Describe how home and business users use networks to facilitate communications, share hardware, share data and information, share software, and transfer funds.

Question

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Answer 1

Facilitate communications. Using a network, people communicate efficiently and easily via email, Internet messaging, chat rooms, blogs, wikis, online social networks, video calls, online meetings, videoconferences, VoIP, text messaging, and more. Some of these communications occur within an internal network. Other times, they occur globally over the Internet.•Share hardware. Each computer or device on a network can be provided access to hardware on the network. For example, each computer and mobile device user can access a printer on the network, as they need it. Thus, home and business users create networks to save money on hardware expenses.•Share data and information. Any authorized user can access data and information stored on a network. A large company, for example, might have a database of customer information. Any authorized employee can access the database using a computer or mobile device connected to the network. Most businesses use a standard, such as EDI (electronic data interchange), that defines how business documents travel across transmission media. For example, businesses use EDI to send bids and proposals, place and track orders, and send invoices.•Share software. Users connected to a network can access software on the network. To support multiple users' software access, vendors often sell versions of their software designed to run on a network or as a web app on the Internet. These network and Internet subscription versions usually cost less than buying individual copies of the software for each computer. The license fees for these programs typically are based on the number of users or the number of computers or mobile devices attached to the network.•Transfer funds.Electronic funds transfer (EFT) allows users connected to a network to exchange money from one account to another via transmission media. Both businesses and consumers use EFT. Examples include wire transfers, use of credit cards and debit cards, direct deposit of funds into bank accounts, online banking, and online bill payment.