Table of Contents
Module 3 - Build a Prototype or Pilot for the Network Structure
Section 1 - Build the Prototype or Pilot
Pretty Paper, Ltd.: Solution
Before spending all the effort and money needed to do this conversion,
Pretty Paper management would like assurance that this solution will work.
However, it does not have the time or money to do a prototype or proof-of-concept.
How would you propose to "pilot" the system so that most of the effort
for the pilot is moving toward the final system while demonstrating the
functionality of the final system?
-
The software vendor probably has been asked to provide this kind of proof
in the past. Ask if this vendor has a lab or test-bed facility that could
be used to simulate the environment if the routers and switch were provided.
The previous lab or test-bed facility would provide the most controllable
environment.
-
If a test-bed is not available, all packet flow and performance requirements
can be evaluated by implementing a subset of the new network consisting
of a group of users in the main office and a remote manufacturing facility.
-
The pilot would consist of the installation of the Catalyst 5000 switch,
Cisco 2503 routers at headquarters and at a selected manufacturing facility,
the HP9000, two Frame Relay circuits, and the necessary subset of cabling.
-
Demonstrate that the solution enhances and does not degrade the flow of
packets from the warehouse to the main office. This demonstration would
be accomplished most definitively through the use of network monitoring
device for both the Frame Relay and the existing X.25 networks. At the
application level, this is not an apples-to-apples comparison. At the packet
transport level, it will be a comparison of the new network's ability to
deliver what it was asked to deliver.
Click on the Back button in your browser to review Section 1 of Module
3. If you are finished with that section, click
here to go on to the Jones, Jones, & Jones case study.
Copyright Cisco Systems, Inc. -- Version 2.0 7/98