COMPUTER NETWORKS

A computer network consists of two or more computing devices

connected by a medium allowing the exchange of electronic
information. These computing devices can be mainframes,
workstations, PCs, or specialized computers; they can also be
connected to a variety of peripherals, including printers, modems, and
CD-ROM towers. Most networks are supported by a host of specialized
software and hardware that makes these connections possible,
including routers, bridges, and gateways, which help accommodate
traffic between unlike systems.
Many different types of computer networks exist. Some, such as local
area networks (LANs), metropolitan area networks (MANs), and wide
area networks (WANs), are defined by their geographic layout and the
differing technologies that support such layouts. LANs are by far the
most common, and in most cases, the fastest. Networks may be
public, such as the Internet; semi-public, such as subscription
networks (including subscription-based Internet service providers and
other content-based networks); or private, such as internal corporate
LANs, WANs, intranets, and extranets. Most networks are private, but
of course the relatively few public ones, like the Internet, support a
very large user base. Networks may also be open, or linked to other
networks, or closed, which means they are self-contained and do not
allow connectivity with outside resources. Most modern corporate
networks are somewhere in between; they often allow access to the
outside, but tightly restrict access from the outside. "Open" can also
describe whether network technology is based on widely accepted
standards that multiple hardware/software vendors support, versus a
closed or proprietary system that is dependent on a single developer
(or very few).

DEVELOPMENT OF NETWORK 
TECHNOLOGY
Research facilities sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense were
among the first to develop computer networks. Perhaps the most
famous example of such a network is the Internet, which began in
1969 as Arpanet, part of a project to link computers at four research
sites. One of the most significant developments in these early
networks was the concept of packet switching, which encodes data
for transmission over networks into small chunks of information that
each carry meta-information about where the data are coming from,
where they are going, and how each piece fits into the whole. Packet
switching, the basis of all modern networking, enables a transmission
to be routed through any number of computers to get to its
destination, and provides an efficient means of retrieving lost
information. If a packet is lost or corrupted, only a single packet need
be re-sent, which is handled behind the scenes by the networking
software, rather than starting the entire transmission over again.

TECHNICAL STANDARDS.
Several of the most defining advances occurred in the
early 1980s. Coming on the heels of IBM's mid-1970s
introduction of the Systems Network Architecture (SNA),
a proprietary set of highly stable protocols for networking
mainframes and mid-range systems, a few important
industry wide standards were reached that cleared the
path for widespread implementation of networking. The
first of these was the debut of the Institute of Electrical
and Electronics Engineers' (IEEE) 802.x series of
standards, which prescribed the technical specifications
for various types of network data exchanges. The IEEE
standards, which are updated and expanded periodically,
are still in force today. Next, a common architecture
model called the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI,
see below) was adopted by the International Organization
for Standardization (ISO). Although the OSI was only a
broad model, it provided network developers with an
internationally accepted classification of the different network
functions and processes and how they ought to work together. The OSI
and the IEEE standards were complementary.

COMMERCIAL IMPLEMENTATION.
The Ethernet LAN protocols both influenced the formation of
technical standards and became the most widespread embodiment of
those standards. Ethernet was pioneered in the late 1970s
by Xerox at its famous Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) with
assistance from then-Digital Equipment Corp. (later part
of CompaqCorp.) and Intel Corp. Indeed, the experimental Ethernet
was the model on which the original IEEE standard was based, and
Ethernet quickly became (and still is) the most common commercially
produced LAN protocol.
Ethernet employs several hardware standards for various bandwidths
and device connections, but it is perhaps best characterized by its use
of a protocol called Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision
Detection (CSMA/CD). CSMA/CD is essentially a set

