Gone are those times when you had to communicate with your loved ones or with important people through letters and people had to wait for a long time to receive the message and send a reply to it. Now networking has made everything fast and easy, you can communicate with anyone around the world through networking devices. Network devices also termed as Network equipment are now being used in every house or you name any big business they all are working with the assistance of Networking Equipment’s at their back. It depends on the requirements of the users, what is the purpose of their communication and based on that different networking equipment’s provide distinct services.
As advancement in technology is
witnessed by the world almost every day, same is the case with Networks. Every
year we notice changes in Networking technology. If you are not up to date on
networking information here are some of the network equipment’s which you might
want to learn about.
Hubs:
In network system where there
are multiple ports for connection in a hub, multiple packets arrived at one
port, in the same way replicated to all ports of the hub for transmission with
no alteration. The address of the destination is not changed to broadcast
address. Hubs are now an old technology compared to network Switches.
A switch is a networking device
that connects other networking devices together, Connected with Ethernet Wires.
A switch does packet switching, it receives a packet from the sender address
and sends it to the given destination address on receiver’s network, this
process is called a Local Area Network (LAN), Switches finds the MAC address to
specify about the sender and the receiver. Switches are classified depending on
the number of ports with single device having 4-12 ports or large racks with
switches stacked in it collectively can connect hundreds of devices with it.
Advanced switches can also perform basic layer 3 routing functions also. And
latest switches also have built in wireless controllers.
Routers are networking devices
which work on the principle of forwarding packets from one network to other
numerous networks, packet forwarding depends on the information in protocol
headers and understanding the forwarding tables. They combine to determine the
right router to which the packet will be forwarded. A router is able to create
a wide area network(WAN) it connects with multiple networks in a wide area,
which is also termed as Internet, Though Internet is a simple type of WAN.
Routers can be categorized into either Wired or wireless. Wireless Routers are
also commonly known as Wi-Fi routers.
Access point are the devices
that adds wireless connectivity to wired networks. Some Access Points are
separate devices connected to a router, while in some they are a component of
the router itself. Access points are used to connect users on the network with
other users using network and can also serve as a point of interconnection between
wireless or wired network connections.
It is a security device that
controls the traffic entering and leaving the Network based on a specific set
of architecture, it acts as a defending wall against harmful viruses and
threats entering through the network traffic. A firewall is connected with a
router and WAP combined to work together. Modern day firewall devices are often
referred to as unified threat management, as they are capable of controlling
traffic threats at application level.
Network Attached Storage (NAS) Drive
A network attached storage
device is a dedicated drive available for the users on the network. users on
the local area network are able to access this shared storage through a
standard Ethernet connection. It functions similarly to an external hard drive
and has its own IP on the network. Each NAS Drive available on the LAN works as
an independent Network node defined by its own unique IP address.
Network Adapters (NIC)
Network interface adapter are
devices which should add networking capabilities to a computer, it is basically
a circuit board which is fixed along with the computers to connect them to the
network. Network adapter provides full time dedicated network connection to a
computer with the implementation of Physical Layer circuitry to communicate
with the data link layer which is standard, which includes the Ethernet and
Wi-Fi. There are 3 types of network adapters available which are wired, wireless and dual which includes wired/wireless. When you are looking to buy a
network adapter make sure it is compatible with your organization wireless
network standards.
A modem is a device which
functions to send and receive data over a telephone connection through fiber
optic cables or a satellite connection. A modem which is connected with a
router is connected with a telephone line to provide internet access to the
computer or other devices connected to the modem through wireless or wired
connection. When purchasing an internet modem you might make sure that it is
compatible with your internet service provider.
In modern era of technology
VoIP is advanced type of communication in which you can communicate with anyone
around the world through computer network. It is fast and cheapest
communication now, and people are relying more on VoIP communication instead of
using telephone systems to communicate. We are familiar with applications like
Skype or WhatsApp calling feature which uses VoIP services which allows
communication over the internet.VoIP service provider are available that will
setup VoIP services in your company for communication within the company or
connect with other branches of your company from computers or with telephone.
Power
over Ethernet (PoE):
Power over Ethernet is a
technology which allows network cables carry electrical power along with the
network connection. In the Ethernet wire there are four pairs of copper cables,
from which two are used to provide network connection and two are available for
power delivery. You can also power your network devices which use less energy
like the VoIP phone, IP cameras and WAP’s to run completely on the Ethernet
wire. Now many switches are capable of PoE providing 15.4w per port and PoE+
provides 25.5w per port On some or all of switch ports.
Power Line Networking / Power
Line Communication (PLC)
Did you ever think that the
power lines in your building can be used to create a network to power network
devices and electronic devices? With the Help of power line networking adapter,
you can easily setup PLN without any modifications in the power lines or laying
down long Ethernet wires. To set up an Ethernet power Line connection you need
to plug at least two adapters into the wall switches. One device should be connected
with an Ethernet wire to the Network connection modem and other Ethernet wire,
to the device you want to run on the network. And you can plug as many adapters
in the building and connect a short Ethernet wire to the device on which you
want to run the internet connection.
Network Print Server:
This device allows connecting
one or more printers to a network. Print servers manage the print request and
show the information of printer queue status to the end users or the network
administrators. This device performs the printing function faster than normal
printers can handle. It is connected to computers in the company over a
network, device accepts print job from the user’s computers and forwards it to
the suitable printer to perform the job, it will put the jobs in queue more
intelligently and work will arrive swiftly on printers than it should have
arrived normally.
