Telecommunications and Networks Learning Objectives 1 Identify several

Telecommunications and Networks

Learning Objectives 1. Identify several major developments and trends in the industries, technologies and business applications of telecommunications and Internet technologies. 2. Provide examples of the business value of Internet, intranet, and extranet applications.

Learning Objectives 3. Identify the basic components, functions, and types of telecommunications networks used in business. 4. Explain the functions of major types of telecommunications network hardware, software, media, and services.

Why Study Networking? • When computers are networked, two industries – computing and communications – converge, and the result is vastly more than the sum of the parts. • Suddenly, computing applications become available for business-to-business coordination and commerce, and for small as well as large organizations.

Case #1: Wireless Business Applications Business Value of Wireless: • Time is money. Pocket PCs help reduce travel time at Celanese Chemicals related to plant equipment diagnosis. • Fidelity Investments attracts customers by offering services via wireless devices. • GM uses wireless devices to improve forklift operator productivity and cut costs.

Case #1: Wireless Business Applications 1. What is the business value of wireless technologies in the chemicals and automotive manufacturing industries? What other manufacturing applications might benefit from wireless technologies? Why? 2. What are some of the business benefits of wireless technologies in finance and investments? What other applications would you recommend? Why? Check the website of Fidelity. com to help you answer.

Case #1: Wireless Business Applications 3. What are some of the business benefits and challenges of using wireless technologies in retailing? What are some other applications that might be beneficial to consumers, as well as retailers? Why? 4. What are some of the major challenges limiting the widespread use of wireless technologies in many business applications? What can be done to meet such challenges?

Telecommunications Definition: • The exchange of information in any form (voice, data, text, images, audio, video) over networks

Open Systems Definition: • Information systems that use common standards for hardware, software, applications, and networking

Connectivity Definition: • The ability of networked computers and other devices to easily access and communicate with each other and share information

Interoperability Definition: • The ability of an open system to enable the many different applications of end users to be accomplished using the different varieties of computer systems, software packages, and databases provided by a variety of interconnected networks

Digital Network Technologies Definition: • Digital transmission technologies that transmit information in the form of discrete pulses Benefits: • Higher transmission speeds • Movement of larger amounts of information • Greater economy • Lower error rates

Business Value of Telecommunications

Internet Definition: • A network made up of millions of smaller private networks each with the ability to operate independent of, or in harmony with, all the other millions of networks connected to the Internet

Internet Applications

Business Use of the Internet

Intranet Definition: A network inside an organization that uses Internet technologies to provide an Internet-like environment within the enterprise for information sharing, communications, collaboration, and the support of business processes

Business Value of Intranets • Communications and Collaboration – includes email, voicemail, paging, faxes, and groupware • Web Publishing – easy, attractive and low-cost way of publishing and accessing multimedia business information • Business Operations and Management – platform for developing and deploying critical business applications to support business operations and managerial decision making across the inter-networked enterprise

Business Value of Intranets

Extranet Definition: • Network links that use Internet technologies to interconnect the intranet of a business with the intranets of its customers, suppliers, or other business partners

Case #2: Serving Citizens without Wires MEMA Technologies: • Global-positioning satellite communications • Cellular phones • Geospatial technologies • Microelectronics technologies

Case #2: Serving Citizens without Wires Features: • A device to communicate warnings to properly position individuals before an event happens • A tool to collect timely information after a disaster hits

Case #2: Serving Citizens without Wires 1. What is the business value of advanced mobile technologies to Maryland’s emergency management services? 2. In what other government services could GPS serve to provide business value? Give some examples. 3. Are there disadvantages or risks associated with the deployment of GPS systems to monitor the location of people? Explain.

Case #2: Serving Citizens without Wires 4. What is the business value of the various applications of GPS satellite networks beyond those discussed in the case? Check out the websites of satellite services providers like Hughes Network Systems (www. hns. com) or G-Com International (www. g-com. com) to help you answer.

