| Your
contribution to your company is important. Both your colleagues and
your customers require information from you to assist them with their
duties. To satisfy their requirements, you need access to relevant
information, in an appropriate time frame. Without a LAN (local area
network), your productivity is restricted and your business performance
is risked. |
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Why
Local Area Networks?
 To
compete in today's corporate world, companies must answer their customer's
requirements in an efficient manner. Without a computer network, this
is almost impossible. A Sales Manager must have access to his staff's
sales forecasts and results. A Customer Service team must be able
to view customer files. A Financial Director must be able to view
financial reports created by his accounting team.
For efficiency and attention to colleagues' and customers' requirements,
these tasks must all be undertaken from an employee's own computer.
Employees who must relocate to another computer to access required
information are unnecessarily disturbing their work flow and dedicating
precious time to inefficient practices. |
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What
is a Local Area Network?
A
network or LAN is a short-distance communications network. A LAN is
typically within a building or across a single site. A LAN links computers
and other resources, such as printers and scanners, and enabling users
to share equipment and data.
Networks are categorised according to three characteristics: media,
protocol and architecture.
Media
Media refers to the physical device device used to connect the networked
objects. Many different forms of media have been developed as cabling
and networks have advanced. Today's common media are twisted-pair
wire (normal electrical wire), coaxial cable (the type of cable used
for pay television), and fiber optic cable (cables made out of glass).
Protocol
A protocol is a common set of rules and signals used by the computers
to communicate. The most common network protocols are Ethernet, a
protocol developed in 1976 that operates at 10Mbps, and Fast Ethernet,
the newer protocol that operates at 100Mbps. Gigabit Ethernet, the
newest version, supports data transfers at 1000Mbps (1 gigabit). |
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