web browsers and web servers. URL's that begin with "https" indicate that an SSL connection will be used. SSL provides 3 important things: Privacy, Authentication, and Message Integrity. SSL encryption   Developed by Netscape to provide data encryption and authentication of servers or clients. SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer. It can be used for any functions on the Internet- FTP, Usenet or the Web. Strategic Investment   Benefits expected from the (purchase/investment in) an EEI solution.