Networking technology has had a massive impact on the world today and is among the reasons why it’s so important. It is also one of the primary reasons the economies of nearly all countries didn’t crash during the COVID-19 pandemic. And, besides financial benefits, networks helped us remain connected with friends, families, and colleagues. In doing so, it reduced the mental and physical impact a wide and rapid spread of the virus inevitably causes. But even before that, the transfer of data or energy shaped the society and the culture we know now. With that, let’s dive into network technology.
What is network technology?
Network technology is a technology that enables data exchange between large and small information systems within an infrastructure via the use of communication/network protocols. The infrastructure consists of nodes, which can be a redistribution point or a network/communication endpoint. The primary network technology representative is a computer network. It uses digital interconnection to link two or more networks for the benefit of mutual traffic exchange. Infrastructure can be open to outsiders (a public network) such as the Internet and its different types or limited to use within a business or educational organization (a private network), referred to as the Intranet or Extranet. It’s important to realize that both private and public networks rely on the Internet protocol suite.
Examples of network technology
Now that you know what it represents, here are a couple of well-known representatives of network technology:
5G
We’re starting with the network technology you must’ve heard about – 5G. The term refers to a fifth generation of the broadband cellular network standard. It started rolling out in 2019, with predictions that it’ll have close to 1.7 billion subscribers by 2025. Its coverage is divided into cells, which represent minuscule geographical areas. Every wireless device within the cell can connect to the Internet and phone network via radio waves sent from the cell’s MIMO (multiple inputs, multiple outputs) antenna. Some benefits of 5G include:
- Bandwidth: 5G can operate in bands from 600 MHz to over 100 GHz. However, it will primarily operate in 3 main frequencies: low (600-850 MHz), mid (2.5-3.7 GHz), and high (25-39 GHz).
- Download speed: Low bands will have a download speed similar to 4G, of 30-250 Mbit/s. Mid bands allow for speeds of 100-900 Mbit/s, while high band speed goes over 1 Gbit/s.
- Power saving: Although it currently drains the battery faster, the implementation of the 5G network-slicing technology is expected to cut battery usage drastically.
- Multi-purpose: 5G isn’t exclusive to mobile use. Its benefits make it an ideal alternative to LAN (Local Area Network) and WAN (Wide Area Network). It can effortlessly rival and beat high-speed broadband and cable Internet speed, latency, and costs.
Internet of things (IoT)
Internet of things (IoT) refers to a network of physical objects or things embedded with software, sensors, and varying technologies. Their purpose is to transfer data amongst each other or with other systems and devices using the Internet. Some examples include smart home devices and appliances, smart car systems (traffic control, parking, vehicle control, road assistance, vehicle-to-vehicle/vehicle-to-everything communication), health monitoring devices and emergency alert systems, 3D printers, RFID chips, and more. IoT also continues to have a wide array of applications in the environment, agricultural productivity, energy, mechanical, military, building, manufacturing, and other areas.
Wi-Fi 6
Wi-Fi 6 (or 802.11ax) will never make you ask yourself, “why is my Wi-Fi speed slow?” It introduces technological advancements that raise the theoretical maximum speed to 9.6 Gbps from 3.5 Gbps on Wi-Fi 5. The router can also communicate with 8 clients per 20 Hz channel. It’s important to note that each channel can be split into 26, 52, 106, or 242 subcarrier Resource Units. Unlike Wi-Fi 5, this router can concurrently communicate with 802.11ax clients that use different sub-channels/RUs by utilizing packed scheduling. This increases the “density” of devices that can co-exist on the network, boosts the efficiency of every band, and promotes battery saving on both sides. Finally, Wi-Fi 6 introduced a new frequency band, 6 GHz, on top of Wi-Fi 5’s 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz.
Software-Defined Networking (SDN)
Software-Defined Networking is a network architecture technology that seeks to eliminate current network protocols. Simultaneously, it plans to replace them with directly programmable ones. One example is OpenFlow Protocol, which uses Application Programming Interface (API) instead of, say, TCP/IP protocols. In doing so, it allows virtual control and bypasses the need to use physical network devices such as routers or switches. By virtualizing the entire network, operators can still have centralized control, but also a vastly better insight into the network. This allows for faster and better troubleshooting and lets the provider streamline the process for individual users or a group of users.
Application of network technology
These are some areas where utilization of network technology is noticeable:
Communication
This one is obvious – you’re reading a form of it. Some, but not all examples of communication technology are made possible by network infrastructure. Websites, blogs, forums, phone and VoIP calls, social media, e-mails, instant messengers, AI-powered webchats, newsletters, video conferencing, SMS, MMS, whiteboards, job-seeking platforms, open access books, and a wide variety of other examples come to mind right off the bat.
Resource sharing
File sharing or distributing digital media is an evident application of network technologies. Once again, you’ve experienced one form, when your browser downloaded cookies from our website. You must’ve also downloaded or uploaded binary or text files such as documents, video, audio, image, or software or application-specific file formats, among others. Sharing assets has widespread use, and multiple ways of distribution – FTP (File Transfer Protocol), Peer-to-Peer (P2P), from centralized or decentralized servers, via WWW hyperlinks, and more.
Replacing jobs
The process of linking people and objects such as sensors, computer hardware, or software-embedded machines has massively impacted the job market. And while applying network technology inevitably replaces jobs, it also introduces new ones. Case in point, network engineers oversee the implementation and make sure network technology operates correctly. This includes installation, configuration, maintenance, troubleshooting, upgrades, and reducing network downtime. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment of computer network architects and network engineers will rise 5% and 4% yearly between 2019 and 2029, respectively.