Networking

Network 

1.History of Network

• The military radar system Semi-Automatic Ground Environment(SAGE) are included in late 1950s early networks of computers
• During 1960s, a set of experts named Leonard Kleinrock, Paul Baran, and Donald Davies developed network systems to transfer information between computers over a network
• In 1965, Thomas Marill and Lawrence G. Roberts created the first wide area network (WAN).
• Also in 1965, telephone switch which is widely used are introduced firstly by Western Electric that implemented true computer control.
• In 1969 as the beginning of ARPANET network the several universities like University of California at Los Angeles, the Stanford Research Institute, the University of California at Santa Barbara, and the University of Utah became connected using 50 kbit/s circuits.
• IIn 1976 token-passing network first used to share storage devices (ARCNET) are created by John Murphy of Datapoint Corporation created.
• In 1995 the transmission speed capacity for Ethernet increased from 10 Mbit/s to 100 Mbit/s. By 1998, Ethernet supported transmission speeds of a Gigabit. The ability of Ethernet to scale easily (such as quickly adapting to support new fiber optic cable speeds) is a contributing factor to its continued use as of 2015.

2.Types of Networks

There are several types of computer networks. Computer networks can be characterized by their size and also with their purpose too.
Some of the different networks based on size are:

• Personal area network, or PAN
• Local area network, or LAN
• Metropolitan area network, or MAN
• Wide area network, or WAN

In terms of purpose, many networks are used for general purpose, which means they are used for everything from sending files to a printer to accessing the Internet. Some types of networks, however, serve a very particular purpose. Some of the different networks based on their main purpose are:

• Storage area network, or SAN
• Enterprise private network, or EPN
• Virtual private network, or VPN

The networks classified according to the size are described as below.

2.1.Personal Area Network

A personal area network, or PAN, is a computer network organized around an individual person within a single building. This could be inside a small office or residence and etc.. A typical PAN would include one or more computers, telephones, peripheral devices, video game consoles ,other personal entertainment devices and etc.
This type of network provides flexibility. For example, it allows to:
Send a document to the printer in the office upstairs while sitting on the couch with laptop.
Upload the photo from mobile phone to desktop computer.
Watch movies from an online streaming service to your TV.

2.2.Local Area Network

A local area network, or LAN, consists of a computer network at a single site, typically an individual office building. A LAN is very useful for sharing resources, such as data storage and printers. LANs can be built with relatively inexpensive hardware, such as hubs, network adapters and Ethernet cables.

The smallest LAN may only use two computers, and the largest LANs can accommodate thousands of computers. A LAN relies mostly on wired connections for increased speed and security, but wireless connections can also be part of a LAN. High speed and relatively low cost are the characteristics of LANs.

2.3.Metropolitan Area Network

A metropolitan area network, or MAN, consists of a computer network across an entire city, college campus or small region. A MAN is larger than a LAN, which is limited to a single building or site. Depending on the configuration, this type of network can cover an area from several miles to tens of miles. A MAN is often used to connect several LANs together to form a bigger network. When this kind of network is specially designed for a campus, it is sometimes referred to as a campus area network, or CAN.

2.4.Wide Area Network

A wide area network, or WAN, occupies a very large area, such as an entire country or the entire world. A WAN can contain multiple smaller networks, such as LANs or MANs. The Internet is the best-known example for this network.

3.Impact of Networks in Technology Drivers

positive impacts of broadband technology:

• Unlimited access. Allows users to be connected on consistently and is always readily available either through one network or multiple networks.
• Improved communication. Broadband networks have allowed us to connect in real-time by communicating through platforms such as email, social media, video conferencing, and more.
• Enhanced experience. The speed of broadband has enabled users to better view video content, access interactive applications, and utilize other digital resources that require high-speed internet access.
• Economic growth. Research have found that the result of an increase in broadband availability is the growth in jobs.
• Decreased costs. Broadband technology allows businesses to obtain market intelligence at a fairly low cost while also contributing to employee productivity through increased communication by using tools like email and web browsing.
• Social benefits. A unique benefit to broadband is in the social benefits it offers us. We are able to connect with others with greater ease, improve our skill sets, seek education, and much more.

The Positive & Negative Impact of Digital Media on Business

Faster Information

Thanks to digital media, companies can get their information out to the public faster than ever. Instead of printing inserts and waiting for the Sunday paper to announce their sales, companies now can let the world know about an exciting promotion through email, social networking, their websites and Internet ads. However, digital media can spread bad information about a business just as fast as it can spread good. A video or camera taken with a cell phone or a Facebook status update featuring a company secret or faux pas can go viral within minutes, leaving a business's reputation damaged when business before digital media would have been able to clear up the mess long before it went public.

