HomeTopicsDataCenterVirtualizationagnosticSharethisitemwithyournetwork:ByTechTargetContributorAgnostic,inaninformationtechnology(IT)context,referstosomethingthatisgeneralizedsothatitisinteroperableamongvarioussystems.Thetermcanrefernotonlytosoftwareandhardware,butalsotobusinessprocessesorpractices.ThewordagnosticcomesfromtheGreeka-,meaningwithoutandgnōsis,meaningknowledge.InIT,thattranslatestotheabilityofsomethingtofunctionwithout“knowing”theunderlyingdetailsofasystemthatitisworkingwithin. Aswithinteroperability,agnosticismistypicallyenabledbyeithercompliancewithwidely-usedstandardsoraddedelements(suchascoding)thatwillenableonesystemtofunctioninavarietyofenvironments.SomeexamplesofagnosticisminIT:Platform-agnosticsoftwarerunsonanycombinationofoperatingsystemandunderlyingprocessorarchitecture.Suchapplicationsaresometimesreferredtoas“cross-platform.”Device-agnosticsoftwareoperatesacrossvarioustypesofdevices,includingdesktopcomputers,laptops,tabletPCsandsmartphones.Database-agnosticsoftwarefunctionswithanyvendor’sdatabasemanagementsystem(DBMS).Typicaldatabase-agnosticproductsincludebusinessanalytics(BA)andenterpriseresourceplanning(ERP)software.Protocol-agnosticsoftwareisindependentofcommunicationprotocols.Itnegotiatesaprotocolwithitspeerandbeginscommunication.Businessprocess-agnosticsoftwarefunctionsindifferentbusinessenvironments.Oneexampleisabusinessprocess-agnosticbusinessservicethatencapsulateslogicassociatedwithaspecificbusinessentity,suchas"invoice"or"claim.”Vendor-agnosticmiddlewarecanmediatebetweensoftwarefrommultiplevendors,ratherthanbetweentwospecificapplications. Hardware-agnosticlicensingisaper-deviceorper-usermodel,ratherthanhavingeachlicensetiedtoaspecificdeviceorvirtualmachine(VM).ThomasHenryHuxleycoinedthetermagnosticin1869aspartofhisphilosophyrejectingthevalidityofclaimsofspiritualknowledge,particularlyinreferencetotheexistenceornon-existenceofadeityordeities.Seealso:portability,backwardcompatible,forwardcompatible,open,opensourceThiswaslastupdatedinJ