Executive Summary The purpose of this report is to design a modern efficient network solution that will benefit the Continuous Corporation’s global enterprise operations in the US, Canada and Mexico. As a division of a Fortune 500 manufacturer, Continuous Corporation currently handles the sales and marketing, finance and accounting, distribution and logistics of the packaging materials used in packaging cereal boxes, cigarette cartons, ice cream containers, and must report its diverse department’s results to the parent company. Currently, Continuous Corporation does not have the infrastructure to link supply chain vendors with marketing and customer service, logistics, finance, and senior management. The solutions proposed within this report will expose senior management to a wide array of distributed network technologies that will provide manufacturing and distribution centers the ability to keep in close contact with sales and marketing, notifying them immediately of inventory availability. Finance and Accounting will have up-to-the-minute information on the financial health of this division. Logistics will have updates on the availability of trucking resources for fulfilling customer orders. A major finding indicates that Continuous Corporation is in need of replacing the time-shared mainframe computer and antiquated billing system that will no longer be supported by the corporate office. The IT department of Continuous Corporation is looking at designing and creating a cost efficient billing system internally that will extend throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico. The system will provide to the company a system entailing payment processing including credit card and electronic fund transfers, point-of-sale invoicing, sales management, revenue reporting, commission tracking for sales representatives, inventory management and will also support multiple languages. As internal staff within the company, we are familiar with the current networking and have management onsite to reduce preliminary work. There will be no issues with hidden costs or legal problems and confidentiality will be adhered to per company’s policies. Costs will be lowered as we will provide services onsite at Continuous Corporation while designing the system. We will be able to provide a high quality system as we can provide one hundred percent of our time to this project which will reduce any delays. This report presents recommendations that allow Continuous Corporation to remain successful for years to come. About Ethernet and its Benefits to Continuous Corporation Originally specified in the standard, IEEE 802.3, Ethernet is a transmission medium cable that is often used in local area networks (Rouse, Ethernet, 2006). Modern Ethernet allows many computers to connect to a central hub or router via a network card. The use of Ethernet is fairly versatile as it can be used in many network topologies. Often referred to as the backbone of LANs, Ethernet is essentiall ...

1. Executive Summary
The purpose of this report is to design a modern efficient
network solution that will benefit the Continuous Corporation’s
global enterprise operations in the US, Canada and Mexico. As
a division of a Fortune 500 manufacturer, Continuous
Corporation currently handles the sales and marketing, finance
and accounting, distribution and logistics of the packaging
materials used in packaging cereal boxes, cigarette cartons, ice
cream containers, and must report its diverse department’s
results to the parent company.
Currently, Continuous Corporation does not have the
infrastructure to link supply chain vendors with marketing and
customer service, logistics, finance, and senior management.
The solutions proposed within this report will expose senior
management to a wide array of distributed network technologies
that will provide manufacturing and distribution centers the
ability to keep in close contact with sales and marketing,
notifying them immediately of inventory availability. Finance
and Accounting will have up-to-the-minute information on the
financial health of this division. Logistics will have updates on
the availability of trucking resources for fulfilling customer
orders.
A major finding indicates that Continuous Corporation
is in need of replacing the time-shared mainframe computer and
antiquated billing system that will no longer be supported by
the corporate office. The IT department of Continuous
Corporation is looking at designing and creating a cost efficient
billing system internally that will extend throughout the United
States, Canada and Mexico. The system will provide to the
company a system entailing payment processing including credit
card and electronic fund transfers, point-of-sale invoicing, sales
management, revenue reporting, commission tracking for sales
representatives, inventory management and will also support
multiple languages.

2. As internal staff within the company, we are familiar with the
current networking and have management onsite to reduce
preliminary work. There will be no issues with hidden costs or
legal problems and confidentiality will be adhered to per
company’s policies. Costs will be lowered as we will provide
services onsite at Continuous Corporation while designing the
system. We will be able to provide a high quality system as we
can provide one hundred percent of our time to this project
which will reduce any delays.
This report presents recommendations that allow Continuous
Corporation to remain successful for years to come.
About Ethernet and its Benefits to Continuous Corporation
Originally specified in the standard, IEEE 802.3, Ethernet is a
transmission medium cable that is often used in local area
networks (Rouse, Ethernet, 2006). Modern Ethernet allows
many computers to connect to a central hub or router via a
network
card. The use of Ethernet is fairly versatile as it can be used in
many network topologies. Often referred to as the backbone of
LANs, Ethernet is essentially what connects everything
together. Ethernet is a recommended choice for Continuous
Corporation’s LAN as it offers simplicity, high bandwidth,
scalability, easy provisioning, and flexibility. Some business
applications that Ethernet can be used for include VPN, VoIP,
audio and video teleconferencing, multimedia content sharing,
and virtual remote storage. Also, according to Harper (2008),
“Ethernet can be easily extended to WAN which makes it quite
simple for IT managers to incorporate high-end features in the
organization’s LAN. In other words, a well-implemented
Ethernet serves as a building-block to add new services to the
network and to interconnect new facilities” (para.7).
Development of Ethernet
Ethernet was first developed in the 1970’s and has made some
major improvements since then. The original Ethernet was
referred to as thick wire Ethernet, or Thicknet because the
cables were composed of a heavy coaxial cable. The formal

