What are the advantages and disadvantages For B.m.c.s in using a LAN rather than separate P.c's?

Rachel Moss

What are the advantages and disadvantages

For B.m.c.s in using a LAN rather than separate P.c’s?

There are many advantages and disadvantages to using a Local area network rather than separate p.c’s, I my report I aim to identify why schools and other originations use a local area network rather than separate P.c’s.

A LAN is used in school to connect all pc’s to the main server, which then can connect, for example pc 1 to pc 10,

No communication lines are needed to create the LAN as cabling is used, the cabling used to connect the pc’s are coaxial cables or fibre optic cables. Mainly Coaxial cables are used in one building that won’t experience much interference, as they are relatively cheap when compared to the other alternative. Fibre optic cabling is used when the LAN may experience interference such as over a car park or public road.

The advantages of using a LAN rather than having separate stand-alone computers in school are that:

There are no expensive telephone bills due to not using telecommunication lines to link the computers together.
Hardware devices such as printers and scanners are shared which saves a large amount of money.
Software only has to be brought once but the school or organisation must hold a licence to run it on more than one computer.

This saves a large amount of money as to buy software for each computer in the school would result in unpractical costs.

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The advantages of using a LAN rather than having separate stand-alone computers in school are that:

There are no expensive telephone bills due to not using telecommunication lines to link the computers together.
Hardware devices such as printers and scanners are shared which saves a large amount of money.
Software only has to be brought once but the school or organisation must hold a licence to run it on more than one computer.

This saves a large amount of money as to buy software for each computer in the school would result in unpractical costs.

Files can be shared between users easily between users.
Security is higher on a LAN networked computer as users can’t see other users personal files unless they hack. Where as on a stand alone PC users are able to see others files.
Backing up files is also easier as all users data once it has been saved to the server can be easily backed up as all data is in the same place.

There are also disadvantages of using a LAN rather than stand alone computers as :

The cost of purchasing the network cabling, server, fitting the network and software licence is high but is relatively cheap when compared to buying each stand-alone computer and software.
Managing the network requires a network manager due to the large number of tasks and problems that can occur in a network.
If the server breaks down the entire network of computers break down which can have immense problems on users and files.
Viruses can easily be spread by users onto the network, which if they affect the file server can cause expensive damage.

In conclusion the use of a LAN network in a school is better than using stand alone computers as the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

Over all the user (pupils and teachers?) receive the most advantages of using a computer connected to the LAN network as

Users can log onto any computer in the school and have all their files even though they are on a different computer to the one they created the file on.
Users have security to there files unless they tell some one there password
Documents can be printed to different quality printers. Users can choose!
Users can email each other.

Stand-alone computers have their advantages but in the situation of a school a LAN network is best suited to the situation.