Connect two office building's network together

Hello,

I have a problem where I need to connect two networks between our two
small offices together. Both offices have standard DSL (~1.5Mbps down/
~400Kbps up). All the files are located in our main server. Our main
server is running Small Business Server 2003 and right now people at
our remote office connect to our main building using Microsoft VPN. It
works but extremely slow when a lot of people are using it at the same
time or when we use "big" programs such as QuickBooks, etc. Our
offices are in the same business circle but not close enough to be
within wireless network range. We took a look at faster internet
connection such as or SDSL/T1 but the upload speed is only around 4-5
times faster than what we currently have and not sure if it will solve
the problem.

What are some of the common ways of connecting two offices? What are
some options do I have to solve this problem?

Thank you,
Kirk Thirapatpibul

Kirk,
When people are working on the same data at the same time then Terminal
Services is the way to go.
For some types of data "WAN acceleration" may work, e.g Certeon. This is
good if you have a central data store but not actually using the same data
at the same time, for example with SharePoint.
Hope that helps,
Anthony,
http://www.airdesk.com

<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:d1f75b1f-8de4-431a-81c2-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hello,
>
> I have a problem where I need to connect two networks between our two
> small offices together. Both offices have standard DSL (~1.5Mbps down/
> ~400Kbps up). All the files are located in our main server. Our main
> server is running Small Business Server 2003 and right now people at
> our remote office connect to our main building using Microsoft VPN. It
> works but extremely slow when a lot of people are using it at the same
> time or when we use "big" programs such as QuickBooks, etc. Our
> offices are in the same business circle but not close enough to be
> within wireless network range. We took a look at faster internet
> connection such as or SDSL/T1 but the upload speed is only around 4-5
> times faster than what we currently have and not sure if it will solve
> the problem.
>
> What are some of the common ways of connecting two offices? What are
> some options do I have to solve this problem?
>
> Thank you,
> Kirk Thirapatpibul

Thank you for your suggestion. We already looked at Terminal Services
and although it looks like a perfect match for us we found the cost to
be too much for our small company. We have about 20 clients and from
looking around the cost will be around ~$10000 from server software
and licenses. Are there any cheaper method or this is the only way?

Thank you,
Kirk Thirapatpibul

On Aug 15, 1:50*am, "Anthony [MVP]" <anth...@no-reply.com> wrote:
> Kirk,
> When people are working on the same data at the same time then Terminal
> Services is the way to go.
> For some types of data "WAN acceleration" may work, e.g Certeon. This is
> good if you have a central data store but not actually using the same data
> at the same time, for example with SharePoint.
> Hope that helps,
> Anthony,http://www.airdesk.com
>
> <kthirapatpi...@uscalibration.com> wrote in message
>
> news:d1f75b1f-8de4-431a-81c2-(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> > Hello,
>
> > I have a problem where I need to connect two networks between our two
> > small offices together. Both offices have standard DSL (~1.5Mbps down/
> > ~400Kbps up). All the files are located in our main server. Our main
> > server is running Small Business Server 2003 and right now people at
> > our remote office connect to our main building using Microsoft VPN. It
> > works but extremely slow when a lot of people are using it at the same
> > time or when we use "big" programs such as QuickBooks, etc. Our
> > offices are in the same business circle but not close enough to be
> > within wireless network range. We took a look at faster internet
> > connection such as or SDSL/T1 but the upload speed is only around 4-5
> > times faster than what we currently have and not sure if it will solve
> > the problem.
>
> > What are some of the common ways of connecting two offices? What are
> > some options do I have to solve this problem?
>
> > Thank you,
> > Kirk Thirapatpibul

WAN links are always slow.
VPN is even slower because of the Protocol Overhead.
DSL and/or CableTV Internet connections are usually asyncronous connections
(different speeds in each direction) and the VPN will always run at the
slower speed of the link (like 400k in your case).
10,000 is actually cheap.

If the buildings are close with "line-of-sight" from the roof top or a short
tower you can look into a Microwave setup that will provide a Private Link.
It can be faster, but may not be cheaper.

One such provider is:
http://www.tranzeo.com/products/radios/TR-FDD-Series

It would be best to call them and let them see what might be best for your
situation instead of trying to figure it out yourself on their site.


