Project Scope

Albertus Magnus College is a private catholic liberal arts college with 1500 students enrolled currently. However, the client wants to increase their enrolment for this year by offering ample campus opportunities to the students. The enhanced Wi-Fi connection priority of the client due to feedback received by previous students. Study shows 80% undergraduates are using Wi-Fi in higher frequency for studies and assignments work [1]. The college wants to offer a better education to students enrolled. Therefore, the purpose of this report is to present an effective network design for a college campus. Furthermore, college management has asked to design this network through Cisco simulation software. Hence, the scope of the project revolves around the implementation of a network design that offers Wi-Fi services to new students on campus premises.

Challenges and Constraints

The Wi-Fi network issues are widespread in the college campus and bring several constraints for the maintenance team. Further, people at premises are unaware of cause and spending most of the time in diagnosis and troubleshooting [2]. Therefore, it is essential to gather significant challenges before investing time and money in vain. Albertus Magnus College has been receiving three constraints constantly from the past few years.

They are as follows:

• The campus buildings are designed in a historic mansion-style which creates interference problem in Wi-Fi equipment. Such hindrances affect the reach of Wi-Fi to the student dorm rooms, libraries and staff office.
• Clearly, the IT team has already invested their large amount of time in troubleshooting Wi-Fi network and student devices.
• Lower quality of speed and lower capacity of wired network disrupts new programs and course delivery modules.
• Additionally, one another constraint for Wi-Fi disturbance is due to ghost applications installed by student-created server and rouge programs downloaded by the staff and faculty members in their assigned system [2].

User-Centric Design Concept

The definition for The user-centric design approach is an iterative design process whose objective is to understand user needs at each step of the design process effectively [3]. The case study follows this approach and explains the basic requirements of the project successfully.

1. Understand the context of use: The college needs a design so that Wi-Fi capabilities at a campus could be extended [3]. The case study explains constraints in the current system, which leads to the requirement on the new network design proposal.
2. Specify user requirements: The user requirements are identified to design new network concept [3]. For example, user requirement of college was to use network simulation software for better understanding.
3. Design solutions: The design solution is offered for the network for making Wi-Fi facilities better.
4. Evaluate against requirements: Lastly, evaluation for network design must be considered which lack in a case study [3] even though the new network offers excellent facilities to staff and students. However, it is suggested to consider privacy and security concerns and make practical improvements.

Figure 1: User-Centric Design Process Source [3]

Project Hardware Requirements

The project hardware requirements are those which were required by Albertus Magnus college for their network design process. The following tables demonstrate each requirement with their manufacturer name, series, model, ports and features.

• Name of Devices

• Name of Cables

• Name of Servers and Hosts

Network Design

• Justification: The network design below explains Wi-Fi services for the students will be extended in the following diagram. The routers and switches are connected that offers Wi-Fi signals on the network. Whereas, students could connect themselves on the network through personal computers, and iPhone. The WI-FI router connected to each switch will offer extended signals to people in a limited area of access. In this way, range will get an extension towards the buildings shaped in historic mansions expertly.
• Design

• Device Configuration

1. Device Router

2. Device Switch
3. System (PC)

Outcomes

The network design proposal overcomes the situation of w-fi range access to the college due to its historic mention shaped style. This report considers the situation and offers an effective solution for internet access. After taking students and staff understanding the following outcomes will be seen for the client.

• Internet access at college premises will be 24/7. Therefore, students could be able to access the internet anytime, anywhere on campus.
• The Wi-Fi signals will be appropriate and can be accessed by students, faculty and office staff members.
• The troubleshooting issues will now be fixed by IT team, which could save their money and time spending on new devices.
• Lack of coverage issues in outdoor activities will be seen.
• Further, newly enrolled students will show a positive response to college infrastructure and facilities.

Limitations and Further Developments                     

Following two limitations of the project are found after an understanding with Albertus Magnus College.

• The estimated budget for network implementation is the first limitation for the college. Further, the extra cost for the equipment setup is required when there are more important network requirements [10]. Therefore, it is vital to have proper implementation cost budget as per requirement. However, to tackle this situation, equipment such as switch, routers, hubs and computer should be apt to support wireless capability on the network. Henceforth, soon choice of equipment should have built-in wireless capability to get an automatic connection on-campus network efficiently.
• Security is another critical concern which must be taken into consideration before new network implementation. For example, bandwidth stealing of network is one concern where passwords could be stolen [10]. As a result, anyone could access network openly without permission and could harm sensitive information. Therefore, college is suggested to keep complete track of people accessing the network on the campus premises.

Conclusions

As expressed, the purpose of this report was to create a useful Wi-Fi oriented network design for Albertus Magnus College. The institute needed a design which could extend their Wi-Fi capabilities to the whole campus. Further, three constraints were found in the college network. Firstly, historic mansion-style increases network interference; second is lower speed quality, and third is troubleshooting issues. While user-centric approach design could have several improvements as per iterative process cycle diagrammatic representation.

Additionally, hardware, server and cable justification are also presented in tabular form. With the help of network simulation software, the proposed design is presented with the connection of switch, router and systems. The outcomes of this network will be able to provide a proper connection to students and faculty both. While the design of network two issues are cost budget for equipment and security concern. However, appropriate suggestions are made by the network consultant team expertly. Overall, the network design for Albertus Magnus college is quite efficient and considered successful for Wi-Fi extension facility.