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Wi-Fi
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style="margin-left: 40px; font-family: Verdana; text-align: justify;">Commonuses for Wi-Fi include Internetand VoIPphone access, gaming, and networkconnectivity for consumer electronicssuch as televisions, DVD players, and digital cameras. In spiteof media reports about possible health risksfrom Wi-Fi, scientific studies have failed to show a causal effect.[1][2]
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style="margin-left: 40px; font-family: Verdana; text-align: justify;">Wi-Finetworks use radio technologies called IEEE 802.11. Thesetechnologies have gone through several generations since theirinception in 1997. Wi-Fi is supported to different extents under Microsoft Windows, Apple Inc. MacOS and open source Unixand Linux operating systems.
Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) Resource
Uses
style="margin-left: 40px; font-family: Verdana; text-align: justify;">Aperson with a Wi-Fi enabled device such as a PC, cell phone or PDA can connectto the Internet when in proximity of an access point. The regioncovered by one or several access points is called a hotspot. Hotspots canrange from a single room to many square miles of overlapping hotspots.Wi-Fi can also be used to create a mesh network. Botharchitectures are used in community networks.[citation needed]
style="margin-left: 40px; font-family: Verdana; text-align: justify;">Wi-Fialso allows connectivity in peer-to-peer (wireless ad-hoc network)mode, which enables devices to connect directly with each other. Thisconnectivity mode is useful in consumer electronics and gamingapplications. style="margin-left: 40px; font-family: Verdana; text-align: justify;">Whenthe technology was first commercialized there were manyproblems because consumers could not be sure that products fromdifferent vendors would work together. The Wi-Fi Alliance began as acommunity to solve this issue so as to address the needs of the enduser and allow the technology to mature. The Alliance created thebranding Wi-Fi CERTIFIED to show consumers thatproducts are interoperable with otherproducts displaying the same branding. style="margin-left: 40px; font-family: Verdana; text-align: justify;">HomeWi-Fi clients come in many shapes and sizes, from stationary PCs to digital cameras. The trendas of 2007 is to incorporate wireless into every electronic devicewhere mobility is desired.[citation needed] style="margin-left: 40px; font-family: Verdana; text-align: justify;">Wi-Fidevices in home or consumer-type environments canconnect via a broadband Internet connection into a single router whichcan serve both wired and wireless clients. They can also use ad-hoc modefor client to client connections, and be built into non-computerdevices to enable wireless connectivity to the Internet. style="margin-left: 40px; font-family: Verdana; text-align: justify;">Businessand industrial Wi-Fi has become ubiquitous as of 2007. Inbusiness environments, increasing the number of Wi-Fi access pointsprovides redundancy, support for fast roaming and increase overallnetwork capacity by using more channels or creating smaller cells.Wi-Fi enables wireless voice applications (VoWLAN or WVOIP). Over theyears, Wi-Fi implementations have moved toward 'thin' access points,with more of the network intelligence housed in a centralized networkappliance, relegating individual Access Points to be simply 'dumb'radios. Outdoor applications may utilize true mesh topologies. As of 2007,Wi-Fi installations can provide a proactive, self-managed network thatfunctions as a security gateway, firewall,DHCPserver, intrusion detection system,and a myriad of other features not previously considered relevant to awireless network.[citation needed] style="margin-left: 40px; font-family: Verdana; text-align: justify;">Themost publicly visible use of Wi-Fi is at hotspots, including: style="margin-left: 40px; font-family: Verdana; text-align: justify;">
