Cisco Systems OL-7426-03 quick start Nvram, Ofdm, Pci, Pcmcia, Pda, Pem, Phy, Pots

NVRAM

Non-Volatile Random Access Memory. Any type of memory that does not lose its contents when the main power is removed. (See also Volatile RAM.)

OFDM

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing. A multi-carrier modulation technique used for 802.11a and 802.11g transmissions.

PC Card

A removable, credit-card-sized memory or I/O device that fits into a Type 2 PCMCIA standard slot, PC Cards are used primarily in PCs, portable computers, PDAs and laptops. PC Card peripherals include Wi-Fi cards, memory cards, modems, NICs, hard drives, etc.

PCI

A high-performance I/O computer bus used internally on most computers. Other bus types include ISA and AGP. PCIs and other computer buses enable the addition of internal cards that provide services and features not supported by the motherboard or other connectors.

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

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.

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.

PEM

Privacy Enhanced Mail. PEM files are created from CSR files by a Certification Authority (CA) using base64 encoding with additional header and footer lines.

PHY

The lowest layer within the OSI Network Model. It deals primarily with transmission of the raw bit stream over the PHYsical transport medium. In the case of wireless LANs, the transport medium is free space. 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.

Plug and Play

A computer system feature that automatic configures of add-ons and peripheral devices such as wireless PC Cards, printers, scanners and multimedia devices.

POTS

Plain Old Telephone Service. Wired analog telephone service.

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