3. name for Thicknet is 10Base5 and involved two main
components; a network interface card (NIC) and a transceiver.
The transceiver is tasked with converting bits into voltages that
are appropriate for transmission as well as converting incoming
signals into bits. The second development in Ethernet was
referred to as Thinnet, which was much more thin and flexible;
and integrated the transceiver into the NIC. Being thinner and
integrating components resulted
in reduced costs. The third generation of Ethernet was referred
to as twisted pair internet which began to connect computers
together via a central hub (Rouse, Ethernet, 2006).
Recommended Type of Ethernet
An early development in twisted pair Ethernet is known as
10Base-T. 10Base-T is considered a category 5 Ethernet cable,
which is why it is commonly known as CAT5. Unfortunately,
10Base-T probably wouldn’t supply a fast enough connection as
it is only capable of speeds up to 10Mbps. Another choice for
Continuous Corporation would be 100Base-T, also known as
Fast Ethernet. 100Base-T is a more recent development in
Ethernet and is considered category 5E. Capable of speeds ten
times faster than 10Base-T, 100Base-T is capable of speeds of
up to 100Mbps. If speeds higher than 100Mbps are needed,
Gigabit Ethernet is also available which would offer speeds of
1000Mpbs, but at a higher cost due to the fact that Gigabit
Ethernet requires additional wire pairs (Mitchell, Ethernet
tutorial types of ethernet - traditional, fast, and gigabit, n. d.).
Analog and Digital Technologies
An analog signal is one that is considered continuous in
function because when there is a change in signal between
values, all of the intermediate values are also measured. An
analog signal is represented as a sine wave, which reflects the
intermediate values associate with analog signals (Comer,
2009). Some advantages of analog technologies that may be
beneficial to Continuous Corporation include a lower price
when compared to newer digital technologies, and in some
cases, better quality. Even though digital technology is usually

4. considered superior in quality, that isn’t always true. For
example, older analog monitors have better color reproduction
and smoother motion when compared to digital monitors.
Another example would include telephones; analog telephones
have a rich, more consistent sound quality than many digital
based cellular phones. Durability is another great advantage of
that some analog technologies over digital technologies
(www.diffen.com, n. d.).
Useful Applications of Analog Technologies for Continuous
Corporation
There are many devices that make use of analog signals that
would be useful to Continuous Corporation, some of which
include microphones, older land line phones, transistors, scales,
and sensors (www.ehow.com, n. d.). Being an older form of
technology, most communication systems and applications are
switching over to digital. Many newer digital technologies are
considered superior in quality and functionality when compared
to their older analog counterparts.
Digital Communication Technologies
A digital signal is measured by levels that are fixed and unlike
analog; the intermediate values are not measured. Usually
digital data and communications is expressed as on or off, or
zero or one. Also unlike analog, a digital signal is expressed as
a square wave which reflects the fixed values of the signal
(Comer, 2009). Digital technologies have quite a few
advantages over analog technologies. One of these advantages
comes from the fact that digital signals aren’t as easily swayed
by impedance and contortion, which leads to better transmission
quality than older analog based systems. The digital signal can
also be rejuvenated more easily and more easily manipulated
than an analog signal (www.analog.com, n. d.).
Useful Applications of Digital Technologies for Continuous
Corporation
A useful piece of equipment for Continuous Corporation would
be the digital signal processor (DSP), which is used to process
digitized signals such as audio, video, voice, temperature, and

5. pressure. When signals are processed, they can be displayed and
analyzed, or even converted into another type of signal. Signals
are often compressed so that they can be transmitted between
locations in a more efficient manner. Teleconferencing over a
network involves processing and compressing audio and video
signals, so that they may be sent over the network to a specific
computer. One of the most important components in a network,
the router, manages digital signal traffic between devices
(www.analog.com, n. d.). Some other devices that are useful for
Continuous Corporation’s network system and that make use of
a digital signal include multiplexors, encoders, demultiplexors
and decoders. Multiplexors and encoders are used to combine
information streams from multiple sources into a single shared
medium. Demultiplexors and decoders are used to take a signal
from one source and distribute that signal to many sources
(Comer, 2009).
Fiber Optics
Fiber optic cables are the fastest type of broadband in existence,
as of 2010. They get speeds almost 25 times
faster than any typical broadband, such as cable or DSL. Fiber
optic service for the Internet will use light in order to transmit
data over cables, since theoretically light is the speed limit of
the universe; it means that speeds are much faster than cable or
DSL Fiber Optics is considered more reliable when used for
data transmission including voice, video and data
(www.ehow.com, n. d.)
Features of Fiber Optics
Fiber optic wires have about the same diameter as a strand hair
and can reach data transfer rates of hundreds of megabytes per
second, according to the Federal Communications Commission
(www.ehow.com, n. d.)
Benefits of Fiber Optics
These advantages of fiber Optics are there are less interference,
attenuation, and bandwidth characteristics. Furthermore, the
relatively smaller cross section of fiber-optic cables will allow
room for substantial growth of the capacity in existing conduits.

