To Network or not to Network

The short-lived but legendary pony express, was one of the earliest forms of networking in the United States. Riders would change from horse to horse in order to deliver messages quickly across the old west. Tired horses, tired riders and the advent of the telegraph brought the pony express to a halt in 1861 after only two years.

We now live many communications generations away from the pony express. But among Southwest Florida businesses, we have in some respects not moved far beyond it. How so?

An Economy of Movement

The vast majority of local executives use computers to help run their organizations. But, to a large degree, those computers are not connected to one another. In order to move information between computers or to print a report, many of us use the 20th-century version of the pony express, "sneaker-net." That is, we copy a file onto a floppy disk and carry it on foot to the computer in the office that needs a copy of the file or which happens to be attached to the expensive laser printer.

This foot-powered sneaker-net does get data back and forth but at the cost of wasted time and poor use of resources. We live in a world of scarce human resources where operational inefficiency can exert a very high price.

Small Investment for Productivity

In an office with only three or four computers, the installation of a local area network (LAN) can improve productivity dramatically. And it does not require a huge expenditure of money. As Carol Conway, president of Computer Rescue Squad points out, "If you have Windows 95 installed, for the price of a network card ($50 to $150) for each PC and network cabling, you can have a network."

"A local area network will save you time and money," emphasizes Mona Hilton, president of Genesis Computer Systems. Asked for an example of a company that wouldn't benefit from installing a LAN, Hilton cited a local group that did not need to share data and that would have required extra dollars to upgrade older, underpowered PCs.

A LAN brings obvious and demonstrable benefits, even in a very small organization:

* Everyone in the office can share expensive peripherals, such as high-speed laser printers, high-quality color printers and high-resolution scanners.

* Important company data can be stored in a single place (in our case, this would include our editorial content and our circulation database). It is much easier to maintain the integrity of data while allowing employees to view it.

* Critical data can be backed up from a single location.

* Many software applications can reside on a single computer but be used by everyone on the LAN.

* Collaborative computing, in which teams share tasks using common software applications, such as Lotus Notes, work best in a networked environment.

* In a dedicated client-server network, all users can share Internet access with a single connection.

The Right Time to Network

In the world of personal computers, it has often been said that the pioneers are the ones with the arrows in their backs. This was certainly true of early adopters of networks when there were conflicting standards, computers without adequate horsepower, complex installations and often-unreliable networking software.

Today it really is safe to go into networking waters. This is as true for a company with four PCs as it is for a company with 40. The choices of hardware, software and network configuration have narrowed so that decision-making is relatively simple. Most PCs today are powerful enough-and even simple networks are fast enough-so that the LAN appears as a logical, seamless extension of each user's PC.

What to Choose

If your organization has no more than six PCs and your computers are 486 or Pentiums, Windows 95 is the best choice. In addition to its ease of use, Windows 95 has inherent networking capabilities. Unlike previous versions of MS-DOS or Windows 3.x, it was designed as a network operating system from the ground up. Thus, as Conway indicated, by adding a network card to each PC and installing cable, a simple reconfiguration of Windows 95 puts everyone on the LAN. On the other hand, if you are still using 386 PCs and running the MS-DOS operating system on some or all of your PCs, Novell NetWare is typically preferable.

If your organization has from six to ten PCs, Windows 95 may still suffice, but depending on how active your network users are, performance may suffer. In some cases, users might notice that it takes seemingly forever to open an application or to retrieve a file. It is essential at this point to review your needs with a network professional that can help you analyze your performance needs. If your network is heavily used you may want to consider either Windows NT or Novell NetWare.

If your company has more than 10 PCs to be networked, you should almost certainly move to a client-server configuration in which NT or NetWare runs on a dedicated server-that is, a computer that does nothing but manage all network activities. Network applications, databases and critical files would all reside on the server. The use of a dedicated server offers enhanced security, simplified network management, and the ability to scale up to hundreds of users.

Moving to a dedicated server does mean extra expense initially because the server needs lots of horsepower, lots of memory and a great big hard disk. In addition, the server cannot double as someone's computer; therefore, if you begin with ten PCs, you need to buy an eleventh computer (the server), which will spend its working life in a closet. And it won't be cheap. The minimum suggested NT server configuration would be a 200mhz Pentium with 64 megabytes of memory and a 4.5-gigabyte disk drive. However, adding extra PCs as your organization grows is a relatively simple and inexpensive matter; they need much less horsepower.

What's it Going to Cost?

If your company fits the profile for a Windows 95 network, you'll need a network card for each PC-figure an average of $100 for a high-quality Intel or 3 Com card. The preferred wiring configuration would use twisted pair cable and a hub to which all PCs are connected; an eight-port hub would cost roughly $150. RJ 45 Cabling (including plates, connectors, etc) would add another $10 each. In a five-PC network, count on roughly ten hours of labor at $75 per hour. Total ballpark: $1,450.

A network with a dedicated server for ten users would add an equivalent cost for the extra five users, $1,450. In addition, the server plus network software increases the cost by approximately $2,500 more. The total cost for this installation would be roughly $5,400.

Who Should You Turn To?

Although network installation is not the nightmare of installation and maintenance that it was five or ten years ago, you will need to rely on the technical expertise of trained and certified network professionals. Here are some basic guidelines:

* Interview several firms.

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