(1) The time between initiating a request in the computer and receiving the answer. Data latency may refer to the time between a query and the results arriving at the screen or the time between initiating a transaction that modifies one or more databases and its completion.
Disk latency is the time it takes for the selected sector to be positioned under the read/write head. Channel latency is the time it takes for a computer channel to become unoccupied in order to transfer data. Network latency is the delay introduced when a packet is momentarily stored, analyzed and then forwarded.
(2) With malicious software, latency is the period between infection and the first obvious damage to the host system. Many viruses or logic bombs written by amateurs have a short latency and are therefore relatively easy to detect; however, more vicious malware can lie dormant or replicate to many other hosts and then wreak havoc unexpectedly. See logic bomb and virus.
Disk latency is the time it takes for the selected sector to be positioned under the read/write head. Channel latency is the time it takes for a computer channel to become unoccupied in order to transfer data. Network latency is the delay introduced when a packet is momentarily stored, analyzed and then forwarded.
(2) With malicious software, latency is the period between infection and the first obvious damage to the host system. Many viruses or logic bombs written by amateurs have a short latency and are therefore relatively easy to detect; however, more vicious malware can lie dormant or replicate to many other hosts and then wreak havoc unexpectedly. See logic bomb and virus.
 | Reproduced with permission from Computer Desktop Encyclopedia. Copyright (c) 1981-2008 The Computer Language Company Inc. All rights reserved. |
Additional Resources
- Amazon launches CloudFront; Content delivery network margins go kaboom
- Amazon Web Services on Tuesday launched CloudFront, a pay-as-you-go content delivery network. The move is likely to accelerate already brutal pricing in the content delivery network market, which includes Akamai and Limelight Networks among others. CloudFront's biggest feature is that there are no up-front commitments and long-term...
- Blog posts 2008-11-18
- Phonetopp bringing Web conferences to smartphones
- If you've ever been tied to your desk or scrambled to find a WiFi hotspot just so you can tune into a Web conference, you'll be interested in knowing that Phonetopp, a Silicon Valley startup, is putting the finishing touches on a service that will bring the Webcast experience -...
- Blog posts 2008-11-12
- Gmail launching voice and video chat!
- Google just updated their "What's New" page for Gmail with information about a new feature called "Voice and Video Chat". The voice and video chat plugin that you must download in order to use the feature incorporates a technology called Vidyo. Vidyo provides for high-quality, low-latency,...
- Blog posts 2008-11-11
- Where flash belongs
- Putting flash into disk packaging, while convenient, is sub-optimal. Disk latency is so great that no one worries about adding a few hundred microseconds to an I/O. But once you've got low-latency storage those microseconds start to add up. But I didn't really get the underlying advantage...
- Blog posts 2008-11-10
- Windows 7 to scale to 256 processors
- Windows 7 to scale to 256 processorsMassively parallel architectures...There are more problems to solve besides dispatching. With a large number of processors, you will run into latency problems accessing memory as physical memory gets further away from a particular processor. Multiple queues and thread affinity to processors will...
- Discussion threads 2008-10-30
- Enterprise readiness of Cloud ratcheting up
- It may just be time for enterprise customers to take a serious look at cloud computing. Major announcements in the past few days from Microsoft and Amazon have certainly signaled that the on-demand Internet computing model has staying power. And with a long recession looming there may be no better...
- Blog posts 2008-10-28
- Transcript: PDC08 Keynote – Ray Ozzie, Amitabh Srivastava, Bob Muglia and David Thompson
- Todd Bishop, TechFlash; Ed Bott, ZDNet; Kip Kniskern, Liveside; Rafael Rivera, Within Windows; Paul Thurrott, Windows Supersite; and Tom Warren, Neowin; and Long Zheng, Istartedsomething — and yours truly--did a group blog of the first PDC keynote. Here's the live blog transcript (speakers: Ray Ozzie, Amitabh Srivastava,...
- Blog posts 2008-10-27
- No FireWire over Ethernet; but maybe in Snow Leopard
- Since Apple announced the new MacBook last week sans FireWire, there's been a backlash from the Apple community about the omission. Users love the high-speed data protocol for things like Target Disk Mode TDM, transferring clips from digital video cameras and for connecting to external hard drives....
- Blog posts 2008-10-20
- More confusion on vitamin D
- More confusion on vitamin DUmmmSometimes I really wonder how we as a species made it this far! I mean come on! Vitamin D? Playing outside will result in skin cancer? How much more fear mongering has to go on?Yes I do acknowledge that excess exposure can potentially lead to skin...
