Steal My Deal

Not so long a go it looked like gaming notebooks were only available from select manufacturers and they were generally built to order. The shipments were by no means really amazing but they did make increased mark up’s on each notebook than others. These desirable laptop computers were just unaffordable. They were like the highest grade of what could be done with laptop computer technology, the best laptop computers around. They would create a lot of excitement but I doubt loads of buyers would go out and buy laptop computers at high prices. Recently it looks likes larger manufacturers are all entering the market really quickly and things are shifting.

These are definitely big margin laptops for the global manufacturers and they are aware of that. Profits have been so slim lately that this is a fantastic chance to make more money on selling computers. Global Brands of that size know they can get buyers to buy laptop computers at any price providing they represent it well. Could this be the downfall of smaller resellers? In my view the big companies will dictate the market trends. Also the established brand name will give people greater confidence.

The laptop computers coming out are turning out to be the best laptop computers ever seen. This is in fact the main competitive edge that remains for the unestablished system builders. Choosing the specification is a thing all us geek’s like. Well versed in the technology, these types of buyers are savvy to what details to look for. For certain buyers specifications and statistics are more valuable than style.

This is all excellent from the customers way of seeing things. It will force prices to slip and make the latest technology inexpensive for the market. I think even industry insiders would have a hard time predicting where the market is going. Whether notebook prices will come down on the whole is an additional subject but the best laptop computers are normally expensive. Seeing as the large brand companies have already begun launching gaming laptop computers, I suppose we’ll have to wait to see what occurs.

I reckon this company (http://www.rizeon.com/gaming_laptops/page.php) are rather cheap for the notebooks they are offering.

Laptops have possibly been on the top of everybodies must have list lately. Taiwanese manufacturers have said component shortages will affect fullfilment this year due to the astronomical demands. It doesn’t look like anything will impede the surge of laptops at the moment. It’s an industry which is also tough to keep up with it respect of of technology because its changing all the time.

I’ve witnessed an increasing amount of consumers enquiring about gaming laptops. Sufficient gaming laptops can be brought at a low price for mediocore gaming requirements. Gaming frame rates on laptops is fairly adequate considering the factors at play so if you need portability they give a good choice. Even more impressive these days In my opinion is how slick the chassis’s are becoming especially when you think about much power is in them. Regardless off all the beneficial features of laptops, desktops should always run more rapidly than them. I don’t give it too long before we see ultra portable gaming laptops on the market.

I feel demand for custom notebooks will always be here. Commonly branded components go into these notebooks. With that in mind you commonly get to specify the processor, ram, hard drive and os. Those laptops seen in shops are for normal activities. You get around this by purchasing a notebooks built to . I like that idea that there are plenty of smaller companies giving good service for custom laptops. The fact that there are alternatives and competition makes its very possible.

The prospect of upcoming laptop computers seems great. Apart from what has already been said UMPC’s are an additional massive sector seeing growth this year. This niche is already getting stiff competition and is becoming overcrowded. I want to see a larger variant of these cheap ultra mobiles. I feel it would be a huge success. I am sure a few brands are already engaged on such plans. I am sure we will see ultra portable gaming laptops soon. New concepts are seen every couple of months and I’m sure the next few months already carries a lot of promise for us enthusiasts.

I’d recommend gaming laptop at rizeon.

LCD screens are uniquely modern in style, and the liquid crystals that make them work have allowed humanity to create slimmer, more portable technology than we’ve ever had access to before. From your wrist watch to your laptop, a lot of the on the go electronics that we tote from place to place are only possible because of their thin, light LCD display screens. Liquid crystal display (LCD) technology still has some stumbling blocks in its path that can make it unreliable at times, but on the whole the invention of the LCD screen has allowed great leaps forward in global technological progress.

