Network Administrators

Network and computer systems administrators design, install, and support an organization’s computer systems. They are responsible for LANs, WANs, network segments, and Internet and intranet systems. They can be found in corporations, small businesses, and government organizations. They install and maintain network hardware and software, analyze problems, and monitor networks to ensure their availability to users. Some of the responsibilities include gathering data to evaluate a system’s performance, identifying user needs, and determining system and network requirements.

Network administrators are usually required to have a bachelor’s degree; however an associate degree or professional certification, with related work experience, may be adequate for some positions. "Overall employment of computer network, systems, and database administrators is projected to increase by 30 percent from 2008 to 2018, much faster than the average for all occupations. In addition, this occupation will add 286,600 new jobs over that period. Growth, however, will vary by specialty." (http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos305.htm)

Source: http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos305.htm
Photo by Tom Pollock

Secure Email Project

Article Summary

http://archives.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/08/31/safe.passage.idg/index.html

Despite the fact that this article is dated it still represents what many businesses one would not generally associate with sensitive information. 7-11 began using email to negotiate with external vendors and needed a way to protect this sensitive corporate information from potential hackers. 7-11 made the decision to go with ZixIT which allows users to encrypt and digitally sign emails sent. The company made the decision based on several key factors. The first obviously being the need to secure email communications and the second was the low cost associated with the service. The ZixIT service only cost $1 per user per month. The article indicates that about 1,000 users would be using the service after full implementation which is a very low cost to a company as large as 7-11. The third reason for choosing ZixIT was because it "automatically compresses files so they fall under the size limit imposed by 7-Eleven's firewall, and it scan e-mail and attachments for viruses".

ZixIt provides a system that is not software intensive and much more cost effective than its alternatives back in 2000. Because of this and the growth in email communication with sensitive information the company expected to grow at a fast pace. Some of the companies that enacted programs such as this early on most likely saved large amounts of money that would have been lost to pirated information or lawsuits.