Uses of Computer Networks:

-Networks for Companies

-Resource sharing (programs, equipment, data)
- High reliability (replication, military, banking, air traffic control, nuclear reactor safety, etc)
- Saving money (mainframes, pc, client server)
- Scalability (the ability to increase system performance gradually as the workload grows by
adding more processors, mainframes requires replace)
- Powerful Communication Medium (employee, online document)
- Networks for People
-Access to remote information (www)
- Person-to-person communication (Email, Telephone, IP phone)
- Interactive entertainment.(Virtual meeting, VD, Videoconference)
-Social Issues
- Newsgroups or bulletin board

Classification of interconnected processors by scale

Interprocessor distance Processors located in same Example

0.1 m Circuit board Data flow machine
1m System Multicomputer
10m Room
100m Building Local area network (LAN)
1km Campus
10km City Metropolitan area network (MAN)
100km Country
1,000km Continent Wide area network (WAN)
10,000km Planet the internet

LAN
Local area networks, generally called LANs, are privately-owned networks within a single building
or campus of upto a few kilometers in size. They are widely used to connect personal computers and
workstations in company offices and factories to share resource and exchange information.
LANs are distinguished from other kinds of networks by three characteristics:
-their size
-their transmission technology, and
-their topology

MAN
A metropolitan area network, or MAN is basically a bigger version of LAN and normally used
similar technology. It might cover a group of nearby corporate offices or city and might either
private or public.
A MAN can support both data and voice, and might even be related to the local cable television
network.
WAN
A wide area network, or WAN, spans a large geographical area, often a country or a continent. It
contains a collection of machines(hosts) intended for running user programs. The hosts are
connected by communication subnet consists of two distinct components:
- transmission lines(circuit, channel, or trunks) and
-switching elements(specialize computers)

Topology:
The way in which the connections are made is called the topology of the network. Network topology
specifically refers to the physical layer of the network, especially the locations of the computers and
how the cable is run between them. The four most common topologies are the Bus, the Star, the Ring
and Mash/Complete.

Other topologies (point to point) are: Intersecting ring, Tree, Irregular.