Background:
You have obtained a contract position at a small marketing and advertising firm called the Colour Ability Corporation (CAC). Your contract responsibilities are to help them plan their emerging networking and communications requirements and update their IT resources. CAC currently hires 80 employees and operates from Level 10 and 11 on the X Tower in Brisbane CBD. CAC has recently purchased a four-story building in a Brisbane suburb where they can allocate a separate floor to each of their four departments, i.e., (1) marketing, (2) advertising, (3) design and photography, and (4) HR and accounting. They plan to move to their new office in three months. Also, CAC's list of customers has greatly expanded to other cities, mainly Sydney where their customers in Sydney are demanding more interactive advertising media, including video presentations. The management recognizes the business potential in this new market in Sydney and have leased a small office in Sydney (aka CAC's fifth department) to host 8 local employees.
They have hired you to review their existing IT resources and produce a proposal that allows the company to take advantage of their firm's expansion. The management has stated that if the proposal meets their requirements, they may hire you full-time to implement and manage these new resources.
You now have an idea of the scope of the project that you have undertaken, but do not have all of the information required to proceed. Using the details provided in the following sections you are required to prepare a professional business report of 2500 words addressing the eight activities identified below.
Part 1: Gather System Requirements.
CAC has provided a written summary containing floor plans for their Brisbane and Sydney offices, and notes from a verbal interview with the management team. Gather as much information as possible from these two sources to help you plan a technical solution for CAC's networking and communications requirements.
Activity 1
Use the following form to develop a proposed computer system for each of the specific uses, i.e., general use, graphics production and film production. Search the Internet or local sources for availability and pricing information. Use the same form to propose a server that can support their email and FTP requirements.
Computer System Planning Form
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Department/Team:
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Location:
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Component
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Recommendation
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Processor: (Manufacturer, Model, Speed)
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Memory: (Type, Amount)
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Hard Drive: (Type, Capacity)
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CD-ROM/DVD: (Read, Read/Write, Speed)
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USB Ports: (Number, Location)
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Video Card: (Manufacturer, Model, Video
RAM)
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Sound Card: (Manufacturer, Model)
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Modem: (Internal/External, Speed, Standard)
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Network Card(s): (Ethernet: speed, Wireless,
Standard)
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Operating System: (Manufacturer, Version,
Compatibility)
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Monitor: (Size, Resolution, Refresh Rate)
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Printer: (Manufacturer, Model, Type, Speed)
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Speakers: (Manufacturer, Model, Type)
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Internet Connection: (USB, Ethernet, Wireless)
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After the end-user systems have been selected, it is time to look at the workflow and decide on any shared components and network technology to support this workflow. This can include such things as shared printers, scanners, and storage as well as any routers, switches, access points and integrated service routers. When planning a network infrastructure, always plan into the future. For larger companies, because it is usually a substantial investment, the infrastructure should have a lifetime of about 10 years. For smaller companies and home users, the investment is significantly less and change occurs more frequently.
Activity 2
Using the Internet and locally available resources, select a high-speed, color copier/printer for the CAC offices. Provide supporting details to justify your selection.
Activity 3
Demonstrate a network layout for CAC requirements - you can use Figure 3 as the starting point. Because the company has limited funds available for this project, it is important that where possible only equipment designed for the small business and home markets be used. Provide supporting details to justify your selection of each equipment type, e.g., access points, switches and routers.
Activity 4
It is necessary to plan the Internet connectivity, and which services are provided by the ISP and which services must be provided in-house. Larger companies usually provide services in-house, while small businesses and individuals normally rely on an ISP to provide these services. Most ISPs offer a variety of services and service levels. Selecting an ISP is complicated, and not all technologies and services are available in all regions of the world.
Using the Internet, research alternative local ISPs to provide connectivity for CAC. If selected, CAC will rely upon this ISP for DNS and web mail. The ISP must also provide 99.999% uptime for access to the internal FTP/email server. Because you are the only IT person at CAC, it is also important that the ISP provides a high-level of technical support. Create a comparison worksheet for at least two local ISPs, including costing.
Activity 5
Which internal services must be offered by CAC, and which devices provide these services? Provide supporting details to justify your answer.
Activity 6
Complete the following network planning form and justify your answers as it relates to the proposed CAC network.
Part 2: Plan the installation.
After the equipment has been selected and the required services planned, the physical and logical installation is planned out. Physical installation includes the location of equipment and devices, along with how and when these devices are to be installed. In the business environment, it is important to minimize disruption of the normal work processes. Therefore, most installations, changes, and upgrades are done during hours when there is minimal business activity. Physical installation should also consider such things as adequate power outlets and ventilation, as well as the location of any necessary data drops.
Activity 7
Equally as important as planning the physical layout of the network and equipment is planning the logical layout. This includes such things as subnetting, addressing, naming, data flow, and security measures. Servers and network devices are assigned static IP addresses to allow them to be easily identified on the network and to also provide a mechanism for controlling access to these devices. Most other devices can be assigned addresses using DHCP. Note that both a server and its backup server must be accessed via the same public IP address.
Devise subnetting and addressing schemes for CAC. The schemes must provide all network devices and servers with a static address and allow all other hosts to be configured via DHCP. Identify the ranges of useable IP addresses (and default gateways) for DHCP, and assign all network devices an appropriate IP address (and default gateways). Use the following tables to report all the required setups, and then reflect this information on the network layout developed in Activity 3.
Note: Show all your workings for subnetting in an appendix.
Activity 8
CAC is concerned that their files and resources may be vulnerable through the wired or wireless networks. Explain how the use of public and private IP addresses together may address this concern, and provide a security plan that allows only CAC employees to connect to the network and gain access to company information and resources.
Part 3: Prepare and present the proposal.
All of the gathered information and the proposed technical solution must be assembled into a format that makes sense to the company who has asked you to provide a solution. The formal report usually contains many different sections, including:
- Title page
- Executive Summary
- Tables of Contents, Figures and Tables
- Introduction
- Project proposal, comprising needs statement; goals and objectives; methodology and timetable; technical solutions and evaluation; budget summary; future plans
- Recommendations and Conclusions
- Bibliography and List of Refences
- Appended information
The report is often presented to various groups for approval. When presenting the report, present it in a confident, professional, and enthusiastic manner. The report must be technically accurate and free from spelling and grammatical errors.
Attachment:- Assessment Task.rar