A computer or electronic network is a network comprising a plurality of interconnected data processing nodes, e.g., computers, arranged such that the computers can share information with one another. A computer network may be classified by various characteristics, such as the media used to transmit signals, the communications protocols used to organize network traffic, network scale, network topology, benefits, and organizational scope. Of course, the most widely known and used network is the Internet, which has enabled a global system of interconnected computer networks, that use the standard Internet protocol suite, namely Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) to serve billions of users worldwide. The Internet can be considered a network of networks that comprises millions of private, public, academic, business, and government networks, of local to global scope, that are linked by a broad array of electronic, wireless and optical networking technologies. The Internet carries an extensive range of information resources and services, such as inter-linked hypertext documents of the World Wide Web (WWW) and the infrastructure to support email, among others.
A substantial amount of electronic hardware is needed to enable such extensive connectivity. That hardware comprises, among other things, physical cabling including copper and fiber optic cable, network interface cards, and thousands and thousands of, e.g., routers and switches, among other hardware devices (hereinafter “equipment”) that are responsible for directing packet data from virtually any given source to virtually any given destination around the globe or within a home network.