Telecommunications Network Design For B-LIT LLC's Orlando

Telecommunications Network Design for B-LIT LLC's Orlando and Anaheim Campuses

The B-LIT, LLC is a burgeoning startup launching innovative smartphones, including the LIT-phone, LIT-phone B+, and LIT-phone G+. To support product development, secure communications, and operational security, a robust, secure, and high-availability network infrastructure must be designed for their Orlando and Anaheim campuses. This entails establishing reliable connectivity, securing sensitive data and development environments, and implementing redundancy and security measures to prevent cyber threats, including state change attacks and intrusions. This paper presents a comprehensive network design that aligns with these requirements, including topology, hardware, cabling, security provisions, wireless and WAN technologies, data center features, and verification protocols.

Network Topology and Infrastructure Design

The core of the network architecture employs a hybrid topology, integrating hierarchical star and VLAN segmentation for security and scalability. Two main sites—Orlando (primary data center and development hub) and Anaheim (failover data center)—are connected via a dedicated high-speed WAN link capable of transmission speeds exceeding 50 Mbps, ensuring continuous data flow essential for synchronization and redundancy.

Each campus comprises three buildings with three floors, each floor measuring 350’x350’. Inside each building, structured cabling connects 200 network endpoints per floor alongside 100 data center connections on the third floor. The LAN within each floor adopts a star topology, with wiring closets serving as aggregation points, minimizing fault domains and simplifying network management.

A Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) architecture segregates traffic types—development, databases, web servers, and administrative segments—enhancing security and traffic management. Inter-site connectivity leverages VPN tunnels over the WAN link, protected by robust encryption protocols to prevent interception and intrusion.

Recommended Hardware and Cabling

Switches and Routers: Layer 3 switches facilitate internal VLAN routing and segmentation in each wiring closet. High-performance enterprise routers connect the campuses, supporting VPN termination, QoS prioritization, and redundancy features.

Wireless Infrastructure: Wi-Fi 6 access points are deployed on each floor, supporting high-density environments and secure wireless access. Wireless security employs WPA3 encryption and 802.1X authentication.

Cabling: Category 6a twisted-pair cabling ensures 10 Gbps throughput over the 350-foot runs, complying with EIA/TIA standards for enterprise networks. Fiber optic cabling (OM4) supports high-speed, long-distance links between wiring closets and data centers, especially for backbone connections and the WAN link.

Data Center Hardware: Redundant servers with hot-swappable components, network storage arrays with RAID configurations, and dedicated security appliances (firewalls, IDS/IPS) ensure high availability and security.

Security Measures and Attack Prevention Strategies

To protect against intrusions and state change attacks, layered security measures are crucial. Firewalls enforce perimeter security, while intrusion detection and prevention systems monitor network traffic for anomalies. Segmentation via VLANs ensures that compromised segments do not compromise the entire network.

Implementation of Network Access Control (NAC) ensures only authorized devices and users gain access, with multi-factor authentication (MFA) especially for sensitive areas like development and database servers.

Regular security audits, vulnerability assessments, and penetration testing should be scheduled to verify the efficacy of defenses and identify potential weaknesses.

Network Traps and Defensive Mechanisms

Deceptive techniques such as honeypots or honeytokens are strategically placed to detect attacker reconnaissance activities and isolate threats early. These traps mimic real assets but are isolated environments that alert administrators upon access attempt.

Further, deploying deception technology—decoy servers and fake services—diverts attackers away from critical assets, providing early detection and response capabilities.

Traffic analysis tools and anomaly detection systems continuously monitor network activity for patterns indicative of malicious behaviors, enabling rapid incident response.

Wireless and WAN Technologies

High-capacity Wi-Fi 6 networks facilitate mobility and secure access for employees and visitors. Their support for OFDMA and MU-MIMO maximizes throughput and minimizes interference.

The WAN infrastructure employs MPLS or dedicated leased lines, providing secure, reliable connectivity with quality of service (QoS) prioritization for critical traffic. VPN tunnels encrypt data transmissions, preventing interception across the public internet.

SD-WAN technology can optimize traffic flow, improve security, and increase resilience by dynamically routing traffic over multiple links based on real-time assessments of link health.

High-Availability Technologies in Data Centers

Redundancy at the data center includes double power supplies, clustering of critical servers, and NAS/SAN storage solutions with replication capabilities. Clustering failover mechanisms—such as Microsoft Cluster Service or VMware HA—ensure high availability of applications and databases.

Firewall and intrusion detection appliances are deployed redundantly to eliminate single points of failure. Regular data backups, geographically separated disaster recovery sites, and real-time replication expand resilience against data loss.

Security Verification and Maintenance Plan

A comprehensive security plan involves periodic audits, penetration testing, and compliance assessments. Vulnerability management tools automate the identification of known weaknesses, while automated patching workflows mitigate risks associated with outdated systems.

The network employs centralized logging and Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) platforms to analyze security alerts in real-time, facilitating rapid incident response.

Employee training and clear security policies strengthen organizational security posture, reducing human error and insider threats. Regular simulation exercises test incident response plans, ensuring preparedness.

Conclusion

The proposed network design for B-LIT LLC integrates secure, redundant, and high-performance components tailored to the company's specific needs for product development, secure communication, and business continuity. Combining layered security tactics, strategic hardware deployment, and robust physical and logical protections ensures resilience against cyber threats and operational disruptions. Continuous security verification and responsive incident management further enhance the safeguarding of sensitive assets and infrastructure integrity.

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