Technical sciences

Bermagambetov A.K., senior teacher, Khalikov I. Kh., master

RSI “ A. Baitursynov Kostanay state university’

CORPORATE NETWORKS’ STRATEGIC PLANNING

Corporate networks planning

As a rule, a corporate network is a complicated system, which may include various components. These components may be represented by computers, system software and applied software, AC adapters, concentrators, switchers and routers. The main task of system administrators consists in providing the best possible level of work of this bulky expensive system in processing flows of data circulating between a company employees and allowing them to make timely and rational decisions, facilitating the survival of the company in intensive competitive environments. The contents of corporate data, the intensity of the flows and the ways of processing are constantly changing.

The changes recently caused by the Internet are multifaceted. Hypertext service changed the way of data representation, gathering on its pages all its popular types. Transport Internet – inexpensive and affordable practically for all companies – significantly facilitated the task of a corporate network building up simultaneously bringing to the fore the task of corporate data protection.

The Internet popularity influences corporate networks not only in technical and technological aspects. The Internet became a global network for people interaction, as well as a platform for business operations and transfer of financial assets. The example of these is the exchange of data with companies – co-executives and business partners. The requirements for corporate networks have changed. Intensive reference to Web-sites of external institutions and other departments of the company dramatically increased the proportion of outer traffic and, consequently, the load on border routers and internetwork screens. Another example of the Internet influence is the necessity of authentication and authorization of a huge number of clients seeking the data on the company servers from without. The ways based on establishing account information on each user in the network database and issuing individual passwords are outdated and cannot be used. Such amount of work cannot be coped with either by administrators or network authentication servers. That is why new methods of users’ legitimacy check borrowed from practical activities of institutions, dealing with large flows of clients, are appearing. The Internet influence on a corporate network of the company is only one example of constant changes, which the technology of automated data processing at a modern company, striving to keep up with the competitors, is undergoing. There constantly appear technical, technological and organizational innovations, which are to be used in a corporate network to maintain it in the state corresponding to the requirements of time. Without changes a corporate network will quickly become obsolete and will not be able to work in such a way that a company could successfully compete at the international market. As a rule, the term of becoming obsolete for products and inventions in the sphere of information technologies is about 3-5 years.

In order for a company not to restructure its corporate network every 3-5 years it is necessary to follow the tendencies of net and information technologies development and introduce into the network the changes, which would allow the network to smoothly deal with each sharp turn. It is necessary to see strategic directions of a corporate network development, constantly correlate it with the directions of the development of the whole net world, in the case there will be less chances of stalling the corporate network leading to its full re-installment. Extensive money and labour investments into doubtful issues are inacceptable.

Strategic planning of the network presupposes finding a compromise between a company needs in automated data processing, its financial capacity and net and information technologies’ facilities today and in the future.

Problems of transport system corporate network design

Transport system serves a base for interconnected work of separate computers and consists of a number of sub-systems and elements. The biggest constituents of a transport system are local and global corporation networks, which are considered to be purely transportation means. In its turn, every local and global network consists of peripheral sub-networks and the magistral connecting these sub-networks into one entity. Every sub-network also may have a hierarchical structure constituted by routers, AC adapters, concentrators and switchers. All these communication facilities are interconnected by means of a branched cable system.

A global network, uniting separate local networks spread over extensive territory, also has a hierarchical structure with the high speed magistral, lower speed peripheral networks and access channels of local networks to the global ones.

While creating and modernizing a transport system, currently strategically relevant issues are the following ones:

1. Creating transport infrastructure with scalable productivity of complicated local networks;

2. Supplying quality individual service for different types of traffic and applications in local networks;

3. Choosing a technology of the magistral for large local networks of a company;

4. Arrangement of high speed and economical access of remote users and branch networks to the central network of a company.

Strategic problems of a network operation system choice

While making a strategic decision concerning network operation systems used in a corporate network, it is necessary to take into account that all network operation systems with regards to their functional capacity are divided into two distinct classes: network operation systems of a department scale and corporate operation systems.

While choosing a corporate network operation system, it is necessary firstly to take into account the following criteria:

1. Largely scalable productivity;

2. Ability to use an operation system as an applications server;

3. Existence of a powerful centralized help service.

There is also a number of not less important characteristics, which should be taken into account while choosing a network operation system, such as, for example, the degree of stability and security of an operation system, availability of remote access software, the ability to work in heterogeneous medium, etc.

Corporate data protection

Corporate networks are more susceptible to interference than local networks of a smaller scale. All main peculiarities of a corporate network cause increased danger of such networks.

The first peculiarity is the existence of global connections. Global connections, stretching over large distances, do not allow to prevent malicious access to transmitted data. It cannot be guaranteed that at some unattainable uncontrollable point of space someone using, for example, a protocol analyzer will not enter a transmitting medium for capture and subsequent decoding of data sets. Such a danger is universal and inherent in all types of territorial connection channels, it is not connected with whether own, rented connection channels or services of general territorial networks are used.

The use of social networks worsens the situation even more, because in such a network in order to access corporate data a malefactor may possess different and more convenient means than the access with protocols analyzer. Besides, a huge number of users increase the probability of the attempts of an unauthorized access.