Although liquid crystals are not really liquid, their molecules behave more like a liquid than they do like a solid, which earns them their name. The crystals in an LCD exist in a kind of a unique middle ground between solid form and liquid form, which gives them the movement and flexibility of a liquid; but can also let them remain in place, like a solid. Heat can quickly melt a solid to liquid, allowing it to move, whereas cool will make the liquid solidify almost instantly. The sensitivity of liquid crystals to temperature can be an advantage, or a disadvantage. It allows for the highly successful use of liquid crystals in devices like thermometers, where temperature responsiveness is a boon; but this same property can unfortunately make LCD screens unreliable in extreme climates.

In an LCD screen, electric currents work at a microscopic level to control the amount of light that passes through the liquid crystal molecules that make up the moving layer of the screen, which is sandwiched between clear glass panels. The currents can force the naturally twisted molecules to unwind or coil tighter, thereby changing the amount of light that can pass from the bulb behind the glass to the eye of the viewer. It may help you understand this process by imagining that light filters through an LCD screen the same way that sunlight filters through the leaves of a tree. Now, imagine that the tree is being blown in the wind, and you will see that the amount and placement of the light that comes through the leaves changes. This is very similar to the dynamic that powers an LCD screen, except that the sun is a small light bulb, the leaves are molecules of liquid crystal, and the wind is made up of electric currents sent by the computer and designed to create a specific light pattern that your eye will interpret as words or images.

Gray Rollins is a featured writer for BuyLCDScreens.com. To learn more about LCD monitors and for our LCD TV buying guide, visit us.

Most traditional antivirus programs rely on their database. Potentially hazardous files are matched against the database to see whether they are to be considered safe or not. Since a new virus can spread world wide within a few hours it can cause severe damage to your computer long before the manufacturer of the antivirus program identifies the virus and updates the database. You also need to go online to import the manufacturers’ database to you antivirus program, which means that your computer will be online totally unprotected. The new Panda Titanium Active Scan Anti Virus 2005 however, contains TruPrevent Technologies: a new system designed to protect your computer against unknown viruses and intruders.

Every now and then you can read about a new virus and the damage it causes. The millions of viruses cost companies each time they strike. It is however not only companies that are suffering from the damages caused by viruses. A virus can be just as damaging if not more for a private Internet user by destroying important documents, family pictures and everything else you keep on your computer. Therefore should no home computer be without a good virus protection software. This way you can protect your computer and yourself from losing data, corrupted hard drives and a number of other problems. There are several anti virus programs available of which some are free and some are not. You should however always remember that you might get what you paying for, meaning that the service and the updates might be better for the paid alternatives and thereby protect your computer better.

When using a virus program you should try to find one that is fast, reliable and able to discover as many viruses as possible. Whether it is fast or not might seem unimportant if you don’t use your computer that much, but you will find that an anti virus program that scans your computer faster will be used more frequently and thereby giving you a better protection. If an anti virus program should be effective when protecting your computer it needs to be able to recognise all viruses, and since new viruses are constantly created this means that the database for the program has to be constantly updated. You should therefore consider how often the different anti virus programs update their databases when choosing which antivirus program to get. You should always make sure to keep your virus program up-to-date.

One of the best anti virus programs on the market today is Panda Active Scan Anti Virus Software Online which has an unrivalled capacity for detecting viruses and other threats online which is the most common path for viruses to reach our computer. Almost all viruses today are spread through the Internet. Panda Titanium Active Scan Anti Virus 2005 is easy to install and once it is installed it finds and remove viruses automatically. Panda Titanium Active Scan Anti Virus 2005 also automatically updates itself if you want it to. In other words: Panda Anti Virus is an anti virus program that manages itself and makes sure that it is up to date and able to keep your computer safe from viruses. Panda Titanium Active Scan Anti Virus 2005 scans your entire computer, including the program itself, to make sure that a virus can’t infect any part of the computer. Panda Titanium Active Scan Anti Virus 2005 doesn’t just search for virus, it also search your computer for a number of other security risks like spy wares and Trojans.