6. Fiber-optic characteristics can be classified as linear and
nonlinear. Nonlinear characteristics are influenced by
parameters, such as bit rates, channel spacing, and power levels
(www.ehow.com, n. d.).
Light signals traveling via a fiber-optic cable are immune from
electromagnetic interference (EMI) and radio-frequency
interference (RFI). Lightning and high-voltage interference is
also eliminated. A fiber network is best for conditions in which
EMI or RFI interference is heavy or safe operation free from
sparks and static is a must. This desirable property of fiber-
optic cable makes it the medium of choice in industrial and
biomedical networks. It is also
possible to place fiber cable into natural-gas pipelines and use
the pipelines as the conduit (www.ehow.com, n. d.).
Fiber optic cable is less susceptible to breakage unlike other
cables used for internet connections to include cat 5 and coaxial
cable. Fiber optic cable can assist in higher bandwidth which
makes for faster data transmission, as well as better audio and
video reception on devices such as stereo speakers, headphones
and televisions. Fiber optic cable can carry a strong signal over
a wide distance, resulting in a better quality transmission of
voice and/or images (www.ehow.com, n. d.)
Several miles of optical cable can be much cheaper than the
equivalent length of copper wire. This will save the provider
and the organization money. Fiber Optic cable can be drawn to
smaller diameters than copper wire which will save space
(howstuffworks.com, n. d.).
Partial Mesh Topology
In a mesh network topology, each network node within the mesh
topology, computers and other devices, are interconnected with
each other. Every node not only will send its own signals but
will also relay data from other nodes. In fact a true mesh
topology is the one where every node is connected to every
other node in the network (www.ianswer4u.com, n. d.).
A partial mesh topology is far more practical when comparing it
to a full mesh topology. In a partial mesh topology some of the

7. systems are connected in similar fashion as in a full mesh
topology while the rest of the system is only connected to 1 or 2
devices. It can be said that in partial mesh, the workstations
are ‘indirectly’ connected to other devices. This version of a
mesh topology is less costly, also reduces redundancy, and more
cost effective (www.ianswer4u.com, n. d.).
Advantages of Mesh Topology
1) Data can be transmitted from different devices
simultaneously. This topology can withstand high traffic.
2) Even if one of the components fails there is always an
alternative present. So data transfer doesn’t get affected.
3) Expansion and modification in topology can be done without
disrupting other nodes.
Example of Partial Mesh Topology
Network Management
Network Management is the monitoring of an active
communication network so that it can detect problems and help
in gathering statistics that will help the administration and also
help in fine tuning the network. Examples of network
management products are IBM's Net View, HP's Open View,
Sun's Sun Net Manager and Novell's NMS. Nearly all network
management software will support SNMP network management
protocol. Other management protocols are CMIP and DME
(www.pcmag.com, n. d.).
These tools help in securing networks, maintaining stability,
unifying networked computers, and isolating operating issues.
Numerous software tools can be used for network management
for the Windows operating platform.
By using these monitoring tools, you will be able to monitor not
only the network but routers, firewalls and switches. You can
use these tools to show you when a device is going down, and
which device has the problem before it escalate and be able to
fix the problem before it goes completely down.
You will also be able to see what switches/ routers are attached
to the system and where these devices are located.

8. The way monitoring system work is green means the system is
healthy, yellow means possible problems to the system, and red
means the system is down completely. For every device you add
to the system you must add the device to the system
management, or you will not be able to see or know when it
goes down. By using monitoring tools it will add an advantage
to your network compared to not having these monitoring tools.
Some of the tools that can be used by this organization are
Orion Network Configuration Manager, and Big Brother. The
Orion Network Configuration is used for Windows operating
system configures networks and changes management options,
isolating problems via network monitoring. The Orion Network
Configuration Manager features wired and wireless user
tracking, advanced configuration changing templates, built-in
multi-vendor device support for over 16 hardware vendors, real-
time change configurations, automatic configuration backup
creation, simultaneous bulk change management, policy
violation detection, inventory reports, remote firmware and IOS
transfers, network discovery, configuration comparisons, and
inventory reports (www.ehow.com, n. d.).
The Big Brother software will focus on simplifying network
management via graphical, web-based monitoring and
diagnostics. With this tool, administrators and system managers
can quickly assess network health. Big Brother is available in a
fully featured professional edition which
comes with customized Flash Business Dashboard readouts,
auto-discovery, auto-deployment, auto-updating, native trend
data generation, visual geographic network maps, a built-in
SNMP trap receiver, and over one thousand monitoring plug-
ins, and a flexible, open architecture (www.ehow.com, n. d.).
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP)
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is an evolution
of protocols that allow a host computer to obtain various
network parameters. One of the early iterations of these
protocols was the Reverse Address Resolution Protocol (RARP),
which simply assisted computers in obtaining an IP address

