Hardware and Software Paper
CIS 205

Hardware and software play a very important role in business today and if combined together they can support personal, workgroup, and enterprise computing.
In my organization we use Windows based computers for each workstation in each respective location. With the appropriate hardware networking the computers together, we are able to communicate through our network. In this case, we are a small business so we followed the steps necessary to map drives together in the various locations. The hardware needed for our network is a modem, router, Ethernet cables, external hard drives, and power supplies. The software we use to run our network is Windows. When used together this hardware and software help us operate our organization efficiently by easily sending and receiving information. We are able to navigate to any computer’s information in our company through this network.
As a design, printing, and embroidery company, we use many online applications to help support and organize our information. The majority of our incoming business comes from the internet. I use an online application called Oss designer to download customer art, organize customers data, and obtain the necessary information from a customer to get the job done. We also use the Oss software to obtain payments for our services. In order to track customers we use an invoice and customer tracking program called Quickbooks. This software enables us to easily create invoices, track expenses, and pay bills.

Some of the images we work with are very large and can be a hundred or more megabytes in size. In order to send an image of that size using the internet many of our customers prefer to use P2P software like Pando. With Pando we are able to send and receive large files or folders up to 1GB in size. This enables us to receive art and images quickly as well as send proofs to people for swift approval.
In order for our business to collaborate with one another and stay organized we use an online calendar system called Google Calendars. This application allows multiple users to add events to the calendar and even color coordinate the jobs. Google Calendar is saved on the internet which makes it very easy to create an event on any computer with internet access.
After I receive the proper information, I am able to design a logo or compile the art to create an image for the customer. In order to create the images for printing we use the Adobe CS3 software. Photoshop and Illustrator are the programs we use most in the CS3 bundle. When the art is completed and ready for printing we use a rip and print software called Wasatch SoftRIP to send the image to the printer. The hardware we use for printing is a large digital inkjet printer about as big as an industrial size refrigerator. The printer runs on compressed air and electricity and requires a person to operate it. The operator uses a mounted computer to upload the images and using the printer’s software they are able to print one or more (up to nine hundred and ninety nine prints) of the image at the top of a queue.
All of this hardware and software working together enables us to run our business efficiently in this fast paced market. Without this proper technology we wouldn’t be able to compete in this competitive environment.