A unit of information transmitted from one device to another on a network. A packet typically contains a header with addressing information, data, and a checksum to insure data integrity. (See MIC).
Glossary
Packet
Pass phrase
A series of characters used to create a key which is used by Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA). (See PSK, WPA).
PC Card
A removable, credit-card-sized memory or I/O device that fits into an expansion slot on a notebook computer or a personal digital assistant (PDA). PC Cards are used primarily in notebook computers and PDAs. PC Card peripherals include Wi-Fi network cards, memory cards, modems, wired NICs, and hard drives. (See NIC, PCI).
PCI
Peripheral Component Interconnect. A high-performance I/O (input/output) computer bus that allows expansion slots to be spaced closely for high-speed operation. (See NIC, PC Card).
PCMCIA
Expansion cards now referred to as PC Cards were originally called PCMCIA Cards because they met the standards created by the Personal Computer Memory Card International Association.
PDA
Personal Digital Assistant. Smaller than laptop computers but with many of the same computing and communication capabilities, PDAs range greatly in size, complexity and functionality. PDAs can provide wireless connectivity via embedded Wi-Fi Card radios, slide-in PC Card radios, or Compact Flash Wi-Fi radios. (See PC Card).
PEAP
PEAP-Protected Extensible Authentication Protocol. A protocol proposed by Microsoft, Cisco and RSA Security for 802.1X authentication on wireless LANs (WLANs). (See EAP, LEAP).
PEAPv0/EAP-MSCHAPv2
Protected Extensible Authentication Protocol, a protocol developed jointly by Microsoft, RSA Security and Cisco for transmitting authentication data, including passwords, over 802.11 wireless networks. PEAP authenticates wireless LAN clients using only server-side digital certificates by creating an encrypted SSL/TLS tunnel between the client and the authentication
PEAPv1/EAP-GTC
Protected Extensible Authentication Protocol, a protocol developed jointly by Microsoft, RSA Security and Cisco for transmitting authentication data, including passwords, over 802.11 wireless networks. PEAP authenticates wireless LAN clients using only server-side digital certificates by creating an encrypted SSL/TLS tunnel between the client and the authentication
Peer-to-peer network
A wireless or wired computer network that has no server or central hub or router. All the networked PCs are equally able to act as a network server or client, and each client computer can talk to all the other wireless computers without having to go through an access point or hub. However, since there is no central base station to monitor traffic or provide Internet access, the various signals can collide with each other, reducing overall performance. (See Ad hoc mode, Device-to-device network).
PHY
The physical, or lowest, layer of the OSI Network Model. In a wireless network, the PHY defines parameters such as data rates, modulation method, signaling parameters, transmitter/receiver synchronization, etc. Within an actual radio implementation, the PHY corresponds to the radio front end and baseband signal processing sections. (See ISO Network Model).
Plug-and-play
Features that provide for automatic configuration of add-ons and peripheral devices such as wireless PC Cards, printers, scanners and multimedia devices. (See PC Card).
POTS
Plain Old Telephone Service. The traditional analog telephone service provided by most common carriers. (See broadband, dial-up, DSL, ISDN).
Print server
A network device, often a computer, that connects to at least one printer, allowing it to be shared among computers on a network.
Proxy server
A technique used in larger companies and organizations to improve network operations and security. The proxy server receives requests intended for another server to prevent direct communication between two or more networks. The proxy server forwards allowable data requests to remote servers and/or responds to data requests directly from stored remote server data.
PSK
A mechanism in Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA)-Personal that allows the use of manually entered keys or passwords to initiate WPA security. The PSK is entered on the access point or home wireless gateway and each PC that is on the Wi-Fi network. After entering the password, Wi-Fi Protected Access automatically takes over. It keeps out eavesdroppers and other unauthorized users by requiring all devices to have the matching password. The password also initiates the encryption process which, in WPA is Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) and in WPA2 is Advanced Encryption Standard (WPA2). (See TKIP, WPA-Personal, WPA2-Personal).
Protected Management Frames
A feature of WPA2 that provides a WPA2-level of protection for unicast and multicast management action frames. Unicast management actions frames are protected from both eavesdropping and forging, and multicast management action frames are protected from forging.