Travel Agency Inc.: The Best Travel Agency for Your Needs

Introduction 

In response to the requested proposal by the Travel Agency Incorporation, the network plan would be executed in the following outline; first, a detailed outline of the Wide Area Network workflow plan would be laid out, weighing alternative options that are most suitable for the Travel Agency. Thereafter, a breakdown of how the plan would operate vis-à-vis the needs of the Travel Agency. Further, there shall be a schedule of how the WAN work flow plan would be implemented taking to account the Agency’s specifications and finally a breakdown of the budget allocation plan within the fiscal limits set out by the Travel Agency. 

Techniques for voice, video and data connection 

In the course of setting up the home office, the telecommunication techniques recommendable for voice, video and data connection would range from cable connection, DSL technology or fiber-optic technology (Witowsky, 2002). For instance, cable technology depicts the use of copper phone wires that are able to transfer voice, data and video services through point-to-point transmission. This is possible through an established connection between a cable modem termination systems that establishes a link to the cable modems located in customer premises at the rate of at least 500 Kbps (Witowsky, 2002). This technique would not be suitable for the impending home office system due to the intention to create virtual offices, yet the copper phone wire connection would limit this objective, as it does not bear the intended flexibility foreseen. 

On the other hand, the DSL technology also posits itself as a viable candidate for establishing a connection and transmission of voice, video and data signals. This is attributed to the fact that the technology exploits the innovation that comes with a copper loop transmission technology that transmits data at high speeds of up to 8 Mbps from the network to subscriber. This manifests a downlink telecommunication link that would potentially be appropriate for the home office for the travel agency (Witowsky, 2002). However, this technique is marred by the fact that it is limited to a downlink direction of telecommunication. Despite the high speeds of transmission that it promises, it would suffice to say that the Travel agency in its objectives does not intend to be confined to a downlink direction of telecommunication. This is because the corporation intends to have an integrated network with various regional data centers operating from the main call processing sites while liked to the brokerage centers. 

Finally, the other viable alternative would be the fiber-optic technology. The technology exploits the transmission of voice, video and data by optical channels that high-end speeds. Despite its costly nature, the technology through the Fiber-to-the-home alternative assures adequate network bandwidth with a point-to-multipoint mode of connectivity (Witowsky, 2002). This would be the most suitable alternative for the home office intended by the Travel Agency, while also providing an easier set up to implement the establishment of virtual offices operating on an integrated network. 

WAN Workflow Plan 

The Wide Area Network workflow plan takes the outline of a core distribution and access platforms. In the core, it would be suitable to have a Data Center that serves as the head quarter in the layout. The layout would further devolve into Regional Hubs that for part of the distribution and finally the varying spoke sites that form access points for clients and the customer base that seeks to make requests and receive responses from the Data Centers (Balazinska & Castro, 2003). 

For suitable alternatives on the specific designs for the intended WAN layout, include options for single carrier site type of design or the dual carrier type of design. The Single Carrier Site design is non-transit in nature only able to advertise local prefixes with the optional use of the default route. On the other hand, the Dual Carrier type is transit in nature and enables single homed site accessibility. In addition, the transit sites it is equipped with would ease the costs of transits. The dual carrier design therefore offers the best alternative since it protects against MPLS service failure and bears cost effectiveness with regard market pricing (FitzGerald & Dennis, 2007). 

With regard to overlay technologies suitable for the Wide Area Network, it would be prudent to strike a comparison within the Virtual Private Network (VPN) technology, as this would be the most suitable technology for the home office set up. The available alternatives for the VPN technology therefore include the EzVPN, DMVPN and GETVPN. First, the EzVPN is a suitable alternative for public internet transport, a client to site network style while adopting a peer-to-peer encryption style of protection (Balazinska & Castro, 2003). On the other hand, the DMVPN is suitable for both private and public internet transport, adopting a site-to-site network style and a peer-to-peer encryption style of protection. 

Finally, the GETVPN technology, which would be regarded as the most suitable technology for the home office being set up by the Travel Agency, offers the best alternatives in terms of infrastructure networks, the network style and the encryption style it adopts. This is attributed to the fact that the GETVPN technology is a better avenue for private Internet Protocol (IP) transport, with any-to-any, specifically site-to-site form of network style and a group protection encryption style. 

The GETVPN would operate in the following steps, being the most suitable technology and the best alternative for the WAN. First, in enables registration of group members with the key server at the main data center. The purpose of this registration is for the key server to be able to authenticate and authorize access of any group members. Secondly, there would be data plane encryption using group keys. Finally, there would be occasional rekey of keys by the key server replacing the IPsec keys before the current IPsec keys expire. In addition to adopting the GETVPN technology, it would be suitable to deploy a Borderless Utility Architecture for the high performance Wide Area Network with over 100Mbps of bandwidth that uses the delay parameter to manipulate EIGRP path selection (Witowsky, 2002). 

