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Station
Any device containing IEEE 802.11 wireless medium access conformity.
Subnet Mask
A subnet mask is a set of four numbers congured like an IP address. It is used to
create IP address numbers used only within a particular network.
TCP (Transmission Control Protocol)
The standard transport level protocol that provides the full duplex, stream service
on which many application protocols depend. TCP allows a process or one
machine to send a stream of data to a process on another. Software implementing
TCP usually resides in the operating system and uses the IP to transmit information
across the network.
WAN (Wide Area Network)
A system of LANs, connected together. A network that connects computers located
in separate areas, (i.e., different buildings, cities, countries). The Internet is a wide
area network.
WECA (Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance)
An industry group that certies cross-vender interoperability and compatibility
of IEEE 802.11b wireless networking products and to promote that standard for
enterprise, small business, and home environments.
WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access)
Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) is an improved security system for 802.11. It is part
of the 802.11i draft security standard. WPA encompasses TKIP (Temporal Key
Integrity Protocol) along with MIC (Message Integrity Check) and other xes to
WEP such as Weak IV (Initialization Vector) ltering and Random IV generation.
TKIP uses 802.1x to deploy and change temporary keys as opposed to static
WEP keys once used in the past. It is a signicant improvement over WEP. WPA
is part of a complete security solution. WPA also requires authentication servers in
enterprise security solutions.
WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network)
This is a group of computers and other devices connected wirelessly in a small
area. A wireless network is referred to as LAN or WLAN.