Greater Reach

Digital media means businesses can reach more customers than ever before. A simple promotion featuring a giveaway or a freebie can earn a business hundreds or thousands of Facebook fans and email and text message subscribers, meaning that the business can send a message to these consumers with just a touch of a button. However, digital media also means that those consumers can reach back. Through negative comments to your Facebook page and other social networking sites, like Twitter and your blog, customers can use digital media to take a complaint that would have otherwise been between the two of you world wide.

Positive Effects of Technology on Communication

Keeping in Touch

For more than a century now, technological advances have brought the world closer, making communication across long distances easier. Telegrams are faster than letters; phone calls, in turn, are faster than telegrams, as well as easier and more pleasant, since they require no go-between and allow users to hear each other's voice. Cell phones take this one step further, allowing people to call and speak with each other regardless of their location. Online communication of all types is the most efficient yet, with email being a near-instantaneous version of the paper letter; webcams, paired with communication programs such as Skype, iChat or Google Video Chat, make it possible to see the person you are speaking with rather than just hear his voice.

Doing Business

The same technological advances that have simplified and improved personal communication have also had the same beneficial effects on business. Communication between colleagues is near-instantaneous whether they are a few rooms or a few countries apart; video conferencing allows companies to have workers scattered around the globe while but still hold efficient meetings and discussions; business networking is made easier by social media and online networks designed specifically for that purpose, such as LinkedIn. Perhaps most importantly, companies can expand beyond their local market and gain a wider customer base simply by maintaining an active online presence.

Overcoming Disabilities

Technology has both improved communication for disabled people and made it possible where it previously wasn't. Hearing aids boost the hearing of partially deaf people, making it easier to understand speech, while cochlear implants restore hearing to the completely deaf. Speech-generating devices give people with severe speech impairments a way to express themselves: perhaps the most famous user of such a device is scientist Stephen Hawking. Further advances in technology may result in functional brain-computer interface systems, restoring the ability to communicate to people who have lost it entirely, such as sufferers of locked-in syndrome.

Reaching a Broader Audience

As people's ability to communicate improves, the reach of their messages widens. This can be especially important in politics and activism. For instance, photos and video recorded covertly through a cell phone can be quickly and easily shared online through websites such as YouTube, making it harder for oppressive regimes to keep control; social networks such as Facebook and Twitter can be used to organize and coordinate meetings and protests. The Egyptian revolution of 2011-2012 was spurred greatly by social media.

The impact of technology on privacy

Advances in technology have often led to concerns about the impact of those advances on privacy. The development of new information technologies, whether they have to do with photography, telephony, or computers, has almost always raised questions about how privacy can be maintained in the face of the new technology. Today’s advances in computing technology can be seen as no more than a recurrence of this trend, or can be seen as different in that new technology, being fundamentally concerned with the gathering and manipulation of information, increases the potential for threats to privacy.

Several trends in the technology have led to concerns about privacy. One such trend has to do with hardware that increases the amount of information that can be gathered and stored and the speed with which that information can be analyzed, thus changing the economics of what it is possible to do with information technology. A second trend concerns the increasing connectedness of this hardware over networks, which magnifies the increases in the capabilities of the individual pieces of hardware that the network connects. A third trend has to do with advances in software that allow sophisticated mechanisms for the extraction of information from the data that are stored, either locally or on the network. A fourth trend, enabled by the other three, is the establishment of organizations and companies that offer as a resource information that they have gathered themselves o.r that has been aggregated from other sources but organized and analyzed by the company

Disadvantages of networking

Viruses

If a virus is introduced to the network, either intentionally or unintentionally, it will rapidly spread around all of the workstations and could start to cause havoc to people's' files or to the efficient working of the network.
Network failure

If the file server fails then no-one on the network can access any files or folders. This means that nobody can do any work. For an organisation, this would be extremely costly and disruptive.

If a cable, hub or switch on the network fails, this would mean that any computers connected to that part of the network couldn't be used to access network resources. They could still be used as individual, stand-alone machines.

Slow service

As more users log onto the network and request files, send things to be printed and open more software applications, the network can start to slow down. There is only a limited amount of bandwidth and the more data that is travelling around the network, the slower things become.

Cost

Building a network isn't cheap. Every machine has to be connected to the network either by physical cables or perhaps by wireless technology. Every workstation needs a network interface card to enable it to be connected to the network. Other hardware such as hubs, switches and routers are often needed.
Expert support required

Networks need constant monitoring to ensure that the performance is maintained and that all of the components are working properly. This requires specialist staff such as network managers and technicians who will spend all of their time ensuring that the network works efficiently whenever you need to use it. These staff add a large cost to running a network, but without them, things would start to fail.