Computer Communication Networks connect different Computer Networks for Communication and share various expansive resources like printer, scanner and photocopier as well.   With a proper computer communication network, you can run your offices or home in a budget-friendly and efficient manner. However, there are certain basic concepts of computer networks that you need to understand before establishing a network for your office or home. In this article, we are going to discuss Computer Networks Basics and how communication occurs in a computer network.

Computers receives data from users, processes data, provides results, store data and communicate it as well. For communication you need networks for sharing different sort of information among different people. This is the basic reason for using computer networks just like you use Internet for sharing your pictures on social media. Let’s begin our tutorial without wasting any time:

What are Computer Communication Networks?

Computer Networks are used for communication and sharing of data in different geographical areas. You can share your printer, hard drive, files and folders with other computers easily. If managed properly, a computer network provides you cost-effective and reliable solution to your common office or home problems. Here are a few advantages:

1. Saves hardware and software cost
2. Value added management
3. Information sharing
4. Communication
5. Resource sharing
6. Security
7. Efficient operations

Designations in Computer Network

Server

Specially dedicated computers that receives the requests from other computers and responds them with desired services. You may have a server containing bunch of useful software. So, you can ask the server computer to provide you specific software package like Microsoft Office or Foxit Reader. These are powerful and resource-rich computers. Their processing power, speed and storage is enormous as compared to the client computers. Different types of servers are:

• Print server
• Application server
• File server
• Proxy server
• EMail server
• Web server

Client

Any device that requests a server is a client. It can be a laptop, smartphone or desktop that requires something from server computer. Client devices send requests to servers such as downloading a file. For example, when you want to change your profile picture on Facebook, you simply upload a new picture and request server to replace your old one. Similarly, when you type in a web site address in web browser then again you’re requesting a web server to provide you the requested web site. Look at another example: when you type in something in search engine, you’re again, asking the search engine to provide you that you need.

Network Device

There are a number of intermediate devices to facilitate the communication in a computer network and such devices are called network devices. Without these sort of devices, either your network will not work or performance will be low. Here are a few types of network devices:

• A network hub is a device that allows multiple computers to communicate with each other over a network
• A network switch is an intelligent networking hardware that uses sophisticated packet switching technique to deliver communication message to the desired receiver
• A router is a networking device that forwards data packets between computer networks

Communication Medium

Next big thing that you need in a computer network is communication medium. Communication medium connects servers, clients and other network devices with each other. Communication signals transfer through the medium and hence our messages, requests and responses are transmitted from one location to another. Broadly, two types of communication media are used:

• A wired medium uses different wires for connecting devices. So it is fast, reliable and secure.
• Wireless medium transmits wireless signals from one device to another. Speed is fairly enough and your network don’t have messy cables.

Major Types of Computer Communication Networks

A computer network can cover different geographical area so on the basis of this factor there are four basic types of a computer network. Each type has a certain defined criteria, characteristics and specifications. Similarly, each type has unique applications as well. You can select the type that best suits your organizational needs. Let’s dive into these types.

• PAN or Personal Area Network is a personal network of mobile devices connected with Bluetooth.
• LAN or Local Area Network has computers and other devices connected locally like in one room, or building etc like a school campus or bank branch.
• MAN or Metropolitan Area Network provides specific range of about 30kms and is able to connect a number of buildings in a city.
• WAN is also known as Wide Area Network offers wide range communications across cities, countries and even the whole world like Internet.

Wrap Up

Computer Communication Networks are extremely handy in our modern life as these can make our business more effective. However, before building a computer network you should understand the basics of this discipline. This knowledge will help you in choosing the right one for your purpose. You can decide what type of communication medium do you need or how many servers you’re going to use. Although this article is a short tutorial on this topic but for details you can check out further articles on our web blog.