9. from a server. Internet control message protocol (ICMP)
includes additional features such as Address Mask Requests and
Router Discovery messages which assist in network diagnostics.
Bootstrap Protocol (BOOTP), which added the ability to obtain
a multitude of parameters in a single request. A downfall to
BOOTP is the fact that the network administrator needed to
configure a BOOTP server ahead of time in order to know a
specific computer’s IP address, which caused problems when
adding new devices to the network without prior notice.
According to Comer (2009), an example of adding new devices
in a short amount of time would be “a Wi-FI access point in a
coffee shop that provides access to arbitrary customers. To
handle such cases, the IETF extended BOOTP and changed the
name to the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP)”
(p.393).
DHCP Uses for Continuous Corporation
DHCP would be recommended for Continuous Corporation’s
business focus due to the diagnostic features it provides, while
also offering a level of flexibility in terms of changing or
adding a set of computers or devices. One great feature of
DHCP is that it offers safe and reliable configuration by
reducing configuration errors that are caused by typographical
errors, manual IP configuration, and addressing conflicts. The
reduction of configuration errors is caused by the fact that
DHCP supports automatic IP configuration for devices on the
network. If two devices on the network have the same IP
address, DHCP will automatically assign another address to one
of the devices. DHCP also offers reduced network
administration as it allows TCP/IP configuration to be
automated and centralized, which assists network administrators
in centrally defining global and subnet-specific TCP/IP
configurations. Additional features include being able to
automatically assign configuration options for TCP/IP and
allows addresses changes for devices to be changed frequently
and with ease (technet.microsoft.com, n. d.).
QoS

10. Quality of Service (QoS) is a collection of networking
technologies and techniques that assist in guaranteeing that a
network will deliver predictable and reliable results. A few
concepts pertaining to QoS include availability (uptime),
latency (delay), error rate, and bandwidth (throughput). In order
to carry out QoS, a network monitoring system must be properly
implemented. Once the monitoring system has been
implemented, network traffic can then be prioritized, which will
greatly assist in delivering
QoS (Mitchell, QoS, n. d.).
Why QoS Would be Beneficial for Continuous Corporation.
QoS is an important concept that should be considered while
developing the network solution for the Continuous
Corporation. Recent internet applications such as video-on-
demand and VoIP depend on a network and applications that are
predictable, reliable, and of high quality (Mitchell, QoS, n. d.).
Other applications that benefit from QoS include video
streaming; video conferencing, Virtual Private Networks, and
FTP upload and download. Some of the useful features of QoS
include configurable by source and destination IP, inbound and
outbound direction control, support of Differentiated Service
Code Point (DSCP) to assist in the prioritization of packets, and
support of time schedule control. QoS also offers additional
traffic prioritization and bandwidth management features such
IP throttling to limit bandwidth, and being able to expedite the
processing of latency-sensitive pockets and mission-critical
applications (www.billion.com, n. d.).
Implementation Considerations
There are quite a few QoS protocols for Continuous Corporation
to choose from. Some of these protocols include Differentiated
Services (DiffServ), Resource reSerVation Protocol (RSVP),
Integrated Service (IntServ), and IP Precedence and IEE
802.1p/q. QoS must be consistently applied throughout the
entire network in order to be effective. All routers in the
network and all Layer 3 devices must be configured to use QoS
applications and protocols. If one router or Layer 3 device

11. doesn’t
support QoS, than it may be impossible to implement QoS. In
addition to these core network devices, edge devices and end-
user applications need to support QoS as well. Another
consideration for implementation is the application of a QoS
policy on the network. The QoS policy should be managed by a
policy management tool. It is recommended that Continuous
Corporation obtain Cisco Systems’ Quality of Service Policy
Manager, which provides tools to assist in centralized
management of QoS; as well as comprehensive provision and
monitoring features (Fritz, 2009).
LAN Extension Technologies
Most of the extension mechanisms use standard interface
hardware that adds additional components that can relay the
signal over a longer distance. One of the simplest is optical
fiber and a pair of fiber modem. Each modem functions as a
transport for packet from Ethernet to fiber or fiber to Ethernet.
The analog way to propagate the LAN signal is a repeater. The
repeater just amplifies the signal received and transmits the
amplified version as output. The repeater no knowledge of
packets or signal coding and does not interprets any information
passing through. Since two LAN segments need help to talk to
each other, there is the bridge. The bridge works in promiscuous
mode on each segment. When a packet is received of another
segment, the bridge forwards the packets. This allows the LAN
segment to function as a single LAN. The bridge sends the
broadcast packets on all the LAN segments. Thus the computer
does not know if it is on the LAN segment or the
bridged LAN. Since most bridges are adaptive or learning
devices, it uses the MAC address to preform filtering and
identify the location of the computer. When all the computer
locations are determined, the bridge network will give a better
overall performance than the single LAN. The bridge permits
simultaneous transmission on all segments. When a new bridge
is added to a bridge network, a loop will arise. Unless one
bridge is prevented from forwarding broadcast, the frames will

12. cycle forever. This is where the algorithm that determine
Distributed Spanning Tree (DST). The DST is a computed graph
that does not have any cycles. There are three parts to
computing the DST: root election – voted on by all bridges,
shortest path computation – path is to root bridge forms the
DST, and forwarding – if interface connected to the shortest
path, allows the sending of packets else block. (Comer, 2009,
pp. 294-299) The switch is an electronic device that contains
intelligent interfaces for each port and a centralize fabric to
simultaneous send packets between interfaces. Switches have
been extended by virtualization to create Virtual Local Area
Network (VLAN) switches. A single physical switch is made to
function as multiple independent switches. With VLANs the
broadcast packets remain on the same VLAN. Large companies
benefit from separate broadcast domains. This guarantee a set of
computers can receive only insiders’ packets and not receiving
outsiders’ packets.
Benefits of LAN Extension to Continuous Corporation
Continuous Corporation can benefit
from the use of optical fiber and modem to connect the LANs in
the different building. Continuous Corporation can benefit from
the use of bridges to connect the LAN segment from different
departments together. This will also give a performance boost.
Continuous Corporation can benefit from the parallelism effect
of a switch. Since the switch works on packet switching instead
of analog transfer more transmission are permitted to occur at
the same time. With transmissions happening at the same time
the network becomes faster. (Comer, 2009, p. 299)
Continuous Corporation can benefit from using VLANs by using
of separate broadcast domains. This is like having different
switches that allow you to divide up departments in the
company. This is one thing that would benefit the Accounting
Department. The cost of segmenting the network into VLANs is
cheaper than making a routed network using router since
switches are cheaper than routers. VLANs increase network
security. The network administrator has complete control over

