Local Area Networks.

Thinking about adding a computer network to your business?

Information here can help you chart the next step forward.

If you're a business owner or decision maker, and . . . .

If you're not sufficiently up-to-speed about networks in particular and business computing in general, and . . . .

If you want a concise, direct, and no-bull introduction to the playing field . . . .

Then you've probably arrived at a good place. The information delivered here is written and designed expressly for you.

Business Solutions.

Information Technologies.

The Art of Communication.

Local Area Networks For Small Business.

A competitive edge in a tough marketplace.

I’ve researched, designed, budgeted, implemented, and managed a successful small-business network.

The challenges presented by the network project were profound. Few of the principal players thought the project would succeed. But it did. The network met and exceeded management’s expectations and didn’t break the bank. Today it provides a competitive edge to a multi-million-dollar manufacturer doing business in a tough, deadline-driven marketplace.

Helping businesses engage their markets, communicate with customers, compete against all comers, and make money is a particular calling of mine. I’ve done it well enough to pay self-employment taxes for about twenty years now.

For the past three years I’ve taken a special interest in computer technologies because I think they offer the best avenue for service to my market niche.

An urban wilderness and a treasure trove

What I’ve discovered in this Next Manifestation of my checkered career is an urban wilderness with a maze of electric pathways, a treasure trove of under-exploited resources, unexpected obstacles and pitfalls, and very few fully-drawn maps and charts to guide the wary business traveler.

Most small businesses use computers to take care of some aspects of business. Many need to more fully integrate computer technologies into their operations. For some, the best step forward is to build a network. But how?

I suspect you will find some of the answers here. The information I’ve gathered, synthesized, and polished for you is based on first-hand experience and practical knowledge gained from two primary sources.

The first, most important source is my ongoing enrollment in the School of Hard Knocks, which is always in session and fully endowed. Its teachers have shown me the wonders and frustrations, the opportunities and limitations of merging computer technologies into the daily flow of business.

The second source is more traditionally academic. It is my intense, dogged study of bleeding edge technological solutions – the hardware and software sold by Microsoft, Oracle, IBM, Compaq, HP, Intel, Apple, and others involved in the most incredible growth industry of my time.

NOTE: If you've read this far, the polished narrative stops here. The website, like my life, is a work in progress. Its official launch is tomorrow, July 21, 2000. You're welcome to return soon for another, different read.

Unstructured notes and ideas:

I used the shopworn metaphor of “playing field” in an earlier paragraph.... (Well, I was a sports writer in my youth, but that's no excuse, right?) I do think the process of raising a network from its genesis as a management proposal into a stable, mature business tool is like playing a season of games -- a season that is sure to see the best among us get whipped without mercy before rousing to victory at the end.

I do know that a well designed network, implemented with care and precision, helps any company take care of business.

Fragments:

Change systems to meet the theoretical design—not! Rather, change network design to meet the requirements of your systems.

Points of concern for small business:

Many small businesses employ their network 24/7 without ever selling a product via internet link.

Yet, these same companies discover that part of each business day is directed, enhanced, or supported by e-commerce solutions.

Essential operational factors for a LAN:

Scalability:

Scalability is an technologist's term -- one I think is rather slippery in meaning and application. Frankly, it took me a while to figure out what the technical writers really mean by the term.

Most likely, it's a growth issue: How fast and how affordable can you grow when the demand hits?

If your network is scalable, it can adapt fast according to predetermined capacity and budget guidelines.

CornDancer's mission
is to guide business owners, leaders, decision makers and doers
through the maize of networking technologies and the issues they raise.
(Pardon the corny pun.)

BANNERS:

The potency of a local area computer network.
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The power of communications.
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A winning edge for Small Business.

Small Business Vortex. Main

Page launched: July 18, 2000	Most recent revision: September 29, 2000
Developmental Level: Partial Draft

Local Area Networks.

Business Solutions.

Information Technologies.

The Art of Communication.