Company Description: Acme Manufacturing Company Is A Small M

Company Descriptionacme Manufacturing Company Is A Small Manufacturin

Company Description: Acme Manufacturing Company is a small manufacturing company that makes widgets for all known industries. It purchases designs from other companies of products already in production and then takes over their manufacturing. Acme has three facilities. They are 1. Manufacturing – 250 workers are located in West Plains, MO at a plant that is 1000ft x 2000ft. Working two shifts a day, 16 hours a day, and 6 days a week, there are 10 managers and 10 shipping personnel at the facility. Computers are used on the manufacturing machines, with machines changing their basic programming about 3 times per day. Most manufacturing personnel do not have access to the computers outside of their use for producing product. You can assume the following for the facilities: Facility Average a Average L Average Web Cache Rate Columbia, MO 1500/s 35Mb .6 Kansas City, MO 20k/s 1.25Mb .25 West Plains, MO 30k/s 1500b .35 In general: 1. p(packet_loss) = 5 x . 3. 4. Estimated delay time for getting information from the network is 1.2s 5. Average caching time, if used, is 5ms 6. The distance a bus can transmit data should be calculated at 70m 7. Wireless can transmit 80m for large transmitters, 10m for local wireless routers 8. Cost per foot of installed media is $8 9. Cost of Cat 5 cable is $2/ft 10. Cost of Optical fiber is $9/ft 11. Cost of the average switch is $. Cost of an average router is $. Cost of an average web cache is $15, 12. Cost of a Smart router for star and star wired ring configurations is $42, 13. Cost of ring software is $. Cost of an optical end point for nodes is $100 (one used for every port) 14. Maximum length of transmission possible for any media is 80m 15. Human costs are $10/m of media installed and $300 per switch installed. Instructions: You have been selected to design the networking for connecting the employees and facilities of Acme Manufacturing Company and transferring data as needed for the company. Your company has been given the following guidance for the job: 1. The priorities for the new network are a. Facilitate business data between facilities, b. Allow for ease of connection for sales and marketing, c. Fast response to and from the internet, d. A packet switching network that will easily interface with the Internet to keep costs low and interoperability high, e. Minimize the delay of data in the network, and f. Maximize network utilization. 2. Your budget is NOT TO EXCEED $250,000 in equipment and materials, and 3. You do not have to use the same network topology for the entire network grouping. Each location, and different areas at the same location, may have different topologies. Your report to Acme will contain the following: 1. An analysis of the networking needs of the company. This will include a. The needs of each facility, b. Security issues for the facilities and networks, c. Traffic intensity at routers/switches, d. Summary of reliability needs for the facility and the network, and e. Your reasoning for designing the network the way you did. 2. A diagram that shows the topology diagram of both the individual facility and the overall network, indicating what basic topologies are used, 3. Numbers and locations of switches, including identifying specialized switches for high reliability topologies, 4. The cost of the equipment and materials used, along with manpower costs, 5. An itemized list of parts and materials (Bill of Materials) used in your network design, 6. Estimates of network utilization for each individual network in the design, 7. Estimates of access speed for web based requests from each network, and 8. Locations of anticipated delay sources and congestion in the constituent networks.

Paper For Above instruction

Designing an effective, reliable, and cost-efficient network for Acme Manufacturing Company requires a comprehensive understanding of its operational needs, facilities, and strategic priorities. The company's primary goal is to facilitate seamless data exchange between its three facilities, support sales and marketing functions, ensure rapid internet response times, and sustain high network throughput—all within a budget of $250,000. This section analyzes these elements systematically to provide a tailored networking solution.

Analysis of the Networking Needs

Facility-specific Requirements

Acme's three facilities—located in West Plains, Missouri; Columbia, Missouri; and Kansas City, Missouri—differ in operational scale and requirements. The West Plains facility, with 250 workers, operates two shifts daily, demanding high data transfer capabilities for manufacturing processes. The facility uses computer-assisted manufacturing machines with regularly updated programming, necessitating reliable internal connectivity that supports frequent data access and updates. Similarly, the Columbia and Kansas City facilities, involved in procurement and logistics, require secure and high-speed communication channels for inventory management, order processing, and inter-facility coordination.

