Business Synopsis Report: International Plastics Company Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive business synopsis of International Plastics, focusing on its IT infrastructure and telecommunications. It begins with an executive summary highlighting the company's current network setup across its four locations, including China and three sites in the United States, connected by a WAN and satellite link. The report identifies inefficiencies in the existing network topology, particularly the use of hubs and redundant switches. To address these issues, the report proposes a hierarchical networking structure with a Layer-3 switch to connect to servers, devices, and departments, utilizing a star physical topology and Cat6 Ethernet cables for improved performance. Furthermore, the report suggests replacing the Cisco Router 2900 with a Cisco RV220W firewall router for encrypted network connections. The analysis also includes a detailed assessment of the current telecommunications standards, protocols, and collaboration tools in use, along with recommendations for improvement, documented in a table format. The report concludes with a one-page explanation of the chosen recommendation, weighing different options, and discussing the advantages and disadvantages, supported by a scholarly resource in APA format. The report aims to enhance the efficiency and security of International Plastics' IT infrastructure.

Running head: BUSINESS SYNOPSIS OF INTERNATIONAL PLASTICS
BUSINESS SYNOPSIS OF INTERNATIONAL PLASTICS
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1BUSINESS SYNOPSIS OF INTERNATIONAL PLASTICS
Executive Summary
The International Plastics Company is a leading organization of manufacturing of customized
plastic parts, plastic beverage containers and plastic fans at large. The organization has four
locations, one in China and other three in United States that are connected by a Wide Area
Network including a satellite link. However, the networking infrastructure of the company
does not incorporate a hierarchical network topology and comprises of inefficient use of
switches. The aim of this report is to introduce a hierarchical networking structure such that
an efficient networking model can be achieved. Both in the China and in the Corporate
Headquarters, a hub provides the network to the IBM servers, whereas there are two switches
that provide network to the devices in the R&D department and the other departments of the
organization. This leads to the redundancy in the networking model. Hence, to improve this
one single Layer-3 switch should be introduced that will provide connection to three hubs,
each of which will be connected with the Servers, devices and the departments respectively.
Thus, the newly formed network will be using star physical topology instead of the existing
bus topology. In addition, the 100baseT cable can be changed to Cat6 Ethernet cable for
faster connection. Again, in both the Albany and Pontiac Network diagram, the Layer-3
Cisco switch port connects directly with the server and the NAS disk array, whereas the
office computers and the printers are connected via port patch channels. With the introduction
of new servers and disk arrays, the usage of this switch will deteriorate. Hence, if a port patch
panel is introduced in this particular connection, more system can be incorporated over here.
Furthermore, implementation of Cisco RV220W firewall router instead of Cisco Router 2900
will help to acquire encrypted network connection from other WAN sites.
Existing Infrastructure Upgraded Infrastructure
Bus Network Topology Star Network Topology
Cisco Router 2900 Cisco RV220W Firewall Router
100baseT cable (100mbps) Cat6 Ethernet cable (10gbps)

2BUSINESS SYNOPSIS OF INTERNATIONAL PLASTICS
Bibliography
Gallardo Velásquez, J. P. (2019). Análisis de las características técnicas mínimas de los
equipos de seguridad para empresas de mediana escala, enfocados a amenazas
externas a la intranet (Bachelor's thesis, Quito, 2019.).
Strobel, R. (2017, November). Copper transmission for multi-gigabit hybrid copper-fiber
access networks. In 2017 International Workshop on Fiber Optics in Access Network
(FOAN) (pp. 1-6). IEEE.