--
Phillip Windell
www.wandtv.com

The views expressed, are my own and not those of my employer, or Microsoft,
or anyone else associated with me, including my cats.
-----------------------------------------------------

<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:34c4f41b-eaed-4931-a2cf-(E-Mail Removed)...
Thank you for your suggestion. We already looked at Terminal Services
and although it looks like a perfect match for us we found the cost to
be too much for our small company. We have about 20 clients and from
looking around the cost will be around ~$10000 from server software
and licenses. Are there any cheaper method or this is the only way?

Thank you,
Kirk Thirapatpibul

On Aug 15, 1:50 am, "Anthony [MVP]" <anth...@no-reply.com> wrote:
> Kirk,
> When people are working on the same data at the same time then Terminal
> Services is the way to go.
> For some types of data "WAN acceleration" may work, e.g Certeon. This is
> good if you have a central data store but not actually using the same data
> at the same time, for example with SharePoint.
> Hope that helps,
> Anthony,http://www.airdesk.com
>
> <kthirapatpi...@uscalibration.com> wrote in message
>
> news:d1f75b1f-8de4-431a-81c2-(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> > Hello,
>
> > I have a problem where I need to connect two networks between our two
> > small offices together. Both offices have standard DSL (~1.5Mbps down/
> > ~400Kbps up). All the files are located in our main server. Our main
> > server is running Small Business Server 2003 and right now people at
> > our remote office connect to our main building using Microsoft VPN. It
> > works but extremely slow when a lot of people are using it at the same
> > time or when we use "big" programs such as QuickBooks, etc. Our
> > offices are in the same business circle but not close enough to be
> > within wireless network range. We took a look at faster internet
> > connection such as or SDSL/T1 but the upload speed is only around 4-5
> > times faster than what we currently have and not sure if it will solve
> > the problem.
>
> > What are some of the common ways of connecting two offices? What are
> > some options do I have to solve this problem?
>
> > Thank you,
> > Kirk Thirapatpibul

There really are only two options if people are working on the same data:
terminal services or lots of bandwidth.
The cost of bandwidth is very localised, so I can't offer any suggestions on
that.
TS need not be too expensive. You need CAL's and a server. The server does
not need to be highly resilient i.e. RAID etc because it does not host data.
Obviously it is nice if it is, but it does not have to be. You need enough
memory to handle all the user sessions. A good workstation would do.
Anthony,
http://www.airdesk.com

<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:34c4f41b-eaed-4931-a2cf-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Thank you for your suggestion. We already looked at Terminal Services
> and although it looks like a perfect match for us we found the cost to
> be too much for our small company. We have about 20 clients and from
> looking around the cost will be around ~$10000 from server software
> and licenses. Are there any cheaper method or this is the only way?
>
> Thank you,
> Kirk Thirapatpibul
>
> On Aug 15, 1:50 am, "Anthony [MVP]" <anth...@no-reply.com> wrote:
>> Kirk,
>> When people are working on the same data at the same time then Terminal
>> Services is the way to go.
>> For some types of data "WAN acceleration" may work, e.g Certeon. This is
>> good if you have a central data store but not actually using the same
>> data
>> at the same time, for example with SharePoint.
>> Hope that helps,
>> Anthony,http://www.airdesk.com
>>
>> <kthirapatpi...@uscalibration.com> wrote in message
>>
>> news:d1f75b1f-8de4-431a-81c2-(E-Mail Removed)...
>>
>> > Hello,
>>
>> > I have a problem where I need to connect two networks between our two
>> > small offices together. Both offices have standard DSL (~1.5Mbps down/
>> > ~400Kbps up). All the files are located in our main server. Our main
>> > server is running Small Business Server 2003 and right now people at
>> > our remote office connect to our main building using Microsoft VPN. It
>> > works but extremely slow when a lot of people are using it at the same
>> > time or when we use "big" programs such as QuickBooks, etc. Our
>> > offices are in the same business circle but not close enough to be
>> > within wireless network range. We took a look at faster internet
>> > connection such as or SDSL/T1 but the upload speed is only around 4-5
>> > times faster than what we currently have and not sure if it will solve
>> > the problem.
>>
>> > What are some of the common ways of connecting two offices? What are
>> > some options do I have to solve this problem?
>>
>> > Thank you,
>> > Kirk Thirapatpibul
>