Advantages of Networks
Cables, switches and setup cost money. So why does every school, bank and office bother? Because of what a network lets many people do together. Each advantage below is one kind of sharing.
Pick an advantage and watch it happen. Then switch the network off and count the cost.
11 · Sharing hardware
A lab of forty computers does not need forty printers. With a network, one printer, one scanner or one big hard disk can be used by every computer. Sharing devices like this is called resource sharing.
22 · Sharing files and software
Your teacher puts a worksheet on the school server once, and the whole class opens it. Nobody carries a pen drive from desk to desk, and nobody works from an old copy — there is only one copy, kept in one place. Some software can be shared the same way, installed once on a server.
33 · Sharing one internet connection
A school buys one internet connection. The network carries it to every computer, phone and laptop in the building. That is also exactly what your home Wi-Fi does for your family.
44 · Communication
Email, chat, video calls and online classes all need a network. A message reaches another city in about a second — faster than you could walk across the room.
55 · Backup and reliability
When work is saved to a server, a copy exists away from your desk. If your computer breaks, the file is still safe, and you can open it from any other computer on the network. A network can also keep copies of important data in more than one place, so one failure does not lose it.
66 · Lower cost
Put the first five together and you get the sixth. Buying one printer, one connection and one copy of the software for a whole building costs far less than buying one for every desk. Switch the lab above to Without a network and count.
7And the disadvantages
A fair answer names the problems too:
Connected computers can be reached by others — including people trying to steal data.
A virus on one computer can travel over the network to all the others.
Cables, switches, servers — and someone who knows how to look after them.
If the server or the main switch fails, everyone who depends on it stops together.
8Recap
| Advantage | What it means |
|---|---|
| Resource sharing | One printer, scanner or disk used by everyone |
| File & software sharing | One copy in one place, opened by all |
| Shared internet | One connection for the whole building |
| Communication | Email, chat, video calls — in seconds |
| Backup & reliability | Copies kept safely away from your desk |
| Lower cost | Buy once, share it |
A school lab uses one printer for all thirty computers. Which advantage of networking is this?
Which of these is a disadvantage of a computer network?
Riya's laptop breaks, but her project is safe because she saved it to the school server. Which advantage helped her?