Networking your office

Networking computers in an office environment can often be a source of frustration for those trying to figure it out themselves. I know I can get pretty frustrated with it from time to time. Instead of getting frustrated, why not find someone who can handle this hassle for you?

The value of setting up a network in your office is substantial--it becomes much easier to send important files back and forth between people and if you have a wireless network you can use laptops very easily on the network (be sure to lock down the wireless network, though, so only authorized people can access it). Some companies set up an internal server and serve all of the important documents from one main server out to all the workstations. Other companies may outsource the server to a hosting provider of some kind. Both options have pros and cons--make this decision based on what you need your networked server to be able to do best.

Nearly every office can benefit from having some sort of network setup. I can't overemphasize the importance of doing this securely, however. You don't know the number of times I've been driving around and seeing hotspots (wireless access points) popping up that are wide open--anyone can get on them and use them without the owner of the network even knowing about it. You might be thinking, "so what? does that really hurt anything?"  Maybe not, but the opportunity is there for the hacker who knows how, to be able to compromise your network.

Bottom line--network your office, but do it securely.

How have you networked your office? Is your wifi network locked down? Any security breaches you would like to warn others about before it happens to them? Please leave your comments below. Thanks.