Panda Titanium Active Scan Anti Virus 2005 contains TruPrevent Technologies. TruPrevent Technologies is a system designed to help Panda Anti Virus protect your computer against unknown viruses and intruders. The user can choose whether they want to use TruPrevent Technologies or not. The technology has been implemented to allow Panda Anti Virus to protect your computer against new virus since a new virus can spread world wide within a few hours. The TruPrevent Technologies allows Panda Anti Virus to detect and block viruses even if they are not yet included in the virus database. This allows Panda Titanium Active Scan Anti Virus 2005 to keep your computer safe against all viruses and not only the ones that are already identified, since you might encounter a new virus despite the fact that Panda updates their database at least once a day. Old anti virus programs - and most of the modern anti virus programs as well - can only protect you against already identified viruses. The ability to protect against unknown viruses is what Panda Titanium Active Scan Anti Virus 2005 a superior choice for an anti virus program.

Panda Titanium Active Scan Anti Virus 2005 does not only offer superior security and very user friendly functionality. It also comes with tech support where experts answer any questions that might arise.

All personal computers should have virus protection since you otherwise risk losing important document, family pictures etcetera and if you are looking for user friendliness and a superior security Panda Titanium Active Scan Anti Virus 2005 is your best choice.

You can get panda antivirus at support cave.

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“Companies run on information, not data.”
- Bryce’s Law

INTRODUCTION

I have been doing a lot of reading lately regarding the latest fads in the industry, particularly in the area of “Agile Methodologies,” “Business Rules,” “Information Architecture,” and “Enterprise Architecture.” There is a considerable amount of material to wade through. Of interest, I have noticed all stress the importance of requirements and warn of the consequences if they are not defined properly. This sounds nice, but I found them all to be very evasive in terms of describing the inherent properties of information and how to document them. I guess this shouldn’t come as a surprise as the industry for years has been wallowing in how to define information requirements.

Many think it is nothing more than a set of data or output specifications; others see it as nothing more than a programming spec. Rarely, does anyone want to take the time to truly understand information requirements and prefer, instead, to get down to the business of programming where they feel more comfortable. It should, therefore, not come as a surprise that requirements definition is left to the interpretation of the individual. Inevitably, this leads to inconsistencies and errors. For something that is supposed to be so critical for success, information requirements definition is too often taken for granted.

Let’s see if we can clear this up by describing the characteristics of information and end with a definition. This may all seem very elementary, but the problem of requirements definition is very real. Perhaps a simple description of the properties of information may provide the insight needed to adequately perform this vital task.

CHARACTERISTICS

First, information is not synonymous with data. Data represents the facts and events of a business consisting of primary values (such as “Customer Number,” “Unit Price,” “Name,” etc.) and generated values (”Percent Complete,” “Net Profit,” “Total Ordered,” etc.). By itself, data is meaningless. It is only
when it is put into a specific context, at a specific point of time, and delivered to a specific human-being, does data transform into information. From this perspective, let’s consider the fundamental characteristics of information:

A. Information supports actions and/or business decisions.

This is a critical characteristic that is vital to define. If an action and/or business decision cannot be made from the data presented, it is not information, it is just raw data. In this world of application development there is a tendency to produce too much data and not enough information.

During my “PRIDE” classes I usually illustrate this point by describing a “bookmaker” or “bookie” (slang for someone who accepts wagers on sporting events). Among the bookie’s actions/decisions include paying off bets, and collecting on
bets. Using a blackboard, I would write down the following scores:

6
5

4
3

I would then ask the students to play the role of a bookie and asked them if what I wrote on the blackboard could support their actions and decisions. Of course they said, No, that they needed more data; to which I wrote down:

New York - 6
Chicago - 5

Cincinnati - 4
Los Angeles - 3

Still not satisfied, they wanted to know what sport I was describing; to which I added:

Sport: Baseball

New York - 6
Chicago - 5

Cincinnati - 4
Los Angeles - 3

Since a city can have more than one team, they also wanted the
team names.

