Structure and Function of the Computer Networks

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Structure and Function of the Computer Networks

Network A is a Local Area Network (LAN) while network B is a Wide Area Network (WAN). Network A is classified as the LAN because there is the main wire which connects all the devices to the Internet (Kushki, Plataniotis and Venetsanopoulos, 2007). Besides, the LAN has a logical flow of information from one device to another. On the other hand, network B falls under the WAN because of the star-like topology. The connections of the devices are interrelated. Further, Network B is a WAN because each of the devices accesses the network through their routers.

The LAN is characterized by the logical flow of information (Zhang and Chow, 2012). For network A, information flows from the internet to the router through a firewall which filters the information for the elimination of security threats. From the router, the information is channeled to the switch where the computer can access the information directly. Similarly, the information can be tapped for use by a laptop or a smartphone through a wireless router. For the WAN, the flow of the information from the computer takes place independently with each workplace having its access to the information.

The use of the WAN in the healthcare settings has been productive. The network aids access to healthcare records as well as the laboratory reports for the patients’ treatment and thus reducing the medical errors from the human perspective (Carroll et al., 2007). Further, this kind of network is useful for alerting doctors located in different areas away from the patients and thus prompting action. On the other hand, the LAN is used to connect various departments within a healthcare for the monitoring of the patients and improved consultations. The Local Area Network is used in the congested healthcare to improve provision of services to the patients (Varshney, 2007). The waiting time before treatment is reduced as the physicians can be mobilized within a short period from any place through the use of the Wide Area Network.

 

 

 

 

 

References

Carroll, R., Cnossen, R., Schnell, M., & Simons, D. (2007). Continua: An interoperable personal healthcare ecosystem. IEEE Pervasive Computing, 6(4).

Kushki, A., Plataniotis, K. N., & Venetsanopoulos, A. N. (2007). Kernel-based positioning in wireless local area networks. IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing, 6(6).

Varshney, U. (2007). Pervasive Healthcare and Wireless Health Monitoring. Mobile Netw Appl, 12, 113-127.

Zhang, Z., & Chow, M. Y. (2012). Convergence analysis of the incremental cost consensus algorithm under different communication network topologies in a smart grid. IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, 27(4), 1761-1768.