Reference no: EM132411285

ISM4220 - Business Data Communications Assignment - Palm Beach State College, USA

Review Questions -

1. What is business data communications?

2. What are some of the ways in which computer networks are used in large businesses?

3. What are some of the ways in which small businesses can benefit from computer networks?

4. Look at the websites of some departments of your county government. What three services offered at these sites do you find most interesting?

5. Describe how the three online government services you chose could be helpful to you.

6. Describe the major trends in the growth of Internet traffic.

7. What is packetization?

8. Why is packetization useful in business data communication?

9. What are some of the factors that make packet switching more complex technologically than traditional phone circuits (circuit switching)?

10. Provide a high-level overview of the structure of a typical data packet. What are the kinds of information you are likely to find in the header of a typical packet?

11. Consider a typical office memo as a data packet. What information in the memo would be characterized as header information? What information would be characterized as the body of the packet?

12. Why is Internet traffic considered "bursty" compared to voice traffic?

13. What is layering?

14. Why is layering useful in organizations?

15. Why is layering useful in computer networking?

16. What are the five layers of the TCP/ IP model?

17. What are the primary functions of each layer in the TCP/ IP model?

18. TCP is often considered the most important layer of the TCP/ IP model. What are the primary responsibilities of TCP?

19. What devices does a packet typically encounter in its journey from source to destination?

20. What is the OSI model? What was the motivation for the development of the OSI model?

21. How has the OSI model been useful in the development of computer networks?

22. What are the seven layers of the OSI model?

23. What are the primary functions of each of the seven layers of the OSI model?

24. The packets used to transmit voice on the Internet are similar to the packets that are used to send email. What are some of the advantages of this approach?

25. What are the two design principles behind Internet protocols?

Hands-on Exercise -

1. Briefly describe what traceroute does and how it is useful (you may find articles on traceroute on sources such as Wikipedia useful).

2. Use traceroute to trace the route from your home or work computer to your university's website. Show the traceroute output. What networks were encountered along the way? What information about the geographic locations of the routers can you infer from the trace? What was the longest mean delay on any hop along the way?

3. Use traceroute to trace the route from your home or work computer to the website of a university or company on another continent. Show the traceroute output. What networks were encountered along the way? What information about the geographic locations of the routers can you infer from the trace? What was the longest mean delay on any hop along the way? What factors do you think caused this delay?

4. Visit the websites of the ISPs on your route. Show the network coverage map of any one ISP on the route that provides this information. (Note: This information is useful in marketing, therefore, most ISPs provide some graphical information about their coverage areas.)

Critical Thinking Exercise -

1. What is a reserve currency?

2. Does being a reserve currency offer any benefits to the owner of the currency?

3. Does being a reserve currency have any trade-offs to the owner of the currency?

IT infrastructure Design Exercise -

1. What are the ways in which computer networks can help TrendyWidgets in its business? Think of all the different ways in which the company can use computer networks at all its different offices.

Example Case Questions -

1. Visit the websites of Domino's pizza and one other quick-service pizza restaurant. How long does it take for you to order a pizza of your choice from each of these restaurants? (Of course, you don't have to actually place the order for this exercise. Just get to the point where you are ready to place the order.)

2. What features of the websites do you find most useful as a customer?

3. Based on your experience with ordering Pizza online, or from visiting the site, what is one feature you would add to the site to improve your experience?