IS103 REVIEWER of the network.

The devices share resources

and data through wired or wireless
MODULE 6 “LAN TECHNOLOGIES”
connections to a switch or router. Most home
A local area network (LAN) is a collection networks are peer-to-peer.
of devices connected together in one
The hardware components of a LAN
physical location, such as a building, office,
consist of:
or home. A LAN can be small or large,
ranging from a home network with one user  PCs/workstations and servers
to an enterprise network with thousands of  Network Interface Card (NIC)
users and devices in an office or school.  Cabling and connectors, for example,
coaxial cable and BNC connector,
Regardless of size, a LAN’s single defining
Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) and
characteristic is that it connects devices
RJ-45 connector
that are in a single, limited area. In
 Hub, concentrator, and more
contrast, a wide area network (WAN) or
complicated network devices such as
metropolitan area network (MAN) covers
Bridge, LAN Switch and Router.
larger geographic areas. Some WANs and
MANs connect many LANs together. The software components of a LAN can be
grouped into two categories:
The advantages of a LAN are the same as
those for any group of devices networked 1. Inside PCs/workstations and servers
together. The devices can use a single
 NIC Drivers
Internet connection, share files with one
 Network Operating System for servers,
another, print to shared printers, and be
for example, Novell® Netware 4.1 or
accessed and even controlled by one
Microsoft Windows® NT
another.
 Network Operating System for clients
Wireless connectivity has also greatly (PCs/workstations), for example,
expanded the types of devices that can be Novell® Netware 4.1client or Microsoft
connected to a LAN. Now, nearly everything Windows® 95
imaginable can be “connected” from PCs,  Networking protocol software, for
printers, and phones to smart TVs, stereos, example, TCP/IP, Novell® IPX
speakers, lighting, thermostats, window  Application software, for example,
shades, door locks, security cameras--and emails, Internet Web Browser
even coffeemakers, refrigerators, and toys.
2. Inside network devices (Hub/Bridge/LAN
In general, there are two types of LANs: Switch/Router)
A client/server LAN consists of several  Network Management Software, for
devices (the clients) connected to a central example, Simple Network
server. The Management Protocol (SNMP),
Remote Network Monitoring (RMC)
server manages file storage, application
 Forwarding/routing & control
access, device access, and network traffic. A
software, for examples, transparent
client can be any connected device that runs
bridging, spanning tree and IP routing
or accesses applications or the Internet. The
software.
clients connect to the server either with
cables or through wireless connections. A Network Interface Card, or NIC, is a
circuit board inserted into each network
A peer-to-peer LAN doesn’t have a central
station (PC/workstation or server) to allow
server and cannot handle heavy workloads
communication with other stations.
like a client/server LAN can, and so they’re
Depending on the stations, the bus of a NIC
typically smaller. On a peer-to-peer LAN,
could be ISA, PCI, EISA, MCA, S-bus…and
each device shares equally in the functioning
so on.
A Hub is a central device used on star Example of MAN
network topology that repeats or amplifies
 Cable TV network
signals, allowing the network to be
 Telephone networks provide high-
lengthened or expanded with additional
speed DSL lines.
stations. For example, an Ethernet hub
 IEEE 802.16 or WiMAX, that provides
normally has 8 or 12 or 16 RJ-45 ports, each
high-speed broadband access with
port can be connected to a PC or workstation
Internet connectivity to customer
or server. Also, the hub’s BNC port can be
premises.
connected to a coaxial cable to lengthen the
network. MANs are particularly useful for the
purpose of sharing resources specific to
A Bridge is a device used to connect two
regions, assisting in the quicker and
or more LANs. It operates at the Media
segmented flow of data and information.
Access Control Layer (layer 2), checking and
Furthermore, MANs can connect multiple
forwarding data packets between different
computers and networks to serve as an
LANs.
Internet Service Provider. This is because
A LAN Switch is a device using switching of which the internet service provided by a
hardware to speed-up the checking and telephone company falls under the category
forwarding of data packets between LANs. of a MAN connection. A Metropolitan Area
LAN Switch is functional like a bridge, but its Network is smaller than the area covered
speed and performance are faster and better through WANs. It is much bigger than the
than a bridge. connectivity capabilities of a LAN.
A Router is a device that operates at the The working mechanism of a MAN is quite
network layer (layer 3), routing data similar to that of an Internet Service
between similar or dissimilar networks. A Provider. However, it is not owned by a
router is more powerful than a bridge or LAN single organization. A MAN delivers a joint
