To illustrate how networking systems link into the overall company management information system, using a suitable diagram with appropriate explanation.The benefit of networking to business is immense. It opens up a whole ‘New World’ of information on a local level and on the international seen. There are now overwhelming amounts of information available to users of networks and from electronic mail to video information and its prevalence is creating a resource which is deemed common place.The introduction of networking has created a less centralised role for computer processing along with improvements in communications between organisations and individuals. Computer networks can use dedicated intelligent terminals or microcomputer systems, which enable a limited amount of independent processing power from their host computers. An even greater amount of processing power can be gained from linking to microcomputers, minicomputers, mainframes and supercomputer systems otherwise known as distributed processing systems. Networking can, therefore, influence and benefit any organisation from banks to hospitals. Network Topologies:A network topology is the description of the various physical connections within the network. The topology is the formation of the hardware and shows which two elements can communicate. (The general forms of topologies are; star, ring and bus topology.vStar Topology: The star topology entails a centralised server connected to a number of other computers, these computers are normally smaller than their host. The network functions by the small computers communicating to one another via the host. The databases within this network will be shared again via the host computer.vRing Topology: This network entails computers of approximately the same size. There consequently is no central or host computer within this network. For a message to pass from one node to another the message must pass...
