What is networking

Networking Definition

In information technology, the term networking is known as a process of connecting two or more computer using the network of technical equipment such as cable, printer, routers in order to share information between them, Information can be anything such as emails, files or any other document.

Tracing back to the early 1960s, a time at which the telephone network was the world’s dominant communication network. Today, computer networks have become a core of modern communication. Gradually, the scope of communication has increased significantly in the past decade, echoing, even more, advancements in the computer networks.

Understand: What Exactly is Networking?

Networking is the process of establishing a connection between the computers on a network. The sole purpose of networking is sharing the information as fast as possible. The first step towards understanding networking is how it operates and how do we use switches, routers and access points to perform functions in a network. 

TCP/IP or Internet Protocol suite is the foundation of all modern networking, which offers connection-less as well as connection-oriented services by means of datagram transmission at Internet Protocol level.

Switches are used to connect multiple devices to the same network like printers, servers, computers to create a shared resource. It serves as a controller allowing other devices to share information and communication in order to increase productivity and save money.

Routers are the second valuable component in networking used to connect multiple networks which are part of other large networks or sub-networks. It helps to connect businesses with the outside world while protecting information from the security threats and can even set priority over other computers. 

Benefits of Networking

• Information sharing —Networking makes it easy for sharing information, applications, and resources across the various network. For example; The data generated while communicating through emails, chat services, and other messaging applications is stored in servers for easy management.

• Resources sharing—Computer peripherals like hard disk, printers, scanners and modem can be shared with other systems on the network.

• Application sharing—Most of the companies host applications on their network in order to promote collaborative working among all the employees on a single application.

The schools and colleges have benefited in many ways same as corporations or businesses. Potential benefits include:

• Faster access to the information

• Improved communication and collaboration

• Easy to calculate overall return on investments

Current Trends and Emergence of New Technologies in Networking

The networking industry has continued to develop technologies in new and interesting ways. The most important areas and trends that have transpired over the last few years are:
Improvements in mobile infrastructure( cellular networks)—There’s been a revolution in the mobile telecommunications technology over the years like from GSM, 2G, 3G, 4G and presently 5G.

Wireless is another area of innovation brought by computer networks. It has occupied bigger space in the present technology arena sweeping away the deployments of wired networks. 

Wireless deployments are increasing enormously and corporate companies are adopting wireless networks into their infrastructure to promote better workflow, which enabled people to use smartphones, tablets and other devices. 
Quantum computing is another strictly network-related technology which is rapid and more realistic. It has become a foundation for a futuristic IT world, companies are investing heavily to move towards quantum computing, which is the present day micro-processing.