Case Study

You are a consultant working with a dental office that has just merged with another dental practice. The original office housed 3 dentists, 2 dental assistants, and 1 receptionist in one location. With the merger, there are now 5 offices in different parts of the city, 15 dentists, 12 dental assistants, and 5 receptionists. Four of the dentists work in the offices, but also are mobile in that they provide dental checkups to elderly patients in their homes or at the senior citizen centers, and to school children in the three inner-city elementary schools. The mobile dentists need to be able to send and receive patient records while they are out of the office. All the dentists and dental assistants must have real-time access to all patient records and daily schedules. The lead dentist has reminded you that they are required to meet HIPAA requirements for protecting patient information. You, as a telecommunications specialist, have been asked to design the telecommunications network to support this new multi-location practice. Others on the team will develop the applications and databases. Your task is to identify the requirements and design a network solution that will meet those requirements.
 
The Deliverable

Define the requirements and then design an appropriate network that would support this dental practice. Your paper should:

1. Analyze the given case and provide a clear set of requirements for the network solution.

2. Identify the information that is to be protected and the related security requirements.

3. Identify the types of network(s), components, devices and equipment that would be involved in meeting the needs of the stationary offices and the mobile dentists.

4. Provide a network design diagram that clearly shows an appropriate network configuration to meet the requirements, with components properly labeled.

5. Explain the benefits of the proposed network solution.