ABSTRACT
The solution for connecting large numbers of devices is to connect all the devices using a “network,” rather than point-to-point connections. In a network, we use a simplified (compared to point-topoint) physical infrastructure that still allows each device to have access to all the others (see figure at left). Connections between devices then simply become virtual pathways, and the resulting system can be dramatically cheaper, more powerful, simpler overall, and far easier to manage. Any device connected by the network is called a “node”; if the node is a computer that actually has data to communicate, it may be referred to as a “host.”
