Part 1: Gather System Requirements

Computer networks is a fundamental part of any business because allows sharing of resources and communications amongst the employees and customers. Networking is interconnectivity of various computer devices such as desktops, laptops, servers, routers, switches, access points amongst others for the purpose of communication and resource sharing (Zhuravlev, 2016).  This is an integral sector and requires careful planning, design, and implementation so as to ensure that all the business requirements and functions have been addressed. A well designed network infrastructure increases business performance and productivity while a poorly design one may cost the business resources in managing and upgrading it every other time (Salim & Abdalla, 2018). A network should meet the following properties: it should be secured, scalable, easy to manage, reliable, efficient, and effective in order to support all the business processes. This report seeks to review the existing network infrastructure and propose a new solution for CAC’s new office that will meet their business requirements and is within their budget. It includes proposing computers for every department, ISP provider, IP addressing and sub netting, and the various networking devices and printers that will meet their daily needs.

Color Ability and Corporation have purchased a four-story building within Brisbane CBD. The company has no IT department and wants the new building to be networked so as to meet its business objectives within the limited budget and resources available.

The objectives of this project include; to design and implement the network infrastructure that will meet the needs of every department at CAC. Secondly, to acquire reliable but affordable network devices that will handle the company operations and communication.  Thirdly, to recommend computer systems for general use, graphic production, film production, and email and FTP server and finally to recommend reliable local internet service provider.

To achieve the objectives, project will be broken down to various milestones and activities to be achieved within three months. First is project planning, this includes gathering all the requirements that is needed to successfully achieve the project objectives. Secondly, is the network design phase where the network is designed and simulated using the various network simulation tools like Netsim and packet tracer to ensure that the proposed design will work. Thirdly, is the network implementation where the logical design is implemented and the actual networking activity is done on the four-story building. Finally, is network testing to ensure that every device is functional and communicates over the network. Acceptance testing is done to ensure that the network users are satisfied with the overall network design, functionality, and speed. Documentation will be done throughout the project. Below is the table showing the project schedule within three months.

Project Task Save Time On Research and Writing Hire a Pro to Write You a 100% Plagiarism-Free Paper. Get My Paper	Duration (days)	Start date	End date
Project planning	10	September 1, 2018	September 10, 2018
Network Design	15	September 11, 2018	September 26, 2018
Network Implementation	60	September 27, 2018	November 26, 2018
Network Testing	10	November 27, 2018	December 6, 2018
Documentation	90	September 1, 2018	December 6, 2018

Table 1: Project Schedule

Item No	Item	Quantity	Price ($)	Total Cost ($)
1	General Use Computers	60	420	25200
2	Graphic production Computers	10	638	6380
3	Film Production Computers	10	680	6800
4	Servers	5	550	2750
5	Routers	2	190	380
6	Switches	5	175	875
7	Wireless Access Points	5	170	850
8	Printers	5	850	4250
9	ISP Subscription	24	89	2136
10	Cat 6 Ethernet Cable (100 meters each)	8	120	960
TOTAL EXPENSES	50581

Table 2: Budget Summary

Activity 1

Department/Team: General Use
Location
Component	Recommendation
Processor (Manufacturer, model, speed)	Intel Core i5-4460s 2.4Ghz
Memory (Type, capacity)	8 GB static RAM
Hard Drive (Type, Capacity)	1 TB SATA
CD-ROM/DVD (Read, Read/Write, Speed)	Optical Drive DVD R/RW
USB Ports (Number, Location)	7 USB ports 3 on the front face and 4 at the back
Video Card (Manufacturer, Model, Video RAM)	Intel® HD Graphics, Graphics memory: 1792MB
Sound Card (Manufacturer, Model)	Asus Xonar GHX PCIe GX 2.5
Modem (Internal/External, Speed, Standard)	Internal modem 9600 bps QAM
Operating System (Manufacture, version, Compatibility)	Windows 10 Professional 64-bit
Monitor (size, Resolution, Refresh rate)	Size: 19 ws, Resolution: 1440 x 900, Refresh rate: 120Hz
Printer (Manufacturer, Model, Type)	Xerox Phaser 7400 DXF
Speakers (manufacture, Model, Type)	HP DC7600 internal speakers
Internet Connection (USB, Ethernet, Wireless)	Ethernet connection

Table 3: Specifications for General use Computers

(Source: So & Byun, 2014)