13. the ports and users. A malicious user can no longer just plug in
a computer and sniff the network for packet information. IEEE
802.1q provides for the standardization of VLANs based on a
three-layer approach. This approach allows for the bridging
between VLANs. In a topology view, “each and every VLAN is
thus associated with a spanning tree (IEEE Computer Socity,
2003)” even when more than one VLAN is associated to that
tree.
Modulation Technologies
Since the nominal higher speeds of broadband (DSL and cable),
dial-up Internet
connections are still widely used because it offers some
advantages like low cost, lower security risk, and widespread
availability. Selecting the dial-up modem is tricky especial if
using Linux or other minor operation systems. The following
thing must be considered when selecting a dial-up modem: the
modem built must meet the latest standard – V.92. This ensures
the fastest possible modem speed – 56Kbps. Confirm the dial-up
modem id compatible to the operating system. So-called win
modems or soft modems that use software instead hardware
work exclusively with Microsoft Windows. Last but not lease a
determination need to be make on the physical characteristic –
internal or external. The internal are cheaper but require more
work for initial setup. External modem requires a serial port and
provides some status information in the form of led. External
modems have a better selection for Linux and other minority
operation systems. To get the best performance, the device on
both sizes of the line must be matched. (Linux Information
Project, 2005)
Advantages of dial-up modems:
* Low Cost – Mainly the telephone call tariff, no extra charge
for data transfer.
* Safety – Rotation of the IP addresses, assigned to the user.
New IP address EVERY time person login.
* Availability – Person can login anywhere the service is
provided. (Saxena, 2012)

14. Disadvantages of dial-up modems:
* Lags behind in speed - maximum speed is 56Kbps.
* Unstable Dial-up Connection – large downloads require stable
connection
* Demands a Phone Line – Needs
a permanent phone line.
* Phone Route is engaged – Route busy since line is being used
for data transfer. (Saxena, 2012)
Benefit of Modular Technologies Continuous Corporation
Continuous Corporation would not benefit from the use of dial-
up modems because the maximum transfer rate that can be
achieved is insufficient for the data transfer rate (bandwidth)
needs of the company.
Continuous Corporation could benefit from the use of radio
frequency (RF) modems because they use radio frequencies that
are in the UHF or VHF range to transfer the modulated signal
and the data transfer rate (bandwidth) can be higher up to 1.92
Mbps. (Editor, 2012) The frequencies can be licensed which
will reserve the use and lower chance of interference. Since the
modems create a Private Radio Network (PRN), real-time data
communication can be achieved.
Network Security Methodologies
There is several ways to provide security to the network. The
most popular is the internet firewall. The technology protects
the organization computers and network from unwanted traffic.
The Internet firewall is placed between the organization and the
Internet so that all incoming and outgoing traffic pass through
it. The Internet firewall location must be secure from tampering.
The Internet firewall must implement the security policies. The
Internet firewalls can only examine the packet header. The
Internet firewalls are used to define a secure perimeter isolating
the organization from interference outsiders. The Internet
firewall has an advantage over other security schemes: it
centralize control. The underlining mechanism for building a
firewall is packet filtering. The packet filtering is used to
specify which packets can travel in what direction across the

15. Internet firewall while dropping unwanted packets. The
Intrusion Detection System (IDS) is used to monitor all packets
at site and notify of security violations. Unlike the Internet
firewall, the IDS are activated after an attack has happen and
are set to monitor specific attacks. The IDS records the
frequency of an attack type. The other difference between
Internet firewall and IDS is that IDS maintain state information.
Cryptography is a main tool of security in that encryption
provides data privacy, message authenticity, data integrity, and
can prevent replay attack. (Comer, 2009, pp. 516-524)
Technology designed as a low-cost interconnect for geography
diverse location is Virtual Private Networks (VPNs). Although
used to interconnect sites the VPN technology has been used for
telecommuting.
Virtual Private Networks (VPN) is recommended for the sales
representatives. Each will have a laptop for the purpose of
managing customer case load, completing orders and submitting
them to the appropriate offices, and to follow up with expedited
requests. VPN’s are highly scalable so new representative can
easily be added. This technology will also allow for a secure
encrypted and reliable connection to the internet. Software to
run the VPN is built into the operating system and will use the
network access server using a dedicated server.
Benefits of Network Security
to Continuous Corporation
The one pick of network security methodologies is a good
firewall with packet filtering. The firewall provides a
centralized location for control. All traffic coming in to
Continuous Corporation’s company site will be monitored and
filtered. With the packet filter, the type of IP and ports can be
designate for IP addresses either as an input source or output
destination. (Comer, 2009, pp. 521-523) There should be a VPN
solution between the parent company and the packing company
for the president and executive VP to review document at the
same time and secure. The company will need to employ some
type of authentication with digital signature on their e-mail

