Cookie Co.'s Network Design Recommendations

This assignment presents a comprehensive network design plan for Cookie Co., a hypothetical company. The report evaluates the company's requirements for local area networks (LAN), wide area networks (WAN), Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) communication, intranet, email, extranet services, and cloud computing. It recommends specific technologies such as Ethernet cabling, VPNs, optical fibers, and P2P models to optimize network performance, security, and cost-effectiveness. The report also highlights the advantages of adopting cloud services for improved operational efficiency and customer service.

Network Upgrading for Cookie Co.
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s note

NETWORK UPGRADING FOR COOKIE CO.
Executive Summary
The aim of this report is to suggest an appropriate network architecture or infrastructure to
Cookie Co. for the purpose of overcoming its current limitations. The suggested network
infrastructure will help to improve the network speed and connectivity. This report says that
Ethernet cables will be perfect for LAN connections of the company. It also says that the use of
optical fibers will secure the communication process of the company. Intranet, extranet and
email services will help to improve customer service and productivity of the company. This
report shows how cloud services will enhance the data storage of the company. The advantages
of deploying P2P model is also discussed in this report.
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NETWORK UPGRADING FOR COOKIE CO.
Table of Contents
Introduction.......................................................................................................................1
Discussion.......................................................................................................................... 1
Network Infrastructure..................................................................................................1
Network Services........................................................................................................... 3
Data Processing Facilities...............................................................................................3
Conclusion and Recommendations....................................................................................4
References......................................................................................................................... 5
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NETWORK UPGRADING FOR COOKIE CO.
Introduction
Network upgrades are done for certain reasons like improving the performance, security
features as well as the reliability of the existing network. It is becoming an essential need for
the organizations for the purpose of future growth and development. Cookie Co. is a well
known chain store that sells cookies in the country. It carries online as well as offline retail
services. Certain problems like slow network connectivity and voice calls that are unreliable
and distorted have made them realize that it is required to upgrade the network.
This report focuses on recommending an appropriate and suitable network
infrastructure for the purpose of overcoming the challenges of the existing network of Cookie
Co. It gives a clear overview about the LAN types, network convergence as well as the
transmission media that will help Cookie Co. to grow in the future. It talks about the storage
solution and data processing model that will be suitable for Cookie Co. It also suggests four
network services that will help to improve the productivity of the company.
Discussion
Network Infrastructure
Network Convergence
The network convergence infrastructure will include certain components like storage
devices, servers and networking equipments. Cookie Co. can integrate the services like internet,
telecommunication as well as broadcasting services. It will help the organization to carry out
the business operations in an effective manner. The head office will be responsible for
managing the network needs that are core to the company. The head office will contain the
main server of the organization. The main switch of the organization will be connected to the
server. This will lead to the formation of a bridge among several devices. The switch generally
contains 1X8 ports that will have 1X24 connections. One port switch can pass over a firewall to
connect to the routers for Internet access. Some other port that will comply with IEEE 802.11n
standard can be used for the purpose of wireless connections. The LAN connection present in
the office can be connected to some other port for facilitating the internet access by all the
computer devices.
LAN Type and Cabling Plan
Cookie Co. can use Ethernet cables for the purpose of LAN connection. Ethernet cables
have huge similarity with the telephone cables but it has more wires unlike telephone cables.
Ethernet cabling will enable the devices in the local area network or LAN to connect with one
another (Stephens et al. 2012). The main business components like routers, computer devices
as well as switches can be connected in an effective manner by the Ethernet cables. The
Ethernet card is present on the motherboard of the computer and this can be used for
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NETWORK UPGRADING FOR COOKIE CO.
accessing the Ethernet ports. Ethernet cables have several benefits like it is resistant towards
electrical interferences and it helps in improving the performance of the business activities.
Cookie Co. can use Gigabit Ethernet for the purpose of meeting the requirements of the
enterprise networks. Gigabit Ethernet will enhance the performance of the network. Official
documents and files can be sent over the network with full ease by using the Gigabit Ethernet
switch. Ethernet switch will also help the company to effectively access applications that are
critical in nature (Rizzo and Lettieri 2012). The productivity and efficiency of the head office and
branches will increase. The organization will be able to run many applications at the same time.
The Gigabit Ethernet switch has the capability to grow by utilizing the investment done in the
technology. This in turn will help the business to grow and develop.
WAN Connection
WAN is said to connect various LANs. A company’s WAN will connect the head office
and branch offices. A router can be used for connecting the WAN with the various LANs. WAN
will enable Cookie Co. to share important files across the several branches The company will
not have to install same firewall, application server in different locations. ADSL can be deployed
by the company for delivering high bandwidth. VDSL can also be deployed as it offers high
bandwidth in all direction. Cookie Co. can deploy ISDN for transmitting data, voice, video and
various network services over PSTN (Bocker 2012). This company can utilize dial-up Internet
access. This will offer a cost effective solution to the company. Cookie Co. will be able to
improve its productivity and effectiveness by adopting WAN connection.
Transmission Media
Cookie Co. will get maximum benefit by using optical fibers. Optical fibers transfer
information by using light pulses. The single mode optical can be used in long distance and
multimode fibers can be used in case of short distance (Miller 2012). Optical fibers are resistant
