Network Assignment

1. Company Overview

APM Realty is an upcoming, online real estate business headquartered in Los Angeles, California. Meeting the needs of Los Angeles home buyers and sellers, APM is a full service brokerage that guides clients throughout the real estate transaction process. Potential clients can visit APM’s website for a full directory of properties available for sale in the city. Visitors can also create accounts to customize their search parameters and receive instant alerts for new property listings. APM’s information infrastructure must store this customer information onsite in their data center to facilitate internal operations.

Accordingly, APM operates within these three business departments:

1. Administrative & Legal Department

· The main staff of APM consists of real estate agents. These realtors use various modes of communication to follow up on website registrations and attempt to convert online leads into clients. The administrative staff supports agents by scheduling showings and finalizing transaction contracts.

2. Marketing Department

· To drive traffic to APM’s website, the marketing staff promotes the company’s services through advertising and outreach. The department also runs marketing campaigns to highlight current listings offered by APM’s realtors, showcase recently sold properties, and attract potential home buyers and sellers.

3. Accounting Department

· The accounting department includes human resources and payroll. Staff keeps track of employees, benefits, compensation, commission, and training procedures while also providing statements and reports on the organization’s financial status.

2. Marketing Analysis

APM Realty sees a critical need to open its online business. The size of the real estate industry is increasing, and investment in residential real estate is booming from the COVID-19 pandemic. Mortgage rates are historically low with 30-year fixed-rate mortgages at 2.625% and 15-year ones at 2%.

Potential clients need trusted professionals to guide them through the competitive buying process, especially since the current market is displaying a lack of supply from home sellers and overwhelming demand from home buyers. Experienced realtors are necessary for home sellers to get top dollar on their sales and for buyers to get great deals on their dream homes. Home buyers and sellers agree as 89% of them seek out and recruit real estate agents for these transactions.

Consumer tastes are also changing from pandemic quarantines. As people reassess what a home means to them, many are desiring home gyms, home offices, and more outdoor space. 44% of home sellers are trading up for a larger home while 33% of home buyers are purchasing property for their first time. Further, Millennials are now the largest demographic in real estate, making up 37% of activity. Through knowledge and negotiation, APM can help match people to their particular needs and wants and tailor searches to each demographic’s preferences.

3. Business Plan

APM will be able to compete against other markets by emphasising its technological prowess. Leaning into digital delivery in the world of stay-at-home orders will set up the business for success. Virtual 3D home walk-throughs, professional photography, aerial footage, and fast and direct communication are just a few of the steps APM will undertake to compete. By analyzing which local communities are most popular, custom advertising can be effectively targeted to create trust and recognition in the brand. Additionally, the following SWOT analysis identifies key aspects of our business:

Strengths

· Demand - Agents want to work for APM Realty

· Relationship Selling - APM Realty takes time to understand their clients

· Popularity - APM Realty is well known throughout the Los Angeles area

Weaknesses

· Lack of training in the real estate industry

· Limited levels of individual abilities

· Absence of organizational policies

· High level of resistance and adaptability

Opportunities

· Implement new technologies in an effective way

· Weakening of the competition

· Strategic real estate visibility

· An efficient use of the new way of communication

· New entrants into the market are not as high dues to market saturation

Threats

· Take on high level of risk

· Changes of the real estate market

· Changes to the supply and demand of real estate

· External factors that affect the real estate market

4. Business Processes Automation

APM Realty interacts with potential clients through a variety of ways.

1. Web Server

· A web server is used for domain name services and backend hosting to advertise APM’s offerings, list available properties for sale, and allow customer account creation.

2. Database Server

· A database server is used to store website client records, employee information, and contract documentation.

3. Email Server

· An email server allows staff within the company to email each other and enables realtors and marketers to email leads who have signed up on the website.

Further internal business processes facilitated by computer systems include payroll software and creative applications used for marketing.

5. Information Resources Sharing

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1. Share the information resources: Build a Local Area Network

In our design for the Logical LAN Diagram, we had to take in account that APM Realty has three different departments, which will all need to be on their own internal network. Logical LAN diagrams are key to effective network infrastructure. They are produced to help network administrators troubleshoot, plan for capacity, avoid IT clutter, maintain software, and keep the network secure and compliant.

Our Los Angeles location will have the following count of nodes:

· 6 nodes on the Administrative and Legal Department

· 6 nodes on the Marketing Department

· 6 nodes on the Accounting Department

Firewall rules will allow traffic as required to perform necessary functions. Three Layer 2 switches and one Layer 3 switch will be used in the network setup for APM Realty. Each LAN will be routed, and all connections will use Ethernet cables.

1. Choose a class "C" Network such as private address (192.168.1.0)

2. Generate 8 Subnets from 192.168.1.0

4. Each subnet connects to a port on a Layer 3 switch

5. Each port on a Layer 3 switch maps to subnet and hence to Ethernet addresses on that subnet

6. Each port on a Layer 3 switch also build a VLAN

Class C = 192.168.1.0/27

Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.224

We borrow 3 bit positions for the subnets.

Nodes do not need individual IPs.

8 Subnets -- 30 Hosts/Subnet