Just as many residential households have installed their own home
networks, corporations and other types of businesses also utilize
computer networks in their daily operations. Both residential and
business networks run using many of the same underlying technologies.
However, business networks (particularly those in larger corporations)
incorporate additional features and usages.
Business Network Design
Small office and home office (SOHO) networks normally function with either one or two
local area networks (LANs), each controlled by its own
network router.
These match typical home network designs.
As
businesses grow, their network layouts expand to increasingly larger
numbers of LANs. Corporations based in more than one location set up
internal connectivity between their office buildings, called a
campus network when the buildings are in close proximity and a
wide area network (WAN) when spanning across cities or countries.
Companies are increasingly enabling their local networks for
Wi-Fi wireless access, although larger businesses also tend to wire their office buildings with high-speed
Ethernet cabling for greater network capacity and performance.
Business Networks and the Internet
Most companies enable their employees to access the Internet from inside the business network. Some install
Internet content filtering technology to block access to certain Web sites or domains. These filtering systems use a configurable database of Internet
domain names (such as pornographic or gambling Web sites), addresses and content keywords deemed to violate the company
acceptable use policy.
Some
home network routers
also support Internet content filtering features through their
administration screens, but corporations tend to utilize more powerful
and expensive third-party software solutions.
Businesses sometimes
also enable employees to log into the company network from their homes
or other external locations, a capability called
remote access. A business can set up
virtual private network (VPN) servers to support
remote access, with employees' computers configured to use matching VPN client software and security settings.
Compared to home networks, business networks send out (
upload)
a much higher volume of data across the Internet resulting from
transactions on company Web sites, email, and other data published
externally. Residential Internet
service plans
normally supply their customers a significantly higher data rate for
downloads in return for a lower rate on uploads, but business Internet
plans allow higher upload rates for this reason.
Intranets and Extranets
Companies
can set up internal Web servers to share private business information
with employees. They may also put in place internal email,
instant messaging (IM) and other private communication systems. Together these systems make a business
intranet.
Unlike Internet email, IM and Web services that are publicly available,
intranet services can only be accessed by employees logged in to the
network.
Advanced business networks also allow sharing certain controlled data between companies. Sometimes called
extranets or
business-to-business (B2B) networks, these communication systems involve remote access methods and/or log-in protected Web sites.
Business Network Security
Companies
possess valuable private data making network security a priority.
Security-conscious businesses usually take additional measures to
protect their networks beyond what people do for their
home networks.
To prevent unauthorized devices from joining a business network, companies employ centralized
sign-on security
systems. These require users to authenticate by entering passwords that
are checked against a network directory, and they also can check a
device's hardware and software configuration to verify it is authorized
to join to network.
Company employees are notorious for making
incredibly bad choices in their use of passwords, easily hacked names
like "password1" and "welcome." To help protect the business network,
company IT administrators set up password rules that any device joining
it must follow. They also usually set the network passwords of their
employees to expire periodically, forcing them to be changed, which is
also intended to improve security. Finally, administrators sometimes
also set up
guest networks for visitors to use. Guest networks give
visitors access to the Internet and some basic company information without allowing connections to critical company servers or
other protected data.
Businesses utilize additional systems to improve their
data security.
Network backup
systems regularly capture and archive critical business data from
company devices and servers. Some companies require employees to set up
VPN connections when using internal Wi-Fi networks, to guard against
data being snooped over the air.
Business Networks and the Internet
Most companies enable their employees to access the Internet from inside the business network. Some install
Internet content filtering technology to block access to certain Web sites or domains. These filtering systems use a configurable database of Internet
domain names (such as pornographic or gambling Web sites), addresses and content keywords deemed to violate the company
acceptable use policy.
Some
home network routers
also support Internet content filtering features through their
administration screens, but corporations tend to utilize more powerful
and expensive third-party software solutions.
Businesses sometimes
also enable employees to log into the company network from their homes
or other external locations, a capability called
remote access. A business can set up
virtual private network (VPN) servers to support
remote access, with employees' computers configured to use matching VPN client software and security settings.
Compared to home networks, business networks send out (
upload)
a much higher volume of data across the Internet resulting from
transactions on company Web sites, email, and other data published
externally. Residential Internet
service plans
normally supply their customers a significantly higher data rate for
downloads in return for a lower rate on uploads, but business Internet
plans allow higher upload rates for this reason.
Intranets and Extranets
Companies
can set up internal Web servers to share private business information
with employees. They may also put in place internal email,
instant messaging (IM) and other private communication systems. Together these systems make a business
intranet.
Unlike Internet email, IM and Web services that are publicly available,
intranet services can only be accessed by employees logged in to the
network.
Advanced business networks also allow sharing certain controlled data between companies. Sometimes called
extranets or
business-to-business (B2B) networks, these communication systems involve remote access methods and/or log-in protected Web sites.
Business Network Security
Companies
possess valuable private data making network security a priority.
Security-conscious businesses usually take additional measures to
protect their networks beyond what people do for their
home networks.
To prevent unauthorized devices from joining a business network, companies employ centralized
sign-on security
systems. These require users to authenticate by entering passwords that
are checked against a network directory, and they also can check a
device's hardware and software configuration to verify it is authorized
to join to network.
Company employees are notorious for making
incredibly bad choices in their use of passwords, easily hacked names
like "password1" and "welcome." To help protect the business network,
company IT administrators set up password rules that any device joining
it must follow. They also usually set the network passwords of their
employees to expire periodically, forcing them to be changed, which is
also intended to improve security. Finally, administrators sometimes
also set up
guest networks for visitors to use. Guest networks give
visitors access to the Internet and some basic company information without allowing connections to critical company servers or
other protected data.
Businesses utilize additional systems to improve their
data security.
Network backup
systems regularly capture and archive critical business data from
company devices and servers. Some companies require employees to set up
VPN connections when using internal Wi-Fi networks, to guard against
data being snooped over the air.