Tag Archives: networking

IT Managed Services: Securing the Reliability of a Provider

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Outsourcing for IT processes is a common decision among organizations these days. Managed network monitoring has various benefits when supplied by a provider who focuses on the best interest of a client. These services include setup assistance, resource monitoring, security, and maintenance. Companies have a hard time deciding on outsource networking to providers of IT managed services. This is because a network is the driving force behind business processes. If the network goes down, processes are put at a halt making it impossible for daily activities to be carried out. Companies worry about downtime when considering outsourcing services for essential technology components. Having all necessary employees onsite may not always supply the desired effectiveness. Technical staffs are often required to perform various duties unrelated to the monitoring or maintenance of systems. Lack of experience, overextended responsibilities, and reduced availability all become problems with an internal networking staff. Outsourcing provides the highest level of experience, full time monitoring, and routine maintenance. A reliable provider not only reduces costs but can also minimize downtime of critical systems.

IT Network Consultants: Start With a Sound Contract for Better Results

IT network consultants work for any sized business but offer significant benefits to companies who do not have the money or time to find this same experience on their own. Network services offer dependable data protection, increased specialization, significant cost reductions, enhanced performance, and follow the best practices in regards to business requirements. The fear often comes from giving control to an outside company. Owners worry they will lose the flexibility provided by an in house staff and will not be able to customize their setup as needed. Coordination issues, fragmented services, and vendor complications are a viable concern which can be avoided by choosing the right provider upfront. Contracts associated with management services are also scary to business owners. These issues make it very difficult for a business to make the jump to outside networking assistance; however, a little precaution during provider selection can remedy these fears. Providers assist with hardware additions, connectivity, license expirations, installations, traffic management, and security.

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Wireless Computing

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So what exactly is wireless computer networking? Wireless computer networking provides a wireless hub facility which makes use of radio waves to sustain open communication channels between computers, from 2 computers to probably a dozen or even more computers. Wireless networks are modern innovations offering a far better alternative to wired networking, which relies on copper and, or fiber optic cabling for communication to take place between computers. So in essence, wireless networks basically refer to any type of computer network connection that does not rely on cables or wires of any kind.

With wireless networks, homes, businesses and even telecommunications enterprises avoid the expensive process of introducing cables into buildings for connection purposes. Main advantages that should be noted with the use of wireless networks are the mobility and also the elimination of multiple wires. However, despite these two, wireless computing offers some disadvantages key among them being the interference of radio waves by changing weather and walls. Despite these downsides, the potential that can be gained from wireless computing is vast and as such, the use of wireless networks is fast gaining popularity all over.

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Types of Network Topologies

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The physical layout of how computers are connected on a network is known as its topology. No matter how small or large the network, it will conform to one or a combination of the standard networking topologies.

Networks are rarely found in the exact physical layout as what the topology describes and quite often will refer to more of its virtual shape or structure. Regardless, networks can be categorized into one of the basic types.

  1. Bus topology. Computers connected in this topology share a single cable commonly referred to as a backbone. Bus networks work best with a limited number of devices, with each tapping into the cable and broadcasts data for all devices to see it. Only the recipient can actually accept the message. If the cable breaks on a bus topology network, the entire network becomes unusable. With advancements in modern technology, bus networks have become obsolete.

  1. Ring topology. Sometimes called a token passing ring, this topology uses a cable that forms a loop. All messages on this type of network travel either clockwise or counter-clockwise and must pass through each device connected. A failure of either a device or cable can result in the entire network becoming unusable.

  1. Star topology. A star network is the most common form of network used today. Devices connected in this topology use a special device such as a hub, switch or router. Each device is connected separately to this device using unshielded twisted pair cable (UTP) meaning there is considerably more cable required than in a bus or ring. However, a failure in the cable will only affect the device it is connected to. The failure of the hub, switch or router will cause the entire network to fail. This topology allows for more devices to be connected than either a bus or ring based network.
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