Telecommunications Network Components • Terminals – any input/output device that uses telecommunications networks to transmit or receive data • Telecommunications Processors – devices that perform control and support functions • Telecommunications Channels – media over which data are transmitted and received • Computers – all sizes and types • Telecommunications Control Software – programs that control telecommunications activities

Telecommunications Network Components

Types of Telecommunications Networks • Wide Area Network (WAN) – network that covers a large geographic area • Local Area Network (LAN) – network connecting information processing devices within a limited physical area • Virtual Private Network (VPN) – secure network that uses the Internet as its main backbone network, but relies on network firewalls, encryption, and other security features of its Internet and intranet connections and those of participating organizations

LAN & VPN

Types of Telecommunications Networks • Client/Server – PCs and workstations, called clients are interconnected by local area networks and share application processing with network servers • Network Computing – Thin clients provide a browser-based user interface for processing small application programs • Peer-to-Peer – file-sharing software connects each PC to a central server or to another online user’s PC

Client/Server

Client/Server & Network Computing

Peer-to-Peer

Peer-to-Peer

Telecommunications Media • Twisted-Pair Wire – copper wire twisted into pairs • Coaxial Cable – sturdy copper or aluminum wire wrapped with spacers to insulate and protect it • Fiber Optics – one or more hair-thin filaments of glass fiber wrapped in a protective jacket

Telecommunications Media

Wireless Technologies • Terrestrial Microwave – earthbound microwave systems that transmit highspeed radio signals in a line-of-sight path between relay stations spaced approximately 30 miles apart • Communications Satellites - high-earth orbit communications satellites placed in stationary geosynchronous orbits

Wireless Technologies • Cellular and PCS Systems – a geographic area divided into cells with one low-power transmitter device per cell used to relay calls from one cell to another • Wireless LANs –high- or low-frequency radio technology installed in an office or building • Wireless Web – wireless, Web-enabled information appliances accessing the Internet, intranets and extranets

Telecommunications Processors • Modems – convert digital signals from a computer into analog frequencies that can be transmitted over ordinary telephone lines • Multiplexers – allows a single communications channel to carry simultaneous data transmissions from many terminals

Telecommunications Technologies

Internetwork Processors • Switch – makes connections between telecommunications circuits in a network • Router – intelligent communications processor that interconnects networks based on different protocols • Hub – a port switching communications processor • Gateway – connects networks using different communications architectures

Network Management • Traffic Management – manage network resources and traffic to avoid congestion and optimize telecommunications service levels to users • Security – provide authentication, encryption, firewall, auditing and enforcement

Network Management • Network Monitoring – troubleshoot and watch over the network, informing network administrators of potential problems before they occur • Capacity Planning – survey network resources and traffic patterns and users’ needs to determine how best to accommodate the needs of the network as it grows and changes

Network Topologies • Star – ties end user computers to a central computer • Ring – ties local computer processors together in a ring on a relatively equal basis • Bus – local processors share the same communications channel

Network Architectures & Protocols • Protocol – standard set of rules and procedures for the control of communications in a network • Network Architecture – the use of standard protocols, standard communications hardware and software interfaces and the design of a standard multilevel interface between end users and computer systems with the goal of promoting an open, simple, flexible, and efficient telecommunications environment

OSI & TCP/IP Models • Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model is a seven-layer model that serves as a standard model for network architectures • Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) – is a five layer telecommunications protocol used by the Internet

Bandwidth Definition: • Classification of communications speed and capacity of telecommunications networks Transmission Rates: • Narrow-band – low-speed • Broadband – high-speed

Switching Alternatives • Circuit Switching – a switch opens a circuit to establish a link between a sender and receiver; it remains open until the communication session is completed • Message Switching – a message is transmitted a block at a time from one switching device to another

Switching Alternatives • Packet Switching – messages are divided into fixed or variable length packets, and packets are sent across networks • Cell Switching – breaks voice, video and other data into fixed cells of 53 bytes and routes them to their next destination in the network

Summary • Businesses are installing and extending intranets throughout their organizations to: • Improve communications and collaboration among individuals and teams within the enterprise • Publish and share valuable business information easily, inexpensively, and effectively via enterprise information portals • Develop and deploy critical applications to support business operations and decision making

Summary • The primary role of extranets is to link the intranet resources of a company to the intranets of its customers, suppliers, and other business partners. • The major generic components of any telecommunications network are: • • • Terminals Telecommunications processors Communications channels Computers Telecommunications software