Overview

A computer network is the foundation of every organization's information technology (IT) infrastructure. Computing networks provide the backbone and framework for running business applications, sharing content, communication, and collaboration.

In your assessment in this course you will take on the role of a junior network administrator, with responsibility for managing, supporting, and recommending networking solutions. Within this role, you will create a report for the senior administrators, based on the scenario provided in which the organization is looking to expand to a new location.

While writing your report you will apply networking concepts, fundamentals, and troubleshooting skills in developing recommendations to a real-world scenario.

This report provides an opportunity for you to illustrate critical thinking in evaluating and solving networking business requirements that would assist in meeting organizational goals and objectives.

The Project in Context: Course Learning Objectives and the Newton Ad Agency: There are two key contexts that should help to guide your work in this project. The first is the function of this project in the organizational culture and business drivers of your imagined employer, Newton Ad Agency. Be sure to carefully review the scenario below to help you formulate your recommendations.

The second key context is your learning in the whole of this course. This project has been selected and developed in part because it allows you to directly address the following course outcomes:

• Analyze standard network designs and infrastructures for informing optimal support practices

• Explain troubleshooting approaches to network problems for informing potential solutions to network errors and ensuring rapid resolution

• Explain network technology suggestions based on how they support business goals and objectives

• Apply networking concepts to real-world situations for informing management and upgrade suggestions

As you can see, these outcomes ask you to relate your scholarly engagement with networking theory and practice to specific business cases. In your final project, this connection comes to life in your recommendations for networking a new office for Newton Ad Agency.

You will work toward a successful final project throughout the course, most notably through the completion of two milestones, which will be submitted at various points throughout the course to scaffold learning and ensure quality final submissions.

In Milestone One, due in Module Three, you will draft the introduction of the project and the first section of the body. This milestone will address key considerations for network design and local area network (LAN) topology.

In Milestone Two, due in Module Five, you will draft additional sections of the project. These sections are on the selection of an internet service provider and networking considerations that include hardware and software selection, printer configuration, and bandwidth.

The final project itself will include revised versions of your work on these milestones, as well as additional work on network errors and a conclusion to the project. The final project is due in Module Seven.

Scenario: The Newton Ad Agency: Take a close-up look at the Newton Ad Agency scenario for this project, which will also be used throughout the course.

The Newton Ad Agency is an advertising firm with offices in Austin, Texas; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and New York City, New York. The offices in Austin include a headquarters and a satellite office located two miles away in a rural area.

The Austin headquarters is home to the executive team and 750 employees. The headquarters also stores the corporate data and is the corporate internet backbone. It hosts the IT department that centrally manages all LAN services, including the wireless LAN. The IT department also manages the wide area network (WAN) that connects all of the offices via site-to-site virtual private network (VPN) tunnels.

The Minneapolis and New York offices host about 200 employees each. Approximately 50% of these employees are mobile (i.e., travelling more than 80% of the time). The New York office focuses on producing and disseminating large advertising media content to clients. For this reason, the New York office hosts the corporate media and web servers.

The rural satellite office in Austin focuses on billboard ad designs and is connected to the corporate WAN with a wireless point-to-point bridge to the Austin headquarters data center. The rural office is home to 100 employees.

To hire and retain the best talents, Newton Ad Agency allows employees to work from home. This removes the constraint that employees have to live within commuting distance from the firm's offices. Remote and mobile employees are provided access to the corporate network via a VPN client. The VPN client requires employees to have access to reliable internet services to allow for effective collaboration across teams, and for access to media content.

The company provides all employees with a laptop with full disk encryption, data loss prevention (DLP), and antivirus software. The IT department manages all corporate laptops and has the ability to log into all systems for support. This means that all laptops are centrally managed by the one IT department.

Due to an increase in opportunities for expansion to new markets, Newton has embarked on an initiative to hire and train new college graduates to support the company's Vision 2020 program. Vision 2020 focuses on global expansion. The initiative is to hire graduates into the marketing, finance, and IT departments.

