zone (redirected from comfort zone)

zone [Gr.,=girdle], in geography, area with a certain physical and/or cultural unity that distinguishes it from other areas. The division of the earth into five climatic zones probably originated (5th cent. B.C.) with Parmenides, who recognized a torrid zone (see tropics) and north and south temperate zones and postulated north and south frigid (or arctic) zones; his classification was adopted by Aristotle and is still in use. The zones are based on latitude: the torrid zone lies between 23 1-2°N and 23 1-2°S, the temperate zones between these parallels and the polar circles (66 1-2° N and S), and the frigid zones from the polar circles to the poles. Later geographers, recognizing that climate is affected by such conditions as altitude, distance from water, prevailing winds, and ocean currents, have used other bases for zoning. Most geographers today recognize five major climatic groups, based mainly on the work of the German meteorologist Wladimir Köppen. Two of these groups—the rainy tropics and the dry tropics, which encompass four different climates—together correspond roughly to the former torrid zone. Two humid climate groups of the Köppen system, encompassing six climates, together correspond roughly to the former temperate zones. Köppen's two polar climates correspond roughly to the two former frigid zones. In addition to the five groups encompassing twelve climates, geographers also recognize a series of highland zones where many of the other climates of the world are duplicated. Geographic zones in which people have similar patterns of life are called culture zones or areas (see culture). An example would be the plains area of North America.

---

(1) An administrative unit defined in a DNS server. It may refer to a single domain name or a subdomain. See zone file, DNS records and DNS.

(2) A logical subnet in a Fibre Channel SAN network. Zones tie together groups of servers and storage devices for daily processing, but can be dynamically changed as required. For example, in order to enable periodic backups to storage devices outside the individual zones, the zones can be widened on the fly to reach them. See Fibre Channel.

(3) The term can be used for any subdivision of hardware and/or software.

---

zone - A logical group of network devices on AppleTalk.