Network Planning Recommendations For Color Ability Corporation (CAC)

Objectives of the Project

For any business or company, network infrastructure is very critical for the company operations to go on smoothly. Company network ensures that there is continuous communication amongst the employees and between the business and the company (Mbale and Mufeti, 2011, p. 10). It also enables sharing of resources across the company departments and branches. With proper network infrastructure in place, business and company productivity is increased by a greater percentage because the critical resources (data and information) are readily available for the employees to finish their tasks and for the managers to make important decisions (Wolf, 2010, p. 9). A computer network can be described as an interconnection of various devices like routers, computers, switches, access points, servers, and other computing devices to facilitate communication and sharing of resources across the business. Some of the factors that a network should ensure include security, reliability, scalability, efficiency, and manageability (Aftab et al., 2015, p. 174).

Color Ability Corporation (CAC) is a fast-growing advertising and marketing company that has grown over the years and have now acquired a new 4-story building in Brisbane. The company wants to move to their new office in three months from X-Tower where it currently occupies level 10 and 11. Therefore, this report seeks to propose a new network infrastructure to be implemented in their new office that will be able to meet the requirements of the four departments and allow for future scalability. Additionally, it proposes the various devices that can be acquired to be used by the various employees working in different departments within the company.  

Because of the growth that CAC has experienced over the years, the company has purchased a four-story building in Brisbane suburb and want to move in the next three months. The company want to network the new building before moving in in order to address the increasing needs of the company. Therefore, the company is faced with the problem of designing and implementing a network infrastructure that will be able to meet the business needs and flexible enough for future scalability.

Objectives

The goals of the project are as follows:

• To recommend computer system that will meet the needs for film production, general use, server, and graphic production.
• To recommend printers for use by managers and other to be share among employees
• To recommend various network devices (switches, router, and access points) for the network
• To recommend reliable local internet service provider.

The company needs to move to the new offices within 3 month and it is within this period that all the objectives have to be met. Thus, the project will be divided into various activities and tasks so as to achieve the objectives within the timeline (Bradley, 2015). The various activities will include requirement gathering and planning, network design, network implementation, and finally network testing. All the activities will be documented as they happen.

Project Activity	Time (days)	Start	Stop
Requirement gathering and planning	8	October 1, 2018	October 7, 2018
Designing of the network	12	October 8, 2018	October 19, 2018
Implementation	30	October 20, 2018	October 19, 2018
Testing	15	October 20, 2018	November 3, 2018
Documentation	65	October 1, 2018	November 3, 2018

Table 1: Project Timeline

Department/Team: General Use
Location: Brisbane/Sydney
Component	Recommendation
Processor	Intel Celeron N3450 2.4GHz
Memory	4GB
Hard Drive	500GB HDD SATA
CD-ROM/DVD	DVD R/RW
USB Ports	8 USB ports, front:4, back:4
Video Card	Nvidia GeForce GTX 980M: 2GB VRAM
Sound Card	Asus Xonar DSX PCIe 7.1
Modem	Internal 9600 bps QAM
Operating System	Windows 10 Pro
Monitor	21inch, 2560×1600, refresh rate 60Hz
Printer	HP Laserjet Enterprise M633fh
Speakers	Internal speakers (HP DC7600)
Internet Connection	Ethernet

Table 2: General use Computers System Recommendations

(Source: Kolawole, Ali, Penrose and Fuller, 2017)

Department/Team: Graphics Production
Location: Brisbane/Sydney
Component	Recommendation
Processor	Intel Core i5-7500, 3.4GHz
Memory	16 GB RAM
Hard Drive	1TB SATA
CD-ROM/DVD	Optical drive DVD R/RW
USB Ports	8
Video Card	AMD Radeon Pro 560
Sound Card	Asus Essence STX II
Modem	Internal modem 14.4k bps QAM
Operating System	Windows 10 pro
Monitor	30-inch, 3840 x 2160, 60Hz
Printer	HP Laserjet Enterprise M633fh
Speakers	Internal speakers (HP DC7600)
Internet Connection	Ethernet connection

Table 3: Graphics Production Computer Systems Recommendations

(Gentile, Griffith and Souryal, 2012)

Department/Team: Film Production
Location: Brisbane/Sydney
Component	Recommendation
Processor	Intel Core i7-6820HQ, 3.4 Ghz
Memory	16 GB SRAM
Hard Drive	2TB SATA HDD
CD-ROM/DVD	DVD R/RW
USB Ports	8 ports (front:4, back:4)
Video Card	Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070
Sound Card	Blaster Audigy PCIe RX
Modem	Internal, 14.4k bps, QAM
Operating System	Windows 10 pro
Monitor	40-inch, 2560×1440, 60Hz
Printer	HP Laserjet Enterprise M633fh
Speakers	Internal speakers (HP DC7600)
Internet Connection	Ethernet

Table 4: Film Production Computer Systems Recommendations

(Source: Ekwonwune, Anyiam and Osuagwu, 2018)

