I am a student, yes this is an assignment, however, I am allowed to collaborate with professionals because the teacher said getting help from experienced people is a good way to learn and a good way to see how its done.
A consulting firm located in Chicago. Fifty people work in its home office. An additional 25 employees work from remote locations. They are adding another 25 employees by opening a second location in Detroit. The new building in Detroit was purchased with its existing technology infrastructure intact. I am trying to evaluate their existing infrastructure and recommend the best approach to integrating the data communication, computer networks, and telephone systems of the three locations. Hopefully, with your help, we can create a company wide technology infrastructure which supports seemingly seamless connectivity and data flow.
This is what we know:
Home Office
Staff:
50 employees. The IT operation is housed here.
Networking:
Four departmental LANs:
Business and Finance Office, Staff Consultants, Administration, and HR.
These LANs run Windows 2000 Advanced Server with several NT4.0 Servers. 25 Remote workers have dial-in access to the network through a modem pool.
E-mail service runs on a Microsoft Exchange Server using Outlook as the client software.
Phone Service:
The local and long distance phone service from Local Telephone Company through a leased PBX. Phone services include Voice Mail, Call Waiting, Call Forwarding.
Internet Access and Usage:
All departments at the home office have Internet Access through the network via a DSL line to the company’s ISP, Sharethenet.com.
Software Applications:
All employees are provided with Microsoft Office Professional suite of applications including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access.
The Company’s financial systems run on Great Plains Accounting Software. Great Plains is used for personnel information, payroll, inventory, accounts payable, accounts receivable, quarterly
and annual reports, and tax documentation.
Detroit
Staff:
connectivity and data flow
Networking:
The network consists of a single LAN running under Windows 2000 Server.
E-mail Service is via a POP3 client through the Internet to the home offices Exchange e-mail server.
Phone Service:
The local and long distance phone service from Local Telephone Company through a leased PBX. Phone services include Voice Mail, Call Waiting, Call Forwarding. This service is not connected directly to the Building A system.
Internet Access and Usage:
All offices in Detroit share Internet Access through the network via the company’s ISP,Sharethenet.com.
Software Applications:
All employees are provided with Microsoft Office Professional suite of applications including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access.
The Detroit location is unable to access the Great Plains financial software directly, and uses FTP to upload data weekly from an Access database.
1. The local area networks are to be interconnected.
2. The networks in both are to be interconnected.
3. The new building, Detroit, is to be inter-networked with the other locations using its existing technology infrastructure wherever possible, though some changes may be made if absolutely required for smooth integration.
4. Employees in all locations are to have access to the Internet through a dedicated line to a single ISP.
5. Telephone service for the buildings is to function as a single system so that any phone in any building may reach any other phone using only the extension.
6. All employees are to have voice mail.
7. All employees are to have e-mail through the exchange server in the home office including the remote workers.