1. By Matthew

2. Advantages: Can share and keep information private within a network Workstations do not need a hard drive to access the information Users can transfer information with ease. Makes Gaming easy… Disadvantages: Networks are difficult to set up and need to be maintained by skilled technicians. If server develops a fault, users may not be able to run the application programs. A fault in the network can cause user to lose the data. If the network stops operating then it may not be possible to access various computers.

3. Cabled L.A.N are usually faster than non-wired networks, and they can be very affordable, but the cost of an Ethernet cable can add up as the more computers on your network and the farther apart they are, the more expensive your network will be making it even more expensive. The four types are: Fiber Optics Coaxial Unshielded Cable Shielded Cable Source: http://computer.howstuffworks.com/home-network2.htm http://computer.howstuffworks.com/home-network2.htm

4. Router Modem Computer OS system Ethernet cable/Fiber optic/Shielded/Unshielded. Source: General Knowledge.

5. A network topology is the arrangement of computers on a computer network. It shows how the computers, within the network are arranged and connected to each other, for example, Star, ring, point-to-point etc.

6. Ring: Is when the computers or “nodes” are arranged in a circular formation Star: Arranged in a way that every computer connects directly to the server. Bus: When they are all in a sequence connected by one cable which branches to each computer. Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LAN_topologyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LAN_topology

7. Advantages: The simplest and cheapest to install and extend. Well suited for temporary networks with not many nodes. Disadvantages: If the bus cable fails then the whole network will fail. Performance of the network slows down rapidly with more nodes or heavy network traffic.

8. Advantages: The most reliable because the failure of a node or a node cable does not affect other nodes. Simple to troubleshoot because only one node is affected by a cable break between the switch and the node. Adding further nodes does not greatly affect data transferring. Disadvantages: Uses the most cables which makes it more expensive to install than the other topologies. The extra hardware required such as hubs or switches further increases the cost. If the switch, the link to the server or the server itself fails then the whole network fails.

9. Wireless L.A.N is when there is no need for cables, the cables are replaced with router’s and modem’s which send the information to the “nodes”, but at a slower speed.

10. A computer network that spans a relatively large geographical area. Typically, a WAN consists of two or more Local-Area- Network. Computers connected to a wide-area network are often connected through public networks, such as the telephone system Examples are: Emirates Airlines, Virgin.

11. Data transmission is the transfer of data from point-to-point or point-to-multipoint. Examples of such channels are copper wires, optical fibers, wireless communication channels, and storage media. Data transmission is a subset of the field of data communications, which also includes computer networking or computer communication applications and networking protocols, for example routing and switching.