Glossary

Glossary

Access point

An access point such as the Gigaset SE366 WLAN is the central element in a wireless local area network (WLAN). It handles connection of the wireless-linked network components and regulates data traffic in the wireless network. The access point also serves as an interface to other networks, e.g. an existing Ethernet LAN or via a modem to the Internet. The network mode for wireless networks with an access point is called Infrastructure mode.

Ad-hoc mode

Ad-hoc mode describes wireless local networks (WLANs) in which the network components set up a spontaneous network without an Access point, e.g. several notebooks in a conference. All the network components are peers. They must be equipped with a wireless Network adapter.

Beacon

Beacons are data packets that are sent by devices in a wireless network to all other devices to indicate that they are available and ready to receive. Beacons are also used to synchronise the wireless network. A beacon interval is the period between two beacons in milliseconds.

Bridge

A bridge connects several network segments to form a joint network, e.g. to build a TCP/ IP network. The segments can have different physical characteristics, e.g. different connections such as Ethernet and wireless LANs. Linking individual segments via bridges makes it possible to build local networks of practically unlimited size.

See also: Switch, Hub, Router, Gateway

Broadcast

A broadcast is a data packet that is not directed to a particular recipient but to all the components in a network. The Gigaset SE366 WLAN does not pass broadcast packets on to the Internet; they always remain within the local area network (LAN) administered by the Gigaset SE366 WLAN.

BSSID

Basic Service Set ID

The BSSID is used for unique differentiation between one wireless network (WLAN) and another. In Infrastructure mode the BSSID is the MAC address of the Access point. In wireless networks in Ad-hoc mode the BSSID is the MAC address of any one of the par- ticipants.

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