Networking Technologies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Networking Technologies - Essay Example Fiber Cable: This is a generic term used for both plastic and glass fiber-optic cables. There are numerous types of fiber cables with varying characteristics. Fiber-optic cabling is used for high-speed communications in many areas with very high-speed communications requirements. Some cables can handle Gbps over long distances. Microwaves: A communications satellite is really a microwave relay station 22,300 miles in space. It orbits the Earth at that altitude because thats the altitude that an orbiting object circles the Earth every 24 hours, the same time it takes Earth to make one revolution. Before satellites were used for communications, all signals had to be carried over land, via microwave repeater stations, spaced about the 30 miles apart on mountains, requiring hundreds of such towers. They had to be "in line of sight" of one another, because microwaves cant travel through trees, mountains or buildings. LAN: (Local Area Network) a group of computers linked together in close proximity such as a building, a suite of offices, or even a single room. Due to the limited size of the network, data is usually transferred rapidly. This arrangement is useful in business for the sharing of information. Ethernet is a local area network (LAN) first developed by Dr. Robert M. Metcalfe and D.R. Boggs while working for Xerox in the 1970s. WAN: a computer network that encompasses a large geographical area and is made up of two or more LANs. The network may be connected by telephone wire, cable or satellite. The Internet is the largest WAN known. Home & Small Business: This is usually an application of LAN which is commonly used by home users. People connect computers at close proximity within their homes or businesses with a relatively small setup through cheap media like twisted pair or coaxial cabling. International Networks: These networks connect different countries and can span over the entire globe like the Internet.