Sport: Baseball

New York Yankees - 6
Chicago White Sox - 5

Cincinnati Reds - 4
Los Angeles Dodgers - 3

They also needed to know who the bettor was, so I added:

Sport: Baseball

New York Yankees - 6
Chicago White Sox - 5

Cincinnati Reds - 4
Los Angeles Dodgers - 3

Bettor:
John Doe - $30 - New York Yankees - Odds: 3:1
123 Main Street, Tel: 123/456-7890

They then said they had the information needed to fulfill their actions or decisions (e.g., they would pay $90 to John Doe for betting on the Yankees).

This example demonstrates two things; first, information is data that is arranged in a specific context, and; second, it is based on the actions and decisions to be supported. This means we must first have a clear understanding of the actions and/or decisions to be supported before we can determine the required data elements (primary or generated). This is an area commonly
overlooked in application development. If we cannot act on it, than it is not information, it is just raw data.

B. Information is a perishable commodity.

Information has value at a specific point in time. This is because we must make certain actions/decisions on a timely basis; e.g., daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, annually, or upon request. Using our example above, the bookie requires his
information daily; having it delivered weekly, monthly, or annually will not satisfactorily support his actions/decisions. It thereby becomes important to define “when” actions/decisions have to be made.

There are three attributes to timing:

Frequency - specifies how often the actions/decisions have to be made; e.g.,

4D - four times daily
1W - once a week
2Y - semiannually
R - Upon Request (anytime the user wants it)

Offset - specifies when the cycle should begin; e.g.,
8H - on the 8th hour (8:00am)
7D - on the seventh day (end of the week)
Note: There is no scheduled offset when the Frequency is “Upon Request”).

Response Time - specifies the maximum amount of time to deliver the information; e.g.,
5S - Five Seconds
1D - One Day
Note: This should not be confused as a measure of machine throughput.

These timing attributes will ultimately influence the design of the system and software. For example, if information is needed “Upon Request” with a five second response time, than in all likelihood it will be an “interactive” type of application. Conversely, a weekly process with a one hour response time will likely result in a “batch” process (maybe even a manual process).

C. Information is a consumable commodity.

Information is received, acted on, and life moves on. But there is little point in having information if it is not acted upon at the time it is received. It means actions/decisions will not be performed as required.

This brings up a point, information is consumed by human beings, not by machines. True, machines process data but only humans require information. I get into a lot of arguments over this concept. Let me see if I can clarify it. Let’s imagine a totally automated company (what I like to call a “company in a closet”) whereby customers interact with a computer through a network connection to place orders for a product or service that can be delivered electronically. The owner of the company is retired and spends most of his time playing golf and checks on his stocks and other investments. I contend the machine is just
processing data and will continue to do so until there is some sort of mechanical malfunction. However, under this scenario there is still a need for information by such people as:

• Customers who want to check prices, product/service availability, terms and conditions, order status, and to report problems.

• Vendors who offer upgrades or additional support.

• Government regulators who need to know about sales volumes and taxes.

• And the owner himself who needs to know about how his “company in a closet” is performing, thereby making decisions regarding modifications to the business.

Processing data is one thing, making business decisions and taking actions is something entirely different. Until such time as machines become true freethinking entities, they will only need data, not information.

D. Information is not stored, it is produced.

Information is produced and consumed as required. On the other hand, data can be stored and retrieved as required. We have long touted the concept that:

INFORMATION = DATA + PROCESSING

This simply means there are two basic variables in the production of information; data (the facts to be processed) and the process itself (the logic). Assuming this is correct, if the data remains the same, but we change the processing, then the
information will be changed. Conversely, if the processing remains the same, but we change the data, then the information will also be changed. This means it is important to manage the resources needed to produce information, which is the premise of Information Resource Management (IRM). If we can control the resources, we can manipulate them accordingly to suit the information needs of the business. Therefore, “Information Management” is a fallacious concept; we are not truly managing information as much as we are managing the resources needed
to produce it.

