2  Local Area Networks – small office/home office

Figure 2

• Many people have jobs that can be done from home via the Internet. This requires them to use a network to connect together the computing devices needed to do their work.
• Many businesses are small in size (with no more than 10 people working for them), and also require a network to connect together their employee’s computing devices.
• These home/office networks are still considered to be LANs, but due to their small size are often referred to as Small Office Home Office (SOHO) networks.
• Depending on the purpose of the small business, SOHO networks often contain more specialised computing devices and software than a home LAN, but still need to be connected to the Internet via an ISP.