In telecommunication, the term network engineering has the following meanings:

1. In telephony, the discipline concerned with (a) determining internetworking service requirements for switched networks, and (b) developing and implementing hardware and software to meet them.

2. In computer science, the discipline of hardware and software engineering to accomplish the design goals of a computer network.

3. In radio communications, the discipline concerned with developing network topologies.

Source: from Federal Standard 1037C