E. Information changes.

The actions/decisions of the business are greatly influenced by such things as:

• Customers and Vendors
• Government/political changes
• Economics and competition
• Market expansion/contraction

As an example, suppose the government decides to impose a new regulation on a company’s manufacturing process or institutes a trade embargo on a country the company does business in. Inevitably, this will cause a change in the actions/decisions of the business, thereby affecting information requirements.

Let’s also consider the affect new shipping methods might have on keeping the company competitive. Again, this will undoubtedly affect the company’s information requirements.

In a static world, information requirements would not change. The reality is we live in a dynamic world. The more we know about our external influences, the better we can adjust and adapt our information requirements.

F. Information is conveyed through outputs.

Media such as screens, printed reports, and audio/video represents the human interface by which information is transmitted. Hence, the temptation by a lot of developers to
think of outputs as the starting point for specifying information requirements. The business rationale for the information is much more important than physically how it will be delivered. If we do not understand the rationale for the information, we will inevitably make erroneous conclusions regarding the outputs. Also consider this, there is not necessarily a one-to-one relationship between information requirements and outputs. One information requirement may be implemented by multiple outputs,
and one output may be used to satisfy multiple information requirements.

Knowing the relationship between information requirements and outputs, existing screens, reports, etc. provide a convenient road map for documenting requirements. Simply ask the user what the business purpose of the output is and what he/she will do with the information (better yet, ask him/her what would happen if you took the output away).

A DEFINITION

Okay, now that we understand the characteristics of information, let’s try to devise a definition:

Information - the understanding or insight gained from the processing and/or analysis of data. Information is created as a result of the collection, processing and analysis of data in a prescribed manner. Information supports specific business related actions and decisions. The accuracy of information depends on the validity and completeness of the data and the processing logic used.

CONCLUSION

It is true that defining requirements is the Achilles heel of any development project, but a lot of people are vague or have different interpretations of what this means. In the “PRIDE” world, it means supplying the end-users with the necessary intelligence to support the actions/decisions of their end of the business. The more we know about the business, the better we can service it; see:

No. 77 - “Enterprise Decomposition” - May 29, 2006
http://www.phmainstreet.com/mba/ss060529.pdf

Concentrating on output specifications is nice but it doesn’t supersede the need for accurately defining information requirements. Frankly, users do not particularly care what physical form outputs come in; it is immaterial to them. All they are interested in is: Do they have the necessary information to support their actions/decisions; is it timely, and is it accurate?

It is fallacious to believe, “Users do not know what they want.” They may not know how it physically should look or be delivered, but they most definitely know what they want. You’re just not asking the right questions.

For more information on this subject, see:

No. 4 - “Defining Information Requirements” - Dec 27, 2004
http://www.phmainstreet.com/mba/ss041227.pdf

No. 29 - “Using Information Strategically” - June 20, 2005
http://www.phmainstreet.com/mba/ss050620.pdf

Tim Bryce is the Managing Director of M. Bryce & Associates (MBA) of Palm Harbor, Florida, a management consulting firm specializing in Information Resource Management (IRM). Mr. Bryce has over 30 years of experience in the field. He is available for training and consulting on an international basis. His corporate web page is at: http://www.phmainstreet.com/mba/ He can be contacted at: timb001@phmainstreet.com Copyright © 2006 MBA. All rights reserved.

How To Increase Psychic Accuracy
by Alan Tutt
http://www.KeysToPower.com

One of the faults that I find with many “professional” psychics is this, they are horribly inaccurate! They say things like “There’s something about the month of May for you, right?” or “I get a name like ‘Dan’ or ‘Dave’ or something with a ‘D’, do you know who that is?” or even “I see a small child around you, this could mean that you are going to have a child, or someone you know is going to have a child, or maybe they already do have a child, or maybe it means that you are going to start a new project.” Come on now, that could mean anything. And if it could mean anything, it really means nothing!

