Home and Small Office Solutions
Networking
A network is two or more computers connected together for the purpose of communicating with each other. The reasons for networking include sharing printers, scanners, files, and, of course, an Internet connection. The Internet itself is a really big network.
The benefits of networking in an office environment are obvious, but now many homes have multiple computers and can also benefit from being networked.
Home or office, wired or wireless, we can get you connected and keep you connected.
Wired or Wireless?
Depending on your circumstances the answer could be either, or both! After evaluating your needs part of our job is to help you make the best choice.
A wired network is often the better choice for desktop computers, especially in an office environment. Wired systems support faster data transfers, are very reliable, are inherently secure, and are not prone to interference or fluctuations in available bandwidth, as wireless networks can be.
Wireless networking has steadily gained in popularity as it has become faster and cheaper. It's especially useful with laptop computers to provide mobility, and also where installation of wiring might be difficult. Two issues with wireless networks are range and security, but with proper design and setup both of these can be dealt with.
Wired and Wireless: The Best of Both Worlds
With both wired and wireless users on the same network you can pick and choose which users take advantage of which technology. This is often a great choice with "wired" desktops and printers and "wireless" laptops.
Sharing Resources
Once you have a LAN (see sidebar to the right) in your home or office then it can be put to use. Often the first order of business is to set up a shared Internet connection, usually with a router. A routers function is to connect two networks, in this case yours and the Internet.
A home or small office network is also a way for you to use other computers or equipment attached to them without actually being at those computers. Sharing common resources allows users to print from a single printer, access information in shared folders, and open a file stored on another computer.
Network storage/backup drives and inter-office messaging are also possible with a network.
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