Computer Network & Networking Application Areas

What is a Computer Network?

Computer networking means Sharing of Data and resources between two or more computers with a communication between them through a medium.
The communication medium can be through radio waves, wires, and leased lines, routers, infrared, optical fibres etc.Networking is most widely used in the field of computer technology.
A computer network is comprised two or more wired and wirelessly connected computers.Read more…
Computer Networking

Identifying Application Areas of Computer Network:

With the availability and Power of today’s personal computers, you might ask why networks are needed.
From the earliest networks to today’s, costs .the answer has remained the Same i.e network increase efficiency and costs.Computer Network achieves these goals  in three Primary ways:

  • Sharing Resources (hardware and Software)
  • Sharing information (or Data)
  • Centralising administration and  Support
Must Read: Computer Networks , Essentials of Computer Networking

Sharing Resources:

Hardware:

A network allows anyone connected to the network to use the fax modem, printers, scanners, tape backup units or almost any other devices that can be attached to a computer.

Before the advent of networks, computer users needed their own printers, plotters, scanners, and other external Peripherals; the only users could share a peripheral was to take turns sitting at the computers  connected to the peripherals,
In theses, days Network make it possible for several people to share data and peripherals simultaneously.If many people need to use a scanner, they all can use a single scanner available on the network.

Software:

Networks can be used to share and standardise applications, such as word processors, spreadsheets, inventory databases, and so on, to ensure that everyone on the networks is Using the same applications and the same versions of those Applications.
This allows documents to be shared easily and creates training efficiency; it is easier for people to master one-word processing application thoroughly than to try to learn four or five different word processing Applications.

Sharing Information:

Sharing information is the ability to share information quickly and inexpensively has proven to be one of the Most Popular uses of networking technology.
It has been reported that email is by far the number-one activity of people who use the internet.Many businesses has invested in networks specifically to take advantage of network-based email and Scheduling programs.
by making information available for sharing, networks can reduce the need for paper communication, Increase efficiency and make more nearly any type of data available simultaneously to ever user who need it.
Managers can use these utilities to communicate quickly and effectively with large numbers of people and to organise and schedule meeting with people drawn from an entire company or business enterprise far more easily than was previously Possible.
The Computer can help we centralise the information and maintain control over it if we select one computer to store the Sheared information and have all other computers reference the information on that computer over the network.

Centralising Administration and Support:

Administrator can centrally install, configure and update the software and also restrict access to the Software, It is easier than doing in every computers in an organisation. A network also allows for information to be backed up to a central location , It is difficult to maintain regular backups on a number of stand alone computers so important information can be lost easily by human mistake or by accident.

Protecting Information

A computer Provides more secure environments for a company or organisation’s important information than stand alone.Networks Provide an additional layer of security by way of passwords.
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