Table 1 
Common Network Terminology

• Ethernet  —a series of widely used hardware/software protocols for

local area networks
• Local area networks (LANs)  —networks that are confined to a
single building or part of a building and that employ technology to
capitalize on the advantages of close proximity (usually speed)
• Metropolitan area networks (MANs)  —networks that are accessed
from multiple sites situated in a relatively concentrated area (within
50 km or so) and that function as a faster alternative to wide area
networks
• Nodes  —individual computers on a network
• OSt  —Open Systems Interconnection model, a broadly defined
international model for the hierarchy of data communications between
networked computers
• Packets  —also called datagrams, these are measured pieces of
information (usually ranging 500 to 2,500 bytes in size) in a data
transfer that are each separately addressed to their destination and
reassembled into the full original message at the receiving end
• Protocols  —a set of rules dictating how hardware and software
communicate with other devices
• Storage area networks (SANs)  —a high-performance network of
storage/backup devices integrated with one or more primary computer
networks
• Topology  —the structure of how networked computers are actually
connected to each other and to other network resources
• Wide area networks (WANs)  —networks that are maintained over
two or more separate buildings and use technologies that maximize
the ease and cost-effectiveness of connections between distant
locations (often at the expense of speed)
of rules for how competing devices can share finite network
resources. Through this protocol a computer on the network can
determine whether it can send data immediately or whether it must
compete with another device for network services. Collision occurs
when two devices attempt to use the same resource, and the CSMA/CD
protocol provides a simple mechanism for resolving this contention: it
halts the colliding operation (the one initiated last) and keeps trying to
resend the data at specified intervals until either it succeeds or
reaches a maximum number of attempts. If the maximum is reached,
the operation may be aborted and data may be lost.
Since its inception Ethernet has enjoyed regular, albeit less rapid,
advances in speed parallel to those in microprocessing. The latest
generation of Ethernet standards, finalized in late 1998, is Gigabit
Ethernet. This Ethernet standard supports transmission of up to I
billion bits of data per second, representing a hundredfold
improvement over the original Ethernet, which carried data at 10
million bits per second (Mbps). Gigabit Ethernet followed an
enhanced 100 Mbps standard from the early 1990s known as Fast
Ethernet.

INTERNET PROTOCOL.
The other significant development was that of the Internet
Protocol (IP) and its many derivatives, which have been the center of
innovation from the late 1980s until the present. IP, which is very
basic, actually dates to the early 1970s, when the Internet's
predecessor, Arpanet, was in its formative years. At its core, IP is a
simple packet transmission protocol and an addressing scheme. This
means that IP has certain parameters for how packets, often called
datagrams, are addressed and formatted for exchange between two
computers. IP forms the basis for a number of popular WAN and
client/server protocols, notably Transmission Control Protocol/Internet
Protocol (TCP/IP), which was developed during the 1970s and adopted
for Arpanet in 1982.

BENEFITS OF NETWORKS
Networks can allow businesses to reduce expenses and improve
efficiency by sharing data and common equipment, such as printers,
among many different computers. While printers can be shared in other
ways, such as by carrying information on floppy disks from one PC to
another, or using manual or electronic data switches, networks have
the capacity to accommodate more users with less frustration. The
power of mainframes or minicomputers can be used in harmony with
personal computers. The larger machines can process larger and more
complex jobs, such as maintaining the millions of records needed by a
national company, while individual PCs manned by individual users
handle smaller jobs such as word processing. And older equipment can
be rotated to less demanding jobs as workstations are upgraded. Many
software programs also offer license agreements for networks, which
can be more cost effective than purchasing individual copies for each
machine. The costs of implementing a network depend on issues of
performance, compatibility, and whether value must be added to a
turnkey system through additional programming or the addition of
special components.
By coordinating all data and applications through a single network,
backup copies of data for all systems can be made more consistently
than could be expected if left to individual users. Additional, updated
software for all machines on a network can be installed through a
single PC. A centralized system simplifies other aspects of
administration, too. With the proper software, computer security can
also be implemented more effectively in a network than among many
individual hard drives. Access to files can be restricted to password
holders or it can be limited to inquiry-only access for public users.
Generally, security measures are more vulnerable at machines with
single user operating systems than those with network security
precautions.

NETWORK DEVICES
The types of machines that can be connected to a network include
PCs, intelligent workstations, dumb terminals, host computers, clients,
and file and other types of servers. File servers control network
activity such as printing and data sharing, as well as controlling
security. Important factors to consider in selecting a file server
include its speed, processor performance, memory, hard drive
capacity, and most importantly, its compatibility with network
software.
NETWORK COMPUTERS.
A corporate trend since the mid-1990s has been toward so-called
network computers (NCs), a variation on the long-established notion of
dumb terminals supported by a powerful central system. Spurred by
advances in Internet technology, IT managers found that they could
save on the high cost of buying and maintaining full-featured PCs for
every desktop when only a handful of corporate applications were
used, and these could conceivably be retrieved from (or run off) a
central computer, the server. Advances in software and data
portability, such as HTML documents on the Web and Sun
Microsystems' platform-independent Java language, encouraged the
idea that NC users could simply download whatever programs and files
they needed from a central repository, rather than storing such
information locally on each computer.

