Glossary-3
IEEE 802.11b
A wireless standard that supports wireless communications in the 2.4 GHz band using Direct
Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS). The standard provides for data rates of 1, 2, 5.5, and 11
Mbps.
IEEE 802.11g
A wireless standard that supports wireless communications in the 2.4 GHz band using using
Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM). The standard provides for data rates of 6,
9, 11, 12, 18, 24, 36, 48, 54 Mbps. IEEE 802.11g is also backward compatible with IEEE 802.11b.
IEEE 802.1X
Port Authentication controls access to the switch ports by requiring users to first enter a user ID
and password for authentication.
Infrastructure
An integrated wireless and wired LAN is called an infrastructure configuration.
Inter Access Point Protocol (IAPP)
A protocol that specifies the wireless signaling required to ensure the successful handover of
wireless clients roaming between different 802.11f-compliant access points.
Local Area Network (LAN)
A group of interconnected computer and support devices.
MAC Address
The physical layer address used to uniquely identify network nodes.
Network Time Protocol (NTP)
NTP provides the mechanisms to synchronize time across the network. The time servers operate
in a hierarchical-master-slave configuration in order to synchronize local clocks within the subnet
and to national time standards via wire or radio.
Open System
A security option which broadcasts a beacon signal including the access point’s configured SSID.
Wireless clients can read the SSID from the beacon, and automatically reset their SSID to allow
immediate connection to the nearest access point.
Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (ODFM)
OFDM/ allows multiple users to transmit in an allocated band by dividing the bandwidth into many
narrow bandwidth carriers.
Power over Ethernet (PoE)
A specification for providing both power and data to low-power network devices using a single
Category 5 Ethernet cable. PoE provides greater flexibility in the locating of access point’s and
network devices, and significantly decreased installation costs.