How would you network a company with offices in five different states?

What part would the internet play in this network?

one keyword: VPN
VPN is virtual private network(ing)

Also good: MS (microsoft) exchange server email.
Those are often setup with real-time address and calendar sync.
Very useful too, are blackberries running MS-exchange!

It really depends upon how quickly and frequently the employees need to have access to their work email and organizer.

Hope those ideas help.

Tyla: let me guess this is part of network quiz, do you homework yourself read.

you would need to create a WAN (wide area network) not an easy thing to setup

Network them by setting up a WAN.

I'm confused as to why this is a question.....a lot of companies do this with email, fax, conference calls etc.

Get your ISP to set up T1s at each location, and connect them with MPLS routers (or PRN routers, if your ISP still offers that) to each other.

The connections would go across the internet from office to office via the MPLS routers.

Use non-public-routable IP addresses for each location, e.g. 172.10.0.0 /24 for one office, 172.10.1.0/24 for another, etc. (Or use 10.1.0.0/16 for office 1, 10.2.0.0/16 for office 2, etc.)

This is worth the investment in an IT professional.
For one, to make sure it's done right and in a timely matter.
And for true security put in place on the network from hackers, etc.
Also, an experienced IT pro can give good advice and follow up if the need to correct a problem on their end.
Check their references if you question their knowledge and/or experience.