Networking and Communications

The concepts of networks and communication have come from computers and Internet and are not really very old. The advantages of these methods of communication are that messages can be sent sitting at the computer in houses or over a laptop, the communication reaches the intended receiver almost immediately and permits the receiver to also start acting on the communication immediately. There are always advantages in having physical value chains and this is what leads shops to develop warehouses and try to be merchandisers though they do not have the capacity to be so.

On the other hand, the new methods of information create opportunities to simplify the value chain and thus develop businesses that have better sources of competitive advantage. An example of such stores is Amazon, which offers its potential customers a list of 2. 5 million books and this list is ten times the size of the nearest chain stores. The organization also does not have the books in its store, but have the books delivered to its customers through orders to two wholesalers in the industry after the customers have placed orders.

The facility available with Amazon is only to repack the books and mail them. This makes sure that some difficulties come in and Amazon cannot offer books off the shelves, nor can their customers see the books on shelves. At the same time, their methods of selling provide them with lower costs and provide customers with superior information and lower costs. (Tapscott, 30) Some of the advantages are provided by the medium itself. Through the computer it is possible to send a message to a person without meeting him directly, or even knowing whether he is there or not.

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A shop can collect orders at the time when it is not open and save its employees time as the full list of items required will be sent by the customers themselves. (Lynda, 13) This particular already has a server and that means it already has and Internet connection and the computer is already able to accept messages through the Internet. His may be in the form of Intranets meant for use by the employees of the store, or in the form of a VPN.

This is a Virtual Private Network which accommodates the needs of employees not located in the same office and is in the form of a private network using the public network, or Internet to get them together. There is no requirement to use a leased line, but there is usage of virtual connections operating through the Internet. (How Virtual Private Networks Work) The use of the second server is to be a back up for the first server and also to record orders from the customers. This does not involve many risks as the orders can be received on an e-mail connection and they are quite safe for the users.

Further safety can be ensured through presently available. The size of e-mail connections are also large now, of the order of 1GB and can be made even larger. At the start of the working day, employees can be asked to unload orders received from the Internet to the computer of the store. The time has already been decided as being 11 am. All the orders can be placed in order and then prepared for execution. If the execution of orders are finished before the end of closing hours, then further orders, if any are available on the e-mail site, can be taken up for execution. This process is generally safe.

The only difficulty comes from false orders, but that can be checked through a paying mechanism connected to the delivery part. When the order is delivered, the store will definitely collect payment, and this can be through a bank payment service, credit card or some other mechanism. When the order is sent to the store, an authorization should be sent by the buyer to the paying party also. This can be checked by the store, before delivery. If the material is to be collected from the store, then, the problems are less as the consumer will have to make payments directly.

Purchases for a small store are difficult and often require expertise which the individual store may not possess. The solution that is often reached is to become a member of a buying group who will act as the buying organization for all stores, though the stores may be owned by different persons. Buying groups exist in practically all segments of the retail industry and some of the groups provide services in terms of product management and obtaining discounts for the stores through the process of summing up all quantities required and thus obtaining discounts for wholesale purchases.

Even in the international scene, there are buying groups. Those organizations often have buying units distributed all over the world. (Varley, 36) In the long run, the exercise of computerization should not disturb this angle and the existing method of purchases can still be retained. The advantages will come from the fact that as soon as sales are made, or orders executed, a record can be updated for the item in question. The importance in this aspect is only for items in "A" category after an analysis of the items for sales through an ABC analysis.

For those items, since they involve an importance in terms of customer satisfaction, or investment, it is essential that a close record be kept. It is also possible, like Amazon to collect some of the expensive items on a day to day basis. These are decisions for executive management to consider. If the access to the store by the purchasers is only through e-mail, then they have no chance of directly collecting the information from the store's computer, except through certain bugs that may be placed in the computer along with orders.

This is a problem that comes even when the computer user visits certain sites, and can be wiped out through the use of anti-virus software and proper design of the computer system. The biggest point to remember is that most users now use Internet Explorer as their language for communication with Internet since they have the basic language as Windows. On the other hand, the store may use Mozilla Firefox for communicating with Internet. This will automatically knock out a lot of infections. Apart from this are for the computer to be working on a non-windows system and this can be done through some programming in Java.

The details will have to be worked out with a computer expert. If the information of the company is stored on a different disk also, the chances of removal are much lower. This is not so difficult since the question of disks is only of virtual separation through programming. At the same time, it is also important to note that secrets about the organization also should not be available to internal users within the company unless they are permitted access. This can be controlled through requirement of passwords for entering those sections, but at the same time, the users will have to be careful about storage of the passwords.

To an extent, the problem of exposure of passwords can be controlled through changes of passwords on a regular basis. The job of a network administrator involves many tasks and to an extent the tasks are also decided by the experience of the administrator in the job. The first step is to create its design, and this job has to be done by a senior network architect. Since this network has been operating for some time, one presumes that it has a network administrator who has been in charge of the system, and this person, if he is conversant enough with computers will be able to decide on its required expansion.

The second set of responsibilities of the network administrator begins after the network is designed and this involves setting up and configuring the network. It is important to remember that due to the complications of the network this may take some time, and, in general the old system should be permitted to continue till the new system is tested and ready. Then the switchover can be done within a short period of a weekend or so. This will cause the least amount of disturbances to working. (Responsibilities of the Network Administrator)

After all the store has to sell and earn money and computers are only assistance and cannot be permitted to come in the way of operations. The job now includes installing the physical aspects of the changes, configuring the files or databases, hosts, routers and network configuration servers. The third phase of network administration security involves regular tasks that have to be done - adding new host machines, direct administration, administration of network services and trouble shooting problems that are seen to arise.

In this case, the problem seems to be one of adding new hosts and increasing services of the network for which more software is expected to be wanted. (Responsibilities of the Network Administrator) This is however and ongoing process and one success will lead to another and this will require changes not planned in the earlier phase. In this case, let us say that the plan of expansion succeeds in satisfying the customers, and adds profits for the organization, and then a second store may be required.

For this sort of problems a principle of redundancy should be built into network designing. From the general, let us get into the specific and all organizations involved with computer software have their own recommendations for network service and Microsoft talks about it including Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol or DHCP, Windows Internet Name Service or WINS and Domain Name System or DNS. These are all software and part of these may massage the egos of the owners of the system, but whether they are needed or not will have to be determined by those designing the system.

Microsoft has made a system management function which provides guidance for the operation of the above named services and for maintenance of the hardware which will hold these programs. There is also a guide for getting required software for this purpose. (Service Management Functions: Network Administration) Considering the number of updates that come in for Windows, it does not seem to be very reliable software. There are also software designed for many different users and in these many users can work on the system at the same time and maintain files. An example of such a system is IRIX.

The only problem is that this system permits the workstation to be connected to networks and permits transfer of files from one to the other. (Overview of System Administration) Does this system require this facility, or will it be a source of trouble? The point is that all systems have to be designed according to the requirements as deemed fit by the management and first the thought of the management have to be clarified. To conclude, computers are the latest tools for the egos of today, but, at the same time, one should not end up with a system having a lot of useless or dangerous facilities.

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