Networking systems improve the productivity and efficiency of both part-time and full-time home offices.

Their offices look about as low-tech as they can get. There's barely a thread of wire noticeable from doorway to desk. The desktops are remarkably uncluttered by modems and other peripherals. And although music and video drift into the workstations, neither a stereo nor a VCR is in sight. There's hardly a shred of high-tech evidence that would lead you to believe that these home offices not only work, but work better than most corporate offices downtown.

Networking systems have revolutionized home offices, turning them from unsavory spaces jammed with heaps of wire and piecemealed equipment into comfortable, inviting rooms where the work flows smoothly and efficiently.

Just as there are many types of professionals who earn livings from the comforts of home, there are many ways to network a home office. You can install a wireless hub to connect two computers within the same vicinity together. Or you might roll in a bridging device so that the kitchen laptop can join the network too. Others might have a system of high-speed Ethernet (Category 5) and video (RG-6) wiring installed behind the walls of their home to network two or more computers and also enable incoming business calls to be transferred seamlessly to the kitchen phone, and vice versa. With a network also comes the ability for multiple computer users to access the Internet at the same time through a single Internet connection. And perhaps most important for those who work from home, there's the speed supported by a network. High-speed wiring and even new wireless networking equipment let your computers download information and share files faster than any high-speed business system.

Given the many business advantages of an office network, many telecommuters as well as owners of full-fledge home-based businesses have outfitted their homes with the pieces and parts that make up a networking system. Take Dave Richards of Utah. Years ago this national sales manager of a high-tech firm wouldn't dream of tying up loose ends from home before leaving on a business trip. Now, with the help of a high-speed wiring system, he's able to answer emails and communicate with the office quickly and get on the road in record time. Then there are Karen Neri and Vicky Keeler, sisters who run a highly successful insurance claim business entirely from the basement of their home. Their networking system not only connects the office's two computers but also lets them view visitors at the front door by glancing at a small TV monitor that sits in their office.

Dave Richards

Time-crunched telecommuter communicates more efficiently with the help of high-speed wire

Even if you don't work from home, you know how slow and frustrating a dial-up Internet connection can be. You wait ... and wait ... and wait some more. Broadband cable and DSL modems have minimized the time spent twiddling our thumbs, but any home office that gets fed its Internet by way of standard telephone wire is not using those speedy modems to their full advantage. That's one of the reasons Dave Richards decided to wire his home with a better type of wiring--the type of wiring that could maintain the speed of his broadband Internet connection ... plus a whole lot more.

The wire that sits behind the walls of Dave's office and every other room of the house comes from FutureSmart Systems, a company that manufactureres a system made up of high-speed cabling, special wall outlets and a metal enclosure that holds processors, switchers, routers and other high-tech paraphernalia. In addition to facilitating nearly instantaneous access to his email and web content, the networking system delivers music from a living room stereo to in-wall speakers in the office, shoots pictures captured by surveillance cameras in the back yard and front door to a small office TV, enables two computers to use the same broadband connection at the same time, and gives computers in other rooms access to the office printer.

In fact, every electronic component that's plugged into one of the system's special wall outlets is a part of the home network. That includes the computer in the kitchen, every telephone, the security cameras, the TVs, the satellite receivers and the modem. As Dave explains, by attaching to the outlet, every device can receive and send data, audio, and video signals over the high-speed cabling that reaches every nook and cranny of the house, including two particularly important areas: the back- yard deck and the front porch. Thanks to the network, Dave can utilize the modem or communicate with the office printer simply by plugging his laptop into an outlet on the exterior of the house. It doesn't matter where Dave chooses to work--the deck, the living room or the home office. He's only a mouse click away from everything he needs to prepare for a day on the road. Even when his wife, Kim, is online, Dave never has to wait to check his email. The system lets them share the broadband connection.

Kelly Berger

A do-it-yourselfer creates a versatile hybrid by incorporating wireless & wired networks

Kelly Berger loves computers, and it shows. Although he's the only person who uses his home office, two Pentium 4 PCs occupy the room. Kelly's reasons for doubling up are valid: "I use one PC as a backup," he explains. "I store files on its hard drive rather than on a CD."

The two computers are linked by wire, but Kelly has enhanced the convenience of his home office by adding to it a few pieces of wireless networking equipment. The Linksys router that now sits in the office gives Kelly loads of flexibility in how his office expands, changes and grows. Built into the router are four ports into which two additional computers can be plugged. When that happens--and it likely will--all four computers can share files and have access to a single set of office equipment. Even more important to Kelly is the speed at which the wired connections between the equipment happen. Files and Internet travel into and between computers at a rate of 100 megabits per second (Mbps).

Speed and connectivity aren't confined to Kelly's home office, though. Built into the router is wireless networking technology that allows Kelly to access the computers, equipment and cable modem that reside inside his home office, albeit at a slower rate of 54Mbps, from anywhere in the house by using his laptop computer.

