Intro to Digital Technology Follow along and fill in your Guided Notes Handout.

 A collection of computers and devices connected together

 Facilitate communications  Share hardware  Share data & information  Share software  Transfer funds

 Facilitating Communications- , IM, chat rooms, blogs, etc.  Sharing hardware-save money  Sharing data & information- access to database for customers  Sharing software-save money  Transferring funds-payroll, make purchases on the Internet

 Local area network (LAN)  Wireless local area network (WLAN)  Metropolitan area network (MAN)  Wide area network (WAN) Difference: the area of coverage

 Limited geographical area  Home  School computer lab  Office building

 LAN with no physical wires  Usually communicates with a wired LAN

 High- speed network that connects LANs in a metropolitan area such as a city or town and handles the bulk of communications activity across that region.  Regulated by local or state government  Provided by telephone companies, cable television operators, and other organizations

 Covers a large geographic area ( such as a city, country, or the world)  Combines many types of media such as telephone lines, cables, and radio waves  What is the world’s largest WAN?

 Design of computers, devices, and media in a network  Two Categories  Client/server  Peer-to-peer Do you know any examples?

 Server-host computer  Controls access to hardware, software, and other resources  Provides central storage area  Clients  Other computers and devices on the network that rely on the server for resources  EX. Server stores database of customers, Client access database

 10 or more computers

 Simple, inexpensive  Less than 10 computers  Equal responsibilities and capabilities

 Users access each others hard disks and exchange files directly over the Internet  Examples:  Limewire  BitTorrent  Gnutella  Kazaa

 Layout of the computers and devices in a communications network.  Four most common:  Bus  Ring  Star  Mesh

 Single central cable, to which all computers and other devices connect

 A cable forms a closed loop (ring) with all computers and devices arranged along the ring

 All of the computers and devices ( nodes) on the network connect to a central device, thus forming a star

 Each component is connected to every other component.

 Internal network that uses Internet technologies  Make company information accessible to employees  Examples:  telephone directories, event calendars, procedure manuals, employee benefits information, and job postings What about an example here in the school?

 PBS Interactive Lesson PBS Interactive Lesson