ICT Definitions

Router
A device that forwards packets along networks. A
router is connected to at least, two networks; LANs,
WANs or ISP’s. Routers are located at gateways,
the places where two or more networks connect.
They use protocols such as ICMP to communicate.
with each other
Repeater
A network device used to regenerate or replicate a
signal. Repeaters are used in transmission systems
to regenerate analogue or digital signals distorted by
transmission loss. Analogue repeaters frequently can
only amplify the signal while digital repeaters can
reconstruct a signal to near its original quality.

Bridge A device that connects two LANs or two segments of

the same LAN that uses the same protocol, such as
Ethernet or Token-Ring.

Protocol The language in which two

computers or devices communicate.

Gateway A node on a network that serves as an entrance to another

network. A gateway is the computer that routes the traffic
from a workstation to the outside network that is serving
the pages. In homes, the gateway is the ISP that connects
the user to. The gateway is also associated with a router.

Filter A program that accepts a certain type of data as input,

transforms it in some manner, and then outputs the
transformed. For example, a program that sorts names is a
filter because it accepts the names in unsorted order, sorts
them, and then outputs the sorted names.

Server
A computer or device on a network that Resources. For
example, a file server is a storage device dedicated to
storing files. Any user on the network can store files on
the server and a network server is a computer that
manages network traffic.
 Proxy Server
A server that sits between a client application, such as a
Web browser, and a real sever. It intercepts all requests
to the real server to see if it can fulfil the requests itself.
If not, it forwards the request to the real server.

Switch
In networks, a device that filters and forwards packets
between LAN segments. Switches operate at layer 2 & 3
of the OSI Reference Model and therefore support any
packet protocol.

Modem Short for modulator-demodulator. A modem is a device or

program that enables a computer to transmit data over, for
example, telephone or cable lines. Computer information is
stored digitally, whereas information transmitted over
telephone lines is transmitted in the form of analogue
waves. A modem converts between these two forms.
Network Card

A card to be inserted into the computer so

that the computer can connect to a network.

Optical Fibre
Fibre-optic lines are strands of optically pure
glass as thin as a human hair that carry
digital information over long distances.

Copper Cable (cat 5) Definition: CAT5 is an Ethernet cable standard defined by the
Electronic Industries Association and Telecommunications
Industry. CAT5 is the 5th generation of twisted pair Ethernet
cabling and the most popular of all twisted pair cables in use
today.
CAT5 cable contains four pairs of copper wire. CAT5 supports
Fast (100 Mbps) Ethernet. As with all other types of twisted pair
Infra Red
EIA/TIA cabling, CAT5 cable runs are limited to a maximum
recommended run rate of 100m (328 feet).