ICTICT501 Research and Review Hardware Technology Options

Research and Report on hardware options

Executive Summary

The report is prepared for the development of a network solution for the IT administrator for the development of a local area network solution for the head office of the organization. An analysis is made on the number of user using the network solution and a needs of the business is analysed for the development of the network solution. A list of the equipment that is required for the development of the network solution is prepared and it cost is analysed for the development of the budget for the development of the network solution. A research is made on the compatibility issues and the potential risk associated with the implementation of the device and thee mitigation plan is prepared for removal of the risk.

Background 

MyAbode need a network solution for meeting its expansion and gain a competitive edge over the other business in the market. The information system of the organization needs to be connected with the network such that it can be used by the employees connected in different areas of the network. The current network solution is created and the available options that can be used for the development of the network is analysed for redesigning the current network topology of the organization and aligning it with the current needs of the business organisation. The current network does not have support of the VOIP service and the company is facing extra cost for overseas communication and reducing the telephony cost. An awareness should be increased for protecting the sensitive information of the organization and a secure network should be created for increasing the security of communication and mitigation of the business risk.    

Summary of business needs

The current business of the organization needs to secure the network communication channel and increase the security of the data. The cost of operation should be minimized with the development of the network. New technology that can be implemented in the network for increasing the efficiency of the network and implementation of the new changes for development of the new network solution. A schedule listing should be created for listing the activity that should be performed for the development of the network solution and minimal time frame should be allocated for the completion of each of the activity. The project schedule should be approved by the business manager for starting the development and it should meet the key requirement.  

Proposed solution

The network solution is developed for MyAbode for the management of the files of organization and increasing the awareness for the management of the sensitive information of the organization. Technical expertise and protection of the client information is important for the development of the network solution. The network is developed with redundant link for minimizing the disruption and management of the external operation. The competitive cost and the new network device should be included in the network for the management of the communication between the different areas of the network. In the proposed network the network is divided into smaller subnet different vlan are created for the transmission of the voice and data packets in the network. The routers are configured with ip telephony for the management of the voip communication.

List of equipment, service and resources

The following network equipment’s are required for the development of the network solution are given below:

• Cisco ISR 4000 series router
• Cisco 2960 series switch
• Linksys WRT54G router
• Cisco ASA 5505 firewall
• Cisco 7900 series IP phone

The following service should be enabled in the network for the management of the network device and are given below:

• Firewall
• VPN
• Intrusion prevention service
• Secure wireless network
• Management of the Identity
• Validation of the complication

The main resources identified for the development of the proposed network solution are listed below:

• Network Administrator
• System Analyst
• Network device
• Simulator Software

Research and summarization of the industry standards

A research is done on the different industry standards that should be followed for the deployment of the network device in different location of the network. The compatibility of the device is analysed for the development of the network solution and the risk should be reviewed for the responding against the protection and privacy issues in the organization. The data privacy issues are collected and different standards such as use of IEEE 802.3 standards are used for the management of the wireless network. The international organization for standardization also needs to manage the technical standards for transmission of data packets from source to destination location. The device should meet the ISO standards for meeting the health and safety issues in the organization and application of the standard for development of the network framework.   

List and citation of the external sources 

Different company websites such as the website of cisco and technical blogs are reviewed for the analysis of the requirement of the network. Different network development strategy and protocols that are essential for the development of the network are analysed for the development of the network framework. A research is made on the external device and the links that are needed for interconnecting the network device and the network policy that is essential for secure communication is also analysed for the development of the network. The website of the competitor are analysed for the management of the performance of the network and increase the availability of the network devices.  

Research and identification of the potential vendors for sourcing the equipment and service

A market research is performed for the identification of the potential vendor for choosing the best network device for the management of the business operation. Different sources on the internet are analysed for the development of the network framework and gathering information for identifying the potential vendor. The equipment and the service that are required for the management of the network framework and the websites of the competitors are analysed for the identification of the external sources and develop the network framework according to the needs of the organization.

Technical information about the equipment

The equipment’s selected for the development of the network framework are analysed for meeting the technical needs. The independent sources are analysed for the management of the network and performance of the network analyser should be maintained for the development of the network. The network router selected for the management of the data packets have an enhanced module slot and have a dedicated slot for the management of the WAN and LAN. There are free slot for the expansion of the network interface according to the requirement of the organization. The cost of the license and the flash memory backup should be saved for creating a backup plan and control the different operation of the network.

Network compatibility issues and potential risks

The network device selected for the development of the network should be compatible with each other and the changes in the configuration should be supported by the whole network. The device should have the option to work independently and become a group to serve more number of request at a time. A loop analysis is made on the network components and the devices are interconnected with each other for the analysis of the computability issues. The main configuration of the network is done on the central device such that the other devices can be plugged in the network for simple operation. Such as the servers are configured with DHCP for automatically assigning the IP address to the other PC connected in the network.  

