Computer network

Categories: Computer networks | Information technology | Networks

A computer network is a system for communication between computers. These networks may be fixed (cabled, permanent) or temporary (as via modems or null modems).

Carrying instructions between calculation machines and early computers was done by human users. In September, 1940 George Stibitz used a teletype machine to send instructions for a problem set from his Model K at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire to his Complex Number Calculator in New York and received results back by the same means. Linking output systems like teletypes to computers was an interest at the Advanced Research Projects Agency ARPA when, in 1962, J.C.R. Licklider was hired and developed a working group he called the 'Intergalactic Network' a precursor to the ARPANet. In 1964 researchers at Dartmouth developed a time sharing system for distributed users of large computer systems. The same year, At MIT, a research group supported by General Electric and Bell Labs used a computer (DEC's PDP-8) to route and manage telephone connections. in 1968 Paul Baran proposed a network system consisting of datagrams or packets that could be used in a packet switching network between computer systems. In 1969 the University of California at Los Angeles, SRI (in Stanford), University of California at Santa Barbara, and the University of Utah were connected as the beginning of the DARPANet network using 50 Kbps circuits. Networks, and the technologies needed to connect and communicate through and between them, continue to drive computer hardware, software, and peripherals industries. This expansion is mirrored by growth in the numbers and types of users of networks from researchers and businesses to families and individuals in everyday use.

1 Categorizing
2 Protocol stacks
3 Suggested topics
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

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Categorizing

Local area network (LAN)
- HomePNA
- Power line communication (HomePlug)
Metropolitan area network (MAN)
Wide area network (WAN)

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Protocol stacks

Computer networks may be implemented using a variety of protocol stack architectures, computer buses or combinations of media and protocol layers, incorporating one or more of:

ARCNET
AppleTalk
ATM
Bluetooth
DECnet
Ethernet
FDDI
Frame relay
HIPPI
IEEE 1394 aka FireWire, iLink
IEEE 802.11
IEEE-488
IP
IPX
Myrinet
QsNet
RS-232
SPX
System Network Architecture
Token Ring
TCP
- TCP Tuning for discussion of improving performance of same
USB
UDP
X.25

For a list of more see Network protocols.

For standards see IEEE 802.

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OSI model	TCP/IP model
Application layer Presentation layer Session layer Transport layer Network layer Routing Data link layer Switching Physical layer	Application layer Transport layer Network layer Data link layer Physical layer