Setting up a Network for Newton Ad Agency’s New office.
Introduction
A new office will be set up in New York. New York is appropriate because it addresses the must-haves of an effective project for Newton Ad agency. The addition of a new office is meant to advance the company’s target of global expansion. Media, as well as web servers, are must-haves for the company as it intends to expand globally. The New York office comprises of 200 employs who focus on creating and disseminating advertising creation to the consumer, the existing New York office, therefore, has media as well as web servers to facilitate its functions. Furthermore, the media and web servers have the capacity to accommodate an additional office of 50 employees since more than half of employees in the existing New York office travel most of the time and occupy minimum network bandwidth. Rather than acquiring new media as well as network servers, those in New York can be used by the employees at the new office. Cyber-security solutions like a firewall or VPN are must-haves when considering creating an office in New York focused on global expansion. The office in New York will be connected to the company’s network through a VPN client to enhance security. Also, the workstations at the new office location will be incorporated with full disk encryption, as well as antivirus software.
LAN topology
The star and ring topologies can be applied by Newton Ad Agency. The star network topology is structured such that each node in the network is connected to a central hub. The central hub can be a network switch or a workstation that aids the connection between individual nodes in the network. Problems at the central hub affect the entire network, but issues in other workstations do not affect other parts of the network (Raza, Kulkarni & Sooriyabandara, 2017).
In a ring topology, the connections of nodes form a circular path that transmits data packets. Every work station or node is connected to two other work stations. The ring topology allows data to travel from one node to the next at fast speeds. However, data passing over the network can be slow since the data packets must pass through every workstation. Moreover, if any workstation shuts down, the whole network is affected (Raza et al., 2019)
The star network topology is best suited for the new office to be set up in New York. The star topology allows the new office to be easily incorporated into the organization’s network since every node has a point to point connection with the headquarters in Austin, which can be considered as the hub of the network. Adding the new office to the network will not disrupt processes in other branches of Newton Ad Agency across America. Moreover, if a section of Newton Ad agency which is not the headquarters experiences problems, the new office’s functions will not be affected (Summers et al. 2015). Further, the headquarters of Newton Ad Agency, located in Austin holds significant manpower and key data resources that are necessary for the smooth operation of the new office. A point to point connection to Austin through a star network is ideal for the new office. However, problems at the Austin headquarter can spell disaster for Newton Ad agency. In a star topology, an issue at the central hub has repercussions that affect the entire network.
Internet Service Provider
Reliable internet services are important for the new office to effectively focus on the company’s global expansion. There are various important factors to consider when identifying a reliable internet service provider. The type of connection is an important consideration. Standard services are lowly priced and facilitate higher internet speeds. However, these services are of lower quality as well as reliability. High availability services offer a service level agreement of 99.99%, which is equivalent to 2 hours of downtime annually (Lavric & Popa, 2017). The speed of internet connection is an essential factor to consider. Slow speeds can be detrimental for peak hours or seasons where the company has a high number of clients and employees. Redundancy is an important consideration for a company that relies on a strong internet connection, redundancy cushions the influence of downtimes by enacting a failover internet link which takes over when a network is down. Cost efficiency is also an important factor since the company operates within a budget. The ISP should avail speedy connections with high availability at manageable costs.
The pilot platform, an entirely fiber optic network, offers connections speeds of up to 10Gbps at the price of $2500 per month. Other packages offered by the company include 1Gbps at USD 1000 and 100 Mbps at USD 500 a month. Being a completely fiber optic-based network, the fiber optic platform is a high availability service that has minimal downtime annually. Moreover, the network offers real-time fiber monitoring services that detect issues affecting internet connection as they occur (Zeng et al., 2019). The Xfinity internet platform is also a high availability service which offers redundancy. The company ensures that there are no data caps to limit the user’s bandwidth. Xfinity applies a Hybrid Fiber-Coax network that makes use of communication lines. The internet service provider offers speeds of up to 2000Mbps at USD 300 monthly in its gigabit pro package (Tsai et al. 2019).