Department/Team: Graphics Production
Location
Component	Recommendation
Processor (Manufacturer, model, speed)	8th Generation Intel Core i7-8600 2.8GHz
Memory (Type, capacity)	16 GB SRAM
Hard Drive (Type, Capacity)	2TB SATA hard drive
CD-ROM/DVD (Read, Read/Write, Speed)	Optical drive DVD R/RW
USB Ports (Number, Location)	7 USB Port front-3, Back-4
Video Card (Manufacturer, Model, Video RAM)	Intel HD 6000 2GB VRAM
Sound Card (Manufacturer, Model)	Asus Xonar GHX PCIe GX 2.5
Modem (Internal/External, Speed, Standard)	Internal modem 14.4k bps QAM
Operating System (Manufacture, version, Compatibility)	Windows 10 64 bit operating system
Monitor (size, Resolution, Refresh rate)	31.5-inch Dell ultrasharp UP3216Q , 3840 x 2160 60Hz
Printer (Manufacturer, Model, Type)	Xerox Phaser 7400 DXF
Speakers (manufacture, Model, Type)	HP DC7600 internal speakers
Internet Connection (USB, Ethernet, Wireless)	Ethernet connection

Table 4: Specification for Graphics Production Computer

(Wolf, 2010, p. 9)

Department/Team: Film Production
Location
Component	Recommendation
Processor (Manufacturer, model, speed)	8th Generation Intel Core i7-8600 2.8GHz
Memory (Type, capacity)	16 GB SRAM
Hard Drive (Type, Capacity)	3TB SATA hard drive
CD-ROM/DVD (Read, Read/Write, Speed)	Optical drive DVD R/RW
USB Ports (Number, Location)	7 USB Port front-3, Back-4
Video Card (Manufacturer, Model, Video RAM)	Intel HD 6000 2GB VRAM
Sound Card (Manufacturer, Model)	Asus Xonar GHX PCIe GX 2.5
Modem (Internal/External, Speed, Standard)	Internal modem 14.4k bps QAM
Operating System (Manufacture, version, Compatibility)	Windows 10 64 bit operating system
Monitor (size, Resolution, Refresh rate)	40-inch Philips Brilliance BDM4065UC , 3840 x 2160 60Hz
Printer (Manufacturer, Model, Type)	Xerox Phaser 7400 DXF
Speakers (manufacture, Model, Type)	HP DC7600 internal speakers
Internet Connection (USB, Ethernet, Wireless)	Ethernet connection

Table 5: System Specifications for Film Production Computer

(Wang & Wang, 2014, p.174)

Department/Team: Email and FTP
Location
Component	Recommendation
Processor (Manufacturer, model, speed)	Dual Xeon 5000
Memory (Type, capacity)	4 GB SRAM
Hard Drive (Type, Capacity)	1TB SAS hard drive
CD-ROM/DVD (Read, Read/Write, Speed)	Optical Drive DVD R/RW
USB Ports (Number, Location)	7 USB ports 3 on the front face and 4 at the back
Video Card (Manufacturer, Model, Video RAM)	Intel® HD Graphics, Graphics memory: 1792MB
Sound Card (Manufacturer, Model)	Asus Xonar GHX PCIe GX 2.5
Modem (Internal/External, Speed, Standard)	Internal modem 14.4k bps QAM
Operating System (Manufacture, version, Compatibility)	Windows server 2012R2
Monitor (size, Resolution, Refresh rate)	Size: 19 ws, Resolution: 1440 x 900, Refresh rate: 120Hz
Printer (Manufacturer, Model, Type)	Xerox Phaser 7400 DXF
Speakers (manufacture, Model, Type)	HP DC7600 internal speakers
Internet Connection (USB, Ethernet, Wireless)	Ethernet connection

Table 6: System specifications for Email and FTP server

(Source: Movassaghi, Abolhasan & Lipman, 2011, p. 1312)

Step 1: Review available information

Color Ability Corporation (CAC) is a small company but is growing steadily. As such, there is need to layout IT infrastructure that will support the growing needs of the business. Because of the limited budget that CAC has, some of the devices will be share by the users. Each floor will have one printer that is shared by those working in the respective floors. Additionally, every floor will have one 26-port switch for wired connections and one access point for wireless connections. In case the company grows and there is need for additional devices, the network infrastructure will not be affected (Weng, Yang and Lai, 2014, p. 674).

CAC requires a printer that is able to handle the heavy printing that is done daily. Being a marketing and advertising company, CAC needs a printer that give quality prints. As such, the business requires a high speed, multipurpose printer that will meet the requires of every department. Xerox Phaser 7400 DXF is the best printer that can handle the requirements of the business. One printer will be bought for every floor (Cheng et al., 2016, 146). This printer has the capability to print A3, A4, A5, and A6 paper types. Additionally, it can hold up to 3000 sheet of paper, print speed is 40ppm for black and white and 36ppm for colored, and has a maximum duty cycle of 150000 pages per month. Xerox Phaser 7400 DXF is a sophisticated and high performance duplex printer capable of printing super tabloid sizes. Furthermore, built-in properties like selection of trays automatically saves the company resources such as money and time by avoiding the need to reprint the documents. This makes Xerox phaser 7400 DXF a solid option for CAC.

