Chapter 7 Summary: Telecommunications, the Internet, and Wireless Technology

The chapter dives into the nuts and bolts of networking, the Internet, and telecommunications. Back in the day, we used traditional telephone networks, snail mail, and fax for business communication but today technology has advanced into wireless computer networks, the Internet, e-mail, and smart phones.

Every computer in a network has a network interface card (NIC) built into the motherboard. The computer is then connected via a coaxial cable or through wireless local area networks (Wi-Fi networks). (Laudon 248). The network also has a network operating system (NOS), which coordinates and communicates the network’s resources. It can be on each computer or on a dedicated server. A network server can helps perform network functions such as storing data, housing web pages, and maintaining the network operating system such as Microsoft Windows Server, Linus, and Novell Open Enterprise Server.

There are four types of networks, the local area network (LAN) for an office or one floor of a building, the campus area network (CAN) for a college campus or corporate facility, metropolitan area network (MAN) for a city, and a wide area network (WAN) a transcontinental or global area.

Using the Internet on a daily basis, for me, didn’t become popular until I was in middle school and at the time I just used it for e-mail or instant messenger to chat with friends. However, I didn’t fully understand the concept of the Internet. What is it really? It’s simply a public communication system that has connected billions of people around the world. We use Internet service providers (ISP) such as AT&T, Time Warner, and Cox to provide us with Internet at home, on our iPads, or through a wireless 4G networks on our smart phones. Every computer is assigned an Internet protocol (IP) address that is used to decode messages sent to and from the computer.

How would one company manage the Internet and be the governing body across all of the countries and nations of the world? There isn’t one company but instead there are different professional organizations and government bodies such as the Internet Architecture Board (IAB), the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The nation in which the Internet is being operated is responsible for making laws and the Internet and its users in that county must adhere to those laws.

            Wireless communication has become the most popular form of network use and has revolutionized our ability to do business 24/7 from anywhere in the world. Smart phones have basically provided us mini-personal computers. Wireless carriers offer 3G and now 4G speed networks that allow us to stream high quality HD videos and have lightening fast Internet on our phones anywhere in the world. Networks like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Hotspots allow users to have cheap or free Internet access away from their traditional home Internet provider. All of these types of networks, servers, and the Internet help us to do business faster and more efficiently which has increased the popularity and changed our culture.

Source: Laudon, Kenneth C. & Jane P. Laudon. Management Information Systems: Managing the Digital Firm 12^th ed. Pearson Hall, 2010.