I do a lot of work in an open room where we have a strict no-Internet-access network. The room has a large table with several computers where my coworkers hop from computer to computer doing different things. However my job is much different from theirs; I sit at one of these computers all day working on relatively few long-running tasks.
Often we have several hard drives shipped to us, and we need to copy them to a central server. As we have limited hard drive bays per computer, we need several computers on the network doing things that were initiated by one or two users. Also these computers share the load of processing this data.
The problem is that this room is also the main room where discussions take place, or where coworkers periodically go to chat and/or goof off. I use headphones often and that helps, but even headphones aren't enough when a large group of people is right behind you having a good laugh.
I want to move to my office (which is accessed directly from the big room), however since the network is so strictly isolated, it would require putting a new computer in the office and running a separate network cable.
Coworkers have made similar requests in the past which have been rejected. My boss does not think my work environment is unreasonable and is unwilling to allow anyone private network access in their own offices. Am I being unreasonable for wanting this? How do I ask my boss for internal network access in my office?
The boss's reasoning for having an internal network is to protect the data on the network from potential malware/hacker threats. It's also a subject he will not budge on. There will always be an Internet-free network.
where we have a strict no-Internet-access network
Why? That sounds extremely unreasonable, unless there's a very specific reason, and that reason may be quite important in answering your question.