Wilson's Computer Applications, Inc.	Eleven Cleveland Court	Greenville, SC  29607
		Sales Department: 1-800-528-3445	sales@wca-inc.com	Business: 864-235-1860
		Technical Support: 1-888-528-3445	support@wca-inc.com	Fax: 864-271-7091

Small Business Network Setup

Networking Basics

A simple definition of a network is: 

Two or more computers that are tied together through a physical connection. The purpose of setting up a network is to allow users to share information or resources while having simultaneous access to the system. Historically there have been many different types of networks; however, this document will concentrate on the newest and most popular type of networking in use today: Ethernet networking.

An Ethernet network is generally composed of four different components working together.

• Network Interface Card - which is a physical component that must be installed in each computer on the network to provide a communication port.

• Switches - which provide for data transfer and management between multiple computers. (Not necessary on small coax based networks.)

• Cabling - which is used to connect the network interface cards together between multiple computers. Can be either twisted pair (10baseT) or coax cable (10base2). 

• Software - to allow the computers to access one another across the network.