Only the smallest businesses can operate without a computer, and if you have at least a few computers, you probably want to network them together. A Managed Lan Services turns individual computers into a common work environment, just as a common project turns individuals into a team. A LAN can include thousands of computers or just a few, but all LANs are made up of the same basic components.

LAN components

For users, the web is the software they actually deal with, be it a word processor, accounting software, or some high-end specialized program. Below, to make it work, you'll find a network-compatible operating system, drivers that help your computers communicate with networking hardware, and all the specialized code that handles communication between devices. These are software components of the network.

So what are the hardware components of a LAN? These include your real computers, network interfaces, and all switches, hubs, routers, and other pieces of special technology that route your communications. Finally, there is wiring or its wireless counterpart. All of these components work together to create a functional network.

Networked Workstations

The purpose of a local network is for users to work together, or at least share network resources, so all of these users must have a way to access the network. This is done through individual computers or workstations that are connected to each other and form a local area network. These computers can be anything. A given office can contain everything from inexpensive laptops or Chromebooks to powerful engineering workstations, with many standard computers in between for routine accounting, word processing, point of sale, and more. On a wireless network, even a tablet or mobile phone can be considered as a workstation.

Network Cards and Drivers

Your individual workstations won't be part of the network if they don't have a way to communicate with everything else on the local network. This requires a so-called network card, usually shorted to a network card. This enables your computer to connect to a local network and exchange information with it. Most computers are built with two types of built-in network adapters, one using Wi-Fi and the other using an Ethernet connection. You can use the built-in NIC for connectivity, or install a dedicated dedicated card to suit your individual business needs. You may need a card with better performance than, for example, an integrated card, or you can opt for a fiber optic network for better performance. In such cases, you will need to purchase a separate physical card and install it on your computer.

Shared Hardware Resources

There are certainly costs involved in building and maintaining a network, but it pays off in many ways. Improving productivity is the most important measure, but resource sharing is the kind of initial cost savings that any grain meter can face. Take printers, for example. Most of your users will probably need the ability to print, but few will print high volumes on a regular basis. Instead of parking the printer at each table where most of them will collect dust, you can let everyone else use a small number of networked printers. There will always be situations where you need to allocate or "allocate" a resource to a specific user or a specific group of users, but that's okay. If you only have one person doing large-scale work or creating oversized drawings and blueprints, you don't need everyone else to have access to your printer or plotter.

Network operating system (OS)

One of the most important parts of a LAN is the software that manages all the resources and users on the network so that everyone has what they need. It monitors devices on the local network, running programs, information circulating on the network, and the network resources needed to keep everything working. In the early days of networking, from the 1980s to the beginning of this century, it required a separate program such as Novell Netware or Banyan's Vines. These were complex and expensive programs and required a lot of training to learn how to use them correctly.