Case Analysis
Initially, the intellectual property right law firm was managing one office which contained a total of 18 staffs. In this case, the company only managed a small LAN that served the office and maybe with an internet connection to allow the staffs to access the World Wide Web. However the situation has been changed by the current merger. The company currently has three offices situated at different parts of the city. Basically each office has its own local network and thus, the company wishes to join the three local area networks to form one large company’s network within the city. Based on the fact that the three offices are in the same city makes it possible for the company to adopt a metropolitan network. In this case, the company will consider joining the three offices together using Metropolitan Area Network technique. MAN is used to join local networks within the same city or metropolitan region. However, the company requires allowing its mobile workers with on-site access to the company’s network to enhance their working. In this regard, the company will have to consider integrating their system with a transceiver with will allow the broadcasting of a microwave signal to mobile workers.
Information to be Protected
Information security is very essential in any company. In this case the company has to protect information circulating within a LAN, information transmitted within the MAN and more so the information transmitted to the mobile workers from the company and from their devices to the company. This includes clients companies’ details. The company should ensure that there is no security loopholes that can allow interception or reading of information transmitted through their network system. In this regard, information transmitted within the network must be encrypted. Data encryption will protect the data confidentiality in case the system is intercepted and the data acquired by unauthorized individuals. Workers personal information, especially the identification information must also be protected. In this regard, network access especially onsite must be limited only to the organization workers through authentication.
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Any individual trying to access the company’s network through onsite site or within the office must pass the authentication test to prevent entry of unauthorized individuals. Access to any part of the system will be based on one’s operation level. This includes onsite access. Employee number will be one of the authentication tools so as to prevent the collaboration of workers with other individuals with malicious interest. The company should consider employing a network framework that is not very susceptible to attacks. Multi-layer security protection may be considered (Rajmohan et al., 2012).
Company’s security policies will also be defined to ensure that all workers do their best to protect the data security. This includes simple rules such as logging off the office computer after use, not sharing passwords, using strong password to secure one’s account, accessing the system based on ones right, and ensuring that the computer antispyware and antivirus are updated among other things. The company should also consider employing a firewall in case the company network will be directly connected to an internet. This is to prevent entry of malicious data that would compromise the security of the company network into the system (Rajmohan et al., 2012).
Type of Network to Address the Company’s Needs
The company will basically have a MAN network that will allow the connection of the three offices that operate within the same city together. Each office will have its own LAN which will have a star topology to allow more fast and reliable connection. The local network will be connected using switches: either a 24 port switch or two 12 port switches based on office arrangement and CAT cables. The CAT cables will be terminated by use of RJ 45 clips. They will be responsible of connecting the computers in the local network to the switches. This topology will also accommodate telephones and printers in each office. The three offices will then be interlinked by use of transceivers or fiber connection. However, based on the fact that the company has to serve the mobile workers, transceivers will be the best option to enhance network access of mobile workers and to ease their connection into the network. In this case, the company will establish three transceiver base stations each for each company. The three transceivers will allow the flow of data from one office to another. These transceivers will also allow the operation of onsite workers who can access the company’s network through the transceiver microwave signals.
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The company connection to the internet will require a firewall which will be connected to a router which will then be connected to a switch in the main office. This will then be linked to other offices via the Man network. Each office will also have a server computer that will allow the storage of the company’s data especially the client related data. Each employee in the office will have his or her own computer. However, each office will be served by not more than three phones, and one printer connected in the Local network (Ogryczak et al., 2005).
The mobile workers will access the company’s network using wireless connection allowed by the transceiver. The mobile workers will access the company’s network by use of a phone, laptop or other office mobile devices. In this case, they will be able to access the company’s data pool to extract the data they need, manipulate it or even add new data. However, they should operate within the metropolitan region where the transceiver signal can reach. The network will allow the mobile workers to access the system from any position with the signal as long as they have the authorization and they can authenticate their access. The connection will also allow then to share office facilities that include printer if need be. This can be done through the support team (Anandalingam & Raghavanm, 2003).
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