Final Project: New Location Network: You were hired as part of the Vision 2020 program and have been working at Newton for some time now. You have spent a considerable portion of your time troubleshooting and analyzing the organization's computer network to keep it running smoothly.

Your direct supervisor and lead network administrator have been very impressed with your skills and fast learning abilities. In order to determine if you are ready to take on more responsibility, you have been asked for your input in regard to the new office location setup project.

Newton is considering adding a new office and is exploring potential locations in Tacoma, Washington; Rochester, New York; or Fayetteville, North Carolina. Your task is to choose one of the possible locations and deliver a report to the team with key considerations and recommendations for the setup of the network infrastructure at the new office.

This office will be home to 50 employees, including the new executive vice president of sales and marketing. All the possible sites have offices located on the third floor of an office building with access to fiber, cable, and T1 internet service providers. In addition to the standard

network, the site must support live video teleconferencing calls with employees based at the other sites, as well as reliably send print jobs to billboard printers located in the satellite office in Austin.

Prompt
How would you approach setting up the network at the location you have selected? What considerations are key in informing the systems and resources necessary to meet the organization's needs and support the business goals and objectives?

Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:

I. Introduction: Summarize the key considerations of the project, being sure to identify your chosen location. For example, what are the "must haves?" What are the constraints?

II. LAN Topology

A. Describe possible LAN topologies that could be used at the new location.

B. Compare the identified LAN topology possibilities based on their relative strengths and weaknesses in regard to support practices.

C. Based on your comparison, determine the appropriate LAN topology for this location to allow for optimal support practices. Be sure to explain your reasoning.

III. Internet Service Provider (Note: This section is based on research into actual providers at the office location that you select.)

A. Explain key considerations for identifying an internet service provider for the new location.

B. Compare at least two internet providers available in the location you have chosen in regard to speed, security, and reliability. Be sure to address how these specifics would impact business goals and objectives.

C. Based on your analysis, determine the appropriate internet provider for this location to meet the business goals and objectives. Be sure to explain your reasoning.

IV. Additional Considerations: In this section, you will address the accompanying considerations for the network based on the needs of the new office location.

A. Make appropriate hardware and software recommendations to meet the needs of the new office location. Be sure to explain your reasoning.

B. Make appropriate printer configuration recommendations to meet the distance printing needs of the new office location. Be sure to explain your reasoning.

C. Make appropriate bandwidth and device recommendations to meet the teleconferencing needs of the new office location. Be sure to explain your reasoning.

V. Potential Errors: In this section, you will discuss common network errors and how your recommendations will minimize and address these issues.

A. Based on your previous recommendations, describe common network errors that the new location may encounter.

B. Describe effective troubleshooting approaches to the errors you identified.

C. Explain how the approaches you described would ensure rapid resolution of the errors. Be sure your response is specific to the business location.

VI. Conclusion: Summarize your recommendations for the new location, being sure to support your suggestions using networking concepts.

As you develop your work, continue to look back on and consider each of these key elements. Remember, writing is a process that unfolds over time, and typically requires reconsideration and revision of key element.

Milestone One: Final Project Sections I and II

Milestones

In Module Three, you will submit sections one and two of the final project. Section one is the introduction section. Section two covers LAN topography. This milestone will be graded with the Milestone One Rubric.

Milestone Two: Final Project Sections III and IV

In Module Five, you will submit sections three and four of the final project. Section three focuses on the selection of an internet service provider. Section four focuses on hardware and software recommendations and printer configurations and bandwidth. This milestone will be graded with the Milestone Two Rubric.

Final Submission: Networking Recommendations for Newton Ad Agency

In Module Seven, you will submit your final project. It should be a complete, polished artifact containing all of the critical elements of the final project. It should reflect the incorporation of feedback gained throughout the course. This submission will be graded with the Final Project Rubric.

Rubric

Guidelines for Submission: Your report must be 3 to 5 pages in length. Use double-spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, one-inch margins, and APA formatting.