DATA COMMUNICATION AND NETWORKS I. Definitions A. Data Communication refers to transmitting data to and from different locations. B.

. Communication Channel the physical path that data take in data transmissions. Examples: 1. Twisted pair wires of telephone lines 2. Coaxial Cables 3. Optical Fibers 4. Microwaves 5. Radio (satellite) waves Note: Local Area Networking applications typically use the first three of these, while Internet applications often use all five of them. II. Transmission of Data over Communication Data A. The digital pulses of the sending computer must be translated into sound patterns, light pulses or radio waves of the communications channel. B. Over voice-grade telephone lines, this translation is performed by a MODEM (modulatordemodulator). C. Transmission rate: commonly measured in bits per second (bps). Data Transmission Services A. Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) international data communications standard that transmits data, voice message or images at a standard rate of 128k bps over the Internet. B. Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) supports data communications rates up to 9 megabits per second. C. Large data communications installations using fiber optic cables and similar wide-band channels currently transmit data up to 266 million bps. D. Future Optic Fiber transmits data at speeds up to 2.2 billion bps speeds high enough to transmit motion-picture images in real-time. Data Communications Protocol A. Definition refers to the settings that provide compatible transmission format that will be used by sending and receiving stations. B. Two Common Protocols: 1. Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) which networks commonly used for e-mails 2. Hypertext Control Protocol (HTTP) which networks commonly used for webpages. Applications of Data Communications A. Local Area Networks (LANs) consists of microcomputers, printers, terminals, and similar devices that are connected together for communications purposes. 1. Most LANs occupy a single building, although LANs covering several buildings are also common. 2. File Servers use to store centralized software and data files and also to coordinate data transmissions among the other LAN devices and users. 3. Advantages: a. Facilitates communication b. Sharing computer equipment c. Sharing computer files

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d. Saving software costs e. Enabling unlike computer equipment to communicate with one another B. Wide Area Networks (WANs) computer networks spanning regional, national or even global areas. 1. AISs use WANs to gather financial data from remote acts, distribute accounting information to and from headquarters and support email communications among users. C. Client/Server Computing an alternate technology to mainframe and/or hierarchical networks. 1. The data processing can be performed by any computer on the network. 2. The database and related software are stored on networked file servers. 3. Client/server applications distribute data and software among the server and client computers of the system. 4. This is a way to achieve the overall objective of an enterprise network. 5. Components of Client/Server Computing: a. Presentation Component the users view of the system that is what the user sees onscreen. b. Application-logic component refers to the processing logic of a specific application. The processing tasks involved in each application are typically shared unequally between the client computer and the server, with the division of labor depending upon the particular application. c. Data-Management Component refers to the databases and data-storage systems. These systems are the most complex. D. Wireless Data Communications also called Wi-Fi (wireless fidelity), means transmitting voice-grade signals or digital data over wireless communication channels. 1. It creates a wireless Ethernet Network using hubs and receiver cards in PCs, cell phones, and PDAs, thereby turning the cellphones and similar wireless devices into cordless, multi-function web appliances. 2. Wi-Fi applications have two key dimensions: a. Connectivity the ability to connect to the Internet, LANs, WANs, without physical wires or cables. Note: To accomplish this, Wi-Fi devices use Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), a set of communications standards and wireless markup language. b. Mobility 3. Two important types of wireless communications: a. Radio Frequency Identification enables businesses to identify pallets and even individual items without unpacking them from shipping crates. i. Passive RFID tags no power source (cannot wear out) but can nonetheless answer inquiries from energized sources. ii. Active RFID tags chips with antennas, have their own power source, enjoy ranges more than 100 meters, and generally more reliable than passive tags. b. Near Field Communications (NFC) enables mobile devices such as cellphones, PDAs, laptop computers to communicate with similar devices containing NFC chips.

i. NFCs represents RFID communications for the masses. ii. The operating range of NFC devices is limited to 20 cm or about 8 inches a limitation that helps avoid unintentional users. iii. This technology is a joint product of Sony, Philips and Nokia. Three Possible communication modes are: Active (bidirectional) Passive (one way) Transponder (battery-less and therefore only powered by an external communication source) iv. Standardized communication speeds: between 106k and 424k bps considerably less than the 1-7 mbps speed of Bluetooth or Wi-Fi data transmissions. E. Cloud Computing refers to a range of computing services on the Internet. (e.g. access to computer software programs, backup and recovery file service and even web-page development and hosting. 1. The term gets its name from the common use of cloud symbol to represent the Internet itself. 2. Most commercial applications of cloud computing are types of outsourcing.