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This course was designed to provide students with an advanced level of knowledge about data and voice transmission and the technological infrastructure that makes it possible. This course is beneficial to both the information technology student looking for connections to data and the business and management student, looking to learn about local area networks and the data and voice communications needed for a business to operate. This course explores the concepts and purpose of information technology infrastructure and places emphasis on expanding the student’s knowledge of computer networks and data transmissions.

There are a number of different types of computer and data communication networks and the configuration of each type depends upon its purpose, location and load. Networks are connected in various ways, including a wide area network (WAN) to another WAN, a local area network (LAN) to another LAN, and connections between both WANs and LANs.

Network architecture and communication models are designed in layers. Different networking tasks occur at different layers and may involve hardware, software or both. The OSI Model is a reference model and has seven layers including physical, data link, network, transport, session, presentation and application. The Internet model (DOD model or TCP/IP model) has four layers: (network) interface, network, transport and application.

Textual data is transmitted between a sender and a receiver using a unique binary code for each character -- ASCII and EBCDIC are two different and important sets of binary or data codes used.

Course Objectives

• By the end of this course, students will be able to define basic computer network terminology, explain the layers of the OSI and Internet models, describe their duties and compare digital and analog data and signals. They will also know how to explain the concepts of convergence, signal strength and attenuation and describe basic digital encoding techniques.
• Students will analyze the functions of key components in information technology infrastructure and explain how data and signals transmit over various communication mediums. They will discuss the role the Internet plays in designing IT infrastructure and evaluate Wide Area Network (WAN) technologies.
• Participants will recommend network security and network management solutions, and plan an effective IT infrastructure based on the needs of an organization.