Case Study: Problem 1

TheSolarGroup (TSG) has experienced great success in solar energy technologies, but it has reached a point where the information technology (IT) infrastructure, especially with a network infrastructure, is critical to the future of the enterprise. The first step is to select and justify the choice for an enterprise architecture (EA) framework. This requires the understanding of resource skills, business requirements, customers, and vendors through multiple views that must be consistent. It is the base for planning the future infrastructure of the enterprise.

Network Enterprise Architecture Document

Throughout this course, you will work on several aspects of creating a Network Enterprise Architecture Plan based on the organization that you have selected. The scenario company will be an example to the assignments. This course is comprised of a series of Individual Project assignments that will contribute to a Key Assignment submission at the end of the course. These individual sections include an EA review, a study of EA layers, an EA analysis, an EA design, and an EA road map for changes. Each week, you will complete a part of a Network Enterprise Architecture Document based on your selected organization. Appropriate research should be conducted to support the development of your document, and assumptions may be made when necessary. The goal of this course is to design a Network Enterprise Architecture Document that would reflect an actual Network Enterprise Architecture implementation in an enterprise. You have to come up with the proposal to the instructor for approval.

Organization and Project Selection

The first step will be to select an organization as the target for your Network Enterprise Architecture Document. This organization can be real or hypothetical, and it will be used as the basis for each of the assignments throughout the course. It should conform to the following guidelines:

• Nontrivial:The selected organization should contain existing networks such as voice, data, remote access, storage, and so forth as exemplified in the scenario for TheSolarGroup.
• Domain knowledge:You should be familiar enough with the organization that you do not require significant time for network research.
• Accessibility: You should have good access to the network administrator and structure because these resources will provide direction as they progress throughout the development of the report.

Select an organization that meets these requirements, and submit your proposal to your instructor before proceeding further with the assignments in the course. Approval should be sought within the first several days of the course. Your instructor will tell you how to submit this proposal and what notification will be given for project approval.

Evaluate frameworks currently used for enterprise network architecture and recommend an appropriate one for a specific case study.

Analyze a given Enterprise environment and use models to design a network architecture that meets the business needs and processes indicated by the enterprise architecture.