BUSINESS DATA

COMMUNICATIONS &
NETWORKING

Chapter 1
Introduction to Data Communications

FitzGerald ● Dennis ● Durcikova

Prepared by Taylor M. Wells: College of Business Administration, California State University, Sacramento 1-1
Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Outline
• Why Networks are Important
• Basic Network Components
• Network Types
• Network Layers
• Network Standards
• Trends
• Implications for Management

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Why Networks are Important
• Data, data, data!
• Modern organizations rely on the efficient transmission of
data
• Enables distributed systems, real-time communication,
electronic commerce, social media, and the Web

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Why Networks are Important

• By 2016, Cisco estimates that over 3,000 Petabytes of

information will be transferred over the Internet DAILY!
• Netflix accounts for around 1/3 of primetime downstream
traffic
• During the holiday 2013 season, Amazon sold an average
of 426 items per SECOND!
• As of 2012, every DAY on Facebook there are:
– 2.7 Billion Likes
– 300 Million Photos uploaded
– >500 Terabytes of data transmitted

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Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Data Communications
• Data Communications is the movement of computer
information from one point to another by means of
electrical or optical transmission systems
• Telecommunications is a broader term and includes the
transmission of voice and video (images and graphics) as
well as data and usually implies longer distances

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Basic Network Components

• Client is a user device to access network and receive data

from server
– e.g., desktops, laptops, tablets, cell phones, etc.
• Server is a device that stores and transmits data to a
client
– e.g., Web server, mail server, file server
• Circuit is a pathway or connection between client and
server
– e.g., copper wire, fiber optic cable, wireless

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Basic Network Components
To other
networks
(e.g., the
Internet)

Route
r

File
serv
er
Switc
h

Web
serv
er
Client
compute
rs

Print

serv Printe
er r

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Types of Networks
One way to categorize networks is in terms of geographic scope:

• Local Area Networks (LANs)

– Covers a small, clearly defined area
– Might contain a single floor or work area or single building
– When LANs use wireless circuits, they are called Wireless Local
Area Networks (WLAN)
• Backbone Networks (BNs)
– High-speed networks connecting other networks together
– May span hundreds of feet to several miles
• Wide Area Networks (WANs)
– Largest geographic scope
– Often composed of leased circuits
– May spans hundreds or thousands of miles

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Types of Networks
Web server

Switch

Router
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n
gate

Recor
ecord
Local area network (LAN) at the Records Building ds
s Flight
—one node of the McClellan Air Force Base buildi
backbone network (BN). ng buildi
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y
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ut Fire
statio
n

Hangars

Gateway to
Seattle,
Sacramento
Wash.
Ontario, N.Y. metropolitan area
Portland, Backbone network (BN) at the
network
Oreg. Sudbury, McClellan Air Force Base—one node
Mass.
Sacramento, Golden,
Evanston,
of the Sacramento metropolitan area
Calif. Colo.
(Capitol)
Ill. network (MAN).

Phoenix,
Ariz.

Houston,
Tex. Miami,
Fla.

Wide area network (WAN) showing

Sacramento connected to nine other cities
throughout the United States.

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Types of Networks
Another way to categorize networks is in terms of access:

• Intranet
– A network (often a LAN) that uses the Internet technologies to share
information within an organization
– Open only those inside the organization
– e.g., employees accessing budgets, calendars, and payroll information
available through the organization’s intranet

• Extranet
– A network that uses the Internet technologies to share information
between organizations
– Open only those invited users outside the organization
– Accessible through the Internet
– e.g., suppliers and customers accessing the inventory information of a
company over an extranet

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Network Models
• Network Models divide communication functions into
layers
– Open Systems Interconnection Reference Model (OSI
model)
– Internet Model (or TCP/IP model)

• In practice, the Internet Model “won”

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Network Models

InternetDwaotrak

Link
HardwaPrheysical
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Network Models
• Protocol defines the language of transmission
– It specifies the rules, functionality, and messages for
communication at the layer
• Protocol Data Unit (PDU) contains layer-specific
information necessary for a message to be transmitted
through a network
– Each layer adds a PDU
– PDUs act like nested envelopes
– Encapsulation occurs when a higher level PDU is
placed inside of a lower level PDU

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 Network Models

Layer Purpose Example Protocols / PDU

Standards
5. Application User’s access to network, software HTTP, SMTP, DNS, FTP, Packet (or Data)
to perform work DHCP, IMAP, POP, SSL
4. Transport End-to-End Management TCP, UDP Segment
1. Link application layer to network
2. Segmenting and tracking
3. Flow control

3. Network Deciding where the message goes IP, ICMP Packet

1. Addressing
2. Routing
2. Data Link Move a message from one device to the Ethernet Frame
next
1. Controls hardware
2. Formats the message
3. Error checking
1. Physical Transmits the message 100BASE-T, 802.11n

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Message Transmission Using Layers

Ethernet

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Network Standards
• Standards ensure that hardware and software from
different vendors work together and “speak the same
language”
• De jure standards
– Formalized by an industry or government body
– e.g. HTTP, IEEE 802.3, 802.11n
• De facto standards
– Widely accepted, but not formalized
– e.g. Microsoft Windows
– Often become de jure standards eventually

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Network Standards
• De jure standardization process

Identification
Specification Acceptance
of Choices

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Network Standards
• Common Network Standards
Layer C o m m o n Standards

5. Application HTTP, HTML (Web)

layer MPEG, H.323
(audio/video) SMTP,
IMAP, POP (e-mail)
4. Transport TCP (Internet and LANs)
layer
3. Network layer IP (Internet and LANs)

2. Data link layer Ethernet (LAN)

Frame relay
(WAN) T1
(MAN and
WAN)
1. Physical layer RS-232C cable (LAN)
Category 5 cable (LAN)
V.92 (56 Kbps modem)

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Trends
• Bring your own device (BYOD)
– Huge demand for employees to connect their personal
smartphones, tablets, and other devices to
organizational networks
– Security challenges
– Who is responsible for support?

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Trend
s
• The Web of Things
– Everything connects to the network!
• e.g., cars, refrigerators, thermostats, shoes, doors,
etc.
– Networks need to support the increased demands of
these devices

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Trend
s
• Massively Online
– Not just multiplayer online games
– Massive open online courses (MOOC)
– Millions online participating is social media and other
activities
– Will require greater network infrastructure

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Implications for Management
• Networks and the Internet change (almost) everything
• Today’s networking is driven by standards
• As network demand increases, so will storage demands

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