Ask yourself these questions:
Firstly you need to establish an Internet access connection with a provider that has a Point of Presence (PoP) within local call distance of your site. In most provincial or rural cities that is possible. This is not a major expense; for example, a dialin connection to Telstra Bigpond Direct costs from $500 to set up and as little as $20 per month to run. Go to our Permanent Internet Connection page for more details.
At each site LANNet will set up a connection router which will be the interface between your local site network and the Internet. A significant saving can be achieved here because LANNet can recycle one of your older i386 or i486 PCs together with clever use of the Linux operating system to build the router. LANNet have developed some sophisticated techniques to enhance Linux to provide the required network transparency whilst at the same time ensuring security from Internet "crackers".
The Linux operating system is gaining massive inroads into the traditional small business market, providing the functions of desktop PC, business file, print and database server, and network traffic router and monitor. The major strengths of Linux are its stability, its reliability, its flexibility and its low cost. This latter is probably the most significant as there are no licence fees for using Linux, just as there are no copyright hassles when you want to use it for more than one installation. For a detailed analysis of Linux, and how it can be applied in your organisation, we recommend this document.
The Linux routers that are configured by LANNet provide traffic switching between the various elements of your site while transparently maintaining the connection to the Internet. They can also provide your own private dial in access so that you can be on your network, or surfing the web, from the comfort of your own home for those who really have the urge to work the longer hours. Additionally these routers monitor and filter the traffic that passes into and out of your network, ensuring that only the traffic that you wish to enter or leave is permitted, other traffic being blocked. This is necessary to ensure that computer crackers do not get into your system to do damage, or use your system as an intermediate point to another more attractive site, thereby covering their tracks. It is important to be aware that the filtering undertaken here is highly objective and is based solely on the type of service being monitored; there is no subjective monitoring or filtering undertaken on the content of the traffic.
One of the main reasons for organisations wanting to network sites is so they can share data, as in database applications, or documents, as with word processing, or so they can print a document, perhaps an invoice or a delivery note, at a remote site from a central location. It is often the case, but not always so, that these local sites are running Microsoft Windows applications. Well Linux will handle that with no problems by running the Samba package on top of Linux. Even mixing Windows, Unix, and Macintosh over the network presents little problem.
Sites running the Microsoft Windows system on their internal nets are also able to run Microsoft NetMeeting, providing voice, keyboard, whiteboard and video communications between desktops both within a site and across sites. Conference sessions are also possible. Microsoft NetMeeting is a proprietory service and is only enabled on the Windows platform. However, open standards are rapidly being established which should enable these services to be available across multiple operating platforms in the very near future.
LANNet are also able to provide you with your own Linux Web and Email server. We strongly suggest, for security reasons, that this should be a separate physical computer to the Linux router at the host site, but we will consider client's requests for these two to be co-located after clients have had the security implications explained to them.
With the Web server the client will be responsible for the provision of the content to be hosted, however LANNet can place clients in contact with Web authoring services. LANNet can still provide management of the server for the client.
With the Email server this can exist with or without the Web server and can be configured to provide either the POP3 protocol (ala ISPs) where email is transferred from the mail server to the user's desktop machine before it can be accessed, or the IMAP protocol where the email is managed on the mail server itself and is only downloded to the user's desktop on request. The IMAP protocol is more suitable for the corporate environment as users can access the email server from sites other than their own desk, something that is not possible once the email has been transferred to the user's desktop by the POP3 protocol. If the web server is enabled in addition to the email server then LANNet can provide a smart web based interface to the email server, thus enabling authorised users to access their corporate mail box from anywhere that they can obtain Internet web browser access. The email web interface that LANNet provide has an added security advantage in that the email is not cached, or stored, on the accessing machine or in up-stream proxies, this prevents others from hunting through the browser or proxy caches looking for the email after the email owner has left. This latter is a point that is often overlooked in browser based email access.
LANNet are able to offer escalating levels of on-going support for client's sites, ranging from "call when needed" to "daily log monitoring" to "full off-site and on-site support". Clients are urged to discuss the options with LANNet Computing Associates.
This is the simple part. Either email us or phone us on 02 6026 3400. We want to hear from you.