If you're thinking of an Internet-based strategy for your company's network, you're not alone. That's why doing it right can give you a real edge.

Today, about 5.5 million small businesses are Internet-enabled. This adoption rate translates to around 24 million users, with another 6 million small-business users prepared to go online within the next year, according to research firm AMI-Partners.

With networks, starting small and growing over time makes perfect sense. Even a modest network can reap large dividends by saving time; improving communications between employees, customers and suppliers; increasing productivity, and opening new paths to worldwide information resources.

A solid network foundation isn't just a collection of wires, switches and routers. Even a small network supporting a handful of users should provide the kind of intelligence to power an Internet strategy at any point in its evolution.

A strong network foundation will:

• Enable companies to sustain their growth and competitive initiatives by getting the most out of expensive bandwidth and making sure applications perform as expected.

• Prevent the security breaches that destroy valuable data, damage customer confidence, and involve substantial repair and recovery costs.

• Ensure the availability of resources and information that companies depend on to support new users, open new offices, deploy new services, extend their networks to customers and partners, support a more mobile workforce, and more.

What are the components of a sound network foundation? Here are nine.

1. Local-area networks (LANs)

LANs are networks contained in buildings or on a single site. Ethernet, introduced in the late 1970s, remains the leading LAN technology.

Ethernet bandwidth or data-carrying capacity (also called throughput) is 10 megabits per second (Mbps). Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet provide 10 times the bandwidth, at 100 Mbps, and 100 times the bandwidth, at 1,000 Mbps, respectively.

2. Switches

Up until a few years ago, hubs were considered fairly sophisticated devices that could provide an adequate network foundation for most small businesses. But bandwidth-hungry e-business applications, powerful desktop PCs, heightened security concerns, and 24x7 operations have forever changed the demands on the network. Today, more and more small businesses are making the switch to switches in order to get the performance, capacity, intelligence, reliability, security and manageability they need.

Switches connect users directly to the LAN and serve as the primary path for traffic moving within and, in conjunction with a router, between networks. Look for switches that provide greater intelligence and control without sacrificing the traditional simplicity of LAN switches. If your company is in growth mode, also look for choices in configurations (standalone and stackable) and speed (10/100/1000 Mbps).

3. Routers

At the heart of a robust network foundation is the full-service router, intelligently forwarding data packets from one network to another. Regardless of your size, if you're serious about participating in the Internet economy, you need to select a business-class router that incorporates security, performance, reliability, and manageability. If you have more than one location today, or expect to in the future, look for a router series that provides the flexibility to use the most appropriate (and least expensive) connection service for each location, such as cable or DSL services.

4. Security devices

Because of the complexity of today's networks and the proliferating points of exposure, small businesses must think in terms of security solutions, rather than point products. A secure foundation network should include an integrated security solution encompassing virtual private networks (VPNs), firewalls, Network Address Translation (NAT), and intrusion detection. An integrated security solution closes the security gaps associated with multi-vendor solutions and is easier to manage and support and costs less to own. Also look for a security solution that is modular, so you can add components, scale, and choose integrated solutions (e.g., routers with built-in firewall) or dedicated devices as your business needs grow and change.

5. Getting wired

Currently, there are four ways in which you can "wire" your network: twisted-pair wiring, coaxial cable, fiber optic and wireless. Twisted pairs of wire, typically called Category 3, Category 5, or Category 5e, is the most commonly used networking standard for wiring. Twisted-pair wiring has been used for phone lines for many years. The difference with network twisted-pair wiring is the number of wired pairs bundled in the wire casing. Category 3 has three pairs of wire; Category 5 and Category 5e have four pairs of wire. Network twisted-pair wiring is also commonly referred to as Ethernet and Ethernet wiring.

6. Going wireless

Wireless LANs (WLANs) enable employees in a facility or campus environment to access the LAN without a hardwired connection. WLANs can be deployed instead of a wired LAN, for example, in the case of an older building that is not easy to re-cable. Or WLANs can be deployed as an adjunct to an existing wired LAN, for example, for "high density" areas, such as cafeterias, auditoriums, lobbies, or conference rooms, or for connectivity with a remote site, such as a factory or warehouse, that may be difficult or too expensive to hard wire.

Wireless, as you may guess, offers the most flexibility by being able to work in multiple areas throughout your office without losing your network connection.

7. Wide-area networks (WANs)

WANs connect users and LANs between sites, whether in the same city, across the country, or even around the world. "Remote access" refers to a connection between an individual user or very small branch office and the headquarters network. Multiple users in a company generally access the Internet through a router to an Internet service provider (ISP), who connects them to the Internet.

8. Virtual private networks (VPNs)

When the time comes to add a branch office to your network, think VPNs. Not too many years ago, the only way to guarantee a reliable and secure connection between two offices was to put in a private WAN. These networks were built on costly high-speed lines leased from the telephone company and used exclusively by the company leasing them. Leased-line WANs came with a guarantee of quality and were inherently secure.

A virtual private network (VPN) creates a private network by using the Internet as a backbone. VPNs provide the means by which a small business can enjoy the privacy and security of dedicated leased-line facilities without the associated expense and overhead.

9. Converged networks

More and more small businesses are interested in using data and voice integration ("packetizing" voice to run over data networks) to save on recurring telecommunications costs and create new value-added multimedia business applications. A single voice- and data-network infrastructure is referred to as a "converged network," and "packetizing" voice to run over a converged network is called voice-over IP or sometimes, more broadly, IP telephony (including video).

In order to implement a converged network, the network foundation must incorporate critical technologies such as Quality of Service, which enables the network to intelligently distinguish between voice and data packets in order to guarantee the minimum amount of bandwidth that voice conversations require to work properly.