Chapter: 07
Telecommunications, The Internet and Wireless Technology

1. Question: What are the principal components of telecommunications networks and key networking technologies? Answer:

The principal components of telecommunications networks: Telecommunications are the means of electronic transmission of information over distances. The information may be in the form of voice telephone calls, data, text, images, or video. Today, telecommunications are used to organize more or less remote computer systems into telecommunications networks. These networks themselves are run by computers. A telecommunications network is an arrangement of computing and telecommunications resources for communication of information between distant locations.
A telecommunications network includes the following components:

Figure: principal components of a simple computer network 1. Computer: Computers that process information and are interconnected by the network 2. Network Interface: Each computer on the network contains a network interface device called a network interface card (NIC). 3. A Connection medium: The connection medium for linking network components can be a telephone wire, Coaxial cable or radio signal in the case of cell phone and wireless local area networks. 4. Network operating System software: The network operating system (NOS) routes and manages communications on the network and coordinates network resources. 5. Hub or switch: Hubs are very simple service that connects network components, sending packet of data to all other connected data.

Figure: components of a simple computer network

Key networking technologies: There are three key digital networking technologies. Such as: Figure: Key digital networking technologies 1. Client/Server computing: Client/server