When you send information across the Internet, the Transmission Control Protocol/ Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)the language computers use when communicating over the Internet first breaks the information up into packets, smaller blocks of information that also contain a variety of data that helps the packets travel across the Internet.
The packets travel through many of networks, computers, and communications lines before they reach their final destinations. A variety of hardware processes those packets and routes them to their proper destinations.
Five of the most important pieces of hardware are hubs, bridges, gateways, repeaters, and routers.
Hubs are important because they link groups of computers to one another and let computers communicate with each other.
Bridges link local area networks (LANs) with one another. They enable data destined for another LAN to be sent there, while keeping local data inside its own network.
Gateways are similar to bridges, but they also translate data from one type of network to another.
When data travels across the Internet, it often crosses great distances, which can be a problem because the signal sending the data can weaken over the distance. To solve the problem, repeaters amplify the data at intervals so the signal doesn t weaken.
Routers play a key role in managing Internet traffic. Their job is to ensure the packets always arrive at the proper destination. If data is being transferred among computers that are on the same LAN, routers often aren t necessary because the network itself can handle its internal traffic. Routers come into play when the data is sent between two different networks. Routers examine packets to determine their destinations. They take into account the volume of activity on the Internet, and they send the packet to another router that is closer to the packet s final destination.