Local Area Network (LAN)

Paper Summary:

This paper describes the design of a basic local area network that would be useful in a wide variety of businesses and possibly educational settings for a cost of approximately $200,000. This system is designed both to meet current needs of a business that wishes to run efficiently and to be able to interact with other businesses also running at acceptably high efficiency levels for a company with high-tech aspirations. In order to work, the system needs to show flexibility in order to expand with growing business needs and volume for at least several years before any new substantial investment is made in hardware or new software. In order to demonstrate the feasibility, the author gives us an overview, definition and background about a basic local area network. The feasibility of the network's success is analyzed, and its potential for successful integration into an actual business is evaluated.

From the Paper:

"However, at the same time, no network designer should make the mistake of providing too few of a number of peripherals like printers because doing so limits the efficiency of workers and tends to produce a great deal of frustration in the office. Workers sitting around waiting to print out a needed job are not only workers being paid not to work, but they are also workers being paid to be frustrated, which is most certainly not the ideal situation in any way. Perhaps a good standard rule for the network designer would be to estimate the number of peripherals needed and then for every 20-25 people who will be using the network to add one peripheral. The added cost in initial equipment expenditure will be paid back by the fact that workers will be able to be more efficient. This will also allow for workers to continue to be productive when a device breaks down (as of course will happen) because there will be other machines within the network already linked to provide those needed services (Derfler 68)."

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