Definitions of Key Terms
Before you get started, you may want to review our list of key terms and definitions you will find in our documentation relating to Tempered Networks products and services.
Product, Technology and Service terms
Note: These terms are specific to Tempered Networks products,
technologies, or services and may have additional definitions or descriptions unique
to Tempered Networks.
- HIP
- Host Identity Protocol. The secure protocol that ties our products together.
- IF-MAP/MAP/MAP2
- Interface to Metadata Access Points. HIPservices use this client/server protocol to communicate with the Conductor, which provides authentication keys and communication policy to them.
- Conductor
- The physical, virtual, or cloud-based appliance that centrally manages all connected HIPservices and devices.
- HIPservice
- Any HIP-enabled hardware or software connected to the Conductor. A collective term for all HIPswitches, HIPclients, and HIPservers.
- HIPswitch
- A physical, virtual, or cloud-based appliance that provides overlay network connectivity to connected devices.
- HIPclient
- A HIP software-based appliance specialized for devices running Windows, macOS, iOS, or Android.
- HIPserver
- A HIP software-based appliance specialized for servers running Windows or Linux.
- Underlay
- This is your existing Layer 2 networks, including the Internet if your HIPservices traverse it. Your HIPswitches and Conductor communicate with each other via this network.
- Overlay
- This is the virtual network, where your protected devices sit behind their respective HIPservices.
Terms related to our technology
Note: These terms are not specific to Tempered Networks products,
technologies, or services and have definitions or descriptions relating to networks
and networking in general.
- Microsegmentation
- Compartmentalizing your network into isolated segments in which devices are only exposed to each other when they have a need to communicate.
- Multihoming
- Connecting a single device to multiple networks, physical and/or virtual.
- Tunneling
- Encapsulating network traffic in an encrypted connection between two points (e.g. a virtual private network).
- Bump-in-the-Wire (BITW)
- An antiquated term for a communications device introduced to a legacy system to enhance it. While we rarely use this terminology, it accurately describes our HIPswitch line of products, especially when used with legacy systems to enhance security.
- Back-haul Interface (BHI)
- An interface that carries traffic from a central network to the network's edge. HIPservices are considered a type of Back-haul Interface, carrying overlay traffic to and from protected devices.
- IPsec
- A secure network protocol stack for encrypting packets of data sent over an IPv4 network.
- Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP)
- An encryption protocol used by IPsec.
Legacy and deprecated terms
Note: Although no longer used, older white papers, web articles, and videos may use
these terms. Internally, the product may refer to components using these terms as
well, such as in log files, for example.
- Asguard/Asguard Networks
- Our previous company names. Sometimes you will see ama, which stands for Asguard Management Appliance,a previous internal name for the Conductor.
- SimpleConnect
- Previous term for the Conductor. Sometimes you will see sc as a prefix in log entries and exported files, meaning that they are related to the Conductor.
- Endbox
- Previous term for a HIPservice. This term is still used internally, so you might see it in logs.