Networks are composed of nodes such as workstations, printers, servers and connection points, such as bridges, switches or routers. In this case, you may have noticed I did not include a hub as a connection point, but there is a reason for this; the switch can do a hub's job and do it much better and is more reliable; making the hub a thing of the past. Every single node and connection point lasts as long as their capacity satisfies the needs of your company without loosing stability or reliability.

   Should my network be updated? This question relies on many facts and opinions. Let's start from the connection points. A hub is definitely out of the question and must be changed due to its limits and its waste of bandwidth on the network by broadcasting pockets to every body. Switches are the way to go because it will take one packet and instead of broadcasting it all over the network, it will send it to the specific node with the complete bandwidth, 10mbps or 100mbps, depending on your network. Routers are the exit point of your company to the internet, making your company available to the internet and vise versa. DSL, ISDN or High Speed routers last for a long time but like anything else their lifetime has a come to an end. When routers are giving you a problem by periodically going down or unexpectedly loosing connection and the ISP is not at fault (which most of the time they are), you may want to consider buying a good reliable router. Remember it is the exit to the world, you wouldn't like to have it shut when you least expected.

   Nodes are a constant headache to many people by always having a problem going down, due to a hardware or software problem. Workstations depend on what the users need it for. Through my career many users love to install programs such as Yahoo messenger, AOL messenger, Napster, animated backgrounds, animated mouse pointers and many more that devour the workstation's memory and CPU.

Printers themselves work great for a long time and are very expensive, especially color lasers. Please do not try to replace a laser printer for a ink jet because of its price difference. Spend money where your employees will appreciate it and they will not get so many cups of coffee while the printer tries to print jobs for 5 or more users doing little work.

   Servers are the most important node of all they do all the work in the network as far as data sharing, back up, and if you do put your priorities straight you should have an email server and web server to have more control and spend less time and money on the long run depending on the size of your company. Servers should be a reliable piece that will not go down due to its speed or capacity, but it sometimes happens therefore a BDC or backup domain controller should be in place to maintain your network up and running. If your server is older than 5 years please keep in mind to replace it or adding a new one to do or share its jobs; especially if your employees and data have increased at a high rate. Servers will work wonderfully for what they're meant for, to share data and have a central back up point. Do not use this as a workstation, many people do and that should not be the case. Keeping in mind that the server is most important, being the brain of the network. Do not hesitate in investing to make sure it is the best to fulfill your company's needs.

   Networks are a very complex and delicate infrastructure that should be installed by a professional and not by an amateur. Remember it is the in the same level of importance as your employees because without one of them your company is handicapped. Keep your network clean and do a periodical maintenance to optimize your network performance, and remember you get what you pay for.