Connectivity Devices

Connectivity Devices

People sometimes think of a network as a single, local cabling system that enables any device on the network to communicate directly with any other device on the same network. A network by this definition, however, has no connections to other remote networks.

An internetwork consists of multiple independent networks that are connected and can share remote resources. These logically separate but physically connected networks can be dissimilar in type. The device that connects the independent networks together may need a degree of “intelligence” because it may need to determine when packets will stay on the local network or when they will be forwarded to a remote network.

This chapter examines some important connectivity devices. In the following sections, you learn about modems, repeaters, bridges, routers, brouters, and gateways. (Some of this material also appears in Chapter 2, “Networking Standards,” in the discussion of communication devices and OSI.)

Further Information