Supporting connections to the Internet
The internet is a massive collection of computers that spans the globe, all networked together. It has become an essential business tool that allows us to communicate almost immediately. However, for all the benefits that the internet brings, there are always some additional considerations to be made.
Supporting ISP connections
An ISP is the company that provides a service that connects a business directly to the internet, often via Broadband (ADSL). They can provide other services, such as hosting your domain name, hosting and routing email and hosting web sites. ISP's, like all companies, vary in the quality of their services. Some large corporate ISPs advertise heavily on television, but have the worst customer service - others hardly advertise and have excellent service and records of 'up-time'.
Simply put, if your current ISP is not giving you the service you are paying for, change to one that does!
Domain names - A simple explanation
A domain name (e.g. mycompany.co.uk) shows your customers that you are serious about business; it is your mark in cyberspace and from it you can run email and web sites, amongst other services. For UK businesses domain names are usually named after the company name, with a .co suffix, or an organisation (such as a charity) with a .org suffix. Although there is a .ltd suffix it is not as popular as the .co. All uk based businesses that dont deal internationally should have a .co.uk domain, only those that deal overseas would tend to have an international .com based domain name.
Router, Gateway and Firewall support
Nowadays, these pieces of equipment can often be contained within one physical box, often a broadband ADSL router. Although the web based configuration interface is easy to use, care should be taken to disable the services that are not required, e.g. a WiFi connection when it's not required.
