Configuration and management support consists of software to enumerate, join, and check the status of available Wi-Fi networks.
In most cases, drivers emulate an Ethernet device and use the configuration and management utilities built into the operating system.
In cases where built-in configuration and management support is non-existent or inadequate, hardware manufacturers may include software to handle those tasks.
Apple produces the operating system, computer hardware, accompanying drivers, AirPort Wi-Fi base stations, and configuration and management software.
Due to the open source nature of these operating systems,[citation needed] many different standards have been developed for configuring and managing Wi-Fi devices.