1  | INTRODUCING THE GATEWAY | 
  | 
  | Welcome to the world of networking with 3Com®. In the modern  | 
  | business environment, communication and sharing information is crucial.  | 
  | Computer networks have proved to be one of the fastest modes of  | 
  | communication but, until recently, only large businesses could afford the  | 
  | networking advantage. The OfficeConnect® product range from 3Com  | 
  | has changed all this, bringing networks to the small office.  | 
  | The products that compose the OfficeConnect range give you, the small  | 
  | office user, the same power, flexibility, and protection that has been  | 
  | available only to large corporations. Now, you can network the  | 
  | computers in your office, connect them all to a single Internet outlet, and  | 
  | harness the combined power of all of your computers.  | 
  | 
  | 
OfficeConnect | The OfficeConnect Cable/DSL Gateway and the OfficeConnect Wireless  | 
Cable/DSL Gateway | Cable/DSL Gateway are designed to provide a   | 
and Wireless | sharing a single broadband Internet connection amongst several wired  | 
Cable/DSL Gateway  | and wireless computers. The Gateway also provides protection in the  | 
  | form of an electronic “firewall” preventing anyone outside of your  | 
  | network from seeing your files or damaging your computers.  | 
  | As you can see in the example in Figure 1, without a Gateway only one  | 
  | computer is connected to the Internet. This computer must always be  | 
  | powered on for the other computers on the network to access the  | 
  | Internet.  |