SERVERS.
Servers are computers that run software to facilitate various kinds of
network activities; the software packages that enable such activities
are sometimes also called servers. A single physical computer may
host a number of server-related processes. The three main types of
server functions are file servers, network servers, and printer servers.
File servers can be run in either a dedicated or a nondedicated mode.
Nondedicated file servers can be used as work stations as well,
although workstation functions can take up much of the processor's
capacity, resulting in delays for network users. Also, if a workstation
program causes the file server to lock up, the entire network may be
affected and suffer a possible corruption of data. One compromise for
a small office is to use a nondedicated file server as a workstation for
a light user. A disk subsystem can increase the performance of a file
server in large network applications. Network servers are used to
facilitate network activities, such as processing e-mail, while printer
servers manage traffic on networked printers.

STORAGE AREA NETWORKS.

Highlighting the need for network storage space, particularly for
critical system backups, has been the development of a relatively new
set of network technologies known as storage area networks (SANs).
SANs, which are high-speed networks of storage devices that can
work in conjunction with any number of servers and other network
devices, can be deployed as a solution to the inefficiencies of
maintaining a host of separate disk subsystems. Although most
companies of any size perform routine system backups, the process of
backing up as well as restoring data can be slow and cumbersome—a
competitive liability for companies that depend heavily on their
systems being available 24 hours a day. SANs are used to reduce this
liability and improve efficiency.

OTHER NETWORK DEVICES.

Connecting devices such as bridges, routers, and gateways are used
to subdivide networks both physically and logically, to extend the
range of cabling, and to connect dissimilar networks. Connecting
devices can be used extend the range of cabling or to subdivide
networks into segments, which is useful for isolating faults. Repeaters
simply extend the physical distance that network data can travel by
receiving and retransmitting information packets. They do not provide
isolation between the components they join. Connecting devices are
classified according to the functional layer at which they operate.
Bridges operate at OSI layer two (also known as the data link layer;
see Figure 2). They are used to isolate segments from a network
backbone, to connect two networks with identical lower layers, and to
convert one lower level technology into another. They can be
configured to transmit only appropriate messages (filtering).
Routers operate at layer three (network layer). They can also be used
to isolate network segments from a backbone, but unlike bridges, they
can connect segments with different lower-layer protocols. Software
exists which can perform this function, though not usually as fast.
"Brouters" are a hybrid between bridges and routes that operate at
layers two or three.
Gateways operate at layer four (transport layer) or higher. They are
required for minicomputer or mainframe access from PCs and are
much more complex and costly than other connecting devices. They
are capable of converting data for use between dissimilar networks.

CONNECTIVITY MEDIA.
Some type of media is required in order to connect network
components. Various types of cables exist for this purpose; as with
most hardware, their price is related to their performance. Two PCs
can be connected quite simply and cheaply by using a null modem
cable. At the upper end of the spectrum, wireless and even satellite
connections are used by large corporations and the military.
The earliest cable to become widely used is coaxial cable (nicknamed
"coax"). As it is shielded and resistant to electrical noise, it has
proven useful in factory situations. Twisted-pair cable, also called UTP
(unshielded twisted pair), has replaced coax in most applications, as it
is cost effective. Similar to telephone wire, noise problems prevented
it from being accepted more quickly. Underwriters Laboratories rates
UTP cable from Levels I through V based on performance. Levels I and
II are only suitable for low grade or slower applications.
Fiber optics is the most expensive and the fastest of the cables. Fiber-
optic technology has been shown to achieve speeds of several
hundred gigabits per second (Gbps) or faster, although most
commercial applications to date have settled for between 2.5 and 10
Gbps. Experts have theorized that multiplexing technology can push
fiber-optic capacity into the terabits—or trillion bits—per second
(Tbps). For these reasons, it is frequently used for high-volume
backbones connecting network segments. Another benefit of fiber-
optic cable is that it is immune to electrical interference.
Wireless systems are also used for connecting workstations with the
file server. Microwave dishes are among the oldest means of
connecting computers over long distances, though they are limited to
line-of-sight transmissions and can be affected by weather conditions.
Depending upon frequency, microwave equipment can transmit up to
30 miles. Another option is satellite transmission, which has been
used to transmit price changes among stores in national retail chains.
Networks also require connectors to interface computing devices with
the connecting media. While mainframes usually have connectors built
in, most PCs require the addition of a network interface card (NIC).
Larger, more powerful computers require more expensive connections
due to the cost of their high-performance microprocessors and support
circuitry. Such devices often implement the protocol to which
electronic messages on the network must conform.
SOFTWARE.
Network software is needed to perform network functions. In a LAN,
some type of network software is typically installed in each computer
on the network, and a network operating system is run on the network
servers. Two of the most common LAN networking packages
are Microsoft's Windows NT and Novell's NetWare. Functions of
network software include file transfer and real-time messaging,
automatic formatting of e-mail, and creating directories and unique
addresses for each node. Management utilities such as problem
detection, performance analysis, configuration assistance, usage and
accounting management (billing), and network security are usually
included in network software packages.

