NETW585 | Week 7 Project | Complete Solution

Week 1 Final Paper Assignment: Topic Selection (graded and required)

Read the possible topic choices. Choose your term paper topic, and upload it via the Week 1 Dropbox titled "Course Project." Your topic choice will be reviewed, and you will then receive feedback and/or approval of your topic choice. You do not have to select one of the listed topics. If there is a topic that you would like to write about that is not listed, let the instructor know. The appropriateness of the topic will be evaluated against which TCOs your paper is intended to address. Please note that if you do select your own topic, additional description is required as mentioned in the deliverable section above. The description should be at least commensurate with the descriptions listed in the topic choices below.

The term project allows you to apply the tools from the course to design a simple network, optimize the network for its intended use, secure the network, and manage it. In developing the project, assume that you are a consultant, and a client has requested that you design and implement one of the following networks:

Note: There is not enough information in the below scenarios for you to complete this project. You will have to make (and document) assumptions and come up with additional requirements. 

1. A wireless LAN for a 100-employee law firm situated in a two-story office building.
   
   The law office uses Windows 7 (64 bit) Operating System laptops running standard MS Office 2010 Products. The administrative staff uses the network to send e-mail, browse the Internet, run payroll, bookkeeping (Quickbooks), scheduling appointments, invoicing, creating legal documents, etc. The lawyers and legal aides mainly use the computers to search electronic law libraries to research legal cases from around the state and country, as well as some of the above administrative tasks (e.g. e-mail, web search, calendaring). One of the office staff currently maintains the computers and the 10BaseT LAN but is a novice. This limited support is an issue with the law firm.

1. A WAN linking a toy manufacturing plant (located in Dallas Texas) with two distribution centers (Los Angeles, California and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
   
   The toy company has about a dozen old Windows 95 Operating System desktops running standard MS Office 95 products. The administrative staff uses the network to send e-mail, browse the Internet, run payroll, accounting, scheduling shipments, invoicing, human resources, and inventory management. The manufacturing facility has a rudimentary network running robotics. The equipment and protocols are obsolete, and the vendor is no longer in business. There is one IT person at the manufacturing facility that is an expert on keeping this old system running, but lacks any current technology experience.

1. A network for a customer support center with 50 employees, and 20 mobile users.
   
   The customer support center is run by a medium size locally owned and operated cable company. The service area has a radius of 50 miles. The support center provides a range of services from troubleshooting equipment (Internet, TV, and phone) to answering billing questions. When solutions cannot be provided by the Tier 1 and 2 support center staff, the field technicians are contacted to provide Tier 3 support. The field support team is responsible for fixing issues in the customer’s home and working with equipment vendors for Tier 4 support. The network is antiquated and needs to be replaced. The company has an excellent IT department with experienced staff.
   As a consultant, you bring to the table standard methods and processes for developing the client solution. Your solution may be a general one with special emphasis on at least two TCOs addressed in the course.
   Your client is requesting a written analysis (typed, double-spaced, 15-20 page limitation; this does not include appendices or the cover page). The format for this assignment will be further explained in the “NETW585 Network Design Project Evaluation Criteria” found in the Doc Sharing tab for this course.

Don't forget to cite your sources properly, both parenthetically and in your bibliography/works cited.