ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF COMPUTER NETWORKS

Following are some of the advantages of computer networks:

Following are some of the Disadvantages of Computer Networks:

Network Architecture

Client/server Architecture:

In a Client Server, Client is the requesting system and the Server is the providing system. Both the systems are connected via a networking cable in a
LAN or WAN.

3 different types of Clent/Server Architectures are:

Peer-to-Peer Architecture:

In Peer-to-Peer Architecture each system or a workstation has equivalent capabilities and responsibilities. This differs from client/server architectures, in which some computers are dedicated to serving the others. Peer-to-peer networks are generally simpler and less expensive, but they usually do not offer the same performance under heavy traffic or large ammount of data transactions.
read more about Peer-To-Peer Networking here

Intranet

An intranet is a private network that is contained within the collage capus or the organization. It is a consist of one or many interlinked LANs. Intranet can be also used through the WAN using the dedicated or leased internet lines. The Main purpose of Intranet is to share resources of company informations among the employes.
An intranet uses TCP/IP, HTTP, and other Internet protocols and its a Private Internet.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Intranet
There are lots of Advantages, including:

• Universal Communication
• Performance
• Reliability
• Cost
• Standards
  Disadvantages of Intranet:

• Performance limitations
• Presentational issues
  Main Technology Components of the Intranet are:

• Communications Protocol – Can connect and communicate between networks and individual desktop devices as desktop sharing.
• File Transfer – Has the ability to transfer files between point-to-point locations.
• Mail – Has the ability to provide direct point-to-point communications between individuals or groups.
• Web Browsing – Has the ability to provide access to information on a one to many basis, on demand.
• Terminal Emulation – Has the ability to access existing infrastructure applications.
• User Interfaces- Has the ability to deliver the increasing technical complexity to the desktop in a transparent, seamless and intuitive manner.

History of the Internet

In the 1960s, researchers began experimenting with linking computers to each other and to people through telephone hook-ups, using funds from the U.S Defense Department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA).

ARPA wanted to see if computers in different locations could be linked using a new technology known as packet switching, which had the promise of letting several users share just one communications line. Previous computer networking efforts had required a line between each computer on the network, sort of like a train track on which
only one train can travel at a time. The packet system allowed for creation of a data highway, in which largenumbers of vehicles could essentially share the same lane. Each packet was given the computer equivalent of a map and a time stamp, so that it could be sent to the right destination, where it would then be reassembled into
a message the computer or a human could use.

This system allowed computers to share data and the researchers to exchange electronic mail, or e-mail. In itself, e-mail was something of a revolution, offering the ability to send detailed letters at the speed of a phone call.As this system, known as ARPANet, grew, some enterprising college students (and one in high school) developed
a way to use it to conduct online conferences. These started as science-oriented discussions, but they soon branched out into virtually every other field, as people recognized the power of being able to “talk” to hundreds,or even thousands, of people around the country.

In the 1970s, ARPA helped support the development of rules, or protocols, for transferring data between different types of computer networks. These “internet” (from “internetworking”) protocols made it possible to develop the worldwide Net we have today that links all sorts of computers across national boundaries. By the close of the
1970s, links developed between ARPANet and counterparts in other countries. The world was now tied together in a computer web.

By the close of the 1970s, links developed between ARPANet and counterparts in other countries. The world was now tied together in a computer web.
In the 1980s, this network of networks, which became known collectively as the Internet, expanded at a phenomenal rate. Hundreds, then thousands, of colleges, research companies and government agencies began to connect their computers to this worldwide Net. Some enterprising hobbyists and companies unwilling to pay the high costs of Internet access (or unable to meet stringent government regulations for access) learned how to link their own systems to the Internet, even if “only” for e-mail and conferences. Some of these systems began offering access to the public. Now anybody with a computer and modem — and persistence — could tap into the
world.

In the 1990s, the Net grows at exponential rates. Some estimates are that the volume of messages transferred through the Net grows 20 percent a month. In response, government and other users have tried in recent years to expand the Net itself. Once, the main Net “backbone” in the U.S. moved data at 1.5 million bits per second.
That proved too slow for the ever increasing amounts of data being sent over it, and in recent years the maximum speed was increased to 1.5 million and then 45 million bits per second. Even before the Net was able to reach that latter speed, however, Net experts were already figuring out ways to pump data at speeds of up to
2 billion bits per second — fast enough to send the entire Encyclopedia Britannica across the country in just one
or two seconds.

Another major change has been the development of commercial services that provide internetworking services at speeds comparable to those of the government system. In fact, by mid-1994, the U.S. government had removed itself from any day-to-day control over the workings of the Net, as regional and national providers continue to expand. Source: Internet

Types Of Computer Networking

Common examples of Computer network types are:

• LAN – Local Area Network
  A LAN connects network devices over a small or very short distance. A office building, school, or home in a single LAN, though sometimes one building may have few small LANs, and occasionally a LAN will span a group of nearby buildings.

• WLAN – Wireless Local Area Network

As Name says, its LAN but connectd through Wireless Connection.

• WAN – Wide Area Network

As the name says, a WAN is a large physical distance. The Internet is the largest WAN, covering the Earth.

• MAN – Metropolitan Area Network
• SAN – Storage Area Network, System Area Network, Server Area Network, or sometimes Small Area Network
• CAN – Campus Area Network, Controller Area Network, or sometimes Cluster Area Network
• PAN – Personal Area Network
• DAN – Desk Area Network