Name: Maheen Khizar ID: BSEF09M013

1. NIC (network interface card) Network interface cards, usually referred to as NICs, act as the physical interface or connection between the computer and the network cable. The role of the NIC is to: Prepare data from the computer for the network cable. Send the data to another computer. Control the flow of data between the computer and the cabling system. Receive incoming data from the cable and translate it into bytes that can be understood by the computer's central processing unit (CPU). 2. Wi-Fi (wireless fidelity) A wireless network interface controller (WNIC) is a network interface controller which connects to a radio-based computer network rather than a wired-based network such as Token Ring or Ethernet. A WNIC, just like other NICs, works on the Layer 1(physical) and Layer 2 (data link) of the OSI Model. A WNIC is an essential component for wireless desktop computer. This card uses an antenna to communicate through microwaves. 3. Hub A hub connects various Ethernet devices to integrate them into a whole network segment. It is one of the most basic hardware devices that connect two or more Ethernet terminals in a network. Hubs are unintelligent devices and operate at the layer 1 i.e. physical layer of OSI model. 4. Switch
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Switches are intelligent devices they may operate at one or more layers of the OSI model, including data link and network. A device that operates simultaneously at more than one of these layers is known as a multilayer switch. A switch has multiple connection ports, whereas a bridge has a single connection port. 5. Bridge A bridge is just a type of network switch that connects two similar network segments together. Like switches, they too operate at the data link layer. A switch has multiple connection ports, whereas a bridge has a single connection port. 6. Router Routers are devices which connect two are more networks that use similar protocol. A router consists of hard ware and software. Hardware can be a computer specific device. Software consists of special management program that controls flow of data between networks. Routers use logical and physical address to connect two or more logically separate network. They make this connection by organizing the large network into logical network segment. The network address allows routers to calculate more accurately and efficiently the path of the computer. Routers operate at a network layer of OSI model. 7. Repeater/Amplifier Repeaters are used within network to extend the length of communication. Data process through transmission media in the farm of waves or signals. The transmission media weaken signals that move through it. The weakening of signal is called attenuation. If the data is to be transmitted beyond the maximum length of a communication media, signals need to be amplified. The devices that are used to amplify the signals are called repeaters. Repeaters are normally two ports boxes that connect two segments. As a signal comes in one port, it is regenerated and sent out to the other port. Repeaters work at the physical layer of OSI model. 8. Bridge Router (Brouter) There is a device called a bridge router which will function similar to a bridge for network transport protocols that are not routable, and will function as a router for routable protocols. It functions at the network and data link layers of the OSI network model. 9. Firewall A firewall is a device that prevents unauthorized electronic access to your entire network. The term firewall is generic, and includes many different kinds of protective hardware and software devices. Most firewalls operate by examining incoming or outgoing packets for information at OSI level 3, the network layer.

Name: Maheen Khizar ID: BSEF09M013

10. NAT (Network Address Translator) Network Address Translation (NAT) is the process where a network device, usually a firewall, assigns a public address to a computer (or group of computers) inside a private network. The main use of NAT is to limit the number of public IP addresses an organization or company must use, for both economy and security purposes. 11. Proxy Server In computer networks, a proxy server is a server (a computer system or an application) that acts as an intermediary for requests from clients seeking resources from other servers. A client connects to the proxy server, requesting some service, such as a file, connection, web page, or other resource available from a different server. The proxy server evaluates the request as a way to simplify and control their complexity. Today, most proxies are web proxies, facilitating access to content on the World Wide Web. 12. Gateway Gateways are devices which connect two are more networks that use different protocols. They are similar in function to routers but they are more powerful and intelligent devices. Since Gateway perform data conversion so they are slower in speed and very expensive devices. Gateway can operate at all seven layers of OSI model but most of them at the application layer. 13. Modem The device that converts digital signals into analog signals and analog signals to digital signals, is called Modem. The word modem stands for modulation and demodulation. The process of converting digital signals to analog signals is called modulation. The process of converting analog signals to digital signals is called demodulation. Modems are used with computers to transfer data from one computer to another computer through telephone lines.