Why set up a network?

A rationale for using networks

Wherever more than a few computers are needed, a network is worth considering. There are many significant benefits to networking PCs, mainly related to convenience, communication and cost.

Device sharing

If you had six stand-alone computers that needed to print, you would need six printers. If you had one Internet connection only one computer could access the Internet.

Networking saves money by sharing expensive devices between computers. On a network, you can let any number of computers share a single resource such as an Internet connection, a printer or a download cache.

Sharing and licensing software

If you store a program on a networked file server you don't need to install it on every workstation. This saves a lot of installation time.

When licensing software for a network, pay close attention to the conditions of its use. Some licences let you install software on any number of computers, so long as the number of people using the software at a given time does not exceed the number of licences purchased. Some network operators run special software that ensures that only the legal number of users can run software concurrently. Other software licensing requires a licence for each computer onto which the software is installed.

There are usually special cheaper rates for licensing software for network use.

It is wise to obey licensing conditions: organisations can be seriously embarrassed and fined for using software illegally.

Sharing information

The main attraction of networking is the sharing of an Internet connection so it can be used by several local computers to access websites or files.

With networking, you can set up an Intranet - a local version of the Internet - so information can be shared between all network users without the fear that outsiders can see it.

Many larger organisations have networked calendars for their staff. People can check their colleagues' appointments online so they can book meetings. It may sound boring, but it's better than running to a colleague's office every fifteen minutes on an urgent matter only to find they are still in a meeting, or on the phone.

Communications - messaging, email, ecommerce, chat, videoconferencing

Communication is the lifeblood of any organisation. No organisation can ever be too efficient with communication, and networks are great for communication. This is the focus of the next section of this chapter.

See more on what a LAN can do for an organisation - LAN resources

Types of resources found on a typical LAN

Networks offer many resources and services for all users.

Shared equipment

High quality printers and photocopiers are often designed to connect directly to a network and all authorised users can share the equipment. A job sent by a user is put into a queue to be handled by the equipment in its turn.

Internet

An organisation can have one connection to the Internet that is shared by all network users. Since it is common for several users to download the same material from the Internet, a common service on networks is a proxy server that caches (stores) recent downloads. If another user requests the same download, the proxy server provides the file from its storage rather than downloading it again.

Centralised file saving

Workers are often moving from place to place at work. If they saved their documents to a hard disk on one workstation, they would not be able to load them at another workstation. By saving files to their home directories on the file server, workers can load their documents on any networked computer.

Centralised virus scanning

Most file servers run virus scanners constantly to detect and take care of viruses introduced by any user on any computer.

Intranet

An Intranet is like a local internet. It is not available outside the organisation's network, so it can be used to publish "in house" material such as meeting schedules, sensitive documents about projects, and internal "housekeeping" issues. The intranet files are normal web pages and are read by standard web browsers. The main difference is that the files are stored on a local file server rather than a public web server.

Voice over IP, media streaming

Rather than have one set of cables around a building for the network, another set for the phone system, and another set carrying video, many organisations are now combining their phone and audio-visual systems into their network so phone calls and videos are digitised and transmitted like files.

More on Voice Over IP (VoIP)

Software deployment

Instead of visiting hundreds of workstations in person, network technicians can install or upgrade software from a central location across the network by "broadcasting" the changes. It saves time and money and, since the task is done just once, fewer errors are likely to be made.

Centralised backups

High-capacity tape devices in the file server back up all users' work, usually every night. In case of system failure (or worker failure), lost work can be recovered quickly and easily.

CD towers / CD image sharing

A CD tower is a specialised server that contains many CD-ROM drives that it can use to deliver CD-ROM data across the network as if the user had a CD-ROM drive in their own computer; but it is cheaper to use a CD tower than it is to buy a CD-ROM drive for every workstation. A 'virtual' CD server can be used to copy entire CDs to a hard disk and send the data when requested. The number of different CDs that can be served is only restricted by the size of the server's hard disk.