andcap
04-07-2009, 08:24 PM
Hi. I have a school project that I am totally lost on. I am supposed to design a network for a case that was given.
case:
Michael Bleecher is a successful entrepreneur who manufactures precision lenses for photographic equipment. Bleecher is a physicist whose specialty is optical lenses for commercial photography uses. Designing lenses is an extremely intensive and complicated technical process, which involves engineering, math, three-dimensional graphics, physics and applied chemistry. Bleecher is probably one of the world’s most renowned physicists in optical lens design. Recently, he signed a contract with a company in Silicon Valley to produce an entire new line of commercial photography equipment to take pictures of microchips.
The technical name of the photography equipment is called a stepper. The expected cost of each stepper will be nearly $1 million and since there are so few experts in the world available who understand the technology involved, the importance of completing designs on time is of the essence. Failure to deliver the technical designs in a timely manner could cost both Bleecher and his client potentially millions of dollars. In addition, Bleecher stands to gain international recognition for this innovative and new lens design.
Bleecher Corp. is located just outside of Dallas, Texas. It's a 20 year old company that has nearly 250 employees. The company has experienced 15% a year revenue growth on average for the past 10 years and it is expected to continue this growth pattern for at least another 10 years. It is a highly successful and highly reputable company in the industry, thanks in great part to both the technical and management expertise of Michael Bleecher. Until recently, most of Bleecher Corporation's clients were within a 200 mile radius of Dallas. But with growth and new product lines expanding, senior management has decided that it's time to open up a new operations center in California. This decision has received a fairly warm welcome by the Texas staff. However, new and uncertain challenges will be faced as the operations center opens.
The new operations center is expected to house the data processing functions for all West Coast accounts, which currently represent 35% of all business revenue. This percentage is expected to increase to nearly 45% in the next five years. In addition, the operations center will feature the newest and best technology for network support. The operations center will have high-speed connectivity to headquarters based in Texas so designers in the two states may communicate remotely, yet effectively together.
Mr. Bleecher strongly believes in the importance of on-line, real-time videoconferencing as a means to collaborate with colleagues “across the country” in a timely and efficient manner.
The senior management of Bleecher wants to pursue a very aggressive approach in making sure that all voice, data and video communications between Texas and California take place smoothly and transparently to all users.
All LANs should be highly scalable and have considerable bandwidth upgradability due to the business’s high growth. In addition, every LAN MUST HAVE HIGH RELIABILITY and must interface with all WANs FLAWLESSLY.
Another issue that concerns Mr. Bleecher is security. He wants to be certain that while information is being transferred and shared across state boundaries, that it WON’T be intercepted or stolen by an unscrupulous third party. Consequently, Mr. Bleecher has mandated the use of anti-virus software and any appropriate hardware devices to ensure that his Wide Area Network is as secure as possible.
Currently, Bleecher Corp. in Texas uses a IBM 9000 Series Mainframe. All of the current LANs are token ring. And at least two dozen AS/400 Servers are in place to handle high-end server requirements. Thus far, the network seems to be running fine, but Mr. Bleecher’s concern is to establish a long-term network design that will keep pace with his strategy to keep his business growing at 15% a year.
Mr. Bleecher has a Network Administrator who graduated from DeVry in 1990 as a EET (Electronics Engineering Technology) major. The administrator has heard a number of complaints about the existing network in Texas being rather slow and that as more detailed and complex applications are added to the company’s designs, that the network responds even more slowly. The administrator is concerned about how to upgrade the quality of service (QoS) of the existing network AND how to integrate the Texas network with the new operations center in California.
The Network Administrator has also been made aware of Mr. Bleecher’s intense desire to complete all design projects on time. But the administrator is concerned that she may be stretched too far. Even if she hires additional staff, she’s not sure how quickly all of Mr. Bleecher’s plans will be realized. Regardless, Mr. Bleecher is very determined to get his new lens designs to market as quickly as possible and he knows how important the design of Bleecher Corporations new network must be. Failure to complete the network on time will cause serious communications delays that could hurt the new lens design’s success.
Budgets for this project include the following:
a) California network infrastructure $500,000
b) Wide Area Network infrastructure between Texas and California $200,000
c) Texas LAN network infrastructure - $1,000,000
d) Any cost overruns need to be approved by Michael Bleecher with appropriate supporting documentation and pertinent explanations.
