Introduction to Network — #1 Networking Today
By: Ghifari Nur
Tags: Troubleshooting, Cisco, Networking, Technology

1.7 — Network Trends

1.7.1 — Recent Trend

As new technologies and end-user devices come to market, businesses and consumers must continue to adjust to this ever-changing environment. There are several networking trends that affect organizations and consumers:

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)

Online collaboration

Video communications

Cloud Computing

1.7.2 — Bring Your Own Device

The concept of any device, for any content, in any manner, is a major global trend that requires significant changes to the way we use devices and safely connect them to networks. This is called Bring Your Own Device (BYOD).

BYOD enables end users the freedom to use personal tools to access information and communicate across a business or campus network. With the growth of consumer devices, and the related drop in cost, employees and students may have advanced computing and networking devices for personal use.

BYOD means any device, with any ownership, used anywhere.

1.7.3 — Online Collaboration

Individuals want to connect to the network, not only for access to data applications, but also to collaborate with one another.

Collaboration is defined as “the act of working with another or others on a joint project.” Collaboration tools, like Cisco WebEx, shown in the figure, give employees, students, teachers, customers, and partners a way to instantly connect, interact, and achieve their objectives.

Cisco Webex Teams is a multifunctional collaboration tool that lets you send instant messages to one or more people, post images, and post videos and links. Each team ‘space’ maintains a history of everything that is posted there.

1.7.4 — Video Communities

Video is used for communications, collaboration, and entertainment. Video calls are made to and from anyone with an internet connection, regardless of where they are located.

Video conferencing is a powerful tool for communicating with others, both locally and globally. Video is becoming a critical requirement for effective collaboration as organizations extend across geographic and cultural boundaries.

1.7.5 — Cisco Webex

1.7.6 — Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is one of the ways that we access and store data. Cloud computing allows us to store personal files, even backup an entire drive on servers over the internet. Applications such as word processing and photo editing can be accessed using the cloud.

Cloud computing is possible because of data centers. Data centers are facilities used to house computer systems and associated components. A data center can occupy one room of a building, one or more floors, or an entire warehouse-sized building.

Data centers are typically very expensive to build and maintain. For this reason, only large organizations use privately built data centers to house their data and provide services to users.

Smaller organizations that cannot afford to maintain their own private data center can reduce the overall cost of ownership by leasing server and storage services from a larger data center organization in the cloud.

For security, reliability, and fault tolerance, cloud providers often store data in distributed data centers. Instead of storing all the data of a person or an organization in one data center, it is stored in multiple data centers in different locations.

1.7.7 — Technology Trends in Home

Networking trends are not only affecting the way we communicate at work and at school, but also changing many aspects of the home. The newest home trends include ‘smart home technology’.

Smart home technology integrates into every-day appliances, which can then connect with other devices to make the appliances more ‘smart’ or automated.

Smart home technology is currently being developed for all rooms within a house. Smart home technology will become more common as home networking and high-speed internet technology expands.

1.7.8 — Powerline Networking

Powerline networking for home networks uses existing electrical wiring to connect devices, as shown in the figure.

Devices can connect to the LAN wherever there is an electrical outlet. No data cables need to be installed, and there is little to no additional electricity used. Using the same wiring that delivers electricity, powerline networking sends information by sending data on certain frequencies.

Powerline networking is especially useful when wireless access points cannot reach all the devices in the home. Powerline networking is not a substitute for dedicated cabling in data networks. However, it is an alternative when data network cables or wireless communications are not possible or effective.

1.7.9 — Wireless Broadband

Wireless Internet Service Provider

A Wireless Internet Service Provider (WISP) is an ISP that connects subscribers to a designated access point or hot spot using similar wireless technologies found in home wireless local area networks (WLANs).

Wireless Broadband Service

Another wireless solution for the home and small businesses is wireless broadband, as shown in the figure.

This solution uses the same cellular technology as a smart phone. An antenna is installed outside the house providing either wireless or wired connectivity for devices in the home.