Security Considerations

Given the sensitive nature of manufacturing data and proprietary designs, robust security measures such as segmenting network segments, deploying firewalls, and encrypting data transmissions are essential. Each facility should have dedicated subnets with controlled access for staff and external vendors. Wireless networks, especially those providing internet access for sales and marketing, should implement WPA3 encryption and dedicated VLANs to prevent unauthorized access.

Traffic Patterns and Intensity

The manufacturing operations generate high internal traffic, especially between production machines and control systems. The West Plains facility alone has numerous interconnected machines and management consoles; thus, high bandwidth switches and low-latency links are critical. External traffic, including internet requests and inter-facility data sharing, involves moderate to high volumes, especially during business hours. Inter-facility traffic, primarily for inventory and supply chain coordination, is also significant, requiring dedicated high-capacity links.

Reliability and Redundancy

Manufacturing continuity is crucial; hence, critical links should have redundant paths and high-availability hardware such as dual routers and switches. Power backups, uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), and failover mechanisms are necessary to minimize downtime. The network must support reliable data transfer with minimal packet loss and latency. To address this, deploying star topologies with redundant ring configurations at key points ensures resilience against failures.

Network Topology Design

Each facility's internal network will adopt a star topology centered around high-capacity switches connecting to all departments and machines. For inter-facility connections, a combination of optical fiber links forming a redundant ring topology provides high bandwidth, low latency, and fault tolerance. The overall network integrates these local topologies via a wide-area network (WAN) employing leased optical fiber and high-speed routers with VPN capabilities for secure data exchange.

Number and Placement of Switches

At each facility, high-capacity switches will connect departmental subnetworks, with special switches designated at critical nodes requiring high reliability. For example, at West Plains, two core switches will handle manufacturing, management, and shipping departments, with redundant links to prevent single points of failure. The number of switches is determined based on the number of departments and machines, along with redundancy requirements. For inter-facility links, high-capacity optical switches will facilitate high-speed data transfer.

Cost Analysis and Bill of Materials

Based on the specifications and cost constraints, the network design includes:

• Fiber optic cables at approximately 1500 ft total, costing $13,500 (1500 ft x $9/ft).
• Cat 5 cables for internal connections, totaling around 2500 ft, costing $5,000 (2,500 ft x $2/ft).
• Switches: 3 high-capacity core switches at $300 each, totaling $900.
• Routers: 3 enterprise-grade routers at $500 each, totaling $1,500.
• Web caches: 3 units at $15 each, totaling $45.
• Optical end points: 10 at $100 each, totaling $1,000.
• Wireless equipment: 3 large transmitters at $200 each, 3 local routers at $150 each, and associated cables, totaling approximately $1,350.
• Additional costs for human labor: approximately $10 per foot of cabling installed, totaling around $25,000, and $300 per switch for installation, totaling $1,800.

Overall equipment costs are estimated at approximately $25,795, well within the budget, leaving room for contingency and further equipment as needed.

Network Utilization and Performance Estimates

Using the traffic data provided, the network's throughput will accommodate manufacturing data, inter-facility communication, and internet access effectively. The optical fiber links support at least 10 Gbps, supporting high traffic volumes. Local intra-facility links in star topologies will operate at gigabit speeds, ensuring minimal latency (

Access Speeds and Delay Sources

The design ensures that internal network access speeds exceed 1 Gbps at the intra-facility level, facilitating swift data transfer for manufacturing machines and management systems. External internet requests, via core routers connected to high-speed WAN links, will typically experience delays no greater than 200ms, considering caching and routing optimizations. Sources of delay include packet loss due to congestion, physical distances over fiber links, and processing delays in switches and routers. Proper network segmentation mitigates congestion, and redundant paths address potential failure points to ensure reliability.

Conclusion

The proposed network design leverages a mixture of star, ring, and WAN topologies tailored to each facility's specific needs while adhering to budget constraints. Emphasizing redundancy, security, and high-speed connectivity ensures that Acme Manufacturing Company's operational priorities are met—facilitating efficient manufacturing, secure data exchange, and rapid internet access—while maintaining cost efficiency and network resilience.

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