Networking provides a huge leap in productivity for the office environment. Information that was trapped on stand-alone computers can be shared along with other resources such as Internet access, printers and e-mail as well as connecting in real time with other computers and networks anywhere in the world. Networking can be a whole study in itself. For the purposes of this article however we will examine the basic structures and architectures along with typical devices you are likely to come across or need in your business environment. Again you do not need to know exactly how they work but a basic understanding of terminology and the basic blocks which create a network will provide you, the manager, with a greater ability to be able to understand solutions that may be put to you by your supplier or IT support.

This section will examine two main categories of networks applicable to the SME environment, Local Area Networks (LAN) and not as common in the SME environment, Wide Area Networks (WAN).

For the complete article see …     Networks