Newton Ad agency targets global expansion. The company also has a large number of employees who liaise together in their specific branches to advance the organization’s goals. Prioritizing global expansions requires an internet service provider that offers high network speeds and minimal downtime. The aspect of cost efficiency is also important; the company targets to get the most value at the least possible costs. While Xfinity offers attractive costs, it uses a Hybrid Fiber-Coax network that incorporates existing communication lines. Pilot ISP uses an entirely fiber optic network and has a number of packages to choose from. The 1 Gbps package from Pilot Company is effective for Newton Ad Agency because of its high speeds and reliability. The agency cannot afford the cost of its network going down, which is more likely in the case of Xfinity, where communication lines are used (Tsai et al., 2019).
Additional Configurations
Establishing a network demands some key hardware as well as software components. Ethernet cables are necessary for connecting the workstations at the new office. Wireless routers from the selected internet service provider are important for incorporating the new office into the wireless area network. The number of workstations across Newton Ad Agency demands the application of a network management software. A network management software such as the Solarwinds Network performance monitor or the PTRG Network monitor encompasses network management software that can be effective for Newton Ad Agency (Ciftcioglu et al., 2016). In terms of the appropriate printing configuration, a network printer configuration is ideal for the new office. The network printer is faster for a network with multiple workstations; all the workstation can access the network printer simultaneously. A local printer requires a physical connection with the workstations when configuring the hardware. This can be bulky and costly where many PC’s are connected as is the case in Newton Ad agency. A network printer is configured into the network by assigning the printer to a particular workgroup. Using a network printer instead of a local printer where many workstations are evident saves on costs (Perlman, Kaufman & Speciner, 2016).
In the new office, video teleconferencing with employees working from home and other branches of Newton Ad Agency will be common. Video conferencing with excellent image motion, screen resolution, as well as frame rates, are done by a high number of employee’s demands a high bandwidth (Espina et al., 014). A bandwidth of I Gbps is ideal for Newton Ad Agency due to its video conferencing needs and its work from home policy.
Potential Errors
Slow internet performance is an issue that may face Newton ad Agency. The new office is part of a larger network that comprises of many workstations. Congestions can occur due to bandwidth exhaustion when many requests are sent to the network. Also, the network can be fast but intermittent, where the internet occasionally stops working completely. Intermittent connectivity in the network may stem from a problem in the WAN (Espina et al., 2014).
A communication breakdown between an Ethernet-based network such as the proposed LAN and the private VPN client used by Newton Ad agency when communicating over the WAN may influence an intermittent connection. Addressing the problem of an intermittent network can be identified by troubleshooting the wide-area network and isolating malfunctioning hardware or software (Espina et al. 2015).
Speed test websites can be consulted to address the issue of slow internet performance. Speed tests conducted by remote servers can expose points where there is congestion in the network, congestion is likely due to the high number of work station used by Newton Ad agency (Perlman et al., 2016).
Conclusion
The ideal location for the new office is New York. The location is close to the office that focuses on creating as well as disseminating advertising content and has media as well as web servers. The media and web servers are a must-have for the new office and locating this office in New York will save on costs. The best network topology to be administered in the new office is the star topology, the headquarters in Austin being the hub of the network. The headquarters is important to the functionality of all branches hence the use of a star topology. The recommended ISP is the Pilot Company that offers fast and reliable network speeds. The recommended hardware components include wireless routers, Ethernet cables, and network management software. The latter is essential where there are several workstations. The use of a network printer configuration is also ideal for the company as it lowers the total costs incurred while facilitating speedy functionality. A bandwidth of I Gbps is ideal for the company considering its video teleconferencing demands. Some likely issues the network may face include intermittent and slow connectivity. Troubleshooting the WAN and isolating damaged hardware or software facilitates a timely solution to the issue of intermittent connectivity. A speed test is recommended to highlight congested areas in the network and subsequently address a slow network connection
References
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