Staying Connected While Working Remotely with LAN WAN PAN MAN
We often appear to take internet access for granted, but with the rise of remote work in 2020, staying connected for work and school has brought new challenges. According to a FlexJobs survey released before the pandemic, remote work was already on the rise in 2019. Many people are now working remotely and will continue to do so for some time, according to many experts, and the shift to more mobile work may be permanent.
In the 1980s, the lyric of choice for New York Telephone commercials was “We’re all connected.”Connecting via phone line was sufficient back then, but now we expect our connections to extend to the internet, which necessitates more sophisticated networks.
In this section, we look at various networks.
Understanding the Four Types of Area Networks
LAN (Local Area Network)LAN is an abbreviation for local area network. The local area is typically an office, but with the rise of Wi-Fi, it can also be found in homes. Your office’s LAN, whether wired or wireless, most likely runs on Ethernet. Ethernet can operate using twisted-pair cables that plug into switches that are connected to gateways via RJ-45 connectors, similar to old-fashioned phone jacks. These links can connect the LAN to other LANs or the internet.
The IEEE 802.11 standard allows Ethernet to connect wirelessly over Wi-Fi. The b/g/n standards are supported by almost all new routers. IEEE 802.11b). Also see: 802 What? Making Sense of the 802.11 Protocol Family
Broadband Network (WAN)
WAN: As indicated by the “w,” a WAN covers a larger geographical area than a LAN. A wide area network can be used to connect a number of buildings, whether they are close together, as on campus, or use satellite links to connect across counties.
It, like LAN, can function with either a wired or wireless connection. If it is wired, the fibre-optic cable will most likely be used. Transmission technology such as microwave or infrared (IR) can be used. Wireless connections can be made via satellite or cable.
Persistent Area Network (PAN)
Typically, PANs cover a smaller area than LANs, typically a small room. Bluetooth is the most well-known wireless PAN network technology, and USB is the most popular wired PAN. Wi-Fi can be utilised as a PAN technology as well.
MAN
The Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) connects nodes in the same metropolitan area. While fibre-optic cable can be used to connect buildings that are blocks or miles apart, wireless connections are more cost-effective. As a result, the majority will rely on microwave transmission technology.
Another important abbreviation
A Virtual Private Network (VPN)
This acronym, while referring to a network, does not rhyme with the others. This is because it is not about bridging area networks but about creating privacy through virtualization.
VPN routes internet traffic through a remote server that has been configured specifically for that purpose. As a result, your IP address and online behaviour are hidden from your ISP because all data sent and received via the VPN is encrypted.
In an interview with Techopedia, Daniel Markuson, a digital privacy expert at NordVPN, explained that the VPN can be thought of as creating a tunnel through which data can pass: “To build this tunnel, you must first authenticate your client—a computer, smartphone, or tablet—with a VPN server.” The server then applies an encryption mechanism to safeguard any data exchanged between you and your online destination.
Markuson observed that, whereas VPNs were previously only set up for businesses concerned about security or tech-savvy individuals concerned about privacy, usage has skyrocketed in 2020. Much of it pertains to self-isolation, incarceration, and social distancing that is occurring globally as a result of the coronavirus.”As people logged far more hours using online entertainment under lockdown than usual, some people were now using the VPN simply for a better streaming experience. However, for some, it was all about preparing themselves to work from home as efficiently as possible.
Getting Ready for the Remote Challenge
Working from home or another remote location on occasion due to weather or travel when logging in via a laptop is sufficient has become fairly common. When that occurrence lasts for weeks or months, and other members of the household are also logging into their work and school, you face additional challenges.
One of these challenges is a lack of bandwidth. Aside from the question of whether your network and gateways can handle the increased traffic generated when the majority of users begin connecting remotely, employees must be aware of the limitations of their home bandwidth.
Many people were forced to contact their ISP to request a service upgrade after the shift to working from home under lockdown. “My PC is running slowly” could be due to a lack of network resources rather than a problem with the computer itself.
Support and Equipment
When it became clear that the state lockdown would last much longer than two weeks and that there would be no return to normalcy anytime soon, IT shops were inundated with desktops, laptops, docking stations, displays, cables, Wi-Fi adapters, webcams, headphones, and other equipment
A shortage of necessary equipment is unavoidable when everyone is scrambling for the same things at the same time. Trying to be proactive about maintaining a supply of hardware, on the other hand, entails spending large sums of money on equipment that loses value as it becomes obsolete and may never be used at all.
IT shops face the challenge of striking the right balance between having enough equipment on hand to meet the needs of key players while not overstocking.
IT departments must also define clear policies in advance that outline the scope of what they can support and are responsible for. An end-user running an old PC at home with an outdated operating system and a slow network may encounter problems that technical support cannot resolve.
As a result, policies for the IT team must be established. There is a policy document that the support team can refer to that clarifies what the end-user is responsible for in terms of their own equipment, whether it’s a home computer or a mobile device brought into the office under BYOD terms.
Remote Employee Protection:
Aside from the usual challenges of securing any network connection from outside the office to the internal network, the work-from-home scenario adds the risk of confidential and proprietary information being transmitted beyond the secure corporate network to personal computers or printed at home
Employees may not realise on their own that sending messages from their secure work email account, tracking and backing up is not the same as using a personal account, or why they should not print confidential papers on their home printer. That is why it is critical to educate them on the protocols in place to maintain security, especially in highly regulated industries.
Another source of concern is the physical security of equipment. The more hardware, such as desktops and laptops/tablets, that is permitted outside the office, the greater the risk of such devices being lost, stolen, or compromised.
The security of software solutions used for meetings and file transfers is a third vulnerability to be aware of and prepare for. When many people began using Zoom to connect virtually from home,
Employees may not realise that sending messages from their work email account, which is secured, tracked, and backed up, is not the same as sending messages from a personal account, or that confidential papers should not be printed on their home printer. That is why it is critical to educate them on the mechanisms in place to maintain security, especially in highly regulated businesses.
Another source of concern is the physical security of equipment. The more hardware, such as PCs and laptops or tablets, that is permitted outside the office, the greater the risk of such items being lost, stolen, or compromised.
The security of software solutions used for meetings and file transmission is a third vulnerability to be aware of and plan for. When many people resorted to Zoom to connect online from home, some of them had their meetings compromised. This highlighted the additional cybersecurity problems that exist in remote situations, as well as the requirement for security protocols in place to determine which solutions can be employed and which precautions must be implemented.
Conclusion
What most of us had in place may have fallen short when the home became the location of a household’s employment and school. As a result, remote setups necessitate some forethought to provide enough bandwidth and security.
