5 -14 Beyond Level E - Uses of IT

In this section, we will look at the way in which computers and IT are used in communications.
This section will be concerned with:

Satellite Communications

and

Electronic Mail

Introduction

Communications is an important use of computers and information technology. Whenever computers are connected together, we can send electronic mail and other types of computer data around a school, an office or the world.

Electonic Mail

If you have a local area network within an office, a school or a university, then all the registered users of the network can send electronic mail messages to each other.

One user will send a message to second user. This message will be stored on the file server (or sometimes a special mail server). When the second user logs on to the network then the system will inform them that they have electronic mail waiting for them.

Each registered network user must have a unique e-mail address.

If you have access to a wide area network such as the INTERNET, the you can send electronic mail to anyone, anywhere in the world, provided that they have an electronic mail address.

The advantages of electronic mail are:-

• the speed of transmission - it is much faster then using the ordinary postal system (sometimes referred to a snail mail!)

• if you try to contact someone using the telephone, they may not be there - the e-mail message is stored for them until they next use their computer system.

• it allows business people on business trips to keep in touch with the office no matter what time of day it is

Electronic mail is an important part of INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS. It allows people to keep in contact even although they are working in different parts of the world, travelling around a great deal or working in different time zones.

Satellite Communications