Network an Organization

Business Perspective
• From a business or managerial perspective, this lecture
addresses the following issues:
– What are the business benefits of networks?
– What are the basic concepts and terminology associated
with the Internet and other networks?
– How does the Internet change marketplace structures?
– How are network components selected?
 defining computer network
• A computer network can be defined as: ‘a communications
system that links two or more computers and peripheral
devices and enables transfer of data between the components’.

• Telecommunications: The method by which data and

information are transmitted between different locations.
• Local-area network (LAN): A computer network that spans a
limited geographic area, typically a single office or building.

• Wide-area network (WAN): Networks covering a large area

which connect businesses in different parts of the same city,
different parts of a country or different countries.
Communications links between different
stakeholders in an industry
Key advantages and disadvantages of
network technology
 Client/server system
• Client/server: The client/server architecture consists of client
computers such as PCs sharing resources such as a database stored
on more powerful server computers.
 Server
• Server: A server is a powerful computer used to control the
management of a network. It may have a specific function such as
storing user files or a database or managing a printer.

• Maintain security: Access to information in files is restricted according

to the user name and password issued to users of the network.

• Sharing of peripheral devices connected to the network, such as

printers and tape drives. These are often attached directly to the
server.

• Sharing of applications such as word processors, which do not then

need to be stored on the hard drive of the end-user’s computer. The
cost of buying applications can be reduced through buying a ‘site
licence.’

• Sharing of information: Access to these data are maintained by the

NOS and they are stored within the hard drive of a server as files or as
part of a database.
 Telecommunications equipment
• Modem (modulator–demodulator):
– A modem is a communications device that allows users to access ordinary telephone
line.
• Analogue:
– Analogue data are continuous in that an infinite number of values between two given
points can be represented. As an example, the hands of a clock are able to represent
every single possible time of the day.
• Digital:
– Digital data can only represent a finite number of discrete values. For example, at the
most basic level, a computer recognises only the values 0 (zero) and 1. Any values
between 0 and 1, for example 0.15, cannot be represented.
• Hubs:
– Hubs are used to connect up to 20 PCs to a network in a convenient way.
• Bridges and routers:
– These are used to connect different LANs and transfer data packets from one network
to the next.
 Wireless network standards
• Bluetooth (PAN)
– A wireless standard for transmission of data between
devices over short ranges (normally less than 10 m).
• Wi-Fi (LAN)
– A high-speed wireless local-area network enabling wireless
access to the Internet for mobile, office and home users.
• WiMax (MAN)
– A long distance transmission standard that allows an
access range up to 30 miles at speeds up to 75 Mbps.
 The Internet
• The Internet
The Internet refers to the physical network that links computers
across the globe. It consists of the infrastructure of network
servers and communications links between them that are used to
hold and transport information between the client PCs and web
servers.

• Internet service provider (ISP)

A provider enabling home or business users a connection to access
the Internet. They can also host web-based applications.

• Backbones
High-speed communication links used to enable Internet
communications across a country and internationally.
Infrastructure components of the Internet
 The role of the Internet in restructuring
business relationships
• The relationship between a company and its suppliers and customers
shown in Figure 5.8 can be dramatically altered by the opportunities
afforded by the Internet. This occurs because the Internet offers a means
of bypassing some of the channel partners. This process is known as
disintermediation or ‘cutting out the middleman’.

• Figure 5.8 illustrates disintermediation in a graphical form for a simplified

retail channel. Further intermediaries such as additional distributors may
occur in a business-to-business market. Figure 5.8 (a) shows the former
position where a company markets and sells it products by ‘pushing’
them through a sales channel. Figures 5.8 (b) and (c) show two different
types of disintermediation in which the wholesaler (b) or the wholesaler
and retailer (c) are bypassed, allowing the producer to sell and promote
direct to the consumer.
 Internet of Things (IoT)
• The Internet of Things (IoT) has been defined by the
Internet of Things Global Standards Initiative as a global
infrastructure for the information society, enabling
advanced services by interconnecting (physical and virtual)
things based on existing and evolving interoperable
information and communication technologies.

• More specifically the Internet of Things can refer to the use

of the Internet as a network to enable the connection and
communication between objects with embedded sensors.
 Internet of Everything
• While the IoT is about enabling devices to
share data via the Internet, the Internet of
Everything (IoE) is much broader.

• The Internet of Everything is about acting on

all the information gathered from four main
areas of data, things, processes and people.
The Internet of Everything
 Intranets and extranets
• If information is limited to those inside an organisation, this is
an intranet.

• If access is extended to some others, but not everyone beyond

the organisation, this is an extranet.

• Extranets can be accessed by authorised people outside the

company such as collaborators, suppliers or major customers,
but information is not available to everyone with an Internet
connection – only those with password access. Note that the
term ‘intranet’ is sometimes loosely used to refer to an
extranet.
Relationship between intranets, extranets
and the Internet
 World Wide Web
• World Wide Web
The most common technique for publishing information
on the Internet. It is accessed through web browsers which display web
pages of embedded graphics and HTML/XML-encoded text.

• Web browsers are software used to access the information on the WWW
that is stored on web servers.

• HTTP, the hypertext transfer protocol, is a standard used to allow web

browsers and servers to transfer requests for delivery of web pages and their
embedded graphics.

• The technical name for web addresses is uniform or universal resource

locators (URLs).
 Other wide-area networks
• Wide-area network (WAN)
Networks covering a large area which connect to businesses in
different parts of the same city, different parts of a country of different
countries.

• Value-added networks (VAN)

Value-added networks (VANs) give a subscription service enabling
companies to transmit data securely across a shared network.

• Virtual private network (VPN)

A data network that makes use of the public telecommunication
infrastructure and Internet, but information remains secure by the use
of security procedures.
 Smaller-scale networks
• Local-area network (LAN)
A computer network that spans a limited geographic area,
typically a single office or building.

• Peer-to-peer network
A simple type of LAN which provides sharing of files and
peripherals between PCs.

• Voice over IP (VoIP)

Voice data are transferred across the Internet – it enables
phone calls to be made over the Internet.