MIS

UNIT IV

Telecommunication Alternatives

Telecommuncation is a highly technical, rapidly changing field o information

systems technology. Most end users do not need a detailed knowledge of its
technical characteristics. However, it is necessary to understand the important
characteristics of the basic components of telecommuncitons networks. This
will help in making decisions regarding telecommuncation alternatives.

Telecommunications Media
Telecommunication channels make use of a variety of
telecommuncations media. These include twisted pair wire, coaxial cables, and
fiber optic cables, all of which physically link the devices in a network. It also
includes terrestrial microwave, communcations satellites, cellular phone
systems, and packet and LAN radio which uses mucrowave and other radio
waves. In addition, there are infrared light to transmit and receive data.

a. Twisted Pair Wire

Ordinary telephone wire, consisting of coper wire twisted into pairs is the
most widely used media for telecommunications. These lines are used in
established communication networks throughout the world for both voice and
data transmission. Thus, twisted pair wiring is used extensively in home and
office telephone systems and many local area networks and wide area
networks.

b. Coaxial Cable
It consists of copper or aluminum wire wrapped with spacers to insulate
protect it. The cables cover and insulation minimize interference and distortion
of the signals the cable carries. Groups of coaxial cables may be bundled
together in a big cable for ease on installation. These high-quality lines can be
placed underground and laid on the floors of lakes and oceans.

c. Fiber Optics
Fiber Optics uses cables consisting on one or more hair thin filaments of
glass fiber wrapped in protective jacket. They can conduct light pulses
generated by lasers at transmission rates as high as 30 billion bits per second.
Fiber optic cables provide substantial size and weight reductions as well as
increased speed and greater carrying capacity.

Features
These cables are not affected by and do not generate electromagnetic
radiation, therefore multiple fibers can be placed in the same cable.
It has a minimal need for repeaters for signal retransmissions.
Disadvantage
Its difficulty of splicing the cable to make connections.
d. Terrestrial Microwave
It involves earthbound microwave systems that transmit high speed radio
signals in a line of sight path between relay stations spaced approximately 30
miles apart. Microwave antennas are usually placed on top of buildings,
towers, hills, mountain peaks and they are a familiar sight in many sections of
the country.

e. Wireless LANs
Wiring an office or a building for a local area network is often a difficult
and costly talk. Older buildings frequently do not have conceits for coaxial
cables or additional twisted pair wire and the conduits in newer buildings may
not have enough room to pull additional wiring through. Repairing mistakes
and damages to wiring is often difficult and costly as are major relocations of
LAN workstations and other components. One solution to such problem is
installing a wireless LAN using one of several wireless technologies. An
important example is LAN radio which may involve a high frequency radio
technology similar to digital cellular or a low frequency radio technology called
spreads spectrum.

Features
a. A wireless LAN eliminates or reduces the need for wires and cables thus
making a LAN easier to set up, relocate and maintain.
b. Current wireless technologies have higher initial costs and other
limitations.

Telecommunications processors
Telecommunication processors such as modems, multiplexers, switches
and routers perform a variety of support function between the computers and
other devices in a telecommuncation network.
Modems
 Modems are the most common type of communcations processor.
Inauguration. They convert the digital signals from a computer or transmission
terminal at one end of a communcations link into analog frequencies that can
be transmitted over ordinary telephone lines. A modem at at the other end of
the communications line converts the transmitted data back into digital form
at a receiving terminal. This process is known as modulation and demodulation
and the word modem is a combined abbreviation of those two woods. Most
modems also support a variety of telecommuncations functions such as
transmission error control, automatic dialing and answering and a faxing
capability.

Need
Modems are used because ordinary telephone networks were primarily
designed to handle continuous analog signals such as those generated by the
human voice over the telephone. Since data from computers are in digital form
devices are necessary to convert digital signals into appropriate analog
transmission frequencies and vice versa.

Multiplexers
A multiplexer is a communcations processor that allows a single
communications channel to carry simultaneous data transmissions from many
terminals. Thus, a single communications line can be shared by several
terminals. Typically, a multiplexer merges the transmissions of several
terminals at one end of a communications channel while a similar unit
separates the individual transmissions at the receiving end.

