Developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), High- Performance Radio Local Area Network (HiperLAN) is the wireless networking standard throughout most of Europe. There are actually two HiperLAN standards — HiperLAN/1 and HiperLAN/2 — and they operate at speeds up to 20 Mbps and 54 Mbps, respectively. Like 802.11a, both standards operate in the 5 GHz frequency band.
Because it is compatible with 3G (third generation) wireless networks, HiperLAN/2 may have an edge throughout Europe and possibly Asia. HiperLAN is only of interest if you are a frequent international traveler, in which case, you may want to consider buying a HiperLAN wireless adapter for use while abroad.