E-bazaar is an open market dealing in electronic goods. Their current business prospects are bringing in large profit margins and the management is considering implementing a billing system to cover their head office. This is expected to be accomplished within a tight budget of $5,000.
The setup will include two workstations, one high quality printer preferably of laser type, multiple email addresses, basic low security and internet access.
It is required that the recurring cost ceiling be at $200 every month.
At the pace E-bazaar is doing business, it is envisaged that they are likely to expand their reach to open more branches to cater for increased demand for their products. Therefore in providing this design plan additional consideration towards business expansion should also be considered.
Network infrastructure
The initial configuration for this billing system is small enough to optimally operate on a wireless network. The two workstations and a high quality printer will require a router to provide internal interconnectivity as well as external access. The most preferable kind of router would be the wireless type one. We propose the Cisco small business wireless N-Gigabit security router model WRVS4400N.
This choice is justified based on the affordable pricing at $190 and additional features with the most dependable customer support. This router is a able to support high speed wireless interconnectivity even supporting the IEEE 802.11g data link protocol.
The wireless network infrastructure was proposed after a careful consideration of the wired option which for this implementation was proving much more expensive because of the cabling which would be CAT 6 and other devices for implementing connectivity under the wired approach. However for the wireless setup the operating system like Windows XP professional edition service pack four can be used on this small business setup to enforce a point to point wireless configuration. While proposing the wireless connectivity options, we envisage the advantage this approach has for the business which will include the ability to move the existing network quickly with minimum disruptions to the existing infrastructure unlike if it were for a wired connection infrastructure. The equipment on the network can be flexibly located under such a wireless connectivity configuration.
The Cisco small business wireless router provides a high performance throughput for the network being able to operate at gigabit speeds and ensure a reliable and secure link with the internet. This device also provides a firewall service as well as efficient routing capabilities for all devices on the network. The router retails at a cost of $190 with a one-year warranty covering any of Cisco’s many customer support outlets.
Workstations
Considering that the implementation of this billing system is within the light budget of $5,000, we propose workstations that are optimally configured to minimize maintenance needs and any other extra operational costs. These workstations must be able to sustain the processes at E-bazaar for the next three years with minimal maintenance requirements. In order to meet this need, we recommend that E-bazaar purchase HP workstations. This is because HP has a reputation for high quality products and an excellent on site and online customer support initiative which is suitable for such a business. The HP workstation will preferably be the HP Z200 workstation running windows XP professional edition service pack four and the standard Microsoft Office application package version 2007.
The workstations should preferably have a RAM capacity of 4 Gigabytes, a SATA hard disk of 320 GB, a true Intel processor of speeds of over 2.5GHzs and other features including an infrared network connection port to implement the wireless interconnectivity. Each workstation retails at a cost of $550 with a full year warranty by HP and free shipment to any premise within the US. The after sales services offered by HP and the range of workstations to choose from and the competitive costs was the reason we chose this type of workstation over other brands. HP has a very elaborate customer support network around the world and is therefore likely to offer reliable products and services. In terms of software, windows XP professional edition service pack four will serve the needs of E-bazaar in the most effective manner. A future decision to migrate to newer versions of the Microsoft operating systems such as Windows 7 can be made later. Alternatively open source software should also be considered during the business expansion. This latter option is likely to reduce the amount in license fee that E-bazaar would otherwise pay for closed source software. Microsoft Office 2007 can be installed on these workstations to support all the applications needed to run the processes at E-bazaar. Billing templates can be downloaded from the Microsoft corporation website to ensure standardization in document production. We suggest that future consideration be made to acquire specialized billing software tailored to E-bazaar needs able to carry out all the processes at this premise.
We recommend that other utility software such as Mc Fee total protection for small business multimode be purchased. This can effectively cover up to ten user providing total virus protection , spy ware and malware protection. At retail cost of $190 this option is recommended as cost effective and suitable for a business like E-bazaar. Mc Fee also support continuous online updates that can effectively shield the network users over intrusion attacks including spoofing and sniffing.
Internet access and multiple email address
Considering the light budget for implementing this project, we recommend that both internet access and email services be sourced from a single vendor. This is likely to cut down on cost. We recommend a ADSL premium service that will be reliable and remain affordable. Internet using this setup has download capacity of 6Mbps and an upload capacity of approximately 800Kbps which is considered sufficient for E-bazaar’s requirements.
AT&T business email service provides up to twenty five email addresses with a domain name for the business. We recommend signing up with AT&T at a total monthly internet access cost of $35 for internet access and $8 for email services. This excludes a set up cost of $100 which will include domain name registration.
The Mc Fee protection for small business as an all in one solution for E-bazaar will secure the internet access points offering firewall options. Other standards for wireless security such as WPA2/AES can also be incorporated to provide a 256-bit encryption.
Additionally the capabilities of establishing a VPN connection using the Cisco router will further ensure data security from the network to the internet and vice versa.
Printer
It is necessary to have an all in one printer providing fax, scan and print functions. We recommend the HP Office jet pro 8500. This printer is designed for small businesses with a monthly capacity of 15,000 pages. This printer has a retail cost of $500.
Conclusion
We have provided recommendations suitable for the requirements of the network design at E-bazaar. The summary of the cost is as follows
DEVICE
INITIAL COST ($)
RECURRING COST ($)
Workstations
1100
Printer
500
Router
190
Internet access and email service
100
(35 + 8) = 43
Operating system and utility software (Windows XP, Office 2007, Mc Fee e.t.c.)
1290
TOTAL
3180
43
