One of the annoying things about breaking up with your boyfriend of many years is the process of moving on and being able to do things yourself again. There are certain things in my experience that I could have done without, but many things that I could have really used to help me on my daily life. Such is the sad notion of splitting with someone who was a computer genius and would always take care of my home technology system; however, this is the only thing I will miss of him as I do wish I had taken more notice of what he used to do.

Nevertheless, moving on is exciting and I soon learnt how to use a computer properly. It turned out that it was not as bad as one would think it to be. I decided that it was time that I begin learning about all things technological, considering I would be attached to my computer for a long time. I got a little carried away and came across terms like server racks, connectors, switches and patch panels. I never knew what any of these terms meant and decided to put my brain into use by researching this topic of networking.

Not everybody are technologically astute, even though I have been using my home computer for many years, I still need help in setting up the network connection between multiple computers. However, patch panels alone are an important and vital piece of equipment in the world of electrical and communication systems. You may or may not have heard of these, but I will try to give you a clear picture of what it would look to the nonprofessional.

Imagine a grainy film of the 1940's, possibly during the Second World War and seeing the telephone switchboards. Back then, telephone calls were transferred from switching one wire from one connector and connecting it onto another socket. This method was known as 'patching through', which is putting the call through to the other person. These were the earliest forms of patch panels used for communication connections and have since developed into becoming a useful data-transferring device.

At this point one may be thinking how any of this is relevant to them. The point is that patch panels are good for connecting computers together for something called a LAN (Local Area Network). These are great for having people all networked together to transfer data, share files and best of all play games against each other (a great way of getting over the old ex!). These are important for connecting the computer to a network and onto the internet; hence it is good to be knowledgeable.

Note that this is a manual process of interconnecting cables, so you as the user would need to plug and unplug the cables keeping you in control of all of the connections. Of course, we no longer see these cables for connecting phone calls, but new alternatives and devices are still readily used today for communication networking. These are even used in music recording studios, broadcasting studios, telephone connections, computers, audio and video production studios, and other communication studios.

These are extremely cost effective and cheaper than most switching equipments. These also have a good power failing protector, which is handy for keeping this running smoothly and without losing any valuable information. They have also made available wireless patch panels, which works by switching connections simply by using a switch!

Maybe the best way to show you are doing well in getting over your ex, is by showing off your knowledge on how to network computers together and talk about patch panels. It works like a charm!