Networking involves connecting two or more PC's together enabling them to communicate with each other. This has become increasingly cheap and easy to accomplish. Even the maintenance is easier nowadays with the advent of more powerful operating systems. There are many advantages to networking your existing PC's which are listed below.

• Share documents, databases and transfer data between PC's without needing disks.
• Collaborate on the same projects from different PC's
• With remote desktop, you can access your PC from another terminal.
• Increased data security, all network users can back up data to a centralised server
• Share external devices such as printers, scanners, cd writers etc.
• Share one internet connection with the entire network. One broadband connection can be much more cost effective than multiple dial up's.
• Access work PC's from home and home from work with Wide Area Networking
• Enable off-site support with a migration to broadband internet and Windows XP

For most households, networking relates to internet connection sharing, file sharing, and printer sharing but that's only the beginning.

If you simply want to transfer files between 2 computers, then a basic USB-to-USB cable connection could suffice, taking it a step further, you could opt for a simple peer-to-peer connection.

100 Mbps ethernet wired networking is still the most popular home and small business wired networking solution, at 100 megabits per second (Mbps), it's easily fast enough to handle a broadband Internet connection and still move plenty of local data through the network.

Wireless Networking entry level wireless networking denoted 802.11b is rated at 11 Mbps speeds, however, what you typically get is a 2.5-4 Mbps range. Whilst fine for a broadband connection, sharing printers and transferring files it's too slow for watching DVDs over the network. It does however, operates at 2.4GHz, which can cause interference with cordless phones. Upgrading to 802.11a gives x5 the speed at 54 Mbps and it operates at 5 GHz. Next comes 802.11g which gives 54 Mbps and runs on the 2.4 GHz.

All of the above residential facilities are also applicable to small businesses on the same or larger scale, but you may also want to expand on the capabilities of your network. Some of the possibilities are listed bellow, but a free initial consultation is recommended so that we may come back to you with solutions tailored to suit your needs.

• Use a server that would keep all files in one easy to back up central location. This would give you the option to have all files accessible by all employees on all computers within the office and at the same time have files that only certain employees would have access to. The same server could also provide access to applications through the office Intranet (like an internal Internet).
• A server could also provide 'roaming profiles'. Basically, this is your own personalised desktop, complete with icons and desktop backdrop, that would be available on any computer within your office network. This negates the need for you to be on 'your' computer in order to be presented with the familiarity your desktop brings with it. This is only one of the many advantages roaming profiles provide.
• Provide a connection between two or more offices or access to your office network from home can centralise all of your data making administration a much simpler task. This could be provided via a Virtual Private Network. This is a secure connection that can be made across a public network such as the Internet or through a dedicated line (private circuit) provided by your telecom company.