What is Computer Network

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A Computer Network is a system that connects two or more independent computing devices with each other in order to share their resources and other information. Computing devices includes Tablets, Laptops, keyboards, Scanner etc. These devices are connected using physical wires such as fiber optics or can also be connected through wireless network.

A Computer Network consists of numerous kinds of nodes. A node can be a computer or any other device that is capable of sending and receiving data generated by other nodes in a network.

Why You Should Learn Computer Networking

Computer Networking is one of the most important skill for the people who work in technical field. Everywhere in the world the demand of networking specialist is rapidly increasing. People having a good networking skills are in short supply worldwide. Right now the number of students studying Networking simply won’t match the expected demand. According to top sources around 7 million students have participated in Networking courses since 1997. System Administrators, Network Administrators, Network Engineers all need to be good at computer networking.

According to top sources network administrator job is ranked in top 10 positions. In India, the average salary of a Network Administrator is around 10-11 lakhs Per Annum, whereas in US the average salary of a Network Administrator is around $68,000- $75,000.

Advantages of Computer Network

1. Resource Sharing

We can share resources from one computer to another with the help of computer network. We can also share files, private data and other information among various systems linked by wired or wireless transmission means.

2. Scalability

Scalability means ability to add new devices on the network. For example, suppose we have five devices connected with each other on a same network. Now if we wanna to add sixth device our network must be scalable so that we can expend the network by adding more and more devices.

3. Communication Speed

Network allows us to communicate with one another over the network in a fast and efficient manner. For example we can do video conferencing, Email messaging and so on, and this is possible only because of computer network.

4. Reliability

In case of any hardware failure or connection issues, computer networks enable other methods for data and file exchange across computers. This is one the main advantage of computer network.

5. Backup

In case if you lost/delete your data you can directly contact with the server and bring it back.

6. Security

Security is one of the most important feature of computer networks. A network must be secure, so that data transmitted over the network is protected from malicious use.

Components of Computer Network

Components of Computer Networks comprise both software and hardware parts. The hardware components includes Network Devices, Server, Peer, Client etc. The software components includes operating system, Communication Protocols.

Hardware Components

Servers:- Servers is a system that manage the resources of the network. Server gives the user accesses to the network resources.

Clients :- Clients are actually the computers that receive the requested services from Servers to use the network resources.

Network Devices:- Network devices act as a middleware between networks and computers by binding the network media together. Some of the common Network Devices includes: Hub, Switch, Router, Repeater etc.

We will discuss more about Network Devices in the upcoming Articles.

Software Components

Communication Protocols :- Communication Protocols is a set of rules followed by all the nodes that are involved in the information transfer. Some common protocols are Internet Protocol, Wireless LAN, Ethernet.

First Computer Network

ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network) was the first computer network. ARPANET was invented Bob Taylor in 1969 on the ideas of J.C Licklider.

Summary

• Computer Network is a system that connects two or more independent computing devices with each other in order to share their resources and other information.
• A Computer Network consists of numerous kinds of nodes.
• A node can be any device capable of sending and receiving data generated by other nodes.
• Computer Networking is one of the best career option.
• It’s demand is rapidly increasing everywhere in the world.
• The average salary of a Network Administrator is $70000- $75000 Per Annum in US.
• Features of Computer Networking includes Data Sharing, Scalability, Reliability, Communication Speed, Backup etc.
• Components of Computer Network includes both software and hardware parts.
• ARPANET was the first Computer Network.

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