802.1p – The QoS technique developed by the working group, also known as class of service (CoS), is a 3-bit field called the Priority Code Point (PCP) within an Ethernet frame header when using tagged frames on an 802.1 network.Priority bit used for VoIP.  Passed through but not directly utilized by Wifi-soft.

802.1q – IEEE 802.1Q, or VLAN tagging, is a networking standard promulgated by the IEEE 802.1 work group for the sharing of a physical Ethernet network link by multiple independent logical networks. Wifi-soft can enable support for VLAN tagging/trunking to identify which AP, port, or SSID a user is connecting to.

802.1X – IEEE 802.1X is an IEEE Standard for port-based Network Access Control (PNAC). It provides an authentication mechanism to devices wishing to attach to a LAN or WLAN. Supported by Wifi-soft

802.3 – IEEE 802.3 is a working group and a collection of IEEE standards produced by the working group defining the physical layer and data link layer's media access control (MAC) of wiredEthernet. Supported by Wifi-soft.

802.11 - The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) has developed the 802.11 family of standards for wireless Ethernet local area networks operating in the 2.4 GHz ISM band and the 5 GHz UNII band.  The 802.11 standards define the Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) specifications for wireless LANs (WLANs).  The 802.11 standards define protocols for both Infrastructure Mode, where all Wireless Stations communicate via at least one Access Point, and Ad-Hoc (peer-to-peer) Mode, where Wireless Stations communicate directly without use of an intervening Access Point.  All public and enterprise WLANs operate in the Infrastructure Mode.  Further information about the 802.11 family of standards can be found on the IEEE 802.11 web site, www.ieee802.org/11/

802.11a (TGa) - PHY standard for 54Mbps at 5GHz UNII band. Approved 1999.

802.11b (TGb) - PHY standard for up to 11Mbps at 2.4GHz ISM-band. Approved 1999.

802.11c (TGc) – 802.11 bridging – recommendation for AP manufactures.  Approved 1998.

802.11d (TGd) – MAC layer enhancement - Operation in new regulatory domains (specifically 5Ghz) – Approved 2001.

802.11e (TGe) – New MAC for QoS and improved efficiency (max delay, min data rate, max packet error probability).   Approved 2003.

802.11f (TGf) - IAPP (Inter Access Point Protocol) – Handoff between multi-vendor AP’s

802.11g (TGg) – PHY standard for up to 54Mbps at 2.4GHz ISM-band.  Backward compatible with 802.11b.

802.11h (TGh) – Enhance MAC and 802.11a PHY (for CEPT approval – Europe), includes
dynamic frequency selection (DFS) and transmit power control (TPC).

802.11i (TGi) – Enhanced Security and authentication in 802.11 to overcome limitations with WEP.  Estimated approval in 2004-2005.

802.11j (TGj) – Use of 802.11a in the Japanese 4.9GHz band.

802.11k (TGk) – Radio resource measurements (sits above MAC layer) to improve deployment of large 802.11 networks.

802.11m (TGm) – Maintenance of existing standards.

802.11n (TGn) – High throughput PHY and MAC (108-320 Mbps) with reduced overhead.  Estimated approval in 2005-2006.

802.11x – typically refers to the various PHY standards of 802.11 (a, b, and g). 

802.16 – Wireless Metropolitan Area Networking.  An alternative backhaul to DLS, Cable, T1, or LMDS.

AAA (IETF) – Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting.  A method for transmitting access (authentication) requests in the form of user credentials (typically user@domain and password), service authorization (what the user is authorized to access), and session accounting details between devices and networks in a real-time manner.  Wifi-soft supports this AAA functionality with RADIUS. ( http://www.wballiance.com/resource-centre/glossary.html )

AAA Proxy – The ability to process AAA (RADIUS) requests whereby Wifi-soft's WiFiLAN with AAA Proxy functionality can look at the NAI information to route the Authentication request to the appropriate RADIUS Server and also refers to the ability for Wifi-soft’s Unibox to sit behind an 802.1x/WPA-enabled AP and provide it’s access gateway functionality.

AMA – Automatic Message Accounting provides detail billing for telephone calls.The authentication protocol is typically utilized by wireline carriers.

Captive Portal –  A captive portal turns a Web browser into an authentication device. This is done by intercepting all packets, regardless of address or port, until the user opens a browser and tries to access the Internet. At that time the browser is redirected to a web page which may require authentication and/or payment, or simply display an acceptable use policy and require the user to agree. Captive portals are used at most Wi-Fi hotspotsI . Wifi-soft offers default portal pages and custom portal pages which can be extensively customized as per client's requirements. Portal pages can be as well used by clients for their promotions or even third party advertisements.

