The continuous evolution in computer technology has resulted into the existence of todays highly sophisticated and high

performance networks which are capable of connecting any two users anywhere in the world. The first computer was built in around 1950s. Initially the computers were bulky and the size of them was very huge. Also they were mainly used by Government. The cost of these computers was very high. But during 1960s the prices of processors began to drop and the usage of computer was becoming popular among businesses. Mainframe systems became very popular during this time. Many users could use mainframe through terminal. This system was based on Fat Server. But in modern networks, more emphasis was given to client-server model. With invention of internet, users started communicating with each other. Now the transfer of data with neighboring computers was prime need. Initially this was satisfied with the help of Local Area Networks (LAN). Companies started connecting users to each other thus increasing size of network and more people got connected with each other which is nothing but WAN.

As more advances were made in the field of networking, difference between LAN and WAN began to diminish. Various LANs were connected with each other using WAN. IP is most commonly used protocol in LAN and WAN and is widely used in various networks such as Frame Relay, ATM and VPNs.

Fig. Evolution of Ethernet In the late 1990s the World Wide Web started becoming popular very rapidly. Explosive growth in (WWW) World Wide Web affected the way of communication in networking. During this period lots of new network technology were invented but only some of them have made through the time and are still being used in todays world. The need of unified networks didnt arise suddenly. Data centers have been evolving over the years. In data centers the complexity should be minimal. If data center has less number of devices to manage and if the way in which they are managed is easy then data center infrastructure is simpler and effective. Mainframes and distributed computers have played major role in evolution of data centers. And even today mainframes are very popular choice for running large applications. Features of mainframe made them most vital component for data center. Some of the features provided by these mainframes are as follows: >Mainframes are very powerful and are capable of running multiple applications. Even though distributed computing gave tough competition to mainframes, still mainframes are being used in todays data centers. >Mainframes are capable of running multiple applications using workload management. But one drawback of mainframes is they are very expensive and also cost of maintenance is on higher side. Capital Expenditure as well as Operational Expenditure is very high for mainframes. Distributed computing also became popular as it was cheaper option compared to mainframes. Finally this lead to consolidation which resulted into todays advanced data centers.