16. system for sensitive information. (Comer, 2009, pp. 518-519)
This leads in to how to handle the public key which I would say
to use a key authority like Entrust. There need to be parts of the
web site covered by Secure Socket Layer (SSL), this will help
protect sensitive data going over network even if the web site is
internal for customer manager, order management, inventory
management, or billing. Now that I have the “big got you”, It
would be time to fully map out the network to make sure that
there are well-defined entry and exit points (Oppenheimer &
Cisco, 2010).
Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6)
IPv6 contains many of the same features as IPv4 but changed all
of the details.
* The address length was changed to 128 bits.
* The header was divided into a series of fixed-length headers.
* Information is encoded into separate extension
headers.
* Mechanism that allows sender and receivers to establish a
high quality path though the network.
* Fragmentation information is placed in a separate extension
header.
* The sending host is responsible for the fragmentation.
Through the use of the MTU on the path and ICMP error
message.
* The idea of a broadcast address has been dropped.
* New addressing is added to allow replication of services –
Anycast or cluster addressing.
The datagram format is a series of headers followed by a
payload (data). The headers start with the base header that
contains the source and destination address, payload length,
NEXT for type of information following current header (Comer,
2009, pp. 409-411).
Benefit of IPv6
There are several advantages to moving to IPv6 that include but
limited to increased addressing space – helps the running out of
address problem, IPv6 allow for bigger payloads – lowers

17. network traffic because don’t have to send as many packets,
IPv6 requires IPsec – providing some security for the packets
across the network (Wong, 2012).
Benefit of Dual Stack (IPv6 and IPv4)
There are three forms that the network can take that allow IPv4
and IPv6 to co-exist. One is tunnel one protocol through the
other protocol. Usually it is IPv6 packets being tunneled
through an IPv4 encapsulated packet. There are two kinds of
tunnels: manual or static, dynamic. Manual tunneling require
configuration on both ends of the tunnel. Dynamic tunnels use
different methods to establish destination address and routing
on the fly. Refer to
RFC 4213 for the basic transport mechanism. The next is
Network Address Translation-Protocol Translation (NAT-PT)
aka RFC-2766 which translate an IPv6 packet to an IPv4 packet.
At first look, it’s just NAT but with some twist like having to
know Application Level Gateway (ALG) to deploy NAT-PT.
The address translations have to be done on incoming and
outgoing traffic. The DNSv4 servers do not support IPv6’s
AAAA records. The last is dual stack which is the hardware run
IOPv4 and IPv6 at the same time. With Dual-IP stacks, all the
devices run both protocol with IPv6 being preferred. Upside
Dual-IP stack is supported by major operation systems and
network vendors. Downside is the legacy devices don’t support
IPv6. Many Internet applications that are common place don’t
support IPv6 (Vaughan-Nicols, 2010).
Benefits of IPv6 for Continuous Corporation
It would be best at this time to have a blend of IPv4 and IPv6.
Since most of the workstation and servers are dual-stack, this
allows them to talk to both IPv4 and IPv6. There is no real good
way to go back to IPv4 once you have fully switched to IPv6.
There are ways to send IPv6 data in an IPv4 tunnel. There is
ways on some operation system to send IPv4 data in an IPv6
tunnel, but not easy.
Multiplexing
Fiber optic cables that are used to connect each LAN optical

18. network will use wavelength division multiplexing (WDM).
This technique uses Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM) or
Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) as the underlying
technologies to incorporate IR channels carrying RF signals into
WDM. “Using FDM or TDM in each IR channel in combination
with WDM of several IR channels, data in different formats and
at different speeds can be transmitted simultaneously on a
single fiber” (Timbercon, 2012). Implementing fiber optical
technology into the network will provide a solution for
providing ultrafast speed and for providing a secure bi-
directional transmission.
Modulation
The modulation technique used to alter a carrier wave so that it
is able to carry information is shift keying. This technique is
used in reference to digital modulation which utilizes discrete
values. Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) has four signal
phases of 0, 90, 180, and 270 degrees and the points for which
these angles are called constellation points. The digital signal is
separated into binary bits and each bit pattern develops a
symbol that is represented by a specific phase. The signal state
changes only if the phase shifts 90 degrees in QPSK. To recover
the data that was sent, a demodulator is able to trace the steps in
reverse order.
Wireless Technology
Continuous Corporation has departments that are spread out
across the states and span into other countries. Each individual
LAN will be connected via wireless WAN using point to multi
point Wi-Max technology will be used to connect each LAN to
the company headquarters. The individual LAN’s will have
access to the main server to obtain customers information such
as demographics, accounting, order history, and other necessary
information. To gain this information quickly, Wi-Max is able
to offer broadband
access which transfers data at a very high speed.
Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) and SDM (Spatial
Division Multiplexing) technology are the multiplexing