One reason that people accept these kinds of statements is that psychic perception has a very vague, mysterious quality about it. Very few people really know how psychic perceptions work. This was true about electricity for many years, and may even be true today although everyone I know personally has a good understanding of it. Another reason many people accept vague psychic readings is simply because they want to believe whatever they want to believe. For instance, the statement above about the small child. Someone may secretly be wanting to start a new project, so they will take the statement as confirmation that they should start the project.

There are other reasons that vague, unmeaningful statement end up being accepted. Personally, I’ve never accepted these kinds of statements, and I don’t see any reason that anyone else should accept them either. In the Keys To Power, I have tried to enable anyone to increase their psychic accuracy to the point where these kind of excuses aren’t necessary. There are a few techniques which allow you to increase your accuracy of perception to the point where you can give exact details.

There are actually several exercises and techniques which will do this for you. First of all, you will need to increase your perceptive abilities on the physical level. If you can accurately describe a physical object, then you will increase your abilities to accurately describe your perceptions on the psychic level. This is the first exercise in the Keys To Power - Step by Step course, which shows how important accurate perceptions are to the system.

You can measure the degree of your physical perceptive ability (and your ability to describe those perceptions) by writing down everything you can about an object. If you start with a simple object, like a fork or a pencil, you won’t have to fill a whole book describing the object. With a simple object, you should be able to fill a couple of pages of written notes about it, however. At least 50 to 100 different details about the object. A more complex object like a flower, or a piece of fruit, will give you enough details to fill a couple dozen pages minimum!

The next most important aspect of developing accuracy in psychic perceptions is your connection to that level of reality. The psychic level of reality has several different names depending on what tradition you come from. Some call it the astral level, others call it the spiritual level, and the term etheric level is also used. In the Keys To Power, I generally associate the psychic level and the astral level together, but since terminology is irrelevant, you can call it whatever you want. The important thing is to tap into it and be able to perceive what’s there.

And this can be the tricky part to anyone unfamiliar with such things. Part of the secret is to have an active imagination. Have you ever noticed that most psychics are those with highly active imaginations? True, there are some who don’t seem to fit this category, but not many. Besides, maybe these psychics are simply keeping their imaginations to themselves. I know that I’ve had a lot of bad experiences sharing my creativity, and consequently have kept it to myself for the most part. Unleashing creativity is the focus of the second lesson in the Keys To Power - Step by Step course.

One of the best ways to expand your creative vision is to simply take two items and try to imagine how one item can become more like the second, or how one can perform the functions of the other without changing shape, or even how the two objects can be combined into a single item. Spending several sessions working with this kind of exercise will open up your creativity immensely! Another method of expanding creativity is to do things that would normally be considered backwards or stupid. This is a technique used by many shamanistic cultures.

Spend a day walking backwards. Put salt in your coffee and sugar on your food. Wear your underwear on the outside of your clothes. Say goodbye when meeting someone and hello when leaving. Lay on the floor with your feet in a chair. Create your own language and use it for a day, speaking in no other language. If they don’t cart you off to the funny farm, you’ll gain a new perspective on the world. To a degree, this was one of the basic messages in the movie “Dead Poet’s Society”, to learn to see life in a new way, refuse to stay in the box, and live the way you want to live.

Now, take this new creative potential and imagine what the psychic level is like. Pretend that you see ghosts, pretend that you feel the Force, and pretend that you know everything. The more you pretend that you are perceiving the psychic reality, the more you communicate to your inner mind that you want to become conscious of these sensory channels. In truth, we all perceive the psychic realities as a matter of course, but we have programmed our inner mind to reject most of the information we get from these perceptions. Therefore, we must change that programming in order to activate our conscious psychic awareness.

These exercises alone will stimulate your psychic abilities like nothing else will. And the more open you are to the impressions you receive psychically, the more accurately you will be able to describe what you are perceiving, especially when you’ve practiced accurate descriptions on the physical level.

