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WPA stands for Wi-Fi Protected Access and is a subset of the IEEE 802.11i draft standard intended to replace WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) as the primary means of securing 802.11-base wireless networks.
WPA consists of methods to strengthen data encryption (Temporal Key Integrity Protocol [TKIP], message integrity check [MIC], extended initialization vector [IV] with sequencing rules, and a re-keying mechanism) and to provide user authentication. There are actually two authentication mechanisms, one for "enterprise" users using 802.1x and Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP), and another for home users using a Pre-Shared Key (PSK) method.
To use WPA, you'll need a firmware update for your Access Point or wirless router, and new driver (and maybe firmware) for each wireless adapter on your network. Note that manufacturers may not offer WPA upgrades for all their existing products, especially older 802.11b-only products. You also won't be able to get upgrades for 802.11a-only products. You may also experience a loss of throughput when WPA is enabled on some older products.
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