Types of Network Hardware

Hardware for Networking – It’s the backbone of network functioning, it connects and serves a network. Add new components or enhance them, and reliable technology will allow for continuous operation to be deployed and operated.

Bridges at Layer 2 analyse the frames coming in and determine where they should be routed to by checking MAC addresses of the frames. They can also be used to quarantine local segment traffic to avoid congestion and maximize network performance.

Hubs
LAN Hubs: Hubs are deployed to join Ethernet devices to a local area network (LAN). Networks in homes often utilize hubs because they are cheaper than switches and they support all sorts of network media.

If data traffic isn’t being handled, they’re forwarding everything to all ports linked to them – this means more traffic and less performance, as well as security and privacy risks from other people intercepting information flow through them.

Hubs that are active can scan and boost weak signals from nodes that need electricity, putting it back together into a higher-powered signal that they send out to other ports; they also can re-encode broken data packets as required.

Switches are superior to hubs and perfect for most networks, such as large office/household networks. Switches are more secure because data flows between recipients – not just hubs, which only route it between one recipient. Switches support more connections and can be used with older equipment.

Switches
The network switches are used to connect equipment on a local area network (LAN). Switches examine destination addresses of packets and pass them along to devices rather than Ethernet hubs, which just retransmit them. This increases the network efficiency and decreases collisions. There are unmanaged, managed and smart switches for every network need – each with their own advantages.

Managed switches are perfect for large networks, they come with more complex features like VLANs and QoS, as well as link aggregation for more bandwidth and redundancy.

Some network switches come with PoE (Power over Ethernet) feature so that you can directly power IP cameras or voice over IP phones from the same Ethernet cable that sends their data signals. This makes network configuration a snap and saves on cable management. Some can even be stacked so they’re essentially all one with the same SNMP/RMON agent and domain, as well as command line or Web browser configurations for easier administration.

Modems
Modems are what link computers to the internet. A modem (Modulator-Demodulator) receives digital signals and combines them with an analog carrier wave signal for transmission over the telephone network; once they’re somewhere online, the digital signal is demodulated to digital again for the computers at both ends to read.

Software modems are very tiny and don’t occupy much space on a motherboard or an expansion card like Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI). They do a lot of the same work done by the hardware modem via software ; thus, ideal for use on laptops and netbooks where space can be a concern.

Nowadays, telecommunication and data networks depend on radio and cable television modems and leased line modems (two sets of wires run into the same central office that does not supply power or dialtone), to connect distant terminals like radar stations and command post to central offices.

Repeaters
Network repeaters boost and re-emit to send the data further. At the physical layer of OSI, network repeaters are used for wired networks (Ethernet) as well as wireless networks (cellular phones or Wi-Fi). Receive a signal, amplify, and relay updated version out again, repeaters will triple your range!

Repeaters are critical in big-data networks to muffle the noise of a communications signal because it’s an enormously annoying issue. Repeters also rectify faults in signals sent so that data can be safely transmitted.

Repeaters introduce a little bit of delay into network latency through the amplification and regeneration of signals, but it’s not that much. Repeaters produce latency, due to their signal amplifying and regenerating properties, but rarely much of it. Because most of the network hardware nowadays has a built-in signal amplifier and booster; so you don’t have to buy separate repeaters. But repeaters are still useful means of extending network reach and consolidating linkages.