International Plastics, Inc. Network Description Report

This report provides a network description for International Plastics, Inc., detailing its current infrastructure across multiple locations including headquarters, China, Georgia, and Michigan facilities. The network utilizes LAN connections and a satellite link. The report evaluates the existing architecture, identifies areas for improvement, and recommends specific upgrades to enhance network performance and security. The recommendations include replacing existing switches in the Georgia site with Cisco switches for improved security and scalability, and installing firewalls at the China location to protect against unauthorized access and monitor network traffic. The report concludes that these updates will improve efficiency, data security, and reliability, leading to a more scalable and productive network for the company. References supporting the analysis and recommendations are provided.

Running Head: International Plastics, Inc. Network Description
1
International Plastics, Inc. Network Description
Course
Date
Name

International Plastics, Inc. Network Description 2
Headquarters
China
LAN

International Plastics, Inc. Network Description 3
Albany, GA
Pontiac, MI

International Plastics, Inc. Network Description 4
International Plastic has facilities in four different locations and relies on their network to
communicate and share information. There are updates needed to help improve their current
architecture, such as updating their WAN and network security which will help to boost their
overall security. The current diagram shows how the different locations are setup and connected
to each other. The first image is of the headquarter located in California, which houses the main
server, VOIP telephones, MAC computers, printers, and connect all the other facilities on the
network through a LAN. The headquarters is connected to the China facility through a satellite
link.
The second image is that of China facility which includes VOIP telephones, MAC
computers, printers, servers, LAN switch, and backbone network. Through the use of the satellite
link, China is able to communicate with the headquarters. The third and fourth images are of the
Georgia and Michigan facilities, which are both similar. Both facilities are set up with servers,
printers, Cisco switches, and are connected to headquarters through a LAN connection
(Behringer et al., 2015).
After careful evaluation of the network and its equipments, we can see that updating the
current configuration will allow for better network performance and minimize threats,
vulnerabilities, and risks; in order to reduce data collision on the network, increase security,
speed, and reliability of the network. The recommendation for the Georgia site is to exchange the
switches they currently have with Cisco switches. Cisco products are made with a dedication to
security factor right from the company routers, switches to their certification paths. The company
has been up voted because of its ability to handle most complex security concerns because they
prioritize security in their network products. In addition, Cisco switches come with resilience and
redundancy features in both software and hardware to increase uptime (Behringer et al., 2015).

International Plastics, Inc. Network Description 5
They also offer smart remote troubleshooting to prevent outages. This would improve security
and allow for the configuration to be scalable as the organization grows and mature.
The second recommendation would be to install firewalls at the China location since it
has a satellite connection to headquarters. A firewall is a barrier that prevents unauthorized
access to and from private networks (Alabady, Al-Turjman & Din, 2018). Installing a firewall in
this location will enhance security of all the devices which are connected to this network. Also,
the firewall will allow monitoring of network traffic in order to identify and block any unwanted
traffic. When data is being exchanged between the servers in this location and those in
cyberspace, the firewall will help monitor the packets to ensure that they are safe as per the
corporation standards (Shin et al., 2016). Doing this will help to protect the network servers and
emails by encrypting the data being transmitted back and forth
Conclusion
Based on the assessment conducted, recommendations were made in regards to updating
the network, which would allow for the company to be more efficient and increase their
profitability and productivity. The recommendations provided will ensure the data within the
company remains secured and they continue to provide service that is reliable as they move
towards a more scalable network.

International Plastics, Inc. Network Description 6
References
Alabady, S. A., Al-Turjman, F., & Din, S. (2018). A novel security model for cooperative virtual
networks in the IoT era. International Journal of Parallel Programming, 1-16.
Behringer, M., Bjarnason, S., Jiang, S., Carpenter, B., Pritikin, M., Ciavaglia, L., & Clemm, A.
(2015). Autonomic networking: Definitions and design goals.
Shin, S., Xu, L., Hong, S., & Gu, G. (2016, August). Enhancing network security through
software defined networking (SDN). In 2016 25th international conference on computer
communication and networks (ICCCN) (pp. 1-9). IEEE.