The need for greater efficiency and effectiveness in operations has necessitated a shift in the office premises to a more convenient location better suited to the organization’s future interests. As earlier noted in our last meeting, this move presents an opportunity for the IT department to reevaluate the organization’s needs and its current capacity to fulfill them. Much of the IT systems that are currently operational was set up in 2005, and have been barely updated ever since save for the occasional repairs and replacement of faulty items. This preliminary report seeks to highlight key areas in which changes are recommended as we shift to the new office location.
Cabling redundancy is one of the major aspects that need to be looked into, especially in backbone cabling. The organization’s operations have been intermittently interrupted due to frequent and prolonged downtime in the past two years. The integrity of the system can be enforced through cabling redundancy saving the organization’s the losses incurred whenever networks fail. Case in point, one incident caused the MIS to be inaccessible for 48 hours, almost leading to temporary closure of business. This inaccessibility resulted from a small disconnection, and the situation could have been avoided if there was an appropriate cable redundancy system in place. This system will ensure that there are designated failsafe’s that allow for temporary network availability in case the main systems fail.
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There is a need for increased rack space for the available equipment and to accommodate future growth. In fact, a set of newly required equipment is available in a separate report, in addition to replacements for some of the existing equipment. Notably, the current equipment set up suffers from poor inaccessibility making regular maintenance difficult and inadequate ventilation causing problems such as overheating. Much of the wear and tear experienced in the existing equipment has been exacerbated by these two factors. A larger server room is therefore necessary in the next premises.
Reliability of power supply is also paramount in an optimal setup. Notably, the power supply has fluctuated in the past, causing hardware components to stall or run at suboptimal rates compromising network speeds. Increased power capacity would partially solve the problem. Redundancy in the power systems is also of paramount importance as a safeguard against power failure. Moreover, crucial components in the system require uninterrupted power supply not only to keep the systems running, but also because abrupt disconnections from power compromise their durability. For instance, hard disks in office desktop computers may fail faster in an environment characterized by regular blackouts.
It is also necessary to upgrade and reorganize the organization internet system. Internet usage data from the last 6 months indicates that we have been operating at the maximum capacity in terms of bandwidth, and we have reached our peak internet speeds. While we need a higher bandwidth, there is a need to harmonize the hardware in the organizations network to make full use of it. For instance, computers using 4 Gigabit network cards should be upgraded to support 10 Gigabits to match the input from the Cat6a network. Further, harmonization is required for bridges, switches and routers. The fiber optic network infrastructure available at the next office location will also be an advantage which the network system must be tuned to maximize on. Some of the other issues that need attention include labeling of cables, proper organization and routing of cables, and revamping the network security measures as discussed in depth in a separate report.
In conclusion, significant changes need to be made on the network as the organization shifts to a new location. These changes include but are not limited to refurbishment, replacement and purchase of new equipment, a larger set up space (server room), and a revamped set up that facilitates cable redundancy both for network cables and power supply, among other changes. These proposed changes are designed to seal existing gaps and facilitate greater operational efficiency.
