THE WHATIS.COM WORD-OF-THE-DAY July 16, 2002 Wi-Fi ______________ TODAY'S SPONSOR: The .tv Corporation
Save 30% on Web addresses! Not only will you get a great deal on your Web addresses, but you'll also get superior customer service, innovative products and services and a place that is easy to register and manage your Web addresses. Great names are still available. Register the names you want before someone else does! Check it out now: http://WhatIs.com/r/0,,4481,00.htm?the.tvcorporation ______________ TODAY'S WORD: Wi-Fi See our definition with hyperlinks at http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid7_gci838865,00.html Wi-Fi is the popular term for a high-frequency wireless local area network (WLAN) technology and standard that has gained acceptance in many companies as an alternative to a wired LAN. Wi-Fi is specified in the 802.11b specification from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and is part of a series of wireless specifications together with 802.11, 802.11a, and 802.11g. All four standards use the Ethernet protocol and CSMA/CA (carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance) for path sharing. The 802.11b (Wi-Fi) operates in the 2.4 GHz range offering data speeds up to 11 megabits per second. The modulation used in 802.11 has historically been phase-shift keying (PSK). The modulation method selected for 802.11b is known as complementary code keying (CCK), which allows higher data speeds and is less susceptible to multipath-propagation interference. Unless adequately protected, a Wi-Fi wireless LAN can be susceptible to access from the outside by unauthorized users, some of whom have used the access as a free Internet connection! (The activity of locating and exploiting security-exposed wireless LANs is commonly known as war driving.) Companies that have a wireless LAN are urged to add security safeguards such as the Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) encryption standard, the setup and use of a virtual private network (VPN) or IPsec, and a firewall or DMZ. RELATED TERMS: wireless local area network http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid7_gci213379,00.html 802.11 http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid7_gci341007,00.html Ethernet http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid7_gci212080,00.html phase-shift keying http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci213937,00.html war driving http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid14_gci812927,00.html Wired Equivalent Privacy http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid14_gci549087,00.html virtual private network http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid7_gci213324,00.html IPsec http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid14_gci214037,00.html firewall http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid14_gci212125,00.html DMZ http://searchwebmanagement.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid27_gci213891,00.html ______________________ SELECTED LINKS: SearchNetworking provides up-to-date links to information about wireless LANs. http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/bestWebLinks/0,289521,sid7_tax286426,00.html A copy of the 802.11b standard can be ordered at the IEEE site. http://standards.ieee.org/ Dell provides a white paper on "Deploying 802.11b (Wi-Fi) in the Enterprise Network." http://www.dell.com/us/en/gen/topics/vectors_2001-wireless_deployment.htm The Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance certifies the interoperability of WiFi products. http://www.wi-fi.org/ Extremetech has an article on "Exploiting and Protecting 802.11b Wireless Networks." http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,11388,00.asp ______________________ WHATIS DISCUSSION FORUM | Challenge #8: Outbound mail failure Challenges are another learning tool where you (the reader) try to solve various real-life IT problems. Sometimes there's one right answer, but more often than not (just as in real life) there are several ways to approach the problem -- and that's why reading how other people would troubleshoot the Challenge is a fun way to learn. CHALLENGE #8: Bob is a network administrator at Alpha Industries. For the past two weeks, he's been receiving lots of returned messages. The returned messages say something about "being banned from this site". Why is Bob getting all these outbound mail failure notifications and what can he do about it? >>Take the challenge http://whatis.discussions.techtarget.com/WebX?[EMAIL PROTECTED]^3@.1dcfae0e/59!viewtype=&noconfirm=noconfirm ______________________ QUIZ #28 | Ethernet How much do you know about the most popular network technology in the world? Take our latest quiz and find out! http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid7_gci834253,00.html ______________________________ RECENT ADDITIONS AND UPDATES [1] Bohr radius http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci838634,00.html [2] Web Solution Platform http://searchwebmanagement.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid27_gci213905,00.html [3] megabytes per second http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid5_gci838242,00.html [4] Categories of twisted pair cabling systems http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid7_gci211752_top1,00.html [5] Mbps http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci212534,00.html ____________________________________________________________________ ::::::::::::::::::: WHATIS.COM CONTACTS ::::::::::::::::::: LOWELL THING, Site Editor ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ____________________________________________________________________ MARGARET ROUSE, Assistant Editor ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___________________________________________________________________ :::::::::::::::::::: ABOUT THIS NEWSLETTER ::::::::::::::::::::: Created by TechTarget (http://www.techtarget.com) TechTarget - The Most Targeted IT Media Copyright 2002, All Rights Reserved. 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