Switch because the router checks the and shared network connection to all of
network protocols and addresses (for its users based on a data link layer. This
example, IP or IPX). data link layer is classified as Layer 2 of the
OSI model. It is also known as Open Systems
A metropolitan area network (MAN) is a
Interconnection.
network with a size greater than LAN but
smaller than a WAN. It normally comprises Types of MAN technologies
networked interconnections within a city that
Fiber Distribution data interface (FDDI) is a
also offers a connection to the Internet.
standard for data transfer in context to a LAN
The distinguishing features of MAN are: and it can assist in transmitting the data of
thousands of users. It uses optical fiber for its
 Network size generally ranges from 5
primary infrastructure, hence the name fiber
to 50 km. It may be as small as a
distributed data interface.
group of buildings in a campus to as
large as covering the whole city. Switched multi-megabit data service
 Data rates are moderate to high. (SMDS) allows the transfer of data through a
 In general, a MAN is either owned by a connectionless service. It is the state of data
user group or by a network provider transfer when the information and data are
who sells service to users, rather than stored in the head and then it reaches its
a single organization as in LAN. specific destination in an independent
 It facilitates sharing of regional manner.
resources.
Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) is the
 They provide uplinks for connecting
most frequently used MAN technology.
LANs to WANs and the Internet.
However, ATM is a digital transfer technology
to transfer real-time data over an individual telegraphy. Braun (1850-1918) was a
network. In ATM, the data stores in specific German inventor and physicist.
and fix-size packets transferring overtime.
Wireless technology may refer to
Wireless technology refers to technology communication or recharging devices without
that allows us to communicate without wires or cables.
using cables or wires. According
The radio, TV, and satellites
to www.techconsumerguide.com/, with this
type of technology, people and other entities During the 20th century, many types of
can communicate over very long distances. wireless technologies emerged. The radio,
Wireless technology includes RF and IR which Marconi invented, and television, for
waves. example, receive broadcast.
The term may also refer to devices that Wireless technology today
draw power without using cables. In other
words, a smartphone that we can recharge Most lay people today think of laptops,
without wires has wireless technology in tablets, smartphones, and modems (routers)
it. However, in most cases, the term refers to if you ask them about wireless technology.
communicating without wires or cables. The term has become part of our everyday
Wireless technology – Brief history vernacular. For most of us, there are
currently two main types of wireless
Wireless technologies in one form or technology:
another have been around for a long time. It
all started with German physicist Heinrich 1. Local Wi-Fi networks
Hertz (1857-1894) when he discovered Wi-fi is a technology that allows tablets, video
electromagnetic waves. game consoles, printers, and smartphones to
The photophone communicate with the Internet. Medical
devices, laptops, and digital audio players
The first wireless conversation ever occurred also use Wi-Fi.
in 1880 when Charles Sumner Tainter and
Alexander Graham Bell invented the The term ‘Wi-Fi’ emerged in the 1990s from
photophone. They also patented the the words ‘Wireless’ plus ‘Fi,’ which was an
photophone in that year. The photophone arbitrary second element, after ‘Hi-Fi.’ People
was a telephone that conducted audio often mistakenly interpret the term as a short
conversation over modulated light beams. form of ‘Wireless Fidelity.’

Tainter (1854-1940) was an American 2. Cellular networks (mobile phone

scientific instrument maker, engineer, and networks)
inventor. Bell (1847-1922) was a Scottish- This technology allows electronic devices to
born scientist, inventor, engineer, and communicate over long distances. One
innovator. person in, for example, Alaska, can talk to
Radio transmission and wireless another person in Australia using their
telegraphy smartphones. Cellular networks allow them to
do that.
Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937), an Italian
inventor and electrical engineer, MODULE 7 “STORAGE AREA NETWORK”
pioneered work on long-distance radio A SAN (storage area network) is a
transmission. networked high-speed infrastructure
In 1909, Marconi and Karl Ferdinand (subnetwork) that establishes direct access
Braun shared the Nobel Prize in Physics by servers to an interconnected group of
for the development of wireless heterogeneous storage devices such as
optical disks, RAID arrays, and tape backups,
which are effective for storing large amounts
of information and backing up data online in
e-commerce, online transaction processing,
electronic vaulting, data warehousing, data
mining, multimedia Internet/intranet browsing,
and enterprise database managing
applications.