19. techniques used for Wi-Max. “MIMO technology takes
advantage of a radio-wave phenomenon called multipath where
transmitted information bounces off walls, ceilings, and other
objects, reaching the receiving antenna multiple times via
different angles and at slightly different times” (Intel, 2012).
With the additional antennas at the transmitters and receivers,
there is no need to add extra bandwidth. This technique also
allows more data to flow through as the broadcast pipeline is
widened. Channel bonding provides 40 MHz channels and can
be enabled in the 5 GHz mode or within the 2.4 GHz while data
speed rates are offered up to 70 Mbps.
In wireless networking, the wireless access points connect to a
router. The purpose of a router is to direct network traffic to its
intended destination point. In order to support either the 2.4
GHz or the 5 GHz band, a dual band router is needed as this
router comes equipped with two radios. The router serves as an
intermediary for the internet signal to pass through and also
provides extra security to the network. Wireless Protected
Access, or otherwise known as WPA, was created by the IEEE
(802.11i) and offers the highest level of security.
Routers & Routing Protocols
There are many different types of routers and routing protocols
available today. Static and dynamic routers are two types of
routers available. The different types of routing
protocols are: Interior Gateway, Exterior Gateway, Border
Gateway, Routing Information Protocol (RIP), Open Shortest
Path First Protocol (OSPF), and the Multicasting Routing
Protocol. Each of these routers and protocols is unique and has
different purposes. The routing protocol that will be highly
recommended for Continuous Corporation will be the Routing
Information Protocol (RIP).
History of Routing Information Protocol (RIP)
The Routing Information Protocol was originated around the
Berkeley BSD application and was designed for smaller IP base
networks (Hedrick, 2008). According to Comer, it was among
the first Interior Gateway Protocols used for the Internet

20. (Comer, 2009). RIP uses the UDP port 520 for route updates
and requires less CPU power and RAM than most of the
protocols do (Daemon, 2012). This type of protocol is
considered to be a classful protocol and the only one that all
routing devices and software support (Rouse, OSI (Open System
Interconnection), 2007).
Advantages of using the Routing Information Protocol (RIP)
The Routing Information Protocol is very simple meaning that it
is inexpensive to develop and low in computational overhead
(Hedrick, 2008). It is widely supported and implemented and
the most popular routing protocol for TCP/IP (Hedrick, 2008).
The Routing Information Protocol is useful in handling the
propagation of the default route to all of the routers in the
organization (Comer, 2009). It also doesn’t require much work
in getting the routing started meaning that it is started by the
manager and continues to
run on each router from one organization to another (Comer,
2009).
Characteristics of the Routing Information Protocol
The routing protocol has many characteristics such as routing
within an autonomous system; unreliable transport, support for
CIDR and subnetting; the hop count metric; broadcast or
multicast delivery; support for default route propagation;
distance vector algorithm; and passive version for hosts (Comer,
2009). Routing within an autonomous system means it is within
a single system (Comer, 2009). Unreliable transport helps to
transfer messages among routers (Comer, 2009). Support for
CIDR and subnetting means that it supports the CIDR address
scheme, allowing routing table entries to be reduced (Janssen,
2012). It also helps to efficiently store routing information and
minimize processing overheads to match the routes (Janssen,
2012). The hop count metric measures the distance between the
source and the destination network (Comer, 2009). The hop
count metric is assigned a hop count value typically assigned a
number 1 (Spartack, 2009). Broadcast or multicast delivery
helps with the local area network technologies; version 1 of the

21. routing information protocol helps with delivering the message
(Comer, 2009). Support for default route propagation is where
the RIP helps the router to commercialize a default route
(Comer, 2009). Passive version for hosts helps the host network
with multiple routers (Comer, 2009). Distance vector algorithm
helps send routing updates to all neighbors by broadcasting
their entire tables (Spartack, 2009).
The RIP message helps in detailing how a distance vector
protocol operates (Spartack, 2009). Here is a sample example
(Spartack, 2009)
Other Types of Routing Protocols
The Interior Gateway helps to route communications with local
networks (Hedrick, 2008). This type of protocol can happen
within an office building that is trying to internetwork (Hedrick,
2008). The second type of protocol is the Exterior Gateway
Protocol. The Exterior Gateway Protocol helps to exchange
routing information with a router in another autonomous system
(Comer, 2009). This is an interesting concept that helps
companies review and reword the routing information from one
autonomous system before passing it to another autonomous
system (Comer, 2009). Exterior Gateway Protocol is more
complicated and harder to operate and lower overhead (Daemon,
2012). The third type of protocol is called the Border Gateway
Protocol. It is a method that allows an organization or company
to route among autonomous systems. This means that the
routing is done by exchanging information between gateway
hosts (Rouse, OSI (Open System Interconnection), 2007). It also
allows the provisions for policies meaning that both parties can
help in carrying out the policies for the company and to track
other BGP advertisers to others (Comer, 2009). It allows routing
to be done through transit systems and offers transportation
through a router for the Internet (Comer, 2009). In other words,
this protocol helps in the communication and the exchanging of
information about their business via the internet
(Rouse, OSI (Open System Interconnection), 2007). The fourth
type of protocol is the OSPF which stands for the Open Shortest