Internetwork processors
Telecommunications networks are interconnected by special-purpose
communications processors called internetwork processors such as switches,
routers,hubs,and gateways. A switch is a communications circuits in a
network so a telecommunications message can reach its intended destination.
A router is a more intelligent communications processor that interconnects
networks based on different rules or protocols, so a telecommunications
message can be routed to its destination. A hub is a port switching
communications processor. Advanced versions of hubs provide automatic
switching among connections called ports for shared access to a network’s
resources. Workstations, servers, printers, and other network resources are
connected to ports, as are switches and routers provided by the hub to other
networks. Networks that use different communications architectures are
interconnected by using a communications processor called a gateway. All
these devices are essential to providing connectivity and easy access between
the multiple LANs and wide area networks that are part of the intranets and
client/server networks in many organizations.

Telecommunications software: Software is a vital component of all

telecommunications networks. For example, mainframe-based wide area
networks frequently use telecommunications monitors or teleprocessing (TP)
monitors. CICS (Customer Identification Control System) for IBM mainframes
is a typical example. Servers in local area networks rely on network
management software called network operating systems, such as Novell
NetWare, IBM’s OS/2 Warp Server, or Microsoft Windows NT Server. Corporate
intranets use network management software like Netscape’s Enterprise Server,
which is one of several programs for network management, electronic
commerce, and application development in Netscape’s Suite Spot, a suite of
software servers for the Internet, intranets, and extranets. Internet Web
browsers, like Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Explorer.

Common Software Functions: Telecommunications software packages provide

a variety of communications support services. The number and type of
network terminals, computers, communications processors, and
communications activities involved determine the capabilities of the program
required. However, several major functions are commonly provided by
telecommunications packages.

Access Control
The software works with a communications processor (such as a modem) to
connect and disconnect communications links and establish communications
parameters such as transmission speed, mode, and direction. Access control
may also involve automatic telephone dialing and redialing, logging on and off
with appropriate account numbers and security codes, and automatic
answering of telephone calls from another computer. Many communications
packages include a script language that allows you to develop programs to
customize access control, such as accessing other computers at night or while
you are away.

Transmission control
This function allows computers and terminals to send and receive commands,
messages, data, and programs. Some error checking and correction of data
transmissions may also be provided. Data and programs are usually
transmitted in the form of files, so this activity is frequently called file transfer.

Network Management
This function manages communications in a telecommunications
network. Software such as LAN network operating systems and WAN
telecommunications monitors determines transmission priorities; routes
(switches) messages, polls, and terminals in the network; and forms waiting
lines (queues) of transmission requests. It also logs statistics of network
activity and the use of network resources by end user workstations.

Error Control
This function involves detection and correction of transmission errors.
Errors are usually caused by distortions in the communications channel, such
as line noise and power surges. Communications software and processors
control errors in transmission by several methods, including parity checking.
Parity checking involves determining whether there is an odd or even number
of binary one digits in a character being transmitted or received. Besides
parity bits, additional control codes are usually added to the message itself.
These specify such information as the destination of the data, their priority,
and the beginning and end of the message, plus additional error detecting and
correcting information. Most error correction methods involve retransmissions.
A single is sent back to the computer to retransmit the previous message.

Security Management
This function protects a communications network from unauthorized
access. Network operating systems or other security programs restrict access
to data files and other computing resources in LANs and other types of
networks. This restriction usually involves control procedures that limit access
to all or parts of a network by various categories of users, as determined by the
network manager or administrator of the network. Automatic disconnection
and callback procedures may also by used. Data transmissions can also be
protected by encryption techniques. Data are scrambled into a coded form
before transmission and decoded upon arrival.

Telecommunications Network Topologies

Star, Ring, and Bus Networks Three basic topologies used in wide area and
local area telecommunications networks. A star network ties end user
computers to a central computer. A ring network ties local computer
processors together in a ring on a more equal basis. A bus network is a
network in which local processors share the same bus, or communications
channel. A variation of the ring network is the mesh network. This uses direct
communications lines to connect some or all of the computers in the ring to
each other. Another variation is the tree network, which joins several bus
networks together.

