Computer Networks are one of the simplest things to implement for a business. However, many vendors make it sound complicated. There are two things when we look at Computer Networks, connectivity within the office and connectivity outside the office. Let’s look at some of the tips which you can use to save connectivity costs:
1. Connectivity within the office
- Gone are the days when we needed to lay LAN cables all around the office. Latest WiFi devices boast pretty high speeds. My recommendation is that if there is no special need, don’t invest in LAN cabling, just install WiFi for office computers. For Servers, you may have to invest in cabling to get very high speeds.
- WiFi devices also come with different speeds and features. Choosing the right device can save considerable costs. For example, at one of my work locations, the number of computers using WiFi was high. We shortlisted Enterprise level WiFi devices from a company called Cambium. Similar devices from competitors were quite costly. At another place, we even researched and built an open-source WiFi router based on OpenWrt
2. Connectivity outside the office
- If you have multiple offices, then instead of investing in getting dedicated links between offices, you may go in for Site-to-site VPNs over existing Internet lines.
- For Internet connectivity, many organizations buy multiple redundant Internet leased lines of same speeds. This helps achieve fault tolerance but increases the cost. We can try going in for one Internet leased line along with multiple broadband links as backup. For one of my clients, we had setup a 20Mbps Internet leased line with two 50Mbps Broadband links as backup. It turned out to be much cheaper than having two 20Mbps Internet leased lines.
- If you use ISDN PRI line for calling, make sure to check for changes in monthly rental plans at least once a year.