What is Computer networking?

• In the world of computers, networking is the practice of linking two or more computing devices together for the purpose of sharing data/resources.

• Networks are built with a mix of computer hardware and computer software.

The requirement of Networking / Advantages

o    A network isn't just a bunch of computers with wires running between them. Properly implemented, a network is a system that provides its users with unique capabilities, above and beyond what the individual machines and their software applications can provide.

o       Networks allow computers, and hence their users, to be connected together.

o  Most of the benefits of networking can be divided into two generic categories: connectivity and sharing.

o    They also allow for the easy sharing of information and resources, and cooperation between the devices in other ways.

o   Connectivity and Communication: Networks connect computers and the users of those computers. Individuals within a building or work group can be connected into local area networks (LANs); LANs in distant locations can be interconnected into larger wide area networks (WANs). Once connected, it is possible for network users to communicate with each other using technologies such as electronic mail, chatting, video conferencing etc.

o    This makes the transmission of business (or non-business) information easier, more efficient and less expensive than it would be without the network.

o       Data Sharing: One of the most important uses of networking is to allow the sharing of data. Before networking was common, an accounting employee who wanted to prepare a report for her manager would have to produce it on his PC, put it on a floppy disk, and then walk it over to the manager, who would transfer the data to her PC's hard disk. True networking allows thousands of employees to share data much more easily and quickly than this.

o       Intranets and intranets can be used to distribute corporate information between sites and to business partners.

o    Hardware Sharing: Networks facilitate the sharing of hardware devices. For example, instead of giving each of 10 employees in a department an expensive color printer, one printer can be placed on the network for everyone to share. Same way a hard high capacity disk can be shared and shared data be kept therein.

o    Internet Access: The Internet is itself an enormous network, so whenever you access the Internet, you are using a network. The significance of the Internet on modern society is known to all of us.

o    Internet Access Sharing: Small computer networks allow multiple users to share a single Internet connection. Special hardware devices allow the bandwidth of the connection to be easily allocated to various individuals as they need it, and permit an organization to purchase one high-speed connection instead of many slower ones.

o   Data Security and Management: In a business environment, a network allows the administrators to much better manage the company's critical data. Instead of having this data spread over dozens or even hundreds of small computers in a haphazard fashion as their users create it, data can be centralized on shared servers. This makes it easy for everyone to find the data, makes it possible for the administrators to ensure that the data is regularly backed up, and also allows for the implementation of security measures to control who can read or change various pieces of critical information.

o     Performance Enhancement and Balancing: Under some circumstances, a network can be used to enhance the overall performance of some applications by distributing the computation tasks to various computers on the network.

o     Entertainment: Networks facilitate many types of games and entertainment. The Internet itself offers many sources of entertainment, of course. In addition, many multi-player games exist that operate over a local area network. Many home networks are set up for this reason, and gaming across wide area networks (including the Internet) has also become quite popular.