Technical data

334 Meru System Director Configuration Guide © 2012 Meru Networks, Inc.
mobile profes-
sional
A salesperson or a "road warrior" who travels frequently and requires the ability to regu-
larly access his or her corporate networks, via the Internet, to post and retrieve files and
data and to send and receive e-mail.
multipath
The process or condition in which radiation travels between source and receiver via more
than one propagation path due to reflection, refraction, or scattering.
N
NAT
NetwOrk Address Translation. A system for converting the IP numbers used in one network
to the IP numbers used in another network. Usually one network is the internal network
and one network is the external network. Usually the internal IP numbers form a relatively
large set of IP numbers, which must be compressed into a small set of IP numbers for the
external network.
network name
Identifies the wireless network for all the shared components. During the installation
process for most wireless networks, you need to enter the network name or SSID. Different
network names are used when setting up your individual computer, wired network or work-
group.
NIC
Network Interface Card. A type of PC adapter card that either works without wires (Wi-Fi)
or attaches to a network cable to provide two-way communication between the computer
and network devices such as a hub or switch. Most office wired NICs operate at 10 Mbps
(Ethernet), 100 Mbps (Fast Ethernet) or 10/100 Mbps dual speed. High-speed Gigabit and
10 Gigabit NIC cards are also available. See PC Card.
O
OFDM
Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing. A modulation technique for transmitting large
amounts of digital data over a radio wave. OFDM splits the radio signal into multiple
smaller signals that are transmitted in parallel at different frequencies to the receiver.
OFDM reduces the amount of crosstalk in signal transmissions. 802.11a uses OFDM.
Overlay Network
A dedicated network of radio sensors that are similar to access points but do not serve
clients, scanning the airwaves full time for security or management issues. Overlay
networks lack the flexibility of AP-based scanning, as radios cannot be redeployed
between scanning and client access. They also lack deep integration with the main wire-
less network, necessary for real-time management and intrusion prevention.
P
Partitioning
Virtualization technique in which a single resource is divided up into virtual resources that
are then dedicated to a particular application. Examples include the virtual machines in
server virtualization, virtual disk drives in SANs and Virtual Ports in Meru's Wireless LAN
Virtualization. The main advantages of partitioning are control and isolation: Each appli-
cation or user can be given exactly the resources that it needs, protecting them from each
other and ensuring that none consumes more than its allocated share of resources. In a
wireless context, it makes a wireless LAN behave more like a switched Ethernet port.