Hardware
To make a network operate under any standard requires actual hardware—pieces of equipment that plug into each other to make the physical network. Most of today's networking systems require three different kinds of hardware. Network interface cards link your computer to the network wiring system (or wireless signaling system). A hub or access point brings the signals from all the computers and other devices in the network together. And a medium (such as wires or radio waves) links these two together. You build a network using these three components from one network standard.
Network Interface Cards
The network interface card (NIC) and its associated driver software have the most challenging job in the network. The NIC takes the raw data ...
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