CIBER – Cellular Intercarrier Billing Exchange Roamer. It is a billing protocol utilized by CDMA based carriers.  Wifi-soft is working on enabling integration with wireless carriers via RADIUS.

Clearinghouse - A clearinghouse is a third party company or association that transfers or facilitates exchange of billing records (authentication and accounting messages) and/or performs financial clearing functions between carriers and / or WISPs and / or home entities, providing auditable data for roaming payment settlements. Clearinghouses are particularly important for international billing because they convert different data record formats that may be used by some service providers and convert for the currency exchange rate. Wifi-soft supports and interfaces with these clearinghouses typically via RADIUS accounting.

DHCP – Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol – An IETF Standard, it is an automatic configuration protocol used on IP networks.   Wifi-soft Unibox can operate as DHCP Server or DHCP Relay to a centralized DHCP Server. 

DIAMETER (IETF) – Diameter is an authentication, authorization and accounting protocol for computer networks, and a successor to RADIUS. Diameter Applications extend the base protocol by adding new commands and/or attributes, such as those for use of the Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP). Though not directly supported by Wifi-soft, a number of RADIUS vendors also support DIAMETER on the backend with gateway functionality to RADIUS.

EAP – Extensible Authentication Protocol, is an authentication framework frequently used in wireless networks and Point-to-Point connections. It is defined in RFC 3748, which made RFC 2284 obsolete, was updated by RFC 5247 and is used by the IEEE 802.1x Port Based Access Control protocol. Wifi-soft supports the various EAP methods in our gateway via our use of a standard RADIUS AAA Proxy.

EAP-MD5 – EAP-MD5, defined in RFC 3748, is the only IETF Standards Track based EAP method. It offers minimal security by using UN/PW based authentication (primarily used by Microsoft clients) and is vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks.

EAP-SIM – EAP for GSM Subscriber Identity is used for authentication and session key distribution using the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) Subscriber Identity Module (SIM). EAP-SIM is defined in RFC 4186  and is used by GSM carriers.

EAP-TLS – EAP-Transport Layer Security (EAP-TLS), defined in RFC 5216, is an IETF open standard, and is well-supported among wireless vendors. The security of the TLS protocol is strong, provided the user understands potential warnings about false credentials.

EAP-TTLS – EAP-Tunneled Transport Layer Security (EAP-TTLS) is an EAP protocol that extends TLS. After the server is securely authenticated to the client via its CA certificate and optionally the client to the server, the server can then use the established secure connection ("tunnel") to authenticate the client.

EMI – External Machine Interface (EMI), an extension to Universal Computer Protocol (UCP), is a protocol primarily used to connect to short message service centres (SMSCs) for mobile telephones. The protocol was developed by CMG Wireless Data Solutions, now part of Acision. Wifi-soft can support integration with wireline carriers using this protocol via RADIUS.

Home Entity or Home Operator or Home Provider – As defined in “Best Current Practices for Wireless Internet Service Provider (WISP) Roaming” draft put up by Wi-Fi Alliance, it is the the entity with which the end-user has an authentication and/or billing relationship.  The Home Entity need not be a network provider, but must support the RADIUS functionality required to authenticate and account for usage of their clients that roam.  The Home Entity may also be a Hotspot Operator, a service provider that hasn’t deployed Wi-Fi access hotspots, an enterprise network, or an independent business entity that the end-user has an account relationship with. 

HLR – Home Location Registratar, is a central database that contains details of each mobile phone subscriber that is authorized to use the GSM core network and represents the mobile user’s home profile/account.

HotSpot - A site or location that offers Internet access over a wireless local area network through the use of a router connected to a link to an Internet service provider. Hotspots typically use Wi-Fi technology. Wifi-soft has solutions for powering various types of hotspots across hotels, motels, restaurants, retail stores, coffee shops, and airports.

HotSpot Operator - An entity (individual, company, organization) that owns and / or operates a facility consisting of a Wi-Fi public access network and participates in the authentication process. 

IPDR - IP Detail Record (IPDR) provides information about Internet Protocol (IP)-based service usage and other activities that can be used by Operational Support Systems (OSS) and Business Support Systems (BSS).

