networking curriculum
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networking > why set up a network? > hardware

Sharing Hardware

If you had six stand-alone computers that needed to print, you would need six printers. If you had one Internet connection, only one computer could access the Internet at a time.

High quality printers and photocopiers are now often designed to connect directly to a network and all authorised users can share them. A job sent by a user is put into a queue to be handled by the equipment in its turn. A lot of money can be saved on purchasing, maintaining and repairing equipment. It also makes it economical to provide a range of equipment, such as colour laser printers, dot matrix printers and plotters, which each user can select according to their needs.

Some equipment may not look too expensive at first glance, such as CD-ROM drives, but they rapidly become expensive when you need hundreds or thousands of them. An organisation with 1000 computers could spend a huge amount of money putting CD-ROM drives in each of their computers, even though most of them might rarely be needed. This can be avoided by using a shared network CD tower.

A CD tower is a specialised server that contains many CD-ROM drives that can deliver CD-ROM data across the network as if the user had a CD-ROM drive in their own computer. Apart from the cost-saving when buying computers, it reduces repair bills. It also stops workers installing unauthorised software or viruses onto their computers from CD-ROMs.

Networks can also help avoid other expensive duplication, such as wiring. Rather than have one set of cables around a building for the network, another set for the phone system, and another set carrying video, many organisations are now combining their phone and audio-visual systems into their network. Research 'Voice Over IP' if you want to know more.

worksheets
. history
. why network
. osi model
. connecting
. protocols
. technology
. topologies (tla)
. issues
. network types
. design
. economics
. economics (cs)
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