2.1.1.5 COMMUNICATIONS HARDWARE
“Computers and communications: these are the parents of the Information Age. When they meet, the fireworks begin”.
This was written by one writer who referred to fireworks as how portable information and communications technologies are changing the conventional meanings of time and space.
The physical locations we traditionally associate with work, leisure and similar pursuits are rapidly becoming meaningless. The term cyberspace, which was coined by William Gibson in his novel Neuromancer, referring to a futuristic computer network that people use by plugging their brains into it, has become very popular. It has now come to mean the whole wired and wireless world of communications.
Connectivity is the ability to connect devices by telecommunications lines to other devices and other sources of information. With connectivity, or connected communications devices, users can use the technology for a number of purposes, ranging from low-skill to high-skill activities. They can use telephone-related services, such as fax, voice-mail, and e-mail. They can do teleconferencing, share resources through workgroup computing and Electronic Data Interchange.
They can make their work portable with telecommuting, mobile workplaces, and virtual offices. They can use online information services for research, e-mail, games, travel services, and teleshopping. They can use electronic bulletin board systems (BBSs), large and small. They can connect with the global Internet and information gathering, e-mail and discussion and news groups. In the future, they can engage in interactive TV or video through set-top boxes, picture phones and TV/PCs.
Computers communicate in two main ways: through modems and through networks.
Modems allow computers to use the telephone lines or cellular connections to trade data.
Networks connect computers directly, either through special wires or by some form of wireless transmission. The communications hardware commonly used in business are as follows: modems, fax modems, and multiplexers, concentrators and front-end processors.
A modem (from modulator/demodulator) is a device that converts digital signals to analog format to allow data to be transmitted through a telephone line and from analog back to digital format to be accessed back by the computer on the other end.
Modems are probably the most widely used data communications hardware. They allow the user to directly connect the computer to the telephone line. They are either internal or external. An internal modem is located on a circuit board that is placed inside a microcomputer (plugged into an expansion slot). It draws its power directly from the computer’s power supply. An external modem is an independent hardware component – that is, it is outside the computer and uses its own power supply.
A fax modem, which is a circuit board inside the computer’s system cabinet, is a modem with fax capability. It enables one to send data and scanned-in images directly from one’s computer to someone else’s fax machine or fax modem.
When an organization’s data communications needs grow, the line available for that purpose often become overloaded, even if the company has leased one or more private telephone lines – called dedicated lines – used only for data communications.
Multiplexing optimizes the use of communications lines by allowing multiple users or devices to share one high-speed line, thereby reducing communications costs. Multiplexing can be done by multiplexers, concentrators, front-end processors.
A multiplexer is a device that merges several low-speed transmissions into one high-speed transmission. Messages sent by a multiplexer must be received by a multiplexer of the same type. The receiving multiplexer sorts out the individual messages and directs them to the proper recipient.
A concentrator is a piece of hardware that also enables several devices to share a single communications line. However, it collects data in a temporary storage area and then forwards them when enough has been accumulated to be sent economically. Often, a concentrator is a minicomputer.
A front-end processor is a smaller computer that is connected to a larger computer and assists with communications functions. It may itself be a minicomputer or a mainframe. It transmits and receives messages over the communications channels, corrects errors, and relieves the larger computer of routine computational tasks.
This was written by one writer who referred to fireworks as how portable information and communications technologies are changing the conventional meanings of time and space.
The physical locations we traditionally associate with work, leisure and similar pursuits are rapidly becoming meaningless. The term cyberspace, which was coined by William Gibson in his novel Neuromancer, referring to a futuristic computer network that people use by plugging their brains into it, has become very popular. It has now come to mean the whole wired and wireless world of communications.
Connectivity is the ability to connect devices by telecommunications lines to other devices and other sources of information. With connectivity, or connected communications devices, users can use the technology for a number of purposes, ranging from low-skill to high-skill activities. They can use telephone-related services, such as fax, voice-mail, and e-mail. They can do teleconferencing, share resources through workgroup computing and Electronic Data Interchange.
They can make their work portable with telecommuting, mobile workplaces, and virtual offices. They can use online information services for research, e-mail, games, travel services, and teleshopping. They can use electronic bulletin board systems (BBSs), large and small. They can connect with the global Internet and information gathering, e-mail and discussion and news groups. In the future, they can engage in interactive TV or video through set-top boxes, picture phones and TV/PCs.
Computers communicate in two main ways: through modems and through networks.
Modems allow computers to use the telephone lines or cellular connections to trade data.
Networks connect computers directly, either through special wires or by some form of wireless transmission. The communications hardware commonly used in business are as follows: modems, fax modems, and multiplexers, concentrators and front-end processors.
A modem (from modulator/demodulator) is a device that converts digital signals to analog format to allow data to be transmitted through a telephone line and from analog back to digital format to be accessed back by the computer on the other end.
Modems are probably the most widely used data communications hardware. They allow the user to directly connect the computer to the telephone line. They are either internal or external. An internal modem is located on a circuit board that is placed inside a microcomputer (plugged into an expansion slot). It draws its power directly from the computer’s power supply. An external modem is an independent hardware component – that is, it is outside the computer and uses its own power supply.
A fax modem, which is a circuit board inside the computer’s system cabinet, is a modem with fax capability. It enables one to send data and scanned-in images directly from one’s computer to someone else’s fax machine or fax modem.
When an organization’s data communications needs grow, the line available for that purpose often become overloaded, even if the company has leased one or more private telephone lines – called dedicated lines – used only for data communications.
Multiplexing optimizes the use of communications lines by allowing multiple users or devices to share one high-speed line, thereby reducing communications costs. Multiplexing can be done by multiplexers, concentrators, front-end processors.
A multiplexer is a device that merges several low-speed transmissions into one high-speed transmission. Messages sent by a multiplexer must be received by a multiplexer of the same type. The receiving multiplexer sorts out the individual messages and directs them to the proper recipient.
A concentrator is a piece of hardware that also enables several devices to share a single communications line. However, it collects data in a temporary storage area and then forwards them when enough has been accumulated to be sent economically. Often, a concentrator is a minicomputer.
A front-end processor is a smaller computer that is connected to a larger computer and assists with communications functions. It may itself be a minicomputer or a mainframe. It transmits and receives messages over the communications channels, corrects errors, and relieves the larger computer of routine computational tasks.
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