Compaq Evo n800c Wireless Security - Page 11

Wireless Security White Paper 11 Wireless Personal-area Networks Wireless personal-area networks (WPANs) can use Bluetooth, a radio frequency (RF) specification for point-to-multipoint voice and data transfer. They can also use infrared technology. A WPAN permits personal devices such as handheld PCs to connect wirelessly to peripheral devices such as printers or other personal devices. Figure 3 illustrates a WPAN. Figure 3: Wireless Personal-area Network Wireless Wide-area Networks Historically, wireless wide-area networks (WWANs) have been used to support voice transmission for mobile telephones. WWANs use one of three digital wireless telephone technologies: GSM, CDMA, and TDMA. The Global System for Mobile communication (GSM), developed in Europe, is the most widely used of the three digital wireless telephone technologies. Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) and Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) were developed in the United States and are widely used there. GSM is a TDMA technology. The official names for CDMA and TDMA are IS-95 and IS-136, respectively. Japan's NT DoCoMo uses I-mode technology in its market.