Network Proposal. Androsia Superior Fabrics has solicited the services of ML-DD IT Consultants to assess their current IT infrastructure, provide a comprehensive upgrade and implementation strategy for the network software and hardware design and install

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Androsia Superior Fabrics has operated its business in New Providence for the last twenty years. Over the past ten years, this fabric company has accumulated significant capital and is considered one of the local industry leaders in wholesale and retail fabric sales. As a result Androsia Superior Fabrics is looking to expand its business internationally. However, the fabric company did little to take advantage of the modern computer network infrastructure that makes running a professional business easy. For example, Androsia Superior Fabrics employs a computer system that can best be described as a "Sneaker Network". The company still uses legacy software and hardware devices that are not suitable for the efficient operation of a modern business company.

To further complicate matters, Androsia Superior Fabrics recently hired a Marketing and Sales Representative to help boost the company's capital locally, as well as prepare them for their international expansion. However, the Marketing and Sales Representative quickly became frustrated by the company's lack of technological infrastructure. Being experienced with working with modern computer software and hardware tools, she frequently made strong recommendations to the owners and managers as to the need and benefits of upgrading to a modern computer network. Androsia Superior Fabrics Chief Executive Officer soon realised that in spite of his company's tremendous success, productivity, customer satisfaction and especially profit margins could experience exponential growth with equipment upgrade and the implementation of an appropriate computer network infrastructure.

Consequently, Androsia Superior Fabrics has solicited the services of ML-DD IT Consultants to assess their current IT infrastructure, provide a comprehensive upgrade and implementation strategy for the network software and hardware design and installation, as well as considerations for security, scalability, network maintenance and management. This upgrade task lies solely on the responsibility of ML-DD IT Consultants. That is, to design and install the upgraded network for Androsia Superior Fabrics' two New Providence branch locations, in addition to the prospective international locations in the United States (Miami, Atlanta and New York) and London. This project must have all required amenities of a modern, efficient computer network, be successfully completed on time and within budget.

Androsia Superior Fabrics initial network setup was not truly arranged as a computer network. In fact, the computers used within the company's business could be described as a "Sneaker Network" and were implemented as follows:

Carmichael Road Branch (Head Office)

* Currently a true computer network is not implemented.

* 4 separate computers running Windows98 SEare used for various business transactions.

* 3dot-matrix printersare used independently by the manager, the sales representative and the rest of the office staff.

* 1 facsimile machine for the office staff.

* 1 scanner is used by the sales representative.

* 1 copy machine for the office staff.

* There is access to the Internet through Cable Bahamas, but only the manager uses this connection.

* The office software employed is ineffective and out-dated.

Village Road Branch

* Currently a true computer network is not implemented.

* 3separate computers running WindowsXP Proare used for various business transactions.

* 2dot-matrix printersare currently used by the manager, and the rest of the office staff.

* 1 copy machine for the office staff.

* There is currently no access to the Internet.

* The office software employed is ineffective and out-dated.

Diagrams of the current infrastructure of the two office locations are outlined below:

The business product that Androsia Superior Fabrics have provided their customers is an outstanding, highly profitable one. Their success as a leading franchise in the wholesale and retail fabric industry is a testament to their company's acute business practices and strategies. However, the financial accomplishments of this company have fortunately overshadowed their deficits in maximizing the use of modern computer network technology, to exponentiallyboost the success of the franchise. Fortunately, ML-DD IT Consultants' knowledge, experience, and professional reputation will enable this already prosperous company to attain even greater affluence in the future.

After a thorough scrutiny of the current network infrastructure, the engineers and staff at ML-DD IT Consultants have readily identified this legacy computer network as being inadequate and ineffective for a modern-day, professional business company. As a result, our network upgrade strategy is slated to tremendously improve the overall efficiency, customer experience and profitability of Androsia Superior Fabrics.

Our network upgrade process for the Nassau network of Androsia Superior Fabrics will help meet the goals and objectives of the company. It will provide each branch office the same functionality, maintaining a uniform satisfied customer experience at each location on the island. With the increased network capacity, the company will be able to handlehigh bandwidth demand multimedia streams for meetings, or even training purposes.

This upgrade will also help increase the product reputation ofAndrosia Superior Fabrics,resulting in higher recognition and consequently higher profits. One of the many characteristics of the new network is scalability, as a result, the company will be able to expanditslocal commercial business and seamlessly transition operations into the proposed international expansion.

The local network upgrade process took precise account of Androsia Superior Fabrics employees and the company's organizational chart as illustrated below:

Androsia Superior Fabrics - Organizational Chart

As with most business companies, costs play a major factor in any attempt at infrastructure upgrades. This factor along with other customer constraints, play pivotal roles in undertaking such an ambitious project. A brief outline of the most common customer constraints are explained below:

Customer Constraints

* Budget

* Employee training

* Personnel

* Technical support

Budget: A plan has been prepared to release funds in phases as the network grows. We have managed to keep the budget of this project under the maximum outlined by your company, while implementing state of the art technology. The budget information inSection Five of this reportoutlines in detail all aspects of budgetary concerns.

Employee Training: New hardware and software systems will have to be implemented. As a result, your employees will need training to adjust to the new system. The training process will take approximately 5 days.

Personnel and Technical Support: Our personnel will be available for a period of 10 days after each phase to assist with employee questions or concerns. Any issues found will be diagnosed and corrected by our staff. In the event of hardware failure, we will coordinate with the appropriate hardware manufacturer to ensureall warrantypolicies are adhered to. The staff at ML-DD will replace all hardware that fails under warranty free of charge for one year after implementation. We will continue to support failed hardware, however,Androsia Superior Fabrics will be charged for such services, depending on the complexity of the work. This will be explained in detail in the Service Level Agreement (SLA), in Section Five of this report.

Goals for new network design

* Scalability

* Speed

* Reliability

* Security

* Manageability

Scalability: Like any other business, we realize that Androsia Superior Fabrics would like to continue growing. Hence, we have designed a network with scalability in mind to ensure your future upgrades are well in line with your budget. With the design we will implement, there will be no need to replace hardware for years to come. We have taken careful consideration when selecting hardware to ensure it is capable of employing future technologies such as VoIP, and IPv6.
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Speed: To keep your network up and running at a high-speed pace, the latest and most reliable nodes will be used on the network. For example Cat 6 cables, fibre optic backbone cabling and gigabit LAN architecture, just to name a few.

Reliability: Your network at all locations will consist of the most recognized network manufacturer in the world, Cisco. We have designed a reliable network that will allow you to query databases in real-time, and redundancy to ensure both your employees and your customers always have access to the information requested.

Security: Security is a ...

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