Develop in general terms a cost-effective structured cabling plan for a tiered LAN within a scientific R&D organization that is building a new five-story research facility.

TOPIC:  Develop, in general terms, a cost-effective structured cabling plan for a tiered LAN within a scientific R&D organization that is building a new five-story research facility. The first floor will contain the lobby and administrative offices. The second and third floors will contain labs that utilize fairly large pieces of heavy-power-consumption equipment (e.g., small linear accelerators and reactive ion chambers). Numerous technicians and scientists will be working on this floor and data requirements include high-speed transmission of high bandwidth data (e.g., color video). The fourth floor will contain offices for the lab personnel and the fifth floor will contain executive offices. Your plan should describe and illustrate the horizontal cabling for each floor as well as the vertical cabling runs.

INSTRUCTIONS:

In these writing assignments, there is not a “right or wrong” answer. Rather, cases provide a vehicle for you to demonstrate your understanding and ability to apply course concepts. You must use at least two appropriate sources (other than your course textbook) that are properly cited; do not solely use the case itself to support your position. You are strongly encouraged to use the following outline so that your analysis is organized appropriately:

• Identify both the key issues and the underlying issues. In identifying the issues, you should be able to connect them to the principles which apply to this situation.
• Discuss the facts which affect these issues. The case may have too much information. In your discussion, you should filter the information and discuss those facts which are pertinent to the issues identified above.
• Discuss your proposed solution/recommendation to the problem and include how you would implement it. What actions would you propose to correct the situation, based on the knowledge you have gained in this course? Be sure to support your recommendation by citing references in the text and in the supplementary readings. You should also draw on other references such as business periodicals and journals. Remember that an ANALYSIS is more than simply a SUMMARY of the Writing Assignment.
• Discuss follow-up and contingency plans (if necessary). How will the organization know that your proposed solution is working? What should they do if it does not work?