Glossary

W

Web Server
A computer or device that serves up Web pages. By installing server software into a computer or device and connecting it to a network, it can become a Web server. Every Web server has an IP address and possibly a domain name.

WEP
Wired Equivalent Privacy, or WEP for short, is designed to provide wireless LANs with the same level of security provided by a wired LAN. WEP was specified as part of IEEE 802.1b, and although it can be compromised in a relatively short time (typically one to two weeks) with software tools available on the Internet, WEP is often used as a first line of defense against eavesdroppers.

WPA
Wi-Fi Protected Access, or WPA for short, is the security standard introduced to fix problems with WEP. WPA uses dynamic keys, Extensible Authentication Protocol to secure network access, and Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) to ensure that data is transmitted securely.
 
Wi-Fi
Strictly speaking, Wi-Fi, which is short for Wireless Fidelity, is the same as IEEE 802.11b (compare this with Ethernet, which is often used in place of IEEE 802.3). Wi-Fi is a trademark owned by WECA (Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance). Products that carry the Wi-Fi mark are guaranteed to be compatible with each other, even if they are produced by different manufacturers.

WLAN
WLAN stands for Wireless Local Area Network. A WLAN uses radio waves to transmit data from one station to another, as opposed to the more common method of using electrical signals transmitted over copper wire networks.