- Discussion threads 2008-10-13
- Orion VoIP Monitor (zip)
- VoIP Monitor enables you to measure and track performance of voice quality across WAN links. Leveraging Cisco IP SLAs, VoIP Monitor collects and analyzes VoIP performance statistics including MOS, jitter, network latency, packet loss, and other important quality of service QoS metrics. These features enable you to proactively find the...
- Software downloads 2008-10-06
- Sony Bravia Internet Video Link (DMX-NV1)
- The moment Sony's Bravia Internet Video Link (also known as the BIVL or DMX-NV1) was announced last year, we knew the product would face an uphill battle. What could Sony's proprietary video streamer offer that you can't already get from Apple TV, Xbox 360, Sony PS3, Vudu, or the Netflix...
- Product reviews 2008-10-02
- House servers suffering from financial bail-out
- The U.S. House of Representatives website continues to suffer severe latency this morning. A Firefox visit at 6:30 am Pacific time took easily 10 seconds to load and the associated style sheet never did load. The problem appears to stem from a massive overload of traffic...
- Blog posts 2008-10-01
- Is Comcast plan suspect or 'reasonable'?
- Network neutrality advocates are taking contrasting views towards Comcast's new network management plan. The new plan de-prioritizes heavy users in 15-minute chunks. If your upload traffic is more than 70% of maximum bandwidth or your download traffic is more than 80% of max, you'll be de-prioritized. Free...
- Blog posts 2008-09-23
- Quest desktop virtualization optimization
- Prior to VMworld, the good folks at Quest briefed me on something they were going to present at VMworld. So many companies spoke with me prior to the event, that I haven't had the opportunity to post something on every conversation. Quest told me that they were going to show...
- Blog posts 2008-09-22
- Amazon to offer content delivery service.
- Amazon has made it official. Content delivery networks are officially a commodity. The company said today that, by the end of the year, it will launch a new service to distribute content with low latency and high data transfer rates. According to the company's web services blog,...
- Blog posts 2008-09-18
- PacketTrap gives enterprise "Perspective"
- Computers are strange beings. Sometimes they stop working for no apparent reason, sometimes they work so well they don't need to shutdown or stop processing, and some literally blow up in your face. Dealing with one computer can be troublesome enough, but how do those like enterprise managers, IT and...
- Blog posts 2008-09-16
- 'Business event processing' now in the spotlight
- 'Business event processing' now in the spotlighthigh performance, low latencyThis kills off any use of SOA in BEP. You know how long does it take to make a connection to a HTTP SOA sever using bloated XML-based protocls?BEP is already widely implemented.Most insurance and financial companies use risk modeling to...
- Discussion threads 2008-09-15
- Class action bait on iPhone problems
- Class action bait on iPhone problemsoverload the network?How is that an APPLE problem. This is an AT&T issue where their networks are not up to snuff. Try suing thw correct party, dummiesRE: Class action bait on iPhone problemsIt overloads the network because of a flaw in the iphone software. ...
- Discussion threads 2008-09-03
- JamRecorder (zip)
- You have a song idea and want to capture it by recording a few tracks of guitar, keyboard and vocals - but you don't want to get bogged down with technology - use JamRecorder instead of ProTools or Cubase and get quick clean results. Now you can create CD Quality...
- Software downloads 2008-09-02
- Troubleshooting and Securing TCP/IP Networks with Wireshark
- Instantly save $300 off the standard course price when you register on TechRepublic or ZDNet! Offer ends October 31, 2008.View Available Dates and LocationsIn this course, you'll examine the causes of poor network performance, including packet-loss, retransmissions, high latency, low throughput rates, minimal bandwidth, application errors, configuration faults, resolution problems,...
- Training 2008-09-01
Neighboring Terms
Premier Vendor Content Whitepapers, webcasts & resources from our Power Center Sponsors
- Intel Xeon 7400 highlights available now!
-
With key platform innovations built-in, the Intel Xeon processor 7400 series offers more headroom, reliability, and the highest expandability for large-scale server consolidation. See highlights from Summer IDF, SAP Tech-Ed, VMWorld, and more.
- Get blogs, videos and more from past tech events >>
All-in-One Printers
- 10 things to look for in an all-in-one printer A multifunction printer may offer the convenient, consolidated functionality your organization needs, but there are a lot of choices out there. Before making a selection, be sure to consider these key factors.
- From our sponsors
- HP Small Business LaserJet Printers
-
HP Laser Jet M3035 MFP series Starting at $1,599. SHOP NOW
- New HP Color LaserJet CP3525n Printer Starting at $699. SHOP NOW
-
