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The CTC Data Communications Network
INTRODUCTION
Central Texas College has more than 1,500 computers available to its students, faculty, and staff. At any given time of the day or night, a computer user may use any computer on campus to send email, deliver a report, or conduct research over the Internet. This is possible because all these computers are networked together and to the Internet. Networking is a system that allows one computer to send information to and receive information from another computer or peripheral. It can occur between two computers next to each other or between two computers located on either side of the planet.
The purpose of this guide is to help you to understand how data travels between networked computers and the Internet and to give you a better understanding how the CTC data communications network works. This guide has four sections and subsections. If you want to advance to a certain section, click the highlighted section or subsection title. This guide will assume that you understand some of the basics of computers and Internet usage. Throughout this guide, you will come across underlined words. These words are hyperlinked to a glossary in Appendix 2 at the end of this guide. If you wish to read the definition click the highlighted word.
