{"id":11256,"date":"2018-05-29T23:31:43","date_gmt":"2018-05-29T23:31:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wmintrobusiness\/?post_type=chapter&p=11256"},"modified":"2018-07-10T16:08:34","modified_gmt":"2018-07-10T16:08:34","slug":"reading-computer-networks-and-cloud-computing","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wmintrobusiness\/chapter\/reading-computer-networks-and-cloud-computing\/","title":{"raw":"Reading: Computer Networks and Cloud Computing","rendered":"Reading: Computer Networks and Cloud Computing"},"content":{"raw":"
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Computer Networks and Cloud Computing<\/h2>\r\n

Once it\u2019s grown beyond just a handful of employees, an organization needs a way of sharing information. Imagine a flower shop with twenty employees. The person who takes phone orders needs access to the store\u2019s customer list, as do the delivery person and the bookkeeper. Now, the store may have one computer and everyone could share it. It\u2019s more likely, however, that there are a number of computers (several for salespeople, one for delivery, and one for bookkeeping). In this case, everyone needs to be sure that customer records have been updated on all computers every time that a change is required.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n

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Networks<\/h2>\r\nLikewise, many companies want their personal computers to run their own software and process data independently. But they also want people to share databases, files, and printers, and they want them to share applications software<\/span><\/span> that performs particular tasks, including word processing, creating and managing spreadsheets, designing graphical presentations, and producing high-quality printed documents (desktop publishing<\/em>).\r\n\r\nThe solution in both cases is networking<\/em>\u2014linking computers to one another. The two major types of networks are distinguished according to geographical coverage:\r\n