Figure 1: Xerox Phaser 7400 DXF

(source: Xerox.com, 2018)

Additional features include 800MHz processing speed, 4GB RAM, 20GB hard disk, and weight of 209KGs.

Each floor will have a 26-port switch, router/firewall, wireless access point, a workstation, and a server. Figure 2 below shows the proposed layout of each floor.

Figure 2: Network Design for Each Floor

The choice of the devices used is essential for the management and future expansion. As such, the devices used are justified below:

The router chosen for the network is NETGEAR NightHawk X10 AD7200. This router supports both wired and wireless connections which will best suit the CAC because of the limited budget. It supports fast media streaming and this will come in handy because customers are demanding for more interactive media for advertisement such as video presentations. It has the ability to deliver 802.11 ac/ad internet to facilitate instant downloads and 4K streaming media ultra-smoothly (Mbale and Mufeti, 2011). It is made up of quad-stream architecture and has a processing speed of 1.7GHz running quad core processor making it to support speeds of up to 7.2 GBPs.

The switch recommended is Cisco SG250 26-port switch. Depending on the choice this model can dedicate either 195w or 100w to the power over Ethernet.

 

Figure 3: Cisco Small Business Switch

Step 2: Interview with the Management

(Source: Ma, Helvik & Wittner, 2011)

This switch facilitates easy management of the network and has advanced features for easy configuration. It has high performance and reliability to prevent downtimes that may cost the business a substantial cost. It has the ability to boost slow network, high transfer rates, and facilitates quick communication. Additionally, it provides basic security required to manage and keep a level of security for the company, safe guards business data, and keep off unauthorized users from accessing the network (Ma, Helvik & Wittner, 2011). It is energy efficient and provides additional Gigabit ports to expand the network. SG250-26 thus, is the best choice for CAC because of its quality of service features.

CAC will need wireless networks to connect laptops, tablets, and mobile phones while at the office. Cisco WAP 150 is the best choice because it is affordable and provides highly secured wireless connectivity. This increases productivity within the business and has the ability to run next gen applications without any lags. It provides 802.11ac wireless connection of up to 1.2 GBPs, PoE Gigabit port, and concurrent dual-band radio. Additionally, its portal is user friendly and allow the easy customization of rights and roles (Yiannopoulos and Boucouvalas, 2012).

CAC will require several servers to handle the daily business operations. Some of the servers that will be needed include, print server, mail server, application server, and backup server. The choice of server determines the overall productivity of the business, that is, server with a high rate of downtime is likely to cost the business huge amount of resources, money and time, but server with zero downtime increases the productivity of the company because of the smooth running of operations without interruption (Bai et al., 2010, p. 1683). Dell PowerEdge T30 will serve well as the server because of its outstanding features Intel Xeon E3-1225 v5 processor, 64GB RAM, 6 SATA Hard disks, intel HD Graphics p530, 10 USB ports, VGA, HDMI, Display Port, Gigabit Ethernet, PS2, and serial. This features suits the server requirements needed by CAC.

Internet service providers are very crucial part of any business depending on the internet. The choice of the ISP is very important because they determine the overall business performance (Wickboldt et al., 2015, p. 283). CAC should be able to identify an ISP with minimal downtimes and backup plans for their clients in case of downtimes. Three local ISP providers will be compared Exetel, Start, and Telstra.

Internet Service Provider	Features	Data Provision per billing period	Cost
	Customers are given free internet access and another 2.5 GB mobile plan if you subscribe to a 12-month subscription plan at a cost of $569.60 for 24 months. Unlimited ADSL	Unlimited data plan	$54.99/month
	On a 24-month data plan, the customer pays $54 for setup Unlimited ADSL 24-month billing period costs $1859.95	Unlimited data plan	$75/month
	The customer pays $99 fee for connection. 24-month billing period costs $2235 Unlimited ADSL	Unlimited data plan	$89/month

Table 7: Internet Service Providers

(Source: De Oliveira & Koslovski, 2016, p. 1958)

Telstra is the recommended ISP because it provides fast, reliable, and affordable internet. Telstra is known for minimal downtimes with 24-hour customer support. It has the ability to stream 4k video without buffering and thus making it a suitable choice for CAC (Hoque and Gupta, 2012, p.29).

