ICT in Product Manufacture ISDN, LAN, WAN, Intranets and extranets, global networks

ISDN and Broadband Integrated Services Data Network (ISDN) Integrated Services Data Network (ISDN) allows multiple digital channels to be operated simultaneously through the same regular telephone wiring used for analogue lines. Speeds above 5 Mbs are now available to whole supply chains. Broadband allows sending faxes, s, video- conferencing and phone calls all at the same time down a standard phone line. High speeds allow sending whole films and very large CAD files.

Broadband Most recently, ISDN services have largely been displaced by broadband Internet service, such as cable modem services. These services are faster, less expensive and easier to set up and maintain than ISDN. Broadband technologies offer the possibility of extending a product visualisation right into the customer's home through the electronic equivalents of mail order or catalogue shopping. This kind of selling is often referred to as e- marketing and it is commonly found on the Internet and digital television channels. Japan Mb/s5.41 Mb/s Sweden 7.92 Mb/s2.67 Mb/s Latvia 6.73 Mb/s2.56 Mb/s Romania 6.26 Mb/s2.94 Mb/s Lithuania 5.49 Mb/s3.45 Mb/s

Local Area Networks (LAN) Local area networks (LAN) are closed networks used for sharing data within an organisation. For example, a LAN can be used to communicate manufacturing data from the design office directly to CNC manufacturing equipment within the same building. E.g. many schools and most organisations.

Wide Area Networks (WAN) A wide area network allows data to be transferred globally using existing digital telephone systems. This can be costly as they require dedicated equipment and software. Many companies are now using the global network provided by the Internet as it is easier to access through standard Internet service providers (ISPs).

Intranets and Extranets Intranets use web- based systems to set up local networks that can be password protected. 'Firewalls' prevent unauthorised access to the site. Extranets are used to share data via the Internet, but they are much less expensive to set up compared with a WAN. An extranet is used to share data with business partners and customers using the Intranet. Subscription services provide access to the 'expert' knowledge which is protected from unauthorised access.

Global Networks (the Internet) The Internet is the international computer network linking thousands of individual networks. The World Wide Web (www) is collection of interconnected documents and files, such as web sites, accessible through the internet. Web sites are held on Internet servers that communicate through radio, cable and satellite. Features of the Internet and the World Wide Web include: ISPs – Internet Service Providers (e.g. Demon, BT Internet, Virgin) - companies that provide access to the Internet. Browsers – such as Netscape, AOL or MS Explorer make it easier to use and navigate the web. Search engines such as Yahoo, Ask Jeeves or Google to find information. Each website has a unique address called a URL (universal resource locator). Web pages are written with HTML (Hypertext Mark-up Language) that supports links to other web pages, graphics, audio and video files. SHTML is used for on-line banking and secure data exchange as in “Class Server”.

Hyperlinks Hyperlinks, such as buttons or onscreen ‘hotspots’ allow the user to jump quickly from one website to another. This is a hyperlink. Click it and it will take you to a different place that makes mental tools to help web designers visualise the links in a network

Advantages of using the Internet: An easily accessible means of sharing ideas at a relatively low cost. (257) A medium for communicating with customers. Seeing what the other designers or manufacturers are producing. A large and readily accessible online source of product information and design data, material specifications and catalogues of parts and components. On line reference of commercial data such as marketing trends.

Our traditional search engines find around one billion documents. Altogether there are 550 billion documents in the Internet iceberg. In the concealed network a response is only obtained if a direct question is asked. Special search engines are used for that purpose. It is with these tools that terrorists and other criminals can gather information in the concealed network. It is here that society and companies have stored their sensitive information.

Disadvantages of using the Internet: Information might not always be correct as there is no control on information that can be put into the web. Fraud and identity theft crimes. Industrial espionage and hackers. Vulnerable to viruses, trojans and electronic warfare. Interruptions to power supplies such as lightning, floods etc.