Week 2: The Evolution of Network Topology


The network topology refers to the physical and logical structure of a network. It involves the physical wire setup and the placement of the equipment. Over the years, there has been a lot of evolution regarding network topology, such as bus, star, ring, and other types of topologies. This blog post will explore different types of topologies and their evolution. 


Bus and Ring Topology 

The bus and Ring topology were the first generation of wired networks. The bus topology uses a single wire cable connected to all the computers in a line like a bus.  On the other hand, ring topology works with a single wire as well but circularly, like a ring. The problem with both topologies is that if the wires get disconnected, it affects all the computers instead of one. 

Star Topology 

The solution to Bus and Ring was the Star Topology. Unlike the previous Topology, the network wire is connected to the hub or switch in a star topology. The advantage of the star is that even if one of the systems is down, the rest will be operational since they don’t share the same wire. 

Hybrid Topology 

Star topology was complicated to apply to their existing topology, but the benefit of star topology wasn’t something they could avoid. After that, network engineers used their brains and devised a way to turn it into hybrid topology. 

They shrink the bus and ring respectively into a small box like a switch and distribute the wired connection to the individual computers. To explain in a simple term, they made a ring-like connection inside the switch and attached it to one wire connected to multiple wires going toward the computer. 

Mesh Topology 

Mesh topology is mainly designed for wireless devices. It will share data using radio waves with the help of routers rather than wires. There are two types of mesh topology: partial and full. In partial, not all the computers are connected to each other. In fully meshed, all the computers are connected to each other.



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