THE ASSIGNMENT

Provide a proposed network topology design using a software program capable of developing a diagram such as Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Visio, or an evaluation copy of business graphics software such as SmartDraw or EDraw Max. The final product should be submitted in a Microsoft Word document.

Specify the type(s) of media (fiber and copper), network devices (switches and routers), protocols, WAN circuits and connectivity, remote access method and authentication, fault tolerance and security in your design.

THE SCENARIO

Design a local and wide area network at seven sites with remote access for a 3,500 person international company in the pharmaceutical industry. The company recently was formed through a number of acquisitions via venture capitalists.

There are seven company locations each containing one building including the corporate headquarters in New York, NY – 1000 employees, San Diego, CA – 250 employees, central research in Houston, TX – 750 employees, Madrid – 500 employees, India – 50 employees, London – 150 employees, China – 300 employees and 500 remote users – sales force.

There is a diverse computing environment with no standards in place including a combination of devices (e.g. network printers) and desktop operating systems (e.g. Macintosh OS, UNIX, Linux and Microsoft Windows). There are three different data centers in operation. The first data center is located in New York, NY being used as the main corporate data center (e.g. email, file, print, database and intranet web servers) the second is located in San Diego, CA being used for R&D (e.g. high performance computing, technical application servers and video-streaming services), and the third is located in Houston, TX being used for disaster recovery. The company does large file transfers (e.g. video and graphics) between San Diego, CA and Houston, TX. There is one Internet connection located in the corporate data center that services all company locations.