to any type of electromagnetic interferences because light signals are transmitted here instead
of current signals. Electromagnetic energy is not radiated by fiber optics and therefore it is not
possible to intercept the emissions. Hence the data security of Cookie Co. will increase by using
optical fibers (Barnoski 2012). Fiber optics has the capability to send high bandwidth signal
across long distances. The ease of installation of this transmission media will allow the company
to save time and cost.
DNS and IP Management
There are tools that can be used for managing the networks. These tools will play an
effective role in managing the IP and DNS. Address management tools play a significant role in
managing the MAC address, IP addresses and DNS. In order to monitor the networks OptUtils
software can be installed. It is also effective in managing DNS. This software can play a
significant role in reviewing network status, host name and lookups for IP addresses that are
specific in nature.
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NETWORK UPGRADING FOR COOKIE CO.
Network Services
Cookie Co. can deploy the following network services:
VoIP: This can be used for creating a connection between business and
telecommunication networks. This will enable the business to enhance its performance and at
the same time consume low power (Jelassi et al. 2012). It will grow the productivity level by
facilitating easy communication between branch offices and the head office of the company
(Sinnreich and Johnston 2012). Undistorted voice calls will increase customer satisfaction level.
Intranet: This will provide a private network to Cookie Co. It will facilitate better internal
communication that will help in improving the productivity of the company (Neill and Richard
2012). This network will not be open to the public network. Customer service will improve as
the staffs will be able to access correct information regarding the clients.
Extranet: Cookie Co. will be able to extend the private network or intranet to specific
authorized suppliers and clients (Rekhter et al. 2016). This network service will facilitate Cookie
Co. to collaborate its head office as well as the office branches. Customers will be able to get
information about the company and this will increase customer loyalty.
Email: This network service will facilitate effective official communication. It will save
time of the employees by giving the facility of sending automatic mails (Fariborzi and
Zahedifard 2012). Daily operations can be sorted out in an effective manner and this will
improve the operational efficiency of the company.
Data Processing Facilities
Data Storage
Cookie Co. can utilize cloud services for the purpose of storing sensitive information of
the company. Cloud services will help the company to utilize resources without owning them.
The cloud storage services will facilitate the company to manage as well as store information
from a different location. The company will not have to utilize own storage space. The
employees of the company will be able to access important files and documents by using
Internet connection. The operating cost of the business will be saved by adopting cloud storage
facilities. The collaboration of the branch offices along with the head office will become
effective (Jadeja and Modi 2012). The work environment will become more efficient and flexible
than it was before. Cloud will provide on-demand service to Cookie Co. and this will help the
company to save cost which can be utilized in other aspects of the business. The employees will
not have to waste their time on managing the internal storage issues. The third party vendors
will handle these kinds of issues. Another storage solution can be adopting distributed
database which will help to sync and integrate all information in a logical way (Kuhlenkamp,
Klems and Röss 2014). This will help to improve the productivity and operations of Cookie Co.
Data Processing
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NETWORK UPGRADING FOR COOKIE CO.
Cookie Co. can use P2P model where the computer devices and the central database
system or servers will be connected via LANs. Multiple peer models enable the computers to
connect with one another by using the servers. Cookie Co. will be able to cut down its expenses
as all time administration will not be required. The company will be able to improve its
operational efficiency and customer services by adopting P2P model of data processing.
Conclusion and Recommendations
This report concluded that the Cookie Co. will be able to improve its productivity and
operational efficiency by deploying an appropriate network infrastructure. It suggested that
Ethernet cabling will be effective in case of LAN connections and VPN will be effective in case of
WAN connections. This report recommended that VoIP will be effective in case of collaboration
between branch offices and the head office of Cookie Co. Intranet, email as well as extranet
services were said to be advantageous in improving the operational efficiency of the business.
According to this report, Cookie Co. will be able to save cost and improve the customer service
level by adopting cloud services. This report concluded that P2P model will be appropriate for
Cookie Co and optical fibers will promote secure communication in the network.
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NETWORK UPGRADING FOR COOKIE CO.
References
Barnoski, M. ed., 2012. Fundamentals of optical fiber communications. Elsevier.
Bocker, P., 2012. ISDN The Integrated Services Digital Network: Concept, Methods, Systems.
Springer Science & Business Media.
Fariborzi, E. and Zahedifard, M., 2012. E-mail Marketing: Advantages, Disadvantages
andImproving Techniques. International Journal of e-Education, e-Business, e-Management and
e-Learning, 2(3), p.232.
Jadeja, Y. and Modi, K., 2012, March. Cloud computing-concepts, architecture and challenges.
In Computing, Electronics and Electrical Technologies (ICCEET), 2012 International Conference
on (pp. 877-880). IEEE.
Jelassi, S., Rubino, G., Melvin, H., Youssef, H. and Pujolle, G., 2012. Quality of experience of VoIP
service: A survey of assessment approaches and open issues. IEEE Communications surveys &
tutorials, 14(2), pp.491-513.
Kuhlenkamp, J., Klems, M. and Röss, O., 2014. Benchmarking scalability and elasticity of
distributed database systems. Proceedings of the VLDB Endowment, 7(12), pp.1219-1230.
Miller, S. ed., 2012. Optical fiber telecommunications. Elsevier.
Neill, W.D. and Richard, J.E., 2012. Intranet portals: marketing and managing individuals’
acceptance and use. Australasian Marketing Journal (AMJ), 20(2), pp.147-157.
Rekhter, Y., Rosen, E., Aggarwal, R., Cai, Y. and Morin, T., 2016. Extranet Multicast in BGP/IP
MPLS VPNs (No. RFC 7900).
Rizzo, L. and Lettieri, G., 2012, December. Vale, a switched ethernet for virtual machines.
In Proceedings of the 8th international conference on Emerging networking experiments and
technologies (pp. 61-72). ACM.
Sinnreich, H. and Johnston, A.B., 2012. Internet communications using SIP: Delivering VoIP and
multimedia services with Session Initiation Protocol (Vol. 27). John Wiley & Sons.
Stephens, B., Cox, A., Felter, W., Dixon, C. and Carter, J., 2012, December. PAST: Scalable
Ethernet for data centers. In Proceedings of the 8th international conference on Emerging
networking experiments and technologies (pp. 49-60). ACM.
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