Wide Area Network

Wide Area Network

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Introduction

Growing businesses nowadays to set multiple offices in different regions of the globe to attract different regions customers and also to sustain the large customer baser they have established. This arrangement however can only be established through installation of a network to facilitate the communication of these offices and to enable the sharing of information easily, instantly and effectively (Held, 2003). To connect the four distant offices at once so that all offices can be able to access the same network resources, a centralized location that will host the core infrastructure needed to establish the network has to be identified. The methods below have to be used to set up the offices it network smart safe and effectively.

Wide Area Network

Wide area network (WAN) is a technology that enables computer network cover multiple different areas using the leased lines ranging from Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) or Optical Carrier-3(OC3).This technology enables the offices to extend their private network beyond their geographical boundaries. A Virtual Private network (VPN) shall be made to enhance the necessities of remote employees and distant offices.

. A VPN extends a private network across the public network like internet and enables a computer to send and receive information securely. A VPN is established by creating a virtual point to point connection through the use of dedicated connections and traffic encryption.WAN works in two ways thus there is the wired network connection or virtual (Held, 2003).

In a wired WAN connection, run cables must be run between the offices in the different locations to a central place. The cables are then connected to a LAN. The other WAN is operated virtually. This is an option that involves establishment of a VPN. VPN relays data only when the computer needs it. VPN use technologies such as Frame Relay, ATM, and X.25 for their connectivity. ATM technology is a connectivity strategy used in WAN that uses point to point connection and thus facilitating direct flow of data in that network. Frame Relay technology on the other hand is a protocol that is used to transfer data over fiber optic lines. Another technology used is the X.25 which is a standard suite protocol that is used for packet data switching purposes. This technology works on physical, data links and network layers that are usually ISO modeled

THE BELOW DIAGRAM DEMONSTRATES HOW THE CONNECTION WILL APPEAR

Point-to-Point Links

A point-to-point link offers a solitary, pre-established WAN communications track from the regional office premises via a carrier network, such as a telecommunication companies, to a remote network.

.  A leased line which is also known as a point to point link since it has an established path that is fixed for every remote network attained through the carrier facilities (Marcus, 1999).

Circuit Switching

Circuit switching is a switching method in WAN whereby it has a dedicated physical circuit that is sustained, established and terminated throughout a carrier network for every session of connection.  The switching Circuit conducts two types of transmissions thus data-stream transmissions and datagram transmissions. It is comprehensively in telecommunications company networks, circuit switching operates much like a normal telephone call.  Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) is an example of a circuit-switched WAN technology (Ratliff, 2003).

Packet Switching

Packet switching is a WAN switching method that enables network devices share a single point-to-point link to transfer packets from head office to the regional offices across a carrier network.  Statistical multiplexing must be employed to enhance devices to distribute these circuits. A Relay frame, synchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), X.25 and Switched Multimegabit Data Service (SMDS) are packet-switched WAN skills examples.

WAN Virtual Circuits

A virtual circuit is a logical circuit made to guarantee dependable contact linking two network devices.  There exist two types of virtual circuits they include: permanent virtual circuits (PVCs) and switched virtual circuits (SVCs.) SVCs are virtual circuits that are vigorously recognized on demand and terminated when transmission is complete.  SVCs are used in situations in which data transmission between devices is sporadic, largely because SVCs increase bandwidth used due to the circuit establishment and termination phases, but decrease the cost associated with constant virtual circuit availability. PVC is a permanently established virtual circuit which has one approach: data transfer. Data transfer. PVCs are used in conditions in which data transmission between devices is nonstop. PVCs decreases the bandwidth use associated with the creation and cessation of virtual circuits, but it is costly because of the constant virtual circuit availability

High-Speed Serial Interface

Another alternative to address the need of high speed data communication over WAN is The High-Speed Serial Interface (HSSI)The flexibility of the HSSI clock and data-signaling protocol enables bandwidth allocation to the remote offices possible. It controls the clock by altering its speed or by erasing timer pulses. This allows the DCE to allot bandwidth between applications. HSSI carries out a peer-to-peer intelligence in the DCE and DTE. The regulator protocol is made simple, with only two control signals required (“DTE available” and “DCE available”). Before the data circuit is validated all the signals must be affirmed. The DCE and DTE should be capable to manage the networks after their interfaces.

Conclusion

The rapid changing world of technology has simplified and overcome the challenge of having to physically move staffs from one region to the other. Instead of only targeting the local or regional markets, many organizations have been forced to seek global markets and overcome the logistics involved by using the WAN (Deal, 2006). In order to fully set up a working, secure and efficient WAN for the organization; VPN will have to be set up. This will be the used to access company data both from the head quarter and the remote offices. Public network will then be used to link the remote offices to the head quarter of the organization. Most organizations have less internal management ability and instead often rely on service providers for WAN-performance capabilities. This is a major breakthrough to these organizations since it has made it possible to run the affairs of the organization from anywhere in the world while the integrity of the information relayed is also maintained at the same time.

Reference

Deal, R. A., & Systems, I. (2006). The complete Cisco VPN configuration guide. Indianapolis,

Ind.: Cisco Press.

Held, G. (2003). Ethernet networks design, implementation, operation, management (4th

ed.p.204). London: Wiley.

Marcus, J. S. (1999). Designing wide area networks and internetworks: a practical guide.

Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley.

Ratliff, R. L. (2003). i-Net+ certification lab guide (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson

Education.