_______________________________________________
The bold part is what I should be concerned about. Can anyone help?
Thanks
case:
Michael Bleecher is a successful entrepreneur who manufactures precision lenses for photographic equipment. Bleecher is a physicist whose specialty is optical lenses for commercial photography uses. Designing lenses is an extremely intensive and complicated technical process, which involves engineering, math, three-dimensional graphics, physics and applied chemistry. Bleecher is probably one of the world’s most renowned physicists in optical lens design. Recently, he signed a contract with a company in Silicon Valley to produce an entire new line of commercial photography equipment to take pictures of microchips.
The technical name of the photography equipment is called a stepper. The expected cost of each stepper will be nearly $1 million and since there are so few experts in the world available who understand the technology involved, the importance of completing designs on time is of the essence. Failure to deliver the technical designs in a timely manner could cost both Bleecher and his client potentially millions of dollars. In addition, Bleecher stands to gain international recognition for this innovative and new lens design.
Bleecher Corp. is located just outside of Dallas, Texas. It's a 20 year old company that has nearly 250 employees. The company has experienced 15% a year revenue growth on average for the past 10 years and it is expected to continue this growth pattern for at least another 10 years. It is a highly successful and highly reputable company in the industry, thanks in great part to both the technical and management expertise of Michael Bleecher. Until recently, most of Bleecher Corporation's clients were within a 200 mile radius of Dallas. But with growth and new product lines expanding, senior management has decided that it's time to open up a new operations center in California. This decision has received a fairly warm welcome by the Texas staff. However, new and uncertain challenges will be faced as the operations center opens.
The new operations center is expected to house the data processing functions for all West Coast accounts, which currently represent 35% of all business revenue. This percentage is expected to increase to nearly 45% in the next five years. In addition, the operations center will feature the newest and best technology for network support. The operations center will have high-speed connectivity to headquarters based in Texas so designers in the two states may communicate remotely, yet effectively together.
Mr. Bleecher strongly believes in the importance of on-line, real-time videoconferencing as a means to collaborate with colleagues “across the country” in a timely and efficient manner.
The senior management of Bleecher wants to pursue a very aggressive approach in making sure that all voice, data and video communications between Texas and California take place smoothly and transparently to all users.
All LANs should be highly scalable and have considerable bandwidth upgradability due to the business’s high growth. In addition, every LAN MUST HAVE HIGH RELIABILITY and must interface with all WANs FLAWLESSLY.
Another issue that concerns Mr. Bleecher is security. He wants to be certain that while information is being transferred and shared across state boundaries, that it WON’T be intercepted or stolen by an unscrupulous third party. Consequently, Mr. Bleecher has mandated the use of anti-virus software and any appropriate hardware devices to ensure that his Wide Area Network is as secure as possible.
Currently, Bleecher Corp. in Texas uses a IBM 9000 Series Mainframe. All of the current LANs are token ring. And at least two dozen AS/400 Servers are in place to handle high-end server requirements. Thus far, the network seems to be running fine, but Mr. Bleecher’s concern is to establish a long-term network design that will keep pace with his strategy to keep his business growing at 15% a year.
Mr. Bleecher has a Network Administrator who graduated from DeVry in 1990 as a EET (Electronics Engineering Technology) major. The administrator has heard a number of complaints about the existing network in Texas being rather slow and that as more detailed and complex applications are added to the company’s designs, that the network responds even more slowly. The administrator is concerned about how to upgrade the quality of service (QoS) of the existing network AND how to integrate the Texas network with the new operations center in California.
The Network Administrator has also been made aware of Mr. Bleecher’s intense desire to complete all design projects on time. But the administrator is concerned that she may be stretched too far. Even if she hires additional staff, she’s not sure how quickly all of Mr. Bleecher’s plans will be realized. Regardless, Mr. Bleecher is very determined to get his new lens designs to market as quickly as possible and he knows how important the design of Bleecher Corporations new network must be. Failure to complete the network on time will cause serious communications delays that could hurt the new lens design’s success.
Budgets for this project include the following:
a) California network infrastructure $500,000
b) Wide Area Network infrastructure between Texas and California $200,000
c) Texas LAN network infrastructure - $1,000,000
d) Any cost overruns need to be approved by Michael Bleecher with appropriate supporting documentation and pertinent explanations.
_______________________________________________
The bold part is what I should be concerned about. Can anyone help?
Thanks