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Of course, hindsight is always 20-20. Here we provide you with some timely updates and share some reader comments.
In response to Part 2's "Shopping for speed," Joshua Wise, a digital media analyst with Allied Business Intelligence, offered some useful comments concerning Wild Blue's upcoming satellite service. Wild Blue's promised upload speed (0.5M bit/sec) is less than I reported back in April. However, the download speed will indeed be 3.0M bit/sec - that's right, about six times faster than your average cable or asymmetric DSL modem.
I hope Wild Blue will soon clarify its cost structure. If service comes in at around $70 per month with free or low-cost installation, it'll open up the world of fast access to countless remote users who've made do with dial-up. But if Wild Blue charges more, or exorbitant dish and install fees, most will simply wait for something better.
Al Woolf, executive director of network support for ValueOptions, reminded me that Hughes' Direcway (formerly DirecPC) two-way satellite broadband service is now here. But at $1,000 for the dish and installation, and $70 per month for service, it's not in everyone's budget. Starband's option is also available; although the service costs are the same, installation is 40% less than Direcway's. Then again, Starband's throughput is slower, more in line with cable modem and asymmetric DSL.
Since Part 3's "Protecting the home front" appeared in May, I've received countless pitches from companies claiming to provide "rock-solid personal firewalls for your home PC." Realize, no firewall is foolproof against attack. Some low-end products provide only basic security: network address translation (NAT) and simple port-closing schemes, while proven solutions from Network-1 Security Solutions, Check Point, Symantec and ZoneLabs provide a much greater degree of protection, as well as detailed administration controls. The first two are terrific for centrally managed workstations (even teleworkers, via integrated VPNs). The latter are good for machines teleworkers manage themselves.
However, NAT does play an important role in protecting your home-office networks. Joseph Gibbs of the SANS Institute discusses stealth mode in his SANS Institute article "The Virtues of Security Through Obscurity". While using a "stealth mode" won't stop an attack, the idea of not being seen will often prevent one from starting. That's where NAT comes in. NAT substitutes a client's TCP/IP address with that of the NAT router, entering the substitution in a table, and making certain changes to the packet, including the IP address and TCP checksums.
Feedback on Part 4's "Make sure you don't get zapped!" made my day. Joshua Feinbur, editor of Smallbiztechtalk.com, wrote about the "challenges of 'stranded' teleworkers," and reminds us that "no one from the help desk can run down the hall every four hours to help them." Even more reason to protect your teleworkers' CPUs and peripherals from power problems. A properly sized uninterruptible power supply will almost always save you more money than it costs.
If there's one thing I've learned since Part 5's "Getting Gear for Teleworkers" debuted in June, it's to insist on a detailed cost analysis before opting for a lease. Some have exception clauses that could cost you dearly later on. One of the most straightforward, leasing rate structure is offered by Infinity Data Products.
Part 6's "Controlling communications costs" explored ways to consolidate communications costs. When your teleworker is mobile, or communicates extensively with customers, it pays to search for alternatives to myriad phone, fax and network lines found in a typical teleworking office.To this end, Cisco recently launched Unified Communications, an open architecture for providing ISPs the ability to offer a single solution for voice, e-mail and fax devices.
In Part 7's "Cat 5 vs. wireless: Pros and cons," L. Jacek commented that the average teleworker can install three network jacks for "just a few dollars," instead of the several hundred I quoted.
I disagree, unless you're limiting your installation to a desktop device with exposed wiring. Even the simplest patch panel will cost you around $50. As for the labor, time is money, whether that time belongs to your teleworker or the network installer you've hired.
Since Part 8's "Shopping with peripheral vision" ran, I've seen little update on peripherals - save the rapid price drop of flat panel displays, down about $100 to $582 for a 17-inch TFT. Having used Sun's 18.1-inch LCD monitor (driven by Sun's Ray 1 appliance) for a three-week stretch, I'm sold. I also like flat-panel displays from IBM and Samsung. However, graphic artists will want to stick with traditional CRTs.
Since the debut of Part 9's "Home-office Ergonomics Made Easy," a three-week long overseas business trip kept me away from the computer much of the time. As a result, my repetitive-stress injuries have improved. Moral of the story - take a vacation! Good furniture certainly helps, too.
Last comes Part 10's Application ABCs. I hear Microsoft's XP sales are lagging expectations. Then again, XP's additional features are incremental, so most people seem content to stick with 2000, or even NT 4.0. Just remember to keep the service packs up to date - and that Microsoft always halts service pack upgrades upon releasing a new product. By using an older operating system that Microsoft is no longer supporting with security updates and service packs, you're leaving yourself wide open to the latest hacker exploits. If security is an issue, it pays to upgrade.
Related links
Janss is the president of Jansys Information Systems, a consulting firm specializing in IS technologies for small businesses. He can be reached at bizcom@jansys.com.
Other articles by Steve Janss
Where do I begin?
Setting up teleworkers can be a daunting task. To simplify, we break down the percentages of time and money you should spend on each technology area.
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