Computer Networking

History
Carrying instructions between calculation machines and early computers was done by human users. In September, 1940 George Stibitz used a teletype machine to send instructions for a problem set from his Model K at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire to his Complex Number Calculator in New York and received results back by the same means. Linking output systems like teletypes to computers was an interest at the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) when, in 1962, J.C.R. Licklider was hired and developed a working group he called the "Intergalactic Network", a precursor to the ARPANet. In 1964, researchers at Dartmouth developed a time sharing system for distributed users of large computer systems. The same year, at MIT, a research group supported by General Electric and Bell Labs used a computer (DEC's PDP-8) to route and manage telephone connections. In 1968 Paul Baran proposed a network system consisting of datagrams or packets that could be used in a packet switching network between computer systems. In 1969 the University of California at Los Angeles, SRI (in Stanford), University of California at Santa Barbara, and the University of Utah were connected as the beginning of the ARPANet network using 50 kbit/s circuits.

Networks, and the technologies needed to connect and communicate through and between them, continue to drive computer hardware, software, and peripherals industries. This expansion is mirrored by growth in the numbers and types of users of networks from researchers and businesses to families and individuals in everyday use.

Local area network

LAN redirects here, for other uses see LAN (disambiguation).
A local area network (LAN) is a computer network covering a small local area, like a home, office, or small group of buildings such as a home, office, or college. Current LANs are most likely to be based on switched Ethernet or Wi-Fi technology running at 10, 100 or 1,000 Mbit/s (1,000 Mbit/s is also known as 1 Gbit/s).

The defining characteristics of LANs in contrast to WANs are: a) much higher data rates, b) smaller geographic range - at most a few kilometers - and c) they do not involve leased telecommunication lines. "LAN" usually does not refer to data running over local analog telephone lines, as on a private branch exchange (PBX).

Technical aspects
Although switched Ethernet is now most common at the physical layer, and TCP/IP as a protocol, historically many different options have been used (see below) and some continue to be popular in niche areas. Larger LANs will have redundant links, and routers or switches capable of using spanning tree protocol and similar techniques to recover from failed links. LANs will have connections to other LANs via routers and leased lines to create a WAN. Most will also have connections to the large public network known as the Internet, and links to other LANs can be 'tunnelled' across this using VPN technologies.

History
In the days before personal computers, a site might have just one central computer, with users accessing this via computer terminals over simple low-speed cabling. Networks such as IBM's SNA (Systems Network Architecture) were aimed at linking terminals or other mainframes at remote sites over leased lines—hence these were wide area networks.

The first LANs were created in the late 1970s and used to create high-speed links between several large central computers at one site. Of many competing systems created at this time, Ethernet and ARCNET were the most popular.

The growth of CP/M and then DOS based personal computer meant that a single site began to have dozens or even hundreds of computers. The initial attraction of networking these was generally to share disk space and laser printers, which were both very expensive at the time. There was much enthusiasm for the concept and for several years from about 1983 onward computer industry pundits would regularly declare the coming year to be “the year of the LAN”.

In reality the concept was marred by proliferation of incompatible physical layer and network protocol implementations, and confusion over how best to share resources. Typically each vendor would have their own type of network card, cabling, protocol, and network operating system. A solution appeared with the advent of Novell NetWare which gave: (a) even-handed support for the 40 or so competing card/cable types, and (b) a much more sophisticated operating system than most of its competitors. NetWare dominated the personal computer LAN business from early after its introduction in 1983 until the mid 1990s when Microsoft introduced Windows NT Advanced Server and Windows for Workgroups.

Of the competitors to NetWare, only Banyan Vines had comparable technical strengths, but Banyan never gained a secure base. Microsoft and 3Com worked together to create a simple network operating system which formed the base of 3Com's 3+Share, Microsoft's LAN Manager and IBM's LAN Server. None of these was particularly successful.