Department/Team: Email and FTP
Location: Brisbane
Component	Recommendation
Processor	Intel Xeon W-2140B
Memory	32 GB SRAM
Hard Drive	1TB SAS HDD
CD-ROM/DVD	DVD R/RW
USB Ports	7 ports (front:3; back:4)
Video Card	AMD Radeon Pro Vega 56: 1792MB
Sound Card	Creative Sound ZxR PCIe
Modem	Internal modem, 28.8k, QAM
Operating System	Windows server 2012R2
Monitor	21inch, 1920×1200, 60Hz
Printer	HP Laserjet Enterprise M633fh
Speakers	Internal speakers (HP DC7600)
Internet Connection	Ethernet

Table 5: Email and FTP Server Systems Recommendations

(Source: Athow, 2018)

CAC is an advertising and marketing firm and thus a lot of printing is required. The business will be printing brochures, leaflets, and other marketing documents. The print quality should be good enough to meet the requirements of the business. The company requires two kinds of printers one type to be used by managers and another to be share among employees.

Table 1: Project Timeline

For the managers HP-LaserJet Enterprise M553dn color printer is recommended because it produces quality prints and copies and is faster. Additionally, it consumes less energy, high-speed performance, 2-sided prints, allow for printing in sleep mode, and professional-quality printouts (Harrel, 2016).

Print jobs are managed easily on this printer and sense media automatically (A5 or A4). This printer also offers managers the option to protect sensitive data during printing.

Recommended printer to be shared by employees is HP LaserJet Enterprise M633fh. It has the ability to handle high print demands with high speed printing. This printer can print both A3 and A4 and has a paper capacity of up to 300 sheets.

This printer supports network sharing and has in-built security features that allows a user to manage his/her prints without interrupting the printing process of other users. It has a 2Gb RAM and processing speed of 1.2GHz (CNET, 2018). Based on the given information this printer will serve CAC employee well offering the high-speed professional quality services.

The figure below shows the overall layout of CAC network infrastructure.

To have a stable, reliable, and secure network that offers high availability and security depends on the selection of devices (Di Corato, 2013). This is because it is the network devices that determines the overall performance of the network. The following devices are recommended to be used by CAC to implement its network.

Switch

Based on the CAC business requirements Cisco Systems SG112 24-port switch is recommended. It is a reliable switch and offers high connectivity and availability (Cisco, 2018). This switch does not require any software to be installed and is designed for businesses like CAC. The figure below shows how the switch looks like.

It delivers high performance needed to carry out the daily operations within the business that requires network support such as video services that are bandwidth intensive and high-end applications for film and graphics production. Additionally, it can handle heavy traffic that is sent through the network.

Router

CAC needs a router that is powerful enough and offer high level security to ensure that file and data sent over the network are safe from external attacks and threats (Yiannopoulos and Boucouvalas, 2012, p. 663). As such, Atlas-i70 corporate router is the best choice to be used in CAC network. It offers high performance and is versatile. Moreover, it has two expansion slots that facilitates future scalability when needed.

Some of the key benefit of using their router is that it has a speed of up to 1Gbps, deep packet inspection, security (IPSec, ACLs, 802.1x, and firewall), routing features, high encryption capability, central management, and quality of service. It is flexible and supports three method of WAN connectivity including Fiber, Ethernet, and ADSL to facilitate load balancing.

Access points

Wireless connectivity is essential for any business for the purpose of supporting BYOD policy. Wireless connectivity allows employees to access the network from their tablets, phones, and laptops (Weng, Yang and Lai, 2014, p. 673). NETGEAR Insight WAC510 is the best choice because it delivers high client density and high-performance WiFi for CAC because it requires reliable and ubiquitous wireless connection for all the users. NETGEAR Insight App is used to manage the access point without extra management hardware.

General Use Computers System Recommendations

Some of the key benefits of this access point include easy configuration and management, high speed, coverage and density, high performance, business class security, and 802.3af PoE for flexibility and easy deployment (Wickboldt, et al., 2015, p. 281).

Internet connectivity is very important for a business such as CAC that interacts with customers directly. The company may have a very good network but poor internet connection may greatly affect the overall performance and productivity of the business (Salim and Abdalla, 2018). As such, the choice of an internet service provider matters a lot. The table below shows a comparison of three local ISP in Australia.

Provider	Key Feature	Maximum data per billing period	Cost per billing period
	· 50/20 standard plus speed · Payment of $200 upfront fee · Monthly discount of $10 · $2160 minimum cost for 24 months	Unlimited	$95
	· 100/40 premium speed · $79.95 upfront activation fee · $179.94 minimum cost	Unlimited	$99.99
	· 50/20 standard plus speed · $99 upfront fee · Unlimited call included (local and international) · $2475 minimum cost over billing period	unlimited	$99

Table 6: Internet Service Providers

(Source: Lin, Jia, and Long, 2017)

Based on the comparison above, Telstra is the recommended ISP because it provided affordable, reliable, and unlimited high-speed connectivity and unlimited local and international calls. Additionally, upfront connection fee is reasonable and offers 27/7 customer support.

CAC is required some internal services for its employees. The table below describes the kind of internal services that should be provided in order to increase productivity and performance by the employees (Mbale and Mufeti, 2011, p. 3).