NAI -Network Access Identifier is a standard way of identifying users who request access to a network. The standard syntax is "user@realm". originally defined in RFC 2486, which has been superseded by RFC 4282. The latter RFC is the current standard for the NAI. NAIs are commonly found as user identifiers (UserIDs) in the RADIUS and Diameter network access protocols and the EAP authentication protocol. Its used to identify the user as well as to assist in the routing of the authentication request to the user’s home authentication server.

PEAP – Protected Extensible Authenticaiton Protocol, also known as Protected EAP or simply PEAP, is a protocol that encapsulates the Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) within an encrypted and authenticated Transport Layer Security (TLS) tunnel. PEAP was jointly developed by Cisco Systems, Microsoft, and RSA Security.

Public Access Control (PAC) Gateway – As defined in “Best Current Practices for Wireless Internet Service Provider (WISP) Roaming” draft put up by Wi-Fi Alliance, it is used by Hotspot Operators to provide the access and services control in their Wi-Fi network either in a central or distributed fashion.  The PAC gateway performs several key functions such as IP Address Management, Home Page Redirection, Captive Portal, and AAA for the Hotspot Operator in order to support the Universal Access Methodology. gate

RADIUS - Remote Authentication Dial In User Service (RADIUS) is a client/server  networking protocol that provides centralized Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA) management for computers to connect and use a network service. Its defined by the IETF [RFC2865, RFC2866].  Wifi-soft implements the RADIUS Client and Proxy functionality in its products.

SNMP – Simple Network Management Protocol – An IETF Standard.  Wifi-soft supports centralized network management via the SNMP protocol and has it’s own MIB for management of Wifi-soft proprietary features/functions.

SMTP – Simple Mail Transter Protocol – An IETF Standard used for sending outgoing e-mail.  Wifi-soft provides support for SMTP redirection to redirect outgoing e-mail messages to a local outgoing mail server since the mobile user’s home mail server may not except outgoing mail if the user is not utilizing a local IP Address.

UAM – Universal Access Method - The recommended methodology from the Wi-Fi Alliance WISPr document for providing secure web-based service presentment, authentication, authorization and accounting of users is a WISP network.  This methodology enables any standard Wi-Fi enabled TCP/IP device with a browser to gain access to the WISP network.  Wifi-soft’ Home Page Redirection and Transparent HTTP Proxy patent pending technologies are key components to enabling this methodology.  This methodology is typically compared to an 802.1X or WPA based access methodology that although provides a more security mutual authentication method, requires a client that support 802.1x/WPA be loaded into the mobile client’s computer and be configured appropriately.  Some vendors can support either UAM (open mode networks) or 802.1x/WPA, but Wifi-soft can support both.

VSA’s – The IETF specifies Vendor-Specific Attributes (VSA) as a method for communicating vendor-specific information between Network Access Servers and RADIUS servers. Attribute 26 encapsulates vendor specific attributes, thereby, allowing vendors to support their own extended attributes otherwise not suitable for general use. Wifi-soft supports a number of proprietary VSA’s for advanced services such as IP Upsell, Bandwidth Management, etc.

WEP – Wired Equivalent Protocol – Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) is a security algorithm for IEEE 802.11 wireless networks. Introduced as part of the original 802.11 standard ratified in September 1999, its intention is to provide data confidentiality comparable to that of a traditional wired network.A link level encryption protocol whose keys could be hacked and is being superceded by WPA.

WFA – Wi-Fi Alliance, is a trade association that promotes Wireless LAN technology and certifies products if they conform to certain standards of interoperability.The Wi-Fi Alliance’s mission is to certify interoperability of Wi-Fi™ (IEEE 802.11) products and to promote Wi-Fi as the global wireless LAN standard across all market segments. Their website is http://www.Wi-Fi.org/.

Wi-Fi™ - A trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance.  This term refers to all Wi-Fi Alliance-certified IEEE 802.11 networking products.

Wi-Fi Certified – A certification given by the Wi-Fi Alliance the guarantees a certain level of compatibility between 802.11 clients and access points.  There are various sub-categories of Wi-Fi Certified compatibility that are found on the devices “capabilities label”.

WISP - Wireless Internet Service Providers, are Internet service providers with networks built around wireless networking. WISPs may also offer additional services such as location based content and services, Virtual Private Networking (VPN), and Voice over IP (VoIP).

WPA – Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) and Wi-Fi Protected Access II (WPA2) are two security protocols and security certification programs developed by the Wi-Fi Alliance to secure wireless computer networks. The Alliance defined these in response to serious weaknesses researchers had found in the previous system, WEP