In fact, anybody who visits Kelly's home can easily connect to the network. Even if a friend's laptop doesn't have a wireless card installed, it can still communicate with Kelly's computer. "That's a real advantage to a big gamer like me," Kelly says. The router lets him and a friend play a game together but on different computers in different rooms. To enhance the gaming experience, Kelly recently added a bridge to his office network. The bridge actually resides in Kelly's family room where it

plugs into an Xbox game console. The bridge essentially links the game station to the router in the office, which gives the Xbox high-speed access to Xbox Live gaming.

Karen Neri and Vicky Keeler

Sisters and business partners link their home to their full-time office downstairs

The home office of Karen Neri and Vicky Keeler's home is all business. The sisters keep and adhere to regular business hours, an elevator ride starts their day, and a separate entrance along with cubicles conveys a corporate office feeling. These are just a few attributes of the sisters' shared office that help to establish a clear separation between work and home, a line that's muddied in the designs of most full-time home offices.

While their home was being built, Karen and Vicky hired a professional home systems installer to outfit their office with a system of high-speed wiring. They knew they'd need it to connect their computers together and to transfer incoming calls between phones. Per the suggestion of their installer, the wire extends to every room of the house, essentially linking parts of their home to the office below.

It's a setup that still maintains that essential separation between their business and personal lives, yet greatly improves certain aspects of their insurance claim business. Say Vicky visits the kitchen for a snack. Karen can page her by simply speaking into one of the office telephones. Vicky hears and can respond to Karen through the kitchen phone. Similarly, they can speak with people at the front door by simply picking up a phone.

In addition to the "home" telephones, the home VCR, TiVo receiver and satellite receiver are important to the business. "A/V is pretty key to what I do because part of the insurance claims I handle deal with faulty footage," Karen explains. "I need to be able to view movies on as many different formats as possible." The networking system lets Karen "borrow" the family room entertainment system whenever she needs it. The video from any tape that's playing in the VCR, a program stored on the hard drive of the TiVo unit, or a show that's playing through the satellite receiver can travel over the network so that it can be viewed on a TV in the office. It's a system that not only is convenient, but saves space in the office. "We don't have any boxes in the office," says Karen, "and virtually no wire in sight."

Last but not least, a home control system is attached to the network. This allows the sisters to adjust the temperature of the house, turn on a few lights, and manage the entire house conveniently from a keypad mounted in the office.

Frank Estremera

On-call 24/7, he uses a networking system to keep everything humming at headquarters

Like a doctor who makes house calls, Frank Estremera is on call round the clock. Only his patients aren't sick children, they're computers.

And when he does drop in on a malfunctioning PC in the middle of the night, it doesn't involve a drive in the dark. Rather, Frank fixes the problem remotely, from the comfort of his own home office.

Ah, yes, Frank is an IT manager. "Regardless of where I'm at, I need access to the servers back at the office," he says. "Through my office network, I can do this from any of several computers in my home."

A wireless router from D-Link prepares every PC in Frank's house--the desktop computer in the kitchen, his son's laptop, his daughter's laptop or the desktop in his dedicated office space--to make house calls at a moment's notice. Every computer has access to a single high-speed modem courtesy of the router. The only computer physically attached to the router is Frank's office PC. It's typically from here that he establishes a virtual private network for secure remote access to servers miles away.

No matter how long he's working, his entire family can be online, all surfing simultaneously. That's particularly important to his collegiate son and daughter who on visits home need the Internet for their studies.

Like any conscientious parent, Frank reminds his kids to always back up their work. It's an easy thing to do with a network. After finishing a paper, for example, it can be transmitted to the large hard drive of Frank's home office PC. Unfortunately, it's advice the kids rarely take. But not to worry. "Even when they don't back their work up, the network lets me pull their files and put them on my PC, where I save them onto a CD," Frank says.

While work and homework are the main reasons the Estremeras utilize a network, they also enjoy occasionally challenging each other to a computer game. The network distributes the action from one computer to all computers. "Everyone can play the one game together from their own computer," Frank explains. The network in the Estremera house has become so popular and necessary that Frank has established similar networks in his son's house, which he shares with five other guys. "For them I used a router that also behaves as a print server," says Frank. "This lets every person's computer share the same printer."

---

What can you do with an office network?

• Transfer calls between telephones
  

When a call comes in on the business line, you can pick it up any any phone.

• Access the Internet from multiple computers simultaneously
  

You don't have to wait for your kids to get offline; you can email away anytime.

• Play Games
  

Who says a home office has to be boring? With the right equipment you can synchronize multiple computers to play the same game.

• See deliveries before you race to the door
  

A surveillance camera can send pictures to the screen of your PC or TV.

• Wipe out the wire
  

Be it a wireless networking system or a wired networking system, they both minimize the amount of wire that's visible in a home office.

• Work to music, the news, or both Some networking systems can distribute music from a family-room stereo system to speakers in the office, and video from a family-room VCR or DVD player to a TV in the office.

Top Of Page