Router meaning (what is it, concept and definition)

What is Router:

Router is a device that manages the data traffic that circulates in a computer network.

Router is an anglicism that means router or router. However, the use of the original term has spread in the computer world and is the one that prevails today.

A router manages the data flow of a local network or the internet, deciding to which IP address it will send the data packet, which contributes to all the computers that are part of the network sharing the same internet signal, either either through cable, ADSL, or Wifi.

Router Origin

From the beginning of the 1970s, extensive work began on a device that allowed a network of computers to share their data. The first antecedent was a creation for ARPANET devices, a network of the United States defense system.

In the following years, various initiatives of governmental, academic and private origin made their own advances, among which the first functional router, created by Xerox in 1974, stands out.

For their part, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Standford University simultaneously created in 1981, a multi-protocol router that worked with IP protocols, Apple Talk, Xerox protocols and others, allowing greater versatility. Although its use has become obsolete over time, it was an important precedent for the evolution of routers that we know today.

Currently, routers allow not only the redirection of data flow on a network, but also the connection to the internet and the encryption of information.

Components of a router

A router has internal and external components. Among the internal components are:

• CPU: it is the r outer processor, which allows the rest of the components of the device to start. Power supply: is the connection to the electrical energy source, necessary for its operation. ROM memory: diagnostic codes are permanently stored here. RAM memory: it is the data storage center. Flash memory: This is the place where the router's operating system is stored.

Of the external components, the following stand out:

• WAN connector: it is the access to the telephone connection. LAN connector: these are the connections between the router and the devices, so this is usually more than one connector. Antenna: a router can have one or more antennas, although in current models the Wi Fi connection is already incorporated. SC / APC connector: is the access to the fiber optic connection. LED indicators: they are used to indicate the status of the router (on, off, active connection, etc.).

Router types

Generally speaking, there are three main types of router :

SOHO routers (small office, home office)

They are the routers that are used in homes or small businesses to establish internet connections to a broadband service.

Enterprise routers

Its routing capacity will be greater, in order to satisfy the data demand of all the devices that are part of the business network. This involves multiple WAN interfaces and high-capacity memory.

Wireless routers

Unlike old routers, which only allow connections to fixed networks, wireless routers allow an interface between mobile and fixed connections, such as Wi-Fi, EDGE or GPRS networks, among others.