Cis 319 - Riordan Manufacturing

Riordan Manufacturing

Riordan Manufacturing produces plastic consumer goods and is a thriving company that is facing some technological issues. In order to maintain better manageability, some technological reform and restructure of their processes are needed for better production and communication. This restructure will include the introduction of new technology as well and utilization of existing technology. Technology is an important key in businesses today in keeping competitive with the market. Tools are available to maintain efficiency between branches, and some examples of some changes and improvements will be exemplified further. In taking consideration and acting on some of the purposed changes, Riordan Manufacturing will be headed in a prosperous, productive, and customer pleasing direction.

Networks could have better use of T-1 lines and should have a firewall. Using T-1 and lines are expensive, but they do serve a purpose. Our purpose of T1 lines is to carry our data as fast as possible. We will plug our T1 lines to our network’s router. Using T1 lines will give the access to accommodate hundreds of our users at the same time. Control of our network environment is extremely crucial. We don’t want the WAN to have control of our network because if ever a problem, whether it’s simple or if it is crucial, we will be better off having the capability to service the problem instead of the WAN provider The Web site for T1 lines (2004) has many important features and interesting facts concerning T1 lines services and its functions.

Our networks do not have a firewall to keep intruders out. We have issues concerning security hackers. I believe having a firewall in the network, spy ware, and anti virus software running on the PC’s should suffice in warding off hackers. Users on the network should not have access to servers. Only a qualified network administrator should have access to the servers. Our network administrator should also have a security password that would only be entrusted to him.

There is a necessity to have cabling higher than a Cat3. Most of our networks are using Cat3 within long distances. I believe Cat5e will be better for longer transmissions in the building. The network in the building should be set up somewhere centralized to the building to allow for almost even cable length from each part of the building the network is going to transmit information. There needs to be an upgrade from existing operating systems and hardware. Our PC’s are using Windows 98 with Pentium 2’s, which means slower processing time and limited storage. I think if we cannot get Pentium 4’s we should try to get a processor such as an AMD Athlon that is equal in comparison to a Pentium 4. An upgrade to Windows 2000 operating system on all PC’s in the network will allow for better manageability through Windows Server applications. It will also allow for much better security. Windows 2000 operating systems will allow for newer topologies to be added for better reliability. Using Windows 2000 will allow our company to take advantage of its many features such as the support for NTFS, FAT16, and FAT32. The Windows 2000 operating system has increased its uptime and has considerably reduced operating system reboot scenarios. The Windows installer will track applications, will recognize and replace any missing components. The Windows 2000 operating system will protect memory of any individual processes and applications to avoid any single application from bringing the system down. The Windows 2000 operating system has an encrypted file system that will protect our company’s very sensitive data. Using the Windows 2000 operating system will allow us to use the secure virtual private networking or VPN which supports tunneling in to a private LAN over a public Internet. The Windows 2000 operating system has the feature of personalized menus that adapt and adjust to the way our employees work. The Windows 2000 operating system has a multilingual version that will allow our users to switch based on logon and for user interface. Windows 2000 operating systems also have a feature called a kernel mode that has full access to the system resources and to the hardware of the computer. The Windows 2000 kernel mode will run code in a protected and secured memory area. The Windows 2000 kernel mode feature will control access to memory management, thread prioritization, scheduling and interaction with the hardware. The kernel mode feature mode will also stop user mode applications and services from accessing very critical and vital areas of the operating system which certain users should not have access to, as the user mode processes will ask the kernel mode to accomplish this operations on its behalf. The Windows 2000 operating system includes a broader support for our high speed networking devices, which include cable modems and native ATM’s. The Windows 2000 operating system also provides support for universal serial bus or USB and also supports the IEEE 1394 which provides greater bandwidth devices. The Web site for Computer Software and Information about Microsoft Windows 2000 (1998-2006) has many important features and interesting facts concerning Windows 2000 Operating Systems.

Riordan should use better topologies for their networks. Some are still using token topology that can take out the entire network once a node goes down. The ability for one machine to control a piece of the network is not acceptable. I would suggest using mesh, even though it is pricey, but it will pay for itself.

Another place that money, time, and communication can be saved is by going paperless. Instead