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ASUS WLAN Card
Chapter 5
Chapter 5 - Glossary
Glossary
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 certifies 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 fixes to WEP such as
Weak IV (Initialization Vector) filtering 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 significant improvement over WEP. WPA is part of a complete security
solution. WPA also requires authentication servers in enterprise security solutions.
Requirements
(1) A WPA compatible Access Point or Wireless router, (2) Operating system updates
that support WPA. In XP, an updated Windows Zero Config service is needed. Users
can download the Windows XP WPA patch here:
http://microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=009D8425-CE2B-47A4-ABEC-274845DC9E91&displaylang=en
Please note that this patch requires the installation Windows XP Service Pack 1, which
is available here: http://www.microsoft.com/WindowsXP/pro/downloads/servicepacks/
sp1/default.asp
For earlier Windows Operating systems, a WPA capable supplicant is required such as
Funk Software’s Odyssey Client.
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.