22. Path First Protocol (Comer, 2009). This is a protocol that is
powerful and can be more complex than the other routers
previously discussed (Comer, 2009). The OSPF helps to run the
Autonomous System (Moy, 1998). It also helps recalculates
routes from a topology quickly (Moy, 1998). OSPF can
definitely help networks group together (Moy, 1998). It is
considered open standard and is available to all the vendors that
they encounter (Comer, 2009). The OSPF can handle much more
workloads than many of the other routing protocols (Comer,
2009). This method is affiliated with the IPv4 to handle the
larger addresses of the IPv6 (Comer, 2009). The fifth type of
protocol is called Multicasting Routing. This method allows any
group membership to visit or communicate with other groups
and also be a participant in a duration that is arbitrary (Comer,
2009). This protocol is used between routers to help it
communicate with each other on the IP network (Vennas, 2012).
This method is not used as much because it does not have a
wide Internet multicasting facility (Comer, 2009). This method
of routing also allows the sender to be anonymous (Comer,
2009).
Type of Routing
Static routing helps to create tables that do not start until the
administrator intervenes (Comer, 2009). It is the simplest
method but requires a manual process (Daemon, 2012). This
method also doesn’t handle failures in external networks well
because it is a manual process; this
means that any connectivity that has to be fixed or repaired
must be reconfigured manually (Daemon, 2012). Dynamic
routing runs the software from a system that updates the tables
so that datagrams can follow a specific route (Comer, 2009).
The software applications that helps run the routing learn
routing destinations and how to get them to advertise the
destinations to other routers (Daemon, 2012).
Conclusion & Final Recommendations
As stated in the opening summary, Continuous Corporation’s

23. global enterprise operations needs a modern efficient network
solution that will benefit the in the US, Canada and Mexico.
This report presents recommendations that allow Continuous
Corporation to remain successful for years to come.
The recommendations set forth in this report have addressed the
needs of Continuous Corporation in the areas of:
* Type of Ethernet
* Applications of Analog Technologies
* Digital Technologies
* Fiber Optics
* Advantages of Mesh Topology
* Network Management
* DHCP Uses
* Why QoS Would be Beneficial
* Benefits of LAN Extension
* Benefit of Modular Technologies
* Benefits of Network Security
* Benefits of IPv6
* Multiplexing
* Modulation
* Wireless Technology
* Routers & Routing Protocols
9(5) Use appopriate annual data fort he United states to
compute the time series (1948-2008) for total factor
productivity (A) , labor productivity ,and capital productuvity
.( Assume that the labor share is constant at alfa =0.67 )
Compute the average rate of growth of each (compound annual
rates ). What do your calculations suggest about the sources of
productivity growth ?
9(6) a) Using the same data and calculations from problem 9(5)
, compute the implied real wage in 1948,1978,2008 .
b) Compute the average growth rates of real wage in (a) for
1948-2008, 1948-1978,and 1978-2008.

24. c) Compute the result for 1948-2008 to your computation of the
growth rate of labor productivity in problem 9(5) .Explain your
finding.
d)Before the recession of 2007-2009 .the US economy was often
characterized favorably compared to European economies as a
`job creation machine ` What light do the data in parts (a) and
(b) shed on the costs of this success ? ( Be carefull to relate
your conclusion to specific data)
11(15) During the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait (1990-1991)
,substantial parts of the kuwait i capital stock were destroyed
.Use labor-supply / labor demand analysis to conjucture the
effects this would have had on employment and real wages
provided that full employment was maintined at all times.
12( 11) Discusses the relationship of employment to
productivity and the relative prices of goods .Make three charts
(1) plot the productivity indices for nonfarm business (as a
Proxy for productivity in services ) durable goods
manufacturing , and nondurable goods manufactiring :( 2) plot
the CPI for all items ,durables, nondurables and servives : (3)
calculate and plot employment in durable ,nondurable ,and
services industries as a percentage of employment in nonfarm
establishments.How well do the data conform to the analysis of
section 12 3 3?’’’
14(4) in section 14.2.3 we asserted that a new enerjy source that
generates $100 million per year forever to the economy adds &
$ 100 million /rr to life -cycle wealth and ,therefore ,$100
millon per year to permanent income.Prove this result by
using the definition of life -cycle wealth.( the trick is to sum the
infinite series in a manner analogous to computing the
multiplier in Chapter 13 , equation (13.18)-(13-21).

25. 15.16 ) What light does Okun's law shed on the actual path of
the economy..? Taking the actual unemployment rate in 1990
and the actual rates of GDP growth ,use equation (15.5) to
generate a series of predictied changes in the unemployment
rate.Start with the actual unemployment rate in 1990 and add to
it the predicted change for 1991 to form the predicted rate for
1991 ; then add the predicted unemployment rate for 1992 to
your predicted unemployment rate for 1991 to form the
predicted unemployment rate for 1992; and so forth to the end
of the sample to build up a predicted time series for
unemployment .Graph your predicted series against the actual
unemployment rates.How well do your predictions match the
actual data..?
16(20) At the time of writing this book ( late 2010 ) ,the Euro
Area was in turmoil as the result of a series of crises concerning
excessive government debt in Greece and Ireland ( and possible
in Portugal and Spain as well ) Many feared that one or more
countries might abandon the use of the euro and reestablish its
national currency .Use the internet or other resources to
research and write a brief note updating the history of this crisis
.How did things turn out ..? Describe current currency
arrangements of the European Union.
17(10) Are state and local fiscal actions Stabilizing or
destabilizing? To investigate .plot quarterly state and local
expenditures and revenue as shares of potential GDP ,indicating
the NBER recession dates with shading .Write a brief note
summarizing the evidence about the stabilizing or destabilizing
effects of state and local fiscal actions.
17.13 Following: