A computer network is a system for communication among two or more computers.

Computer networks may be categorized with respect to range:

  • personal area network (PAN)
  • local area network (LAN)
  • metropolitan area network (MAN)
  • wide area network (WAN)

Computer network applications may be categorized with respect to the functional relationships between components:

  • client-server
  • multitier architecture
  • peer-to-peer

Computer networks may be categorized with respect to network topologies:

  • star network
  • grid network
  • toroidal networks and hypercubes
  • tree and hypertree networks

Computer networks may be implemented using a variety of protocol stack architectures, computer buses or combinations of media and protocol layers, incorporating one or more of:

  • ARCNET
  • DECNET
  • Ethernet
  • IP
  • TCP
  • Appletalk
  • Token Ring
  • IPX
  • FDDI
  • HIPPI
  • Myrinet
  • ATM
  • RS-232
  • IEEE-488
  • USB
  • IEEE 1394, aka Firewire, iLink
  • X.25
  • Frame relay
  • Bluetooth
  • IEEE 802.11
  • System network architecture

References

Andrew S. Tanenbaum, "Computer Networks" (ISBN: 0133499456).

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Computer_network"