Glossary

Wireless Applications Protocol. A protocol designed to deliver applications to mobile devices, including cell phones, pagers, two-way radios, smartphones and communicators.

The practice of driving around with a GPS, laptop equipped with WNIC and an antenna (usually built into the WNIC) to document the location of secured and unsecured WLANs. The locations of the WLANs derived from the GPS readings, and their corresponding SSIDs, are published in databases that live on the Internet. War driving derives its name from the movie, War Games, in which hackers gained access to traditional networks by randomly dialing telephone numbers until a modem answered. (See GPS).

A certification program of the Wi-Fi Alliance® that allows licensed users to easily identify public hotspot locations that have Wi-Fi connectivity available using Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ products.

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Devices connected to a network using a centralized wireless access point. (See WLAN).

Wireless Metropolitan Area Network-A wireless data network that is comparable to a cell phone network in that users throughout a metropolitan area can freely access the Internet. WiMAX technology provides the basis of WMAN networks. (See WiMAX).

WMM Power Save is a set of features for Wi-Fi networks that increase the efficiency and flexibility of data transmission in order to conserve power. WMM Power Save has been optimized for mobile devices running latency-sensitive applications such as voice, audio, or video, but can benefit any Wi-Fi device. WMM Power Save uses mechanisms included in the IEEE 802.11e standard and is an enhancement of IEEE 802.11 legacy power save. With WMM Power Save, the same amount of data can be transmitted in a shorter time while allowing the Wi-Fi device to remain longer in a low-power dozing state.

Wi-Fi Protected Access-Personal. A wireless security method that provides strong data protection and prevents unauthorized network access for small networks. It uses TKIP encryption and protects against unauthorized network access through the use of a pre-shared key (PSK). (See WPA, PSK).

Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 - Enterprise. The follow on wireless security method to WPA that provides stronger data protection for multiple users and large managed networks. It prevents unauthorized network access by verifying network users through an authentication server. (See WPA2).

Wi-Fi Protected Access 2. The follow on security method to WPA for wireless networks that provides stronger data protection and network access control. It provides enterprise and consumer Wi-Fi users with a high level of assurance that only authorized users can access their wireless networks. Based on the ratified IEEE 802.11i standard, WPA2 provides government grade security by implementing the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) FIPS 140-2 compliant AES encryption algorithm and 802.1X-based authentication. There are two versions of WPA2: WPA2-Personal, and WPA2-Enterprise. WPA2-Personal protects unauthorized network access by utilizing a set-up password. WPA2-Enterprise verifies network users through a server. WPA2 is backward compatible with WPA. Like WPA, WPA2 uses the 802.1X/EAP framework as part of the infrastructure that ensures centralized mutual authentication and dynamic key management and offers a pre-shared key for use in home and small office environments. Like WPA, WPA2 is designed to secure all versions of 802.11 devices, including 802.11b, 802.11a, and 802.11g, multi-band and multi-mode. (See WPA2-Enterprise, WPA2-Personal).

Wi-Fi Protected Setup™ (previously called Wi-Fi Simple Config) is an optional certification program developed by the Wi-Fi Alliance designed to ease set up of security-enabled Wi-Fi networks in the home and small office environment. Wi-Fi Protected Setup supports methods (pushing a button or entering a PIN into a wizard-type application) that are familiar to most consumers to configure a network and enable security.