Client/server networks may use a combination of star, ring, and bus

approaches. Obviously, the star network is more centralized, while ring and
bus networks have a more decentralized approach. However, this is not always
the case. For example, the central computer in a star configuration may be
acting only as a switch, or message-switching computer, that handles the data
communications between autonomous local computers. Star, ring, and bus
networks differ in their performances, reliabilities, and costs. A pure star
network is considered less reliable than a ring network, since the other
computers in the star are heavily dependent on the central host computer. If it
fails, there is no backup processing and communications capability, and the
local computers are cut off from each other. Therefore, it is essential that the
host computer be highly reliable. Having some type of multiprocessor
architecture to provide a fault tolerant capability is a common solution.

Ring and bus networks are most common in local area networks. Ring
networks are considered more reliable and less costly for the type of
communications in such networks. If one computer in the ring goes down, the
other computers can continue to process their own work as well as to
communicate with each other.

Network Architectures and Protocols

Until quite recently, there was a lack of sufficient standards for the
interfaces between the hardware, software, and communications channels of
data communications networks. For this reason, it is quite common to find a
lack of compatibility between the data communications hardware and software
of different manufacturers. This situation has hampered the use of data
communications, increased its costs, and reduced its efficiency and
effectiveness. In response, computer manufacturers and national and
international organizations have developed standards called protocols and
master plans called network architectures to support the development of
advanced data communications networks.
Protocols. A protocol is a standard set of rules and procedures for the control
of communications in a network. However, these standards may be limited to
just one manufacturer’s equipment, or to just one type of data
communications. Part of the goal of communications network architectures is
to create more standardization and compatibility among communications
protocols. One example of a protocol is a standard for the physical
characteristics of the cables and connectors between terminals, computers,
modems, and communications lines. Other examples are the protocols that
establish the communications control information needed for handshaking,
which is the process of exchanging predetermined signals and characters to
establish telecommunications session between terminals and computers.
Other protocols deal with control of data transmission reception in a network,
switching techniques, internetwork connections, and so on.

Network Architectures
The goal of network architectures is to promote an open, simple,
flexible, and efficient telecommunications environment. This is accomplished
by the use of standard protocols, standard communications hardware and
software interfaces, and the design of a standard multilevel interface between
end users and computer systems.

The Internet’s TCP/IP

The Internet uses a system of telecommunications protocols that has
become so widely used that it is equivalent to a network architecture. The
Internet’s protocol suite is called Transmission Control Protocol/Internet
Protocol and is known as TCP/IP. TCLP/IP consists of five levels of protocols
that can be related to the seven layers of the OSI architecture. TCP/IP is used
by the Internet and by all intranets and extranets.
Many companies and other organizations are also converting their client/server
networks to TCP/IP.

Bandwidth Alternatives
The communications speed and capacity of telecommunications
networks can be classified by bandwidth. This is the frequency range of a
telecommunications channel; it determines the channel’s maximum
transmission rate. The speed and capacity of data transmission rates are
typically measured in bits per second (BPS). This is sometimes referred to as
the baud rate, though baud is more correctly a measure of signal changes in a
transmission line.

Switching Alternatives
Regular telephone service relies on circuit switching, in which a switch
lopes a circuit to establish a link between a sender and receiver; it remains
open until the communication session is completed. In message switching, a
message is transmitted a block at a time from one switching device to another.
`Packet switching involve\s subdividing communications messages into
fixed or variable groups called packets.

Electronic Meeting Systems

Organization frequently schedule meetings as decision making situations that require
interaction among groups of people. The success of group decision making during meetings
depends on such factors as
1. the characteristics of the group
2. the characteristics of the task on which the group is working
3. the organizational context in which the group decision making process tales place
4. the use of information technology such as electronic meeting systems.
5. the communication and decision-making processes the group utilizes.

Electronic meeting systems packages are available that facilitate the group decision
making activities that take place in a computer-based decision room setting. Other types
of Group Decision Support Systems may be designed to support a specific application or
task, such as a groupware package for labor or management negotiations or package that
merely supports voting during a meeting.