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FAQ
An acronym for "frequently asked questions," this kind of document answers inquiries about a given topic. Generally, FAQs come in the form of a help file or as a hypertext document.

Fiber-optics
Fiber-optic is a type of telephone cable made from glass that can handle vast amounts of voice, data and video at once by carrying them along on beams of light.

Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI)
This is a standard for data transmission on optical-fiber cables. This type of connection is faster than both Ethernet and T-3 connections.

Firewall
A software and/or hardware system that isolates a company's computer network from outsiders.

Frame Relay
An accepted standard for sending large amounts of data over phone lines and private datanets. Frame Relay refers to the fact that data is broken down into standard size "frames" prior to transmission.

Frequency
The number of times that an alternating current goes through its complete cycle in one second of time. One cycle per second is also referred to as one hertz; 1000 cycles per second, one kilohertz; 1,000,000 cycles per second, one megahertz and 1,000,000,000 cycles per second, one gigahertz.

Frequency Band
A term for designating a range of frequencies in the electromagnetic spectrum.

Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA)
An analog standard that lets multiple wireless users access a group of radio frequency bands and eliminates interference of message traffic.

Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS)
A method by which information (voice or data) is put into packets, which are then spread out on different frequencies.

FTP (File Transfer Protocol)
A widely used method of transferring data and files between two Internet sites.

Fuzzy Logic
Used in artificial intelligence, fuzzy logic recognizes that statements are not only just "true" or "false"-but also "more or less certain" or "very unlikely."