QUESTION

1.Imagine that you have been hired as a contractor by a local business that has recently purchased new office space for its growing business. Design a network for the local business based on the following information: The business has approximately fifty (50) employees, and the new office space will stretch across the third and fifth floors of a building. The fourth floor is currently occupied by another tenant.

2.Write a two to four (2-4) page paper in which you:

A.Suggest the equipment that you would utilize to design and implement a network, based on the scenario. Justify the need for your suggestions.
B.Recommend the strategy that you would use to combat the design challenge of occupying non-adjacent floors. Suggest a solution that includes the cabling / connecting of the two (2) differing office space floors.
C.Determine the primary security concerns regarding the scenario in question. Explain the controls you would implement in order to lessen those concerns.
Detail the specifics of your network design through the use of graphical tools in Visio, or an open source alternative such as Dia. Note: The graphically depicted solution is not included in the required page length

                                                          SAMPLE SOLUTION

The official definition of a small business in the United States is given by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), but generally, a small business is that with small number of employees, normally less than 500 (Longenecker, Petty, Palich & Hoy, 2013). The business in question has only about 50 employees and therefore it qualifies to be called a small business. Small office computing, unlike the enterprise networks require modest computing and networking equipment. Networking in this office will only need a dozen or a slightly more computers and just a couple of laser printers. This network must make it possible for the organization members to share information, in addition to the printers and the other peripherals (Colombo, Laursen, Magnusson & Rossi‐Lamastra, 2012). Just a single local area network (LAN) made up of two servers that make use of off-the-shelf components will be able to meet all the needs of this organization. Security matters must also of course be taken into consideration and the designer must ensure that this network is both functional and secure from the various security threats (Colombo, Laursen, Magnusson & Rossi‐Lamastra, 2012). Just a single person with moderate technical knowhow and expertise will successfully manage this network.