Chapter 1

Introduction

1.1 Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
 1-1 DATA COMMUNICATIONS
The term telecommunication means communication at a
distance. The word data refers to information presented
in whatever form is agreed upon by the parties creating
and using the data. Data communications are the
exchange of data between two devices via some form of
transmission medium such as a wire cable.

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 Data Communication System
Effectiveness
depends on four characteristics:
 Delivery
 Accuracy
 Timeliness
 Jitter

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 Figure 1.1 Five components of data communication

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 1-2 NETWORKS

A network is a set of devices (often referred to as nodes)

connected by communication links. A node can be a
computer, printer, or any other device capable of sending
and/or receiving data generated by other nodes on the
network.

Topics discussed in this section:

Distributed Processing
Network Criteria
Physical Structures
Network Models
Categories of Networks
Interconnection of Networks: Internetwork
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 Distributed Processing

 Task is divided among multiple computers.

 Instead of one single large machine being
responsible for all aspects of a process,
separate computers handle a subset.

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 Network Criteria
 A network must be able meet a certain
number of criteria. The most important of
these are:
 Performance (Transit time [one way time],
response time [round trip time], throughput,
delay etc)
 Reliability (frequency of failure, time taken to
recover)
 Security (unauthorized access, viruses)

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 1-3 PROTOCOLS AND STANDARDS

In this section, we define two widely used terms: protocols

and standards. First, we define protocol, which is
synonymous with rule. Then we discuss standards, which
are agreed-upon rules.

Topics discussed in this section:

Protocols
Standards
Standards Organizations
Internet Standards

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 Protocols

 Set of rules and regulations

 Key elements of protocol:
 Syntax (structure and format of data,
meaning order in which they are presented)
 Semantics (meaning of each section of bits,
How a particular pattern is interpreted, and
what action is to be taken based on
interpretation)
 Timing (when data should be sent and how
fast they can be sent)
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 Standard

 Guidelines to manufacturers, vendors,

government agencies to ensure
interconnectivity.
 Two types:
 De facto
 De jure

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 Standards Organizations

 International Organization for

Standardization (ISO)
 International Telecommunication Union –
Telecommunication Standards (ITU-T)
 American National Standards Institute
(ANSI)
 Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers (IEEE)
 Electronic Industries Association (EIA)
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 Physical Structure

 Network attributes
 Type of connection
 Physical topology

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 Figure 1.2 Types of connections: point-to-point and multipoint

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 Figure 1.3 Categories of topology

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 Figure 1.4 A fully connected mesh topology (five devices)

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 Figure 1.5 A star topology connecting four stations

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 Figure 1.6 A bus topology connecting three stations

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 Figure 1.7 A ring topology connecting six stations

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 Figure 1.8 Data flow (simplex, half-duplex, and full-duplex)

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 Categories of Networks

 Local Area Network (LAN)

 Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)
 Wide Area Network (WAN)

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 Figure 1.9 A hybrid topology: a star backbone with three bus networks

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 Figure 1.10 An isolated LAN connecting 12 computers to a hub in a closet

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 Figure 1.11 WANs: a switched WAN and a point-to-point WAN

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 Figure 1.12 A heterogeneous network made of four WANs and two LANs

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 1-4 THE INTERNET

The Internet has revolutionized many aspects of our daily

lives. It has affected the way we do business as well as the
way we spend our leisure time. The Internet is a
communication system that has brought a wealth of
information to our fingertips and organized it for our use.

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 Figure 1.13 Hierarchical organization of the Internet

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