2-1Chapter 2Overview of NetworkingThis chapter introduces and discusses several basic concepts and definitions essential to theunderstanding of local area networking.Discussion of NetworkingWhy Network?In this day and age, all companies and agencies have two resources in common,information and ability. No matter what a company may produce, market, offer orobserve, the final result is one that comes from a combination of ability andinformation. Every company with more than one employee is in the business ofsharing information abilities. Information and ability may take many forms: stockreports and market prediction; manufacturing processes and skilled qualityassurance; accounting information and efficiency examination.Information is naturally separated from ability. It is the nature of information toaccumulate beyond the point that every person has all the information required toperform productively. This separation is a factor that has been part of the businessworld for centuries. The rise of printing, a postal service, and the telephone can beviewed as ways that businesses and agencies have created and adopted means ofproviding information to those with ability.While the separation of these factors has always existed and will always exist, thelimiting factor for businesses is not the presence of the separation, but itsmagnitude. The more difficult it is to bridge the gap between information andexpertise, the less efficiently both factors are used.A Local Area Network (LAN) allows for the rapid and direct sharing of criticalinformation. This sharing enables employees to act more rapidly and with morecomplete access to information and resources than may have been possible with asystem of filing cabinets and interoffice mail.