NETWORK TOPOLOGY
The topology, or the physical layout, of the network is the concern of
configuration management. The three main arrangements are the bus,
ring, and star as shown in Figure 1 below. In the bus configuration,
each node is connected to a common cable and detects messages
addressed to it. Because it is reliable and uses the least amount of
cabling, this layout is often used in offices. However, fiber-optic
systems cannot usually be arranged this way.
In the ring layout, packets of information are retransmitted along
adjacent nodes. It has the possibility of greater transmission distances
and fiber-optic systems can use this layout. However, the components
necessary can be more expensive. A popular implementation of ring
topology is IBM's Token Ring configuration.
In the star arrangement, all traffic is routed through one central node.
It offers the advantages of simplified monitoring and security. Also,
unlike the other layouts, the failure of one node, unless it is the central
one, does not cause the entire network to fail. This drawback is
addressed in the clustered star layout, in which a number of star
networks are linked together.

NETWORK ARCHITECTURE
While topology refers to the physical layout of the network,
architecture refers to the broad design of the rules computers must
follow in order to communicate. The specific procedures that must be
followed are called protocols; in this sense architectures are
collections of protocols and may include other standards or
specifications for hardware and software connectivity.
Architectures can be classified as either centralized or decentralized.
The former is useful when many users need the same information; less
maintenance is required to update the network. However, distributed
processing via decentralized networks is becoming the standard as it
allows work to be spread out, taking advantage of the capabilities of
the ubiquitous and increasingly powerful PC.
The introduction of standards has reduced the cost of networking
dissimilar products. Standardization organizations, government or
industry-sponsored, reference standards in profiles or abstract models
that leave some parameters open for software and hardware
developers. For example, one thing that has not been defined in
operating standards for modems is what to do if transmission speed
must be reduced due to a drop in line quality. Individual manufacturers
have been left to solve this problem, resulting in the possibility of
different makes of modems being unable to communicate in such a
situation.
Although no networking system follows it exactly (often they leave out
or combine the functions of certain upper layers), the OSI model
continues to influence network architecture. OSI is based on layered
architectures; i.e., different layers in the software and hardware are
devoted to different network functions. The lower layers exchange
information betweendirectly connected nodes and are concerned with
electronic signal characteristics such as voltage. The middle layers
are usually involved in detecting and correcting transmission errors
and providing end-to end connectivity. The upper layers are devoted to
such higher level functions as translating data for use in end-user
applications as shown in Figure 2 below.

NETWORK ADMINISTRATION
It is the often complicated job of the network manager to ensure that
all the hardware and software work together. An important aspect of
the job is fault management, or the detection, isolation, and resolution
of problems in the network. Performance management ensures that
data exchange proceeds at an acceptable rate, a factor influenced by
workload and the configuration of the network. Other duties include
accounting management, monitoring user activity on the network, and
security management (limiting access of certain files or the network
itself to authorized users). Because network administration can
require vast knowledge of rapidly changing technical issues—
knowledge that is hard to maintain when network managers are also
preoccupied with day-to-day service problems and other internal
concerns—many larger companies have chosen to outsource some or
all of these duties to specialized firms.