The following are some of internal services provided by CAC:

Internal Service	Device	Justification
Print Service	Printer	To handle the print services as needed by the managers and the rest of the employees.
Email Services	Mail server	To manage email communications within the company.
DNS	DNS server	To address and convert machine readable to human readable domain names
DHCP	DHCP Server	To dynamically assign IP addresses to the client work stations and other devices connected to the network.

Table 7: Internal Services Provided by CAC

Requirement	Justification
Are wired connections required?	Yes, 100 wired connections
Are wireless connections required	Yes, to support up to 200 devices
Wireless standard	802.3af, it is reliable and more secure
is firewall required?	Yes, to protect the network by filtering unwanted traffic and blocking suspicious websites
ISP connectivity Required	Yes, to provide internet connection
Type of ISP connectivity	Fiber connection, because it is fast, reliable, and more secure
Internal and external modem required?	External modem is required to connect the internal network to the internet
Cables require?	Yes, cat6a to facilitate wired connections within the company.
Battery backup required?	Yes, to allow employees to save their work and shut down their workstations in cases of power blackout or power surges.

Table 8: Requirement Justification

Subnet	Network Address	Slash Notation	First Usable IP address	Last Usable IP address	Broadcast Address
1	194.32.9.0	/28	194.32.9.1	194.32.9.14	194.32.9.15
2	192.168.0.0	/24	192.168.0.1	192.168.0.254	192.168.0.255

Table 9: Subnetting Table

Device	Interface	IP Address	Subnet Mask	Default Gateway
R1	NA	194.32.9.249	255.255.255.240	NA
R2	NA	194.32.9.250	255.255.255.240	NA
S1	VLAN 1	192.168.0.200	255.255.255.0	192.168.0.210
S2	VLAN 2	192.168.0.201	255.255.255.0	192.168.0.216
S3	VLAN 3	192.168.0.202	255.255.255.0	192.168.0.220
S4	VLAN 4	192.168.0.203	255.255.255.0	192.168.0.214
S5	VLAN 5	192.168.0.204	255.255.255.0	192.168.0.219
Print Server	Fa0/2	194.32.9.224	255.255.255.240	194.32.9.230
Mail Server	Fa0/2	192.168.0.227	255.255.255.0	192.168.0.230
Application server	Fa0/2	192.168.0.226	255.255.255.0	192.168.0.230
P1	S0/1	192.168.0.240	255.255.255.0	192.168.0.236
P2	S0/1	192.168.0.241	255.255.255.0	192.168.0.239
P3	S0/1	192.168.0.242	255.255.255.0	192.168.0.235
P4	S0/1	192.168.0.243	255.255.255.0	192.168.0.237
P5	S0/1	192.168.0.244	255.255.255.0	192.168.0.235
Desktops, Laptops, mobile phones	DHCP	192.168.0.8-192.168.0.199	255.255.255.0	192.168.0.5

Table 10: IP Addressing Table

Location	Router	Switch	Printer
Brisbane	R1
Sydney	R2
Brisbane 1st Floor		S1	P1
Brisbane 2nd floor		S2	P2
Brisbane 3rd floor		S3	P3
Brisbane 4th floor		S4	P4
Sydney		S5	P5

Table 11: Reference table

Network security is very critical to any organization or business. Companies are investing heavily to enhance the security of their network because of the sensitive information that is shared over the network. Combining the use of both public and private IP within the network enhances the security by shielding attackers from tracing the network (Hohlfeld, et al., 2015, p. 4). This can be achieved by using private IP within the network and converting them to public IP when connected to the internet. This makes it hard for the attackers to trace the private IP because they only see the public IP of the device and not the private IP (Karyakina and Melnikov, 2017, p. 252). Public IP felicitate external connection via the internet without leaving traces to the private IP. By implementing this strategy, Color Ability corporation will be able to enhance its network security and anonymity on the internet.

Item No	Item	Quantity	Price ($)	Total Cost ($)
1	Computers for general use	80	600	48000
2	Computers for Graphic Production	10	750	7500
3	Computers for Film Production	6	700	4200
4	Routers	5	450	2250
5	Switches	9	260	2340
6	Servers	4	800	3200
7	Shared Printers to be used by employees	5	750	3750
8	Private to be used by Managers	5	350	1750
9	Access Points	5	250	1250
Total Budget Estimate	74,240

Table 12:Budget Estimate

Color Ability Corporation expects double growth in the next 10 years and as such the company network should be flexible to support scalability for future addition of more devices without affecting the overall performance of the network. As such, it I important to design the network with focus on future growth (Cheng, et al., 2016, p. 147).

Recommendations and Conclusion

I recommend to Color Ability Corporation to adopt this proposal because it has factored in all the business requirements with focus on budget, timeline, and network performance. High-performance devices have been recommended and are affordable and reliable. This will ensure increased productivity and maximum availability of network resources with little or no downtimes. In conclusion, when designing a network, it is always recommended to look into the future and see if the correct network proposed will be able to handles the future requirements. The network should not only meet the objectives of the business but should also be flexible enough to support future growth and addition of more devices and users to the network without affecting the network design and infrastructure.

Reference List

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