Your source for the most up-to-date terms, definitions, and acronyms for and about internet service providers.
Search for an ISP term
star network
Last modified: Monday, August 05, 2002
A local-area network (LAN) that uses a star topology in which all nodes are connected to a central computer. The main advantages of a star network is that one malfunctioning node doesn't affect the rest of the network, and it's easy to add and remove nodes. The main disadvantage of star networks is that they require more cabling than other topologies, such as a bus or ring networks. In addition, if the central computer fails, the entire network becomes unusable.
Standard twisted-pair Ethernet uses a star topology.
