Networking
Strategic Network Planning
With all the data and voice communication activity surrounding an airline, intranets,
and extranets, many airlines are finding themselves in a
"catch-up" mode trying to move their communication technologies to one
that can support these new services. How do you know that the
changes you make today will continue to meet the airline's
business needs two or more years in the future? A Strategic
Network Plan will allow you to match business goals with evolving
technologies. This will enable you to select the right network
design and technologies today, that will support the network
bandwidth and services that you need to successfully meet your
airline's business objectives.
Beginning with a series of interviews and analysis sessions with key
Corporate and IT management and executives, we first outline the
targeted business goals of your airline. Next we apply these
goals at a high level to define information flows within the
airline, between departments and users and external entities.
Once the information flows are understood, these can be related to
current and evolving network technologies and topologies to
establish the preferred infrastructure directions for the airline.
Presented with comprehensive documentation and discussion, the
Strategic Network Design is left with the airline as a framework
for the future network expansion.
Network Requirements Analysis
To establish the most effective design for your airline's data/voice
network, a clear understanding of the purpose and business
benefits must be determined. Departmental networks have often
been installed as isolated LANs to support a single groupware
application, overlooking the potential for larger corporate-wide
applications and services. This narrow view then limits the return
on investment of that departmental infrastructure. In merging or
expanding these departmental networks, it is also very easy to fall
into the "hot technology" trap to make decisions based on
equipment features and vendor hype, rather than let the business
need drive the basis for the network design.
With the Network Requirements Analysis, a business-oriented
view of the network's purpose is taken. This includes the analysis
of business tasks and requirements that must be accomplished
through the network, as well as a review of the in-house or
targeted data applications that the network must support. This
analysis will answer key questions such as:
What is the airline able to accomplish using the current
network that is in place today?
And more importantly,
What is the airline not able to accomplish without the
right network infrastructure in place?
Once gathered, a list of the network requirements is prioritized by
importance through a review with key airline managers and user
representatives. This list now becomes the metric that can be used
to measure the success of the subsequent network design and
implementation work. This process will ensure that the business
will be the key beneficiary of the new network infrastructure.
Network Architecture And Design
Often data/voice networks are installed in departments and companies
without an integrated design to ensure robust functionality. This
leads to incompatibilities, performance issues and support
problems. A comprehensive Network Architecture and Design
project produces an integrated plan for the implementation of new
network elements and connections, or consolidation of existing
departmental networks.
The Network Architecture and Design project is individually
tailored to each airline's unique scope and needs. Beginning
with an analysis of the current infrastructure and documented
needs, a series of recommendations will be formulated for a
high-level, logical network architecture. This includes a comparison
of solutions available from various vendors and their particular
advantages in meeting the airline's particular business needs.
Following a review of the recommended architecture, a detailed
Design Document for the complete infrastructure will be
assembled. This includes descriptions of the new network
components and its integration with current equipment, network
diagrams, bill of materials, installation and configuration
recommendations and pricing. The Design Document will remain
as a working blueprint for implementation tasks to follow.
Corporate Network Model
In order to better understand the designed network, we model
the network. The model includes all hardware and system performance
parameters, the network performance characteristics and the
application performance parameters. This allows us to determine
all performance characteristics such as:
- Response time at any point in the network
- Propagation delay
- Transfer rate of data
The model can be executed over long period of simulated time
and different load criteria. By using the network model we
determine the exact performance criteria of your network with
the intended components.
As the network changes the model is changed to reflect the
current network and performance tuning is provided. This
technique eliminates any guess work in the design process.
Network Implementation
The implementation of a new network, new network components
and technologies can be an overwhelming and time-consuming
task. Particularly if your in-house staff is limited in their
understanding of the new technologies, or are already fully
committed with their regular jobs.
A Network Implementation project allows you to augment your
in-house expertise to ensure a successful . Beginning with full
project planning, priorities and dependencies will be clearly
identified to make the least impact on your user community, while
optimizing the speed of the implementation. The implementation
plan is customized for each airline environment. To perform the
installation work, we can either integrate with your staff or act on
their behalf. If your staff is limited in their ability to perform the
implementation, shadowing of the Flight Data Management installation team can
provide necessary hands-on familiarity, with a gradual transition to
in-house ownership. The result: a successful deployment for your
airline.
Network Management, Operations, And Staffing
The implementation of new network elements is generally
accompanied by a need for new network management tools and
operational processes. For the network element management, the
existing in-house tools may be limited in their ability to detect and
alert problems occurring with the new components. An analysis is
performed to review the existing tools, followed by
recommendations for add-on or new products.
Your operational processes and staff will likewise be impacted by
the new network. Existing processes for trouble reporting and
resolution must adapt to incorporate the new technologies. There
may be a need to establish new Service Level Agreements (SLAs)
with the user community, thereby requiring change of the
operations model to meet those agreements. Through a review of
these kinds of issues, a full operations plan can be prepared to
address areas such as: staff loading, training, support contracts and
policies, operational procedures, change management and
performance expectations. This will then position you to clearly
understand and move toward performing successful operation of
your airline's network.
Network Audit and Security
Networks are a constantly changing and evolving entity. The key
issue is keeping up with those changes in an organized and
thorough fashion. A Network Audit provides a complete review of
your network topology and operations environment, examining
such areas as:
Network Elements - locations, models, environmental issues, security
Documentation - maps, configuration listings, wiring closet
layouts, policies and procedures
Network Redundancy - single points of failure, recovery
plan, backups, hot spares
Support Contracts - currency, repair turn-around-time,
component failure rates
Operations - processes, problem resolution methods,
network management, staff loading, training needs
An Audit report will summarize the findings and highlight the areas
needing improvement. The report will be presented and discussed
with your team to ensure awareness and comprehension. The
Network Audit is ideal for performing an annual review of your
site or to prepare you for an external corporate audit.
Clients
Flight Data Management provides state-of-the-art network consulting and
design services to any sized airline.
A comprehensive client list is available under non-disclosure.
Technologies
Overview of major technologies utilized:
Linux servers for ISPs, companies and airlines.
Design and Implementation of cross-country Frame Relay
customer care network.
Multi-site, large-scale Windows NT LAN design and roll-out
Novell 3.x and 4.x LANs
Designed 24x7 Network Operations data center
Integrated Windows NT, Novell, WAN networks
ARINC/SITA
Internet
Services
With over 500 years of cumulative industry experience, Flight Data Management
is able to work with your Corporate, IT and network staff
in the following areas:
- Strategic Network Planning
- Network Requirements Analysis
- Network Architecture and Design
- Network Implementation
- Network Management, Operations, and Staffing
- Network Audit and Security
- References
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