ITM 301 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Local Area Network, Checksum, Connectionless Communication

• School: Ryerson University
• Department: Information Technology Management
• Course: ITM 301
• Professor: Farid Shirazi

Document Summary

Loosely defined, a network is a group of computers and other devices connected by some type of transmission media. Variations on the elements of a network and its design, however, are nearly infinite. Additionally, the size of a network may be small or large. Network communication media includes copper wires, fiber-optic cable, radio waves, infrared, or satellite links. This chapter introduces the student to the fundamental characteristics of networks. Corporate resources including databases, hardware, software, and personnel skill sets can be shared using a network infrastructure. Operational costs can be reduced, for instance, by providing access to a networked printer for all employees. This would be less expensive per user than installing many individual printers in several offices. And finally, software upgrades can be done more efficiently. For example, a company would like to upgrade its microsoft office. Now, this centralized approach saves time and minimizes errors that can occur if the software was installed on workstations individually.