Review Questions

1.      Which characteristics of a multiterminal system make it different from a computer network?

A processing power of multiterminal systems remained fully centralized, while computer networks have a distributed processing power.

 

2.      When were the first important results achieved in the field of joining computers using long-haul links?

In the late 60s

 

3.      What is ARPANET?

A.    A network of supercomputers belonging to military organizations and research institutes in the United States

B.     An international scientific research network

C.     The technology of creating WANs

A is correct

 

4.      When did the first network operating systems appear?

In the late 60s

 

5.      In what order did the events listed here take place?

A.    The invention of Web

B.     The development of standard LAN technologies

C.     The start of voice transmission in digital form through telephone networks

The invention of World Wide Web

 

6.      Which of the events stimulated LAN development?

Appearance of large-scale integrated circuits (LSI devices) resulted in invention of microcomputers which in its turn stimulated a research activity in the area of local computer networks (LANs). The adoption of personal computers was a powerful incentive for the development of LANs.

 

7.      Specify when the following technologies were standardized: Ethernet, Token Ring, and FDDI.

1980, 1985 and 1985 respectively

 

8.      List the main directions in which the convergence of computer and telecommunications networks proceeds.

First, convergence of service types provided to the clients is to be noticed. For example, modern computer networks support voice transmission that previously was a prerogative of telephone networks. Convergence of technologies is another direction of the process. A transmission of various kinds of information such as data, voice and video in a common digital form gives us an example of a converged technology.

 

9.      Explain the meaning of the following terms: multiservice network, info-communications network, and Intelligent Network.

 

Multiservice network is a universal network capable to provide a rich set of services combining telephony and data services; for example, providing a unified messaging service which combines e-mail, voice, fax and paging services.

Infocommunications networks are a result of a deep mutual penetration of two major components of contemporary networks. These are informational (computer-based) and telecommunications components.

Intelligent Network (IN) are supplementary services provided by telephone networks, such as call transfer, conferencing, and telepolling, which are implemented by means of a supplementary computer network with servers in which the service logic is programmed.

 

These three terms are very close and can be used as synonyms.

 

 

Problems

1.      Explain why WANs appeared earlier than LANs.

2.      Using various sources on the Internet, find historical relationships between the X.25 technology and the ARPANET network.

3.      Do you think that the history of computer networks can be interpreted as the history of the Internet evolution? Substantiate your opinion.