Telecommunications Essentials

The Evolution of Data Communication

Data communication, or data networking, is the exchange of digital information between computers and other digital devices via telecommunications nodes and wired or wireless links. To understand the evolution of networking services, it is important to first understand the general computing architectures and traffic types, both of which have changed over time.

Data Communication Architectures

In the rather brief history of data networking, a variety of architectures have arisen, and each has had unique impacts on network variables. Table 6.1 shows a basic time line of the architectures that have prevailed during different periods. Each architecture has slightly different traffic characteristics, has slightly ...