Quick, what’s the most important thing about your business’s precious data? Besides knowing how to back it up properly and protect it from catastrophic loss, how about understanding all the lingo used to describe it? The term “big data” – in reference to large, complex data sets – is a well-known buzzword these days, but a slew of new “data” terms are in style now, too.

From hosting websites, email, applications and online file storage, the cloud has become a popular alternative to traditional IT services among businesses. In fact, it is almost impossible to find a company’s data center that does not employ cloud-based services of some kind.