Network Engineering

Computer networks can be found in both the business and the home. Many businesses have their computers on a network so that employees can share files with ease. Fans of video games can create networks in their households so they can play with or against each other. It also should also be noted that the Internet is a network, just on a much larger scale.

The technology utilized by these networks has existed since the 1940s. The first network was built by Bell Labs researcher George Stibitz, who used a phone line to send calculations from Dartmouth College to his Complex Number Calculator in New York. In 1969, a network that connected Stanford University, UCLA and UC Santa Barbara was installed that used technology very similar to what is used in today's networks, just on a much slower level (50 kilobytes per second).

Networks are now engineered using more complicated software language than what was used in the '60s. These networks are built to follow a specific set of rules--the most important being that the network only allows communication that it's specifically built for. As an example, consider email servers that can only send emails to other email servers.

Thanks to impressive advances in network engineering, networks now exist on a variety of levels for as many uses. Programs such as Bluetooth allow computers and other devices to connect with only a radio frequency--without wires. Bluetooth is the first technology to allow devices other than computers to connect and receive information from a computer. It also allows communications between devices other than computers, like personal digital assistants (PDAs) and digital cameras.