GNVQ ICT - Intermediate
Unit 10 - Networks and Communications
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on the level above: [Home Page for Unit 10]
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GNVQ ICT - Intermediate Unit 10 - Networks and Communications
Hyperlinks
on the level above: [Home Page for Unit 10]
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On the level below: |
New types of electronic communications WAP on your mobile phone
Bluetooth technology The typical workspace or home office is awash in cables. Cables between computers, keyboards, mice, and speakers. Cables between computers, scanners, Zip drives, and digital cameras. Cables between different computers. Enough already! Wouldn't it be great if the wires would just go away?That's the premise behind Bluetooth , a short-range wireless networking specification being developed by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), a wide-reaching vendor alliance that includes the likes of 3Com , Ericsson , Lucent Technologies , Microsoft , Motorola , and Nokia , among others. Using radio waves, Bluetooth-based PCs will be able to communicate with each other, as well as with peripherals, handheld computers, smart telephones, and other devices. Each device will still need electricity, so that might mean a power cord when batteries can't provide the needed juice. But one cord is still far better than the confusion of wires now crisscrossing the space under or behind many desks. Bluetooth promises not only an end to cable hell, but also the beginning of seamless compatibility. Just place the printer near the computer, and print to it. Place the cellular telephone near the laptop, and use the laptop's keyboard to update the phone's speed-dial directories. Carry the laptop into the kitchen, and still have faster-than-modem access to the local area network (LAN) and Internet via a Bluetooth-enabled Ethernet hub. Like the popular universal serial bus (USB), the Bluetooth specification allows devices to be connected ad hoc to other devices, without rebooting or complex software installation and configuration procedures. Under the Bluetooth specification, portable devices are limited to about ten meters, using a minute antenna with about one milliwatt of power. However, the specification allows for higher-powered base stations with larger antennas, which would have a range of up to 100 meters. Whole-home Internet routers or telephone base stations would use the higher-powered base stations. Using a Facsimile (Fax) Machine Most businesses have at least one fax machine in an office. It is used to send and receive printed data over a telephone line - and works like a photocopier. An image of the original page is scanned - creating a digital image - by the machine - and this image is converted to analog data to be sent over a telephone line. This data is then converted back to digital data by the receiving fax machine and the document printed out. ADSL The speed of connection is an important factor in using the internet - and in recent years a lot of work has been done to speed up the connection speeds possible. ADSL is currently the fastest method for connecting to the Internet. At Hyde Tech we have a 2MBit ADSL connection which is fast enough for the school network to share an Internet connection. Home users currently pay around £30 per month for a 500 KBit connection (about a quarter of the speed of the school connection). One of the main advantages of this connection is that the computer is "always connected" to the Internet - so there are no extra costs for dialling up an ISP or anything to pay for the telephone calls. ADSL makes use of the existing telephone wires going into most people's homes - and still lets tham use their phone as normal! | |||||
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© Hyde Technology School - Non-commercial use by other educational establishments is welcome. Please email your comments to mail@ictgnvq.org.uk Created by K C Parry - Please email your comments to kcparry@ictgnvq.org.uk |
What
is WAP?