What cable and what network shoud i use??

[ronanshee]

An organisation:

- has offices in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and Canberra
- each site has 30 PCs running Win 95/98 with 5 shared printers attached to individual PCs
- current networking technology is using Ethernet at 10 Mbps running over UTP cable connecting to hubs

The request is to provide a proposal to link up the various sites, where the network should support high-speed networking continuous availability across multiple sites. Customer access to the information resources of the company as well as implementation of an Intranet is of interest.

Shoud i use VPN to connect the various sites? What about using a leased line from local service provider? Who can i go to for the VPN serice? What type of cables do i use? Cat 5e?

Your precious time and effort would be very much appreciated!

Thank you and have a nice day~! = )


Ronan

 

[nforeman]

I would suggest to them that they definately put at least 5E in, although depending on their budget and local code in the land down under, it may be worth it to put in cat 6. I know in the states, T1 lines are dirt cheap, compared to what they're used to, could suggest that. You could also even suggest a Cisco VoIP solution, saving them money through intra-office transfers, I've found that implimented correctly, the ROI is definately worth it. If you would care for some more help, drop me a line. We can work together in designing something for these companies. I'm here to help.

Neal Foreman
Project Manager
DAS Technical, Inc.
nforeman@dastechnical.com

 

[ronanshee]

For now, i'm thinking of setting up a proper LAN for each of the site, installing probably Cat5e cables in order to support a 100Mbps Fast Ethernet.

Most probably subscribe to a local ISP, for ADSL line for each of the site. This would allow data transmission and voice communication simultaneuosly.

In this case, i wold connect the LAN switch to a ADSL router/modem, and from the modem into the wall/"cloud". But the problem i'm facing now is, do i need to configure anything for each of the site in order for them to be connected (WAN) to each other? IP address.. Network Address..?

And security wise, would VPN do any good? It seems to be getting widely used in organizations.

What do you think?

 

[nforeman]

VPN's do work great. But from the networking people that I've talked to adsl isn't the best for voice applications. Depending on the price of T1's (due to the way they packet information) that would probably be the best way to go. All you really need is PC Anywhere or software to that effect. Each site would need its own static ip address to be able to stay connected to each other, adsl offers that, not too much more expensive either. You'll have to determine how much outside presence they'll need to access the other locations, that would determine how much bandwidth they would need. I can help with the cabling infrastructure part of the project if you like, for free. As far as the hardware is concerned, personally I don't get involved, I put that over to a few IT firms that I work closely with and trust.

 

[Bobg1]

To start with as soon as you connect to the adsl or t1 or whatever, you will want to have a good firewall in place.
A good firewall package will help keep intruders out. You might also want to find one that you can manged your vpn with.