In a broad sense Networking or Computer Networking is the scientific and engineering discipline concerned with communication between computer systems. These networks involve at least two computers separated by a few inches or thousands of miles. A network can be as simple as computer sharing and up-dating information via a Bluetooth connection or as complex as a corporate system spanning many states or countries and consisting of thousands of systems and servers.

Three types of Networks are listed below:

1. A Local Area Network (LAN) is a computer network covering a small local area, like a home, office, or small group of buildings such as a home, office, or college. Currently LANs are most likely to be based on switched Ethernet or WiFi (Wireless) technology running at 10, 100 or 1,000 Mbit/s.

2. A Wide Area Network (WAN) is a computer network covering a wide geographical area, involving a vast array of computers.

3. A Metropolitan Area Networks (MAN) is a large computer network usually spanning a campus or a city. They typically use wireless infrastructure or optical fiber connections to link their sites.

Networking and Cabling

In the context of a wired network many individual components may be involved in the physical make-up of the network. Some of these components are as follows:

1. The physical cables that connect the network components together. With today’s standard these cables usually Cat5 (category 5), Cat7 (the newer category 7) or in some cases they are fiber optic (although this can be very expensive while being very fast).

2. Also there will usually be some type of connection to the Internet (although this is not required).

3. Routers, switches and hubs are some of the components that connect the wiring and manage where the information transmitted over the wire goes.

4. The physical connection on the wall where the computers connect to the LAN (Drops).

5. The actual connection on the computer, printer etc. where the wire connects (Network Interface Card (NIC)).

6. In addition to the hardware a protocol that all devices on the LAN can understand (usually TCP/IP on modern systems)

Wireless Installations

In computer terms wireless is a method of communication that uses low-powered radio waves to transmit data between devices. The term refers to communication without cables or cords, chiefly using radio frequency and infrared waves. A common use is the wireless networking of computers. A network may be the combination of wired and wireless technology.

Access Point (AP)

Access Point (AP) which is a two-way transceiver that broadcast data into the surrounding environment.

Wireless devices designed for personal computers. Their purpose is to allow the computer to connect to a network through radio waves. These peripherals can be found as PCI cards, or portable USB devices. When activated, they scan their environment for signals from a wireless access point. If one is found, they allow the user to connect to the access point. The wireless capture card can determine if the access point is secured with an encryption method (usually Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) or Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) and can still allow the user to connect to it assuming the key or security passcode is available.

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