Local Area Networks or LAN's

A Local Area Network, or LAN, is a group of computers, printers and other components that are connected by some hardware source, be it wire, fiber, or radio waves. A typical LAN consists of a server, which is a central data repository and a printer/other peripheral sharer, the physical connections to the computers, and the clients or workstations.

What can a LAN do for you?
A LAN can make your business more productive in just a few months. This is based on these three primary factors:

First, you'll see an increase in personal productivity. When your office is connected, your people are too. So everyone has quicker, more convenient access to the resources you need. Also, with only one DSL or Cable line employees can connect to the Internet concurrently at high speeds to conduct research and exchange information available around the world. Being connected means there's no more running around trading floppy or Zip disks, waiting to print at a designated printer, waiting for someone to disconnect from the Internet so you can connect or having to use someone else's computer to access a database.

Second, a LAN trims your communication budget. Exchanging information electronically can reduce paper, postage and overnight delivery fees. You can also lower phone bills with automatic faxing during off-peak hours. If you are linked to the Internet, your whole office can share a single Internet connection instead of paying monthly individual accounts.

And third, networking saves you money by letting you defer expensive equipment purchases. You won't have to buy that extra printer, Zip drive or tape backup when it's so easy to share what you already got.

Is your company ready for a LAN?
Do you have three or more computers?
Do more than three of your employees share one printer?
Does your company have, or plan to have broadband (DSL, T1 or Cable) Internet access?
Do your employees frequently need access to customer records, inventory or financial information?
Do your employees work regularly with large or graphic-intensive files?
Even one yes means your company is ready for a LAN.
Types of LAN's

LAN's can be cataloged in two basic groups:
Peer-to-peer LAN's: This kind of LAN's offers the ability to share workstation devices such as printers, and access disk drives on other workstations. This type of LAN is very easy and inexpensive to set up and maintain. However, its use in the corporate world is limited because of lack of security and fault tolerance. Examples are Windows 95, 98, NT and Windows 2000 Professional.

Client-server LAN's: Although more expensive to set up and maintain, this kind of LAN offers the most feature-intensive type of network with very reliable centralized file sharing and storage, security, fault tolerance as well as resource utilization. Examples are Windows 2000 Server, Windows NT Server, UNIX and Novell.

How do I plan a LAN?
Perhaps the most important issue in planning for a LAN is to keep in mind the growth of your organization. Growth in most organizations is inevitable, and in many, desired. Planning for a LAN that only meets your needs today is self-defeating in that you will have management and usage complications if you outgrow the Local Area Network. Keep in mind, however, that staged implementations of a LAN are desired and can provide means to spread the cost over several months or years. A phased implementation plan also allows you to grow with the LAN adding new components and parts as you master the old ones.

Regardless of the methods used for installing a LAN at your site, planning must incorporate as a minimum, the following components:

Type of existing equipment
Current applications
Current hardware and software usage
Goals of the LAN
Budget
Training & support
Additionally, depending on the situation, you may need to also consider:

Connections to other Local Area Network systems
Communication Protocol (We strongly suggest TCP/IP)
Availability of hardware/software
Any local standards (i.e., in a college/large corporation environment)
Availability of technical assistance