Your business requires a reliable, secure and efficient IT solution together with an integrated disaster recovery plan. Several options are available and the right one for you relies on a clearly defined knowledge of what you want together with what a particular technology can provide. It can be easy to progress down a particular path to realise that a solution is actually the wrong one for your needs. You have two general entry points; peer-to-peer (P2P) or client-server networks.

P2P Networks

P2P networks are typically found in home networks and allow the sharing of resources such as a modem's Internet connection, folders and files. There is no central server to manage the network. Although a P2P network is the least expensive option the functionality required by most SOHO businesses will not be satisfied using this solution.

Client-Server Networks

Client-server networks are managed by a central server. The server will typically hold all of the business resources including user data, e-mail and software applications. This technology allows users to log onto the network from any client workstation and be greeted with their familiar personalised desktop wallpaper, applications and data files regardless of which workstation they were using last.

Additionally, client workstations require minimal resources - older or even 2nd hand computers will typically perform well which can represent a significant cost saving. Client workstations, including desktops and WiFi laptops, need do little more than run the Windows operating system because the applications run on and consume server resources.

Microsoft Small Business Server (SBS) is a popular entry level client-server solution for a home office or small business. SBS is supplied with several integrated technologies including Microsoft Exchange Server, Windows Update Service and SharePoint Services.

However, if you want your staff or family to be able to share an application suite such as Microsoft Office then SBS may fall short of your requirements - Microsoft do not support Terminal Services (the server technology enabling clients to share a server based application) on SBS. You will have to install Office onto all client machines and purchase the appropriate licensing to cover the number of product installations. This, in turn, will place greater demands on your client workstations which will need to be appropriately resourced (CPU speed, memory and hard disk space) to run not just the Windows operating system but the Office suite as well.