Suppose that the CEO of Pentium Inc. approaches you seeking advice on improving their computer network at their company. At the moment, their organization has numerous computers (all networked) which are shared by a staff of 100. The staff are based out of the Pittsburgh headquarter location along with a facility located in Los Angeles and New York City. Unfortunately the organization is having problems with the network since it was not installed properly and due to its old age (it was installed in 1995).

The current network environments consists of the following:

· Various Stand Alone systems along with numerous Peer to Peer networks

· Modem connections to remote offices

· Network equipment that doesn't meet generally accepted networking standards (i.e. OSI / TCP/IP or DoD)

· Few systems connected to the Internet

The employees of Pentium Inc. are requesting that the new network be fast, flexible and able to meet the needs of their fast growing company. Write a paper to the CEO on the following elements

(a) Define networking, tell how it works, and explain how it can help Pentium, Inc.

(b) Identify what type of network would be best for this organization (especially to connect the different locations to each other)

(c) Explain why networking standards are important and why equipment that uses these standards should be purchased

(d) Compare the use of Ethernet and Token Ring and the devices (i.e. hubs, bridges, etc) needed to implement each type of network

(e) Compare and contrast TCP/IP and AppleTalk features and benefits

(f) Compare and contrast peer-to-peer, client/server, and directory services networks

(g) Write a summary describing which technology you recommend installing and why.