IFSM 370 Project 4: Please use the documents attached

Catacomb Inc. Case Study

University of Maryland University College

IFSM 370

February 21, 2016

Introduction

Catacomb, Inc. is a global logistics provider that offers fully integrated freight and supply chain services through managed warehousing and domestic and international freight forwarding. Services range from door-to-door domestic and international delivery services to total supply chain management. With branches across the United States and Europe and partners worldwide, Catacomb continues to expand, and it has experienced rapid growth through acquisitions. As the company has expanded, the data flowing in the system have increased as well. Now, with more than 5,000 employees and thousands of customers worldwide, Catacomb is suffering from the effects of explosive growth. Demands on its wide area network (WAN), an aging ISDN telephone system and increased travel between its sites have led to Catacomb seeking an appropriate, cost-effective and converged network solution that addresses Catacomb’s evolving business requirements.

Requirements Analysis

Catacomb’s explosive growth have led to a need to reassess the following vital business requirements:

· Demands on its wide area network (WAN) are exceeding capacity . Understanding the impact of wide area network (WAN) downtime, in terms of both lost productivity and sales, is a necessary step in developing countermeasures to minimize its impact.

· The aging ISDN telephone system is failing. ISDN telephones are an already outdated product, with a confirmed end-of-life timescale, is very expensive to maintain, tied to geographical area codes, and require telephony circuitry to be installed. Catacombs current ISDN telephone infrastructure has become costly and inefficient.

· Provide capabilities and services that incorporate technology solutions to improve in those areas as well as retain the high level of customer satisfaction. Catacomb is seeking centralized management of IT resources, to consolidate systems, increase resource-utilization rates, and lower costs. Converged infrastructures address these needs by implementing pools of computers, storage and networking resources that can be shared by multiple applications and managed in a collective manner using policy-driven processes.

· The company desires a reliable and secure network to accommodate its planned growth as well as the unexpected. Catacombs explosive growth will undoubtedly make them a target for new threats, such as spyware, malware, and hacker intrusions. It’s more important than ever that Catacomb protect its business network.

· Reducing travel between its sites by implementing video conferencing. Collaboration between different sites will help Catacomb improve performance in projects such as new product development, customer relationship management and quality initiatives etc. Absent members can join a teleconference or a Web conference if they have a mobile device with Internet connectivity.

· Monitor and manage data and voice services, and ensure that capacity and usage is appropriate to its business needs. The merging of voice, video, and data networks has resulted in increased network management complexity and demands a new set of tools, techniques, and best practices.

Technology Solution

Streamlined WAN

In order to mitigate Catacomb’s WAN inefficiencies, Catacomb will utilize a corporate WAN with a client-server relationship base that includes remote sites that communicate through a corporate VPN. Catacombs WAN will utilize public infrastructure telecommunication lines through a subscription to telecommunications provider. For increased security, a VPN gateway appliance will installed in the border layer of the network along with reactive, signature based Intrusion Detection Systems to monitor network activities and produce tangible reports that IT personnel can analyze use to better secure the network and firewall appliances for a more reliable and secure network to accommodate its planned growth.

I recommend implementing one AD with a primary and secondary main domain controller at Catacomb headquarters and a RODC (Read-Only Domain Controller) at the other branch offices. A single domain is the least expensive option. Additional domains increase the cost of hardware, software, and administration. Each RODC will have a DNS server installed so that computers in the branch office can still perform DNS lookups when the wide area network (WAN) link to headquarters is not available. RODC’s will provide manageability and scalability, improve logon times and will provide Group Policy Objects and logon scripts. RODC will also help streamline logon traffic but can be hindered by Active directory replication traffic. This will be mitigated by scheduling ADRT during non-business hours.

Voice over IP

Because of the bandwidth efficiency and low costs that VoIP technology can provide Catacomb will transition to a VOIP (Voice over IP) telephone system. VoIP allows both voice and data communications to be run over a single network, which will significantly reduce infrastructure costs. The portability and mobility of VOIP will allow phone calls, faxes, voice mail, e-mail and Web conferences to be delivered via any means and to any handset, including cellphones.

Video Conferencing

Video conferencing is requirement that IP telephony will address. AT&T Connect will be used for videoconferencing. AT&T Connect provides hosted, on-site, secure video conferencing as a service for an unlimited number of communications servers. This will cut costs by reducing travel between its sites.

