Cisco Systems WMA11B manual Appendix G Glossary

Wireless-B Media Adapter

Appendix G: Glossary

802.11a - An IEEE wireless networking standard that specifies a maximum data transfer rate of 54Mbps and an operating frequency of 5GHz.

802.11b - An IEEE wireless networking standard that specifies a maximum data transfer rate of 11Mbps and an operating frequency of 2.4GHz.

802.11g - An IEEE wireless networking standard that specifies a maximum data transfer rate of 54Mbps, an operating frequency of 2.4GHz, and backward compatibility with 802.11b devices.

Access Point - Device that allows wireless-equipped computers and other devices to communicate with a wired network. Also used to expand the range of a wireless network.

Adapter - This is a device that adds network functionality to your PC.

Ad-hoc - A group of wireless devices communicating directly with each other (peer-to-peer) without the use of an access point.

Backbone - The part of a network that connects most of the systems and networks together, and handles the most data.

Bandwidth - The transmission capacity of a given device or network.

Beacon Interval - The frequency interval of the beacon, which is a packet broadcast by a router to synchronize a wireless network.

Bit - A binary digit.

Boot - To start a device and cause it to start executing instructions.

Bridge - A device that connects two different kinds of local networks, such as a wireless network to a wired Ethernet network.

Broadband - An always-on, fast Internet connection.

Browser - A browser is an application program that provides a way to look at and interact with all the information on the World Wide Web.

Appendix G: Glossary 49