Vendor instruction for using the network resources and the protocols and standards

The rules and regulation for using the network device connected in the network are analysed for the management of the network framework. The instruction set of the vendor is important for the identification of the service and protocols standards that can be supported by the device for understanding the compatibility issues. For the installation of the network device the vendor instruction should be followed because improper installation of the network device can cause malfunction in the communication of the data packets. The installation of the firewall and the configuration of the router with the IPSec helps in reducing the effort of the employees for the management of the network solution. The vendor should have the ability to support the needs of the organization and the main operation of the configuration should support the TCP/IP protocol for the transmission of the data packets in the different devices of the network.  

Cost analysis

A cost analysis is made for the estimation of the budget of the project and develop the network solution meeting all the requirement of the organization. The cost of the network device are listed below that would help to understand the cost of the device such as:

• Cisco ISR 4000 series router - $87500
• Cisco 2960 series switch - $ 3295
• Linksys WRT54G router - $ 79.99
• Cisco ASA 5505 firewall - $ 410.00
• Cisco 7900 series IP phone - $ 218.00

Technical assistance required for implementation

A network administrator is essential for the management of the network device and configuration of the device aligning the requirement of the organization. The current network framework should be analysed for the development of the network diagram of the company and the changes that should be made for the development of the network. Hiring of the technical staff helps in configuration of the network device reducing the risk of misconfiguration of the network and increases the efficiency of the current network solution.  

Time frame for implementation

A project schedule is created for the management of the activity involved for the development of the network solution and is given in the following table

Quality assurance steps for meeting the expected standards and criteria

The network device should be developed maintaining the quality of standards and it should meet the network management policy. The congestion and collision of the network should be avoided for reducing the congestion in the communication channel and different congestion control mechanism can be applied with the use of networking protocol such that the efficiency of the network can be improved.

Performance benchmarks of the equipment

There are certain performance metrics and benchmark that can be used for the management of the network and the resources. The service that are provided by the network device are analysed for the management of the network and separate communication channel are used for the management of the data and voice service provided to the user connected with the network.

Conclusion

From the above report it can be concluded that with analysis of the current network and analysis of the needs of the organization the errors in the configuration of the proposed network solution can be reduced. The report is prepared for the analysis of the need of the business organization for securing the client information and reducing the operation cost of the network. An analysis is made on the recent technology and the device that can be used for the development of the network. A project schedule plan is created with the analysis of the cost for the development of the network solution and the standards that are followed for the development of the network.   

Bibliography

Bernardos, C. J., De La Oliva, A., Serrano, P., Banchs, A., Contreras, L. M., Jin, H., & Zúñiga, J. C. (2014). An architecture for software defined wireless networking. IEEE wireless communications, 21(3), 52-61.

Dai, M. I. N. G., Du, J. I. A. N., & Qian, S. H. A. O. (2017). Research on the overall technical framework of the ship networking system in the Yangtze River Delta. DEStech Transactions on Computer Science and Engineering, (itme).

Fang, C., Yu, F. R., Huang, T., Liu, J., & Liu, Y. (2015). A Survey of Green Information-Centric Networking: Research Issues and Challenges. IEEE Communications Surveys and Tutorials, 17(3), 1455-1472.

Kiptoo, M. K., Githui, W., Wanzala, P., Kariuki, J., Mwangi, M., Omar, S., ... & Sang, W. (2014, December). Impact of Research Methodology and Scientific Writing Course in transforming Clinical and Laboratory Personnel to Research Scientists at the East Africa Public Health Laboratory Networking Project Study sites in Kenya. African Forum for Health Sciences.

Lecher, W., Platzer, H. W., & Weiner, K. P. (2018). European Works Councils: development, types and networking. Routledge.

Li, J., Wu, F., Li, J., & Zhao, Y. (2017). Research on Risk Evaluation of Transnational Power Networking Projects Based on the Matter-Element Extension Theory and Granular Computing. Energies, 10(10), 1523.

Majchrzak, T. A., & Sakurai, M. (2016). Design Principles for the Use of Social Networking Services to Promote Transdisciplinary Collaboration, Public Deliverable, SMR Project (H2020-DRS-2014 653569).

Masamha, T., Mnkandla, E., & Jaison, A. (2017, September). Logistic regression analysis of information communication technology projects' critical success factors: A focus on computer networking projects. In AFRICON, 2017 IEEE (pp. 963-967). IEEE.

Moe, N. B., Šmite, D., Š?blis, A., Börjesson, A. L., & Andréasson, P. (2014, September). Networking in a large-scale distributed agile project. In Proceedings of the 8th ACM/IEEE International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering and Measurement (p. 12). ACM.

Sadek, A. (2016). Forwarding Strategies in Information Centric Networking.

Vilalta, R., López, V., Mayoral, A., Yoshikane, N., Ruffini, M., Siracusa, D., ... & Casellas, R. (2015, June). The need for a control orchestration protocol in research projects on optical networking. In Networks and Communications (EuCNC), 2015 European Conference on (pp. 340-344). IEEE.

Zhang, L., Afanasyev, A., Burke, J., Jacobson, V., Crowley, P., Papadopoulos, C., ... & Zhang, B. (2014). Named data networking. ACM SIGCOMM Computer Communication Review, 44(3), 66-73.