Cisco Network Analysis Module

In order monitor and manage data and voice services, and ensure that capacity and usage is appropriate to its business needs, Catacomb will install a Cisco NAM integrated service module. NAM’s are a network device that uses embedded voice and data collection capabilities, performance analytics and a remotely accessible, Web-based management console to reduce management requirements, optimize usage of network resources and improve overall network performance. In today's complex multimedia networks, the ability to measure the quality experienced by end users is critical. By providing visibility into the quality of VoIP and data traffic, NAM’s significantly enhance the ability of IT personnel to detect, isolate, and troubleshoot VoIP problems. Its real-time monitoring and alerting capabilities facilitate a proactive approach to monitoring user experience, which helps increase end-user satisfaction (Cisco, 2015).

Converged Solution

In order to achieve centralized management of IT resources, consolidate systems, increase resource-utilization rates, and lower costs, Catacomb will implement a Converged System Solution. Converged infrastructures tie virtualization, automation, and unified infrastructure management software together into pre-built, tested, and workload-optimized systems that can be managed as a single unit. These systems are software-defined for easy integration into existing infrastructure and quick transition to hybrid cloud delivery models (HP, 2015). This “system in a box” solution will centralize the management of server, network and storage which means less personnel, less training, and a knowledge base that doesn’t have to be as deep, freeing up valuable IT resources for more important tasks. Converged solutions also lower costs by using virtualization technologies that reduce hardware, offer faster deployment times, scalability and will allow Catacomb to evolve and implement private cloud solutions when the time comes. Converged infrastructures offer greater flexibility, scalability, and ease-of-deployment at a lower long-term cost than current architectures. The following are the Expected Benefits of Converged Systems:

Cisco UCS (Unified Computing Systems) converged infrastructure combines Cisco’s computing, storage, networking, management, storage access, and security solutions into a unified and cohesive platform that is designed to automate IT as a service (ITaaS) across both physical and virtual environments. Converged solutions are the wave of the future. According to Villars et al (2011), “22 companies whose levels of convergence and IT asset unification ranged widely indicated substantial business benefits associated with higher convergence and asset sharing. The results showed a marked correlation between higher levels of convergence and reduced IT costs per unit of workload, faster deployment, and reduced downtime. For example, organizations at Level 4 convergence reported costs per unit of IT workload almost 60% lower than those of organizations ranked at Level 3.” In other words, higher levels of convergence directly correlate to increased efficiency and reduction of costs.

Conclusion

Rapidly changing business priorities have created challenges for Catacomb Inc. As more companies look to deploy increasingly complex and integrated IT infrastructures, Catacomb Inc. can benefit from a new way of deploying their IT systems. Solutions consisting of pre-validated and tested components from Cisco and partners, deliver workload optimization and simplified design, deployment, and ongoing management of business-critical systems. By evolving with integrated infrastructure, Catacomb Inc. can deploy and scale applications faster to drive the revenue side of the business and meet all of the stakeholders needs going forward.

References

Brandenburg, M. (2014). Determining the impact of wide area network outages. Retrieved from Tech Target: http://searchenterprisewan.techtarget.com/feature/Determining-the-impact-of-wide-area-network-outages Cisco. (2014). Monitoring VoIP with Cisco Network Analysis Module. Retrieved from Cisco: http://www.Cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/interfaces-modules/branch-routers-series-network-analysis-module-nme-nam/white_paper_c11-520524.html Cisco. (2015). Unified Computing. Retrieved from Cisco: http://www.Cisco.com/c/en/us/products/servers-unified-computing/index.html Packard, H. (2015). HPE ConvergedSystem. Retrieved from HPE: https://www.hpe.com/us/en/integrated-systems/converged.html Villars, R., & Randy, P. (2011, October). Measuring the Business Value of Converged Infrastructure in the Data Center. Retrieved from IDC: http://h17007.www1.hp.com/docs/ci/Measuring_the_Business_Value_of_CI_in_the_Data_Center.pdf

Series 1

Improved IT Staff Productivity Faster Infrastructure, Workload, and Application Provisioning Reduced Downtime Reduce Cost of Data Center Facilities, Power, and Cooling Improved Utilization of Compute Resources Improved Utilization of Storage Resources Faster Deployment Times 0.53 0.52 0.49 0.48 0.47 0.39 0.33

Expected Benefits of Converged Systems

Estimated Percentage Gain