About the Author

Alan Tutt is the creator of the world-famous Keys To Power Mastery System, available at http://www.KeysToPower.com. Learn how to develop your psychic abilities and create the perfect life you want to live. Free mini-course available.

In this article we’re going to focus on the downside of getting an MCSE certification as far as what it will mean to the lifetime of your career.

Let’s be honest, Microsoft is the king of computer everything, from software to networking. Once upon a time Novell was the only real networking super power. Now Microsoft dominates the industry, though it is debatable as to whether or not they actually have the better product.

As a result, just about every company has a Microsoft network. Just the fact that this makes it easier to run your online applications, since most software is Windows based, makes it almost suicidal to go with anything else but Microsoft. Therefore, if you want to get a job at one of these companies, and believe me the competition is off the charts, you have to get MCSE certified.

Therein lies the rub.

See, the Microsoft network itself is far from stable. The truth is, every few years or so there are major changes in the operating system and everyone has to, literally, go back to school. Simply as a matter of being able to keep your network running, unless of course you stay with the old network, you have to get educated. If you choose not to, well, the problem you then face is that eventually the old network is no longer supported and you’re out of luck should anything go wrong. So upgrading is almost a must.

But what about the people who have to get certified? Most of them probably just did a few years back and some maybe even within the past few months. And now here they are with a brand new certification and suddenly it is going to be worthless in a very short time. So what happens is they have to go back to school again and get recertified.

What about the ones who just say, “The heck with it. I know enough to do my job. I can learn the new changes on my own.” Well, maybe they can. But what if they can’t? If they can’t and don’t get recertified here comes the next problem. Many companies just look for excuses to lay people off. What better excuse to get rid of an older employee who is making more money than a new kid who just recently got certified? In most cases the company will fire the old guy, telling him simply that it is because he didn’t get recertified, and hire this new kid right out of school, even though he may, in no way, be as capable of doing the job.

The point of all this is simply that if you want to be an MCSE then be prepared to go to school every few years for the rest of your life. Otherwise, at the very first opportunity you may very well find yourself losing your job to some new kid right out of school. Its just something to consider before you trek off into that land of no return called MCSE certification.

——————————————————-
Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to MCSE Certification
——————————————————-

When you’re getting started on your CCNA studies on your way to earning this certification, you’re swamped with network device types that you’re familiar with, but not quite sure how to use. Let’s look at these networking devices and their main purposes.

Hubs and repeaters operate at Layer One of the OSI model, and they have one main purpose - regenerating the electrical signal that Layer One technologies carry. This regeneration helps to avoid attenuation, the gradual weakening of a signal. Much like a radio signal, the electric signals that travel at Layer One gradually weaken as they travel across the wire. Hubs and repeaters both generate a “clean” copy of the signal.

While hubs and repeaters can be helpful, they do nothing as far as network segmentation is concerned. The first such device we encounter as we move up the OSI model is the switch. Operating at Layer 2, a switch creates multiple collision domains by default each switch port is considered its own little collision domain. If 12 PCs are connected to a Cisco switch, you have 12 separate collision domains.

Switches can be used to segment the network into smaller broadcast domains, but this is not a default behavior. Virtual LAN (VLAN) configuration segments the network into smaller broadcast domains, since a broadcast sent by a host in one VLAN is heard only by other devices in the same VLAN.

Routers operate at Layer 3 of the OSI model and segment a network into multiple broadcast domains by default. Routers do not forward broadcasts as switches do, making the router the only device of the four we’ve discussed today that create multiple broadcast domains by default.

Knowing what each of these devices can and cannot do is essential to passing the CCNA and becoming a great network administrator. Good luck to you in both of these goals!

Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage, home of free CCNP and CCNA tutorials, The Ultimate CCNA Study Package, and Ultimate CCNP Study Packages.
For a FREE copy of his latest e-books, “How To Pass The CCNA” and “How To Pass The CCNP”, just visit the website! You can also get FREE CCNA and CCNP exam questions every day! Pass the CCNP exam with The Bryant Advantage!