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Wireless Fidelity In the last few years the world has undergone a tremendous and unprecedented technological change with the attack of the Information Technology revolution. Earlier it was e-mail that changed the way people communicate, and then online shopping became the order of the day, gradually online banking caught up and the list goes on and on. The new trend, Wi-Fi, or Wireless Fidelity, allows you to connect to the Internet from your couch at home, a bed in a hotel room or at school, all without wires. As author Harold Davis nicely puts, â€Å"Wi-Fi is a wireless technology just like a mobile phone and Wi-Fi enabled computers send and receive data indoors and out; anywhere within the range of a base station. Wi-Fi certification means that you will be able to connect anywhere there are other Wi-Fi CERTIFIED products — whether you are at home, the office, school and other public areas equipped with a Wi-Fi Access Point device† (35). Customers with the capability to tap into w ireless Internet networks at certain universities and Starbucks coffee shops in US will soon be able to browse the Web in a very inexpensive way using the wireless internet technology Wi-Fi WLAN use radio technologies called IEEE 802.11b or 802.11a to provide secure, reliable, fast wireless connectivity. Michael Galagher notes that, â€Å"A Wi-Fi WLAN can be used to connect computers to each other, to the Internet, and to wired networks (which use IEEE 802.3 or Ethernet)† (120). Wi-Fi WLANs operate in the unlicensed 2.4 and 5 GHz radio bands, with an 11 Mbps (802.11b) or 54 Mbps (802.11a) data rate or with products that contain both bands (dual band), so they can provide real-world performance similar to the basic 10BaseT wired Ethernet networks used in many networked environments. Competition has already driven down the costs of deploying 802.11b networks which can now be deployed by businesses to give their employees mobility within the business. Home users can buy 802.11b kit to extend their DSL or cable broadband Internet access wirelessly to the entire house. James LaRocca points out that, â€Å"In universities and schools a wireless network can allow computers to be integrated more effectively into teaching as classes no longer need to be held in computer lab† (48). In ... ...The master key also serves as a password by which users can be authenticated and granted network access. WPA was designed to be a software upgrade to WEP, so most existing wireless devices should be upgradeable to WPA via a firmware (define) update. In order to take advantage of WPA, all network devices like access points and clients must be upgraded. The first WPA-enabled products are expected in the early Spring of 2003, and upgrades for existing products should be available at around the same time or shortly thereafter. For Wi-Fi to really take off in homes, its needs to capture the public imagination and make the initial equipment costs seem even more trivial – similar to when TV sets were drastically reduced in price . "Wi-Fi is a key step for home networking, but it still doesn't solve issues of developing home entertainment," agrees Roland Berger's Kintz. That's probably true. But coming up with an attention grabber doesn't seem so impossible with Intel and Microsoft already pouring millions of dollars into Wi-Fi technologies and major carriers such as VoiceStream and AT&T figuring out how to make the technology work for them.