Goals of Networks

In today’s generation, networks play an important role to establish a connection between people, organizations, and devices. This network is used to transfer data, voice, and signals between two entities. It is also important to maintain a level of security for these data transfers. Also, they can be arranged in different topologies like mesh topology or star topology. Despite their different forms and topologies, all networks have common goals that we will discuss here. The goals of networks can be defined as the primary need of a network to maintain the authenticity, integrity, flexibility, and security of the information that is being transferred within a network.

Goals of Networks

Different goals of networks

A network is a connection between two or multiple devices to transfer data or information with utmost security. To achieve this security, the following goals of the network can be considered −

Enable Communication

The primary goal of a network is to establish communication between the sender and the receiver. This communication can be in the form of audio, video, or text. The network ensures that communication is established efficiently between the sender and receiver.

Enable data sharing

In today’s digital world, data is like a new currency. Networking enables sharing of data and information between different entities in an organization or outside the organization. Networks ensure that the data is shared reliably and quickly so that people can access the received information in real-time.

Ensure Security

With the rise in data requirements, there is a need to secure this data. Networks provide security of data from unethical and unauthorized access. It uses various security measures like encryption, firewalls, data access points, etc. to safeguard the data from cyber-attacks.

Sharing resources

Networking helps in sharing resources with more than one device. Like a printer can be shared by 4 or more computers. This makes it more economical. Below are a few examples of resources that can be shared in a network −

File sharing − The files stored in one computer can be accessed by another computer in the same network. This feature is mainly useful when one spreadsheet or presentation has to be accessed by multiple employees of one organization.

Internet sharing − Networking is highly used for sharing the Internet as it is expensive to provide a separate Internet for each device in an organization. In such cases, a single Internet connection can be shared by multiple users.

Application sharing − This feature of networking allows sharing of applications with multiple users. It is mainly used in sharing applications like project management software, CRM software, and accounting software. Here, a single licensed application is purchased and shared with different users.

Performance

The performance of a network is very important for an organization. A properly designed network gives high performance and increases productivity. Let’s discuss a few ways in which networking improves performance.

Remote access

By networking, people can access and work remotely using the same applications and information. Thus increasing the productivity of the workforce by giving them flexibility in their work routine.

Bandwidth Optimization

Networking manages the bandwidth effectively so that the most needed applications receive priority in network traffic. This minimizes the congestion in a network.

Security

Networking improves the performance of an organization by providing it with security. It ensures that the network is protected from unauthorized access and cyber threats.

Reliability

Networks ensure reliability so that users can depend on systems for any data loss and critical services. Below are a few ways in which the network provides reliability −

Backup of data

Networking helps in recovering the data lost due to system failure or any other similar reasons. Technologies, software, and applications can be used to automatically recover data loss.

Network monitoring

The network becomes more reliable if it is monitored. This can be achieved by using tools that give real-time information. It helps in identifying and solving problems quickly.

Conclusion

The goal of networking is to achieve security, scalability, reliability, good performance, and sharing of resources. With growing digital requirements, these goals have become the need of the hour. Networking helps the organization to reduce costs and increase productivity and performance. Be it a small local network or a wide area network, these goals are crucially important to make your system reliable and economical.

There are also a few limitations in networking like networks are more prone to cyber-attacks, especially the Internet. The use of public Wi-Fi networks can be unethical and also makes your device assessable to hackers. Also, the cost of establishing a network may be high for small organizations. Networking requires knowledge and expertise, which can make it difficult for non-IT people to manage and troubleshoot.