Operation of the WAN plan 

Relative to the relevant requirements of the travel agency, the WAN telecommunication network suggested above would operate in the following sequence. In terms of access, the spoke sites at the end of the chain in the design would form the regional call processing sites in Los Angeles, New York, Atlanta, Dallas and Chicago. In these regional call-processing sites, the main mode of operation transpiring would be the post queuing operation where requests are placed, processed and sent to the regional data centers (Balazinska & Castro, 2003). From these access sites, customers would be able to place reservations and once received they shall be conveyed to the regional hubs. 

In the prevailing context, the regional hubs would be represented by the Regional Data Centers situated Atlanta, Pittsburg and Phoenix. The transmission would be a matter of seconds depending on the network traffic. With the high performance WAN headed with over 100Mbps bandwidth, transmission of multiple 10kb reservation requests from various regional call processing sites would be within the shortest duration possible. At the regional data centers, the ticket requests would be classified and marked in the course of consolidation. The tickets shall therefore be sent the brokerage centers in the order in which they are identified depending on the manner in which they are prioritized. 

At the head quarter or data center, which in the prevailing context is the Travel Industry Ticketing Clearing House, the processed requests, being received at 56Kbps would be processed and furnished with up to 1kb of information. After that processing, the furnished information, which in this regard is the confirmation to the ticket requests, would be transmitted back to the spoke sites where the requests were made and further faxed to the customer’s premises. At over 100Mbps bandwidth and a high performance GETVPN WAN technology, the network is able to transact thousands of requests and process them within the shortest time before generating confirmations in response to the requests. 

Creation of virtual offices through GETVPN technology 

The GETVPN technology in the WAN set up would serve the utility of creating virtual offices hence telecommuting employees. The first step that involves registration of group members would be essential in registration, verification and authorization of telecommuting employees. This would be possible through use of group keys to secure access into the key server, hence setting up virtual offices only accessible by the telecommuting employees. It implies that there would be set virtual offices that would be linked through the WAN network for ecommerce transactions through the internet access from the fiber-optic transmission for additional voice and video connectivity (International Technology Union, 2008). 

Since the technology uses point to multipoint telecommunication link, the available telecommuting employee would receive reservation calls made for requests coming from the regional call processing sites, having accessed their virtual office and authenticated by the key server. Since the calls will be directed to the available online offices, it would suffice to say that response would be faster, before the second ring, due to availability of telecommuting employees ready to respond to requests. 

The virtual offices also create a flexible working environment that does not limit employees’ response to requests since such would be at the convenience of whatever geographic locations they find convenient. To this extent, it is certainly the fact the reservations would be made available during all times of the day and of the night; further, reservation calls would also be responded to by the available telecommuting employees at any time of the day. 

Budget Allocations 

With the view to establishing a good network design, the following budgetary allocations would be recommended as suitable taking to account the following; first would be acquisition of equipment that is reliable in terms of assuring minimum downtime, equipment that is easily supported and cost effective (FitzGerald & Dennis, 2007). The costs to be incurred in terms of implementing the network plan within three years within a budgetary allocation of $4.5 million per year would be split into Direct and indirect costs (FitzGerald & Dennis, 2007). The direct costs would be incurred as projected below: 

On the other hand, indirect costs would be incurred as projected in the table below. 

The executed budget therefore also takes into account the variable that go hand in hand in executing a wide area network plan including the standards, the applications to be supported and the management systems required for the network. For instance, it is recommended that the network be operate on a single sourced hardware and software in order to incur less costs; this being in the course of also adhering to the emerging trends in the WAN industry in order to keep up with competition. Further, applications supporting the operation of WAN such us internet connection were also taken to consideration while analyzing the suitable costs, besides implementing effective management of the WAN through quality personnel and regular maintenance to account for reliability of the network (FitzGerald & Dennis, 2007). 

Implementation 

Within the three-year budgetary allocation, the network plan shall inherently be implemented in three phases within the confines of the Request for Proposal. 

