Business requirements Bandwidth Distance Security and maintenance Cost

LAN connections Serial Parallel 10base2 UTP Fiber optic

Serial connections About 10kbis Can easily reach 20m Low security but easy to maintain Cheap (about $10/machine)

Parallel About 100kbis Maximum of 5m Low security but easy to maintain Cheap (about $20/machine)

Coaxial Ethernet 100mbps 200m Medium security, easy to maintain Cheap (about $50/machine)

UTP 100mbps,1gbps Uses hubs with good range Better security and very easy to maintain Not so cheap ($100/machine + $200 startup)

Optical fiber Used as a backbone, 1gbps Excellent security and easy to maintain Very expensive to set up tranciever, wiring

Internet connections Modem ISDN ADSL Microwave Satellite

Modems 33.6/56kbis Unlimited distance With a telephone jack or cellphone Cheap to set up ($100 hardware, $200 software, $50/month)

ISDN 128kbis (* n) Unlimited distance with jack Expensive to set up (in NZ) $200 hardware, $1000 software, $200/month

ADSL 10mb/s Must be near exchange $500 hardware, $300 software, $30/month

Microwave Up to 500mbis Line of site Insecure, hard to maintain Expensive (about $10k, $200/month)

Satellite Unlimited Insecure, hard to maintain Expensive (about $5k, $200/month)

Wireless networking Infrared Radio

Business reports Complexity Writing style Content