Linksys WCF12 User Guide - Page 19

Instant WirelessTM Series RTS (Request To Send) - An RS-232 signal sent from the transmitting station to the receiving station requesting permission to transmit. Software - Instructions for the computer. A series of instructions that performs a particular task is called a "program." The two major categories of software are "system software" and "application software." System software is made up of control programs such as the operating system and database management system (DBMS). Application software is any program that processes data for the user. A common misconception is that software is data. It is not. Software tells the hardware how to process the data. SOHO (Small Office/Home Office) - Market segment of professionals who work at home or in small offices. Spread Spectrum - Spread Spectrum technology is a wideband radio frequency technique developed by the military for use in reliable, secure, mission-critical communications systems. It is designed to trade off bandwidth efficiency for reliability, integrity, and security. In other words, more bandwidth is consumed than in the case of narrowband transmission, but the trade off produces a signal that is, in effect, louder and thus easier to detect, provided that the receiver knows the parameters of the spread-spectrum signal being broadcast. If a receiver is not tuned to the right frequency, a spread-spectrum signal looks like background noise. There are two main alternatives, Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) and Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS). Storage - The semi-permanent or permanent holding place for digital data. Subnet Mask - The method used for splitting IP networks into a series of subgroups, or subnets. The mask is a binary pattern that is matched up with the IP address to turn part of the host ID address field into a field for subnets. Throughput - The amount of data moved successfully from one place to another in a given time period. Topology - A network's topology is a logical characterization of how the devices on the network are connected and the distances between them. Most large networks contain several levels of interconnection, the most important of which include edge connections, backbone connections, and wide-area connections. 32 Wireless CompactFlash Card TX Rate - Transmission Rate. Upgrade - To replace existing software or firmware with a newer version. WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) - A data privacy mechanism based on a 64bit or 128-bit shared key algorithm, as described in the IEEE 802.11 standard. 33