Mustufa Husain MIS 589 Prof.

Kenneth Chipps 09/11/2013 Homework 1 Text Book questions

7. How do local area networks (LANs) differ from metropolitan area networks (MANs), wide area networks (WANs), and backbone networks (BNs)? Answer A local area network (LAN) is a group of microcomputers located in the same general area. A LAN covers a clearly defined small area, such as one floor or work area, a single building, or a group of buildings. LANs often use shared circuits, where all computers must take turns using the same circuit, while on the other hand A metropolitan area network (MAN) connects LANs and BNs located in different areas to each other and to WANs. MANs typically span between three and 30 miles. Most LANs are connected to a backbone network (BN), a larger, central network connecting several LANs, other BNs, MANs, and WANs. BNs typically span from hundreds of feet to several miles and provide very high speed data transmission, commonly 100 to 1,000 Mbps. Wide area networks (WANs) connect BNs and MANs. Most organizations do not build their own WANs by laying cable, building microwave towers, or sending up satellites (unless they have unusually heavy data transmission needs or highly specialized requirements, such as those of the Department of Defense). Instead, most organizations lease circuits from IXCs (e.g., AT&T, MCI, Sprint) and use those to transmit their data. WAN circuits provided by IXCs come in all types and sizes but typically span hundreds or thousands of miles and provide data transmission rates from 64 Kbps to 10 Gbps.

14. Explain how a message is transmitted from one computer to another using layers. Answer - Each layer has a roll. Take the message and encode it, route it to the correct use, encrypt it and provide a means of unencrypting it via a language the host and client computer can understand. And then provide a way to use the information. At each step in the process more information is added to the packet to help it get to where it needs to go in a way that assures that the message is complete and understood. Then the excess information is stripped away and in the end the information is back to its original state and ready for the application layer to make use of it.

17. Describe two important data communications standards-making bodies. How do they differ? Answer- One of the most important standards-making bodies is the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) which makes technical recommendations about data communication interfaces. ISO is based in Geneva, Switzerland. The membership is composed of the national standards organizations of each ISO member country. The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is the coordinating organization for the U.S. national system of standards for both technology and nontechnology. ANSI has about 1,000 members from both public and private organizations in the United States. ANSI is a standardization organization, not a standards-making body, in that it accepts standards developed by other organizations and publishes them as American standards. Its role is to coordinate the development of voluntary national standards and to interact with ISO to develop national standards that comply with ISOs international recommendations.