The following are some of internal services provided by CAC:

Service	Device	Justification
Email Services	Mail server	To manage huge amount of emails shared amongst employees and between company and customers
Print Services	Print server	To manage and queue print jobs sent by employees (Kuipers, 2012, p. 17).
DHCP	DHCP Server	This will help manage the increasing number of network devices being added to the network by dynamically assigning IP addresses dynamically (Karyakina and Melnikov, 2017, p.254)
DNS	DNS server	Domain name server is needed to help in to resolve human readable hostnames such as www.cac.au into machine readable IP addresses like 194.32.9.15

Table 8: Internal Services Provided by CAC

(Source: Di Corato, 2013)

Requirement	Justification
Are wired connections required?	Yes, wired connection is needed to connect the printers and desktops to the network. 90 wired connections are needed.
Are wireless connections required	Yes, wireless connections are required to connect laptops, tablets, and mobile phones to the network. Wireless connection should support up to 500 devices.
Wireless standard	802.11 ac wireless standard because it is more secure and stable
is firewall required?	Yes, firewall is needed to secure the network from malicious external and internal attacks.
ISP connectivity Required	ISP is required for internet connectivity
Type of ISP connectivity	DSL connectivity is preferred because it is reliable and fast.
Internal and external modem required?	Yes an external modem is required to connect the network to the internet.
Cables require?	Yes, Cat 6 cables will be needed because of the large amount of data that will be transmitted over the network mostly 5GB to 20 GB and cat 6 will accommodate this amount well.
Battery backup required?	Yes, so as to keep the systems running in case of power blackouts. It also protect the devices from power surge.

Table 9: 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 10: Subnetting Table

Device	Interface	IP Address	Subnet Mask	Default Gateway
Router (Brisbane Head Office)	NA	194.32.9.3	255.255.255.240	NA
Router (Sydney Office)	NA	194.32.9.4	255.255.255.240	NA
Switch 1 (1st floor)	VLAN 1	192.168.0.10	255.255.255.0	192.168.0.2
Switch 2 (Second Floor)	VLAN 1	192.168.0.11	255.255.255.0	192.168.0.23
Switch 3 (Third Floor)	VLAN 1	192.168.0.12	255.255.255.0	192.168.0.21
Switch 4 (Fourth Floor)	VLAN 1	192.168.0.13	255.255.255.0	192.168.0.27
Switch 5 (Sydney Office)	VLAN 2	192.168.0.14	255.255.255.0	192.168.0.25
Mail Server	S0/1	194.32.9.20	255.255.255.240	194.32.9.1
Print Server	S0/1	192.168.0.26	255.255.255.0	192.168.0.1
Application server	S0/1	192.168.0.15	255.255.255.0	192.168.0.1
Printer 1 (First floor)	Fa0/2	192.168.0.19	255.255.255.0	192.168.0.2
Printer 2 (second floor)	Fa0/2	192.168.0.28	255.255.255.0	192.168.0.23
Printer 3 (third floor)	Fa0/2	192.168.0.18	255.255.255.0	192.168.0.21
Printer 4 (fourth floor)	Fa0/2	192.168.0.16	255.255.255.0	192.168.0.27
Printer 5 (Sydney Office)	Fa0/0	192.168.0.29	255.255.255.0	192.168.0.25
PCs, Tablets, Mobile Phones	DHCP	192.168.0.30-192.168.0.254	255.255.255.0	192.168.0.22

Table 11: IP Addressing Table

Step 3: Select the appropriate services and equipment

Using both public and private address within a network facilitates data privacy and protection. This is because private IP address cannot be access from the outside network due to shielding from the public IP (Hohlfeld et al., 2015, p. 4). Private IP addresses ensures that data meant to be accessed only within the network can be accessed within the network and cannot be accessed over the internet. Private IP is more secure than Public IP and for this reason the network is more secure and the vulnerabilities of using either of the individually is done away with. In addition, it is hard for viruses and malware to get into the network because network is protected from outside access (Woodward and Feuer, 2013). Using public IP ensures that normal business transactions are carried without infringing on network security. As such, it is necessary for CAC to use both public and private IP addresses so as to keep their network secure from outside access, viruses, and malware while still conducting its normal business operations and transactions.

As the company grows, it is expected that more employees will be hired and needs to access the network. The network has been design so as to meet the increasing business needs and is scalable. More devices will be added to the network without affecting the overall functionality and performance.

Conclusion and Recommendations

A poorly design network with wrongly chosen devices is characterized by high level of downtime, insecurity, failures, and unreliability. This may cost a business a substantial amount of money and other resources. As such, it is important to plan and design the network properly and implement the network with the most reliable and highly secured devices to ensure business continuity and performance. The choice of network design and devices are crucial for the overall performance and effectiveness of the network. Therefore, it is recommended that Color Ability Corporation adopts this proposal because it meets their requirements, business functions, and is within its budget.

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