PHASE ONE 

The first phase would involve subscription into fiber-optic connection to establish channels for transmission of voice, video and data signals between various points. This would be after confirmation of a WAN server hardware that would set up a Travel Industry Clearing House or brokerage center at Atlanta that would be the main point that would serve the other multi points by receiving ticket requests sorted from the regional centers and then generate confirmations for delivery to client offices through facsimile. Verification of the brokerage center would be accompanied with establishment of one Regional Data Center in Atlanta that would be used for classification and marking of ticket requests while identifying and sorting them before sending to the Travel Industry Clearing House for confirmation. In order to complete the integrated network, within the first phase, two Regional Call Processing Sites would be established to serve as the spoke sites in the network, operating on queuing and dropping requests while managing and sorting the same for transmission to the Regional Data Centers for further processing. The two Regional Call Processing Sites in the first phase would be situated in Atlanta and Los Angeles for cost effective purposes in the first phase. From the Regional Call Processing Sites and the Regional Data Center in Atlanta, virtual offices would as well be established by registering telecommuting employees with the key server at the Brokerage center and allowing authorized access to the Regional Data Center to process requests and relay confirmations thanks to the GETVPN technology. The establishment of these virtual offices in the first phase would therefore be implemented proportional to the already established data center and regional call processing sites. 

From the outline of the first phase, it would suffice to say that the cost of acquiring the WAN equipment, subscription to fiber-optic connection and recruiting the relevant personnel as well as training in operation within the three centers already created; would be limited within the $1.5 million budgetary allocation for the first year. It would as well ensure that the integrated network commences in operation, albeit within limited data centers. 

PHASE TWO 

Implementation of the second phase would be premised on the establishment of an additional Travel Industry Clearing House at St. Louis and further see the establishment of two additional regional call-processing centers in New York and Dallas. The establishment would therefore translate to additional virtual offices proportionally to the additional call processing centers. Integral to this expansion would be the inherent requirement of the establishment of and additional brokerage center to bridge the gap into securing the second phase’s budget that is as well limited to $1.5 million. 

PHASE THREE 

In the this last stage of implementation, the budget would be allocate into establishing the last regional call processing center in Chicago and the addition regional data center in Phoenix. This would translate into more virtual offices, meaning recruitment of more telecommuting employees for the travel agency. Other costs would go into software and hardware maintenance especially for defects, if any, realized with the initially established equipment and programs in the first and second phase of the implementation. 

The Implementation plan would therefore be summarized in the table below. 

Relevance and utility 

The execution of the preferred network plan suggested above would be the most feasible alternative for Travel Agency due to the following aspects that manifest the relevance and utility of the plan to the requirements of the request for proposal. 

First, the plan recommends the implementation of the GETVPN technology of the Wide Area Network connectivity. The essence of this technology is affirming the requirement to have virtual offices in the Agency. This as well translates to the evolution into telecommuting employees. To this Extent, by implementing the plan, Travel Agency would be able to match its competitors and do even better in the travel industry. 

Further, it would suffice to say that implementation of the plan would secure the Agency’s human resource through introduction of telecommuting employment system. The flexibility the system creates would reduce the employee turnover that prevails at 43% to a lower rate. This is attributed to the fact that the incorporation will be able to retain employees regardless of geographic locations from which they intend to work. Besides, the system would in the long run, mitigate the Agency’s constraints in recruiting, acquiring and retaining quality personnel. 

Besides mitigating employee turnover, virtual offices and home-based employment would also guarantee improved sales compared to previous records by the travel agency. This is attributed to the fact that the telecommuting employees would not be limited to certain geographic locations to making sale, the flexibility of the system would allow them to transact in areas that are convenient to them, whence the improved sales. 

Other alternatives opted for in the plan such the use of fiber-optic technology for transmission of voice, video and data signals would be important to the extent that this would ensure that the company records high volumes of transactions due to the speed and efficiency that this technology comes in. 

Finally, implementation of the plan in three phases would enable the incorporation to have a smooth transition from its previous network system to the introduced network plan. The three phases would first allow for non-interrupted operations at Travel Agency besides allowing for time to recruit employees, train them into the new system and fully implement the plan to completion within the budgetary allocation the incorporation has prefixed. 

References 

Balazinska, M., & Castro, P. (2003). Characterizing mobility and network usage in a corporate wireless local-area network. 1st international conference on Mobile systems, applications and services (pp. 303-316). ACM. 

Evans, S. (2003). Telecommunications network modelling, planning and design (Vol. 6). IET. 

FitzGerald, J., & Dennis, A. (2007). Business data communications and networking. John Wiley & Sons. 

International Technology Union. (2008). Telecom Network Planning for evolving Network Architectures Reference Manual. Retrieved from International Technology Union: https://www.itu.int/ITU-D/tech/NGN/Manual/Version5/NPM_V05_January2008_PART1.pdf 

Simmons, J. M. (2014). Optical network design and planning. New York: Springer. 

Witowsky, W. (2002). Delivering Technology Solutions For Broadband Communications. Retrieved from International Engineering Consortium: http://intra.itiltd-india.com/quality/TelecomBasics/bb_comm.pdf