Georgia Power in Texas and Washington State, Essay Example

Introduction

This paper will propose two Wide Area Networks (WAN) which will serve the Georgia Power Company. The Georgia Power board of directors recently approved sufficient funding to support the implementation of said proposal. Current available technologies are leased lines and T1. T1 is an internet cable that transports information at increased speeds. A leased line refers to Georgia Power leasing the network from a provider such as ATT. The proposed WAN is intended to provide networking services the Georgia Power company in remote locations in Texas and Washington State. The company has a total of five departments which will be served by this network. It is recommended that the company use multilink PPP over multiple T1s.

WAN Purpose

The WAN is created to accomplish the following business goals:

1. The network’s chief objective is to create a safe organizational computer networking system to the three offices of the Georgia Power Company. The system is intended to be accessible only by authorized users.
2. The Georgia Power system currently holds various LANs; however, the majority of the hardware and software is dated; the LANs do not function properly with each other; and various LANs are not part of a system-wide network (LAN Proposal, n.d.). To resolve these issues, this WAN proposal suggests methods to incorporate and update these LANs to sustain a productive alliance system-wide.
3. This network will give users the ability to process, retain, and retrieve ASCII and non-ASCII text, as well as audio and video components from any computer attached to the network (Sample Network Proposals).
4. By combining the competencies of different equipment, the network will enable users in Texas and Washington State to apply their skills, regardless of their geographical location. As a result, the network will allow Georgia Power employees to collaborate on ideas and information with the simple click of a button. This will enhance employee efficiency and productivity.
5. Because of the network’s adjustable design, the Company can add offices as capital increases, without making changes to the current network.

Intended Users

The primary users of this network at will be the administrators, secretaries, members of the customer service department, members of the human resource department, members of the finance and accounting department, and members of the computer services department.  Georgia Power customers and the public are secondary users of the network. This means they will receive information created on the network, but they will not use the network directly. This design assumes that the Georgia Power network has a firewall which processes all incoming and outgoing network information. It also assumes that internet service is provided by the Georgia Power Network.

Network Needs Analysis

The network will serve power usage reports, power bills, customer account information, and various Georgia Power web pages. Most of the data will be in text form. Small amounts of still graphics are possible, but primarily for web-based conferences. All data will be created using software applications such as Windows 2010, Dream Weaver, and Office 2010 Professional. This office suite includes Microsoft Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, and Outlook. The network will not be accessible from outside. Georgia Power Company users will consist of managers, assistants, and customer service representatives. Calculations estimate that roughly 100 users will be on the network at any given time. Forty regular users in the main office, 20 regular users in the Texas office, 20 regular users in the Washington State office, and 10 otherwise unanticipated users. The three supported priority levels are (1) management, (2) users, and (3) background. Management will therefore consume a part of the allocated bandwidth while background processes will receive more than adequate service. However, it may be delayed on a per case basis to ensure support for management and user services.

The network should be transparent to the users. In other words, applications executed from remote locations should operate equally as fast as processes executed within an end station. File transfer expectations show an average throughput of 800 kbps per user within each WAN. In order to prevent user complaints, the network is developed to operate fluently in peak traffic loads. On an average work day roughly 0.04 mbps of throughput on the WAN is required. Peak WAN traffic will utilize roughly 6.4 mbps (Sample Network Proposals).

It is paramount that Georgia Power implement storage requirements to adequately house all client data. This includes client demographics, order history, and service locations. The anticipated storage requirements indicate that an average of 1 MB of server space will be needed for each client. To ensure compliance with industry standards, the WAN must function at nearly 100 percent uptime with only a .001 percent undiscovered error rate. A firewall will be used to restrict unauthorized access. The security will entail users to access accounts by using passwords; this will give users limited access. Network managers and users will have different access capabilities. Currently, the local area network (LAN) consists of printers, servers and computer workstations, and servers that are connected to the network through T1 technology.

Cost Analysis

To acquire products will cost roughly $176,000. These products include HP File and Print Servers, HP NetServer hard drives, commercial laser fax machines, Windows 2010 servers, desktop hubs, CISCO Ethernet routers, Cat5 cables, firewall internet gateways, labor, and DS2 connection.

Conclusion

These numbers indicate that the annual benefits will exceed the annual cost. The project is expected to pay for itself in 14 months and the equipment is expected to perform without issues for at least 36 months. These numbers therefore support the recommendation that this project be implemented.

Bibliography

Teare, D. (2008). Designing for Cisco Internetwork Solutions . Indianapolis, IN: Cisco Press.

Lan Proposal Free Essays 1 – 20. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.oppapers.com/subjects/lan-proposal-page1.html

Sample Network Design Proposal. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://people.uwec.edu/hiltonts/101/CBAsample/projectsample.htm