Networks
It's arguable that nothing has had a greater impact on modern business than the personal computer, and nothing has had a more profound impact on the computer than networking. But networking brings with it security threats which, if mitigated, allow the benefits of communication to outweigh the risks.
Computer networks help users on the network to share the resources and in communication. Can you imagine a world now without emails, online newspapers, blogs, chat and the other services offered by the internet?
The following are the important uses and benefits of a computer network:
1) File sharing: Networking of computers helps the network users to share data files.
2) Hardware sharing: Users can share devices such as printers, scanners, CD-ROM drives, hard drives etc. Without computer networks, device sharing is not possible.
3) Application sharing: Applications can be shared over the network, and this allows to implement client/server applications
4) User communication: Networks allow users to communicate using e-mail, newsgroups, and video conferencing etc.
5) Voice over IP (VoIP): Voice over Internet Protocol (IP) is a revolutionary change in telecommunication which allows to send telephone calls (voice data) using standard Internet Protocol (IP) rather than by traditional PSTN.