Alpha Omega Industries - Case Study Example

? Providing a Network Solution for Alpha Omega Technical Industries In order for Alpha Omega industries to solve its global expansion problem, I recommend that the company make certain drastic measures to its current infrastructure and network, starting from its Los Angeles headquarters moving outwards. This can only be implemented by introducing new components; both hardware and software to the network. Most importantly would be to introduce vital components such as new application servers, database servers, file servers, and data warehouses for data backup and recovery (Bhaiji, 2008). This of course will see the need for other subsidiary components such as routers, network interface cards, and custom-made software that will facilitate the smooth operation of the overall network. Because these changes on Alpha Omega Industries are likely to bring up high set up costs, cloud computing is recommended as method that will help in cutting down the cost of set up on the system. Cloud computing involves the use of resource required by the system whereby this resources are obtained through hosted services found in the internet. This will help Alpha Omega Industries concentrate more on other developmental projects rather than spend a lot of time and resources in setting up the infrastructure ( Zhang, 2005). In short, cloud computing will enable Alpha Omega Industries outsource most of its hardware and software services. It will also allow Alpha Omega industries’ applications performing faster due to less traffic as compared to an Ethernet network. This will see the company reduce its maintenance cost and facilitate the rapid adjustment of its IT infrastructure depending on the ever-changing industry demands (Barreiros, 2010). In order to implement cloud computing to its operations, Alpha Technologies will have to use the cloud facility as on demand software otherwise known as Software as a service(SaaS), whereby the providers of this service will demand a subscription fee from Alpha Omega Industries. This is of economic essence because as Ross writes, cloud-computing enables a business to allocated funds that would otherwise be used as operation costs, in accomplishing other IT objectives (Zhang, 2010). Due to the sensitive nature of data that might be stored in the file servers of Alpha Omega Industries, a hybrid cloud is the most recommended platform for the company. The hybrid cloud incorporates both local and cloud storage. The high hybrid cloud part of storage will run within the corporate firewall and will only be accessible to the firm’s branches in Miami, Florida, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Frankfurt, Germany, Dubai, UAE, and Shanghai, China whereby they will access files remotely through a network to an object based storage. For this case, the private cloud will be under the control of the IT department. File Servers and File Sharing For the file servers, Alpha Omega Industries will incorporate the use of a hybrid cloud file server, which is a multiuser user system, which will have features such as file locking, activity auditing for the purpose of security and file locking. It will be achieved through storing archived data in the cloud storage and maintaining customer information in the in house fie storage servers (Barreiros, 2010). This will enable the organization take advantage of the cost effectiveness and scalability facilitated by this approach of storage. The most appropriate public cloud storage facility for Alpha Omega Technologies industries would be Amazon Simple Storage facility (Amazon s3). A cloud storage gateway will be necessary for the purpose of incorporating the hybrid cloud as it will make the cloud appear as a local storage device thereby making it possible to perform any necessary protocol translation. The hybrid cloud platform will enable the organization’s divisions share files in a more efficient and streamlined manner. It will be implemented through synchronizing of files in the main file server storage and the hybrid cloud giving regard to sensitive customer information in order to ensure secure sharing of files between divisions (Rybaczyk 2005). All divisions will have access to shared files in the cloud but each division customer’s information will be stored in their respective local servers and only released upon request by authorized parties. The Los Angeles Ca headquarters IT department will be responsible for monitoring all file sharing activities, granting permissions upon request to ensure that security is maintained and that customer information is not compromised. The above figure shows how the hybrid cloud storage will be integrated in into the system to work synchronously with the local storage file server (Rybaczyk, 2005). One shows the Local file system interface to the SOAP / REST API used by the cloud storage platform. Two shows the Virtual namespace to seamlessly integrate local and cloud storage for users. Three automatically identify inactive and other appropriate files to store in the cloud. Four migrate files to cloud storage platform without disrupting user access or causing downtime. Five encrypt every file stored in the cloud for data security (Barreiros, 2010). Application servers An application server is a computer program that controls all application functions in a given organization’s network. It handles business applications of the organization and databases. The application server will be installed in Alpha Omega Industries’ network in order to handle complex transaction related applications. The Application server for Alpha Omega industries will have in-built redundancy, distributed high performance services and maintain complex database interconnection. The application server will be necessary in order to allow use applications to view and integrate Alpha Omega Industries business logic through protocols such as HTTP. In order to expose the business logic to user applications, the application server will require a component API such as the Enterprise Java Bean EJB model (Barreiros, 2010). Because the application server is in control of its own resources, the IT departments of various divisions of the firm will not have to indulge to much in the running of the application server and this task may be left to be performed by the IT department of the Los Angeles Head Quarters. The key role of the application server in Alpha Omega Industries will be to model the data stored in the database and to present it through a web-based GUI in order for the various users of the system to interact with the data. Because the organization will incorporate cloud computing into its network, the need to purchase additional application servers because one server can be used as shared resource in the hybrid cloud. Database Servers Database servers are simply the back end client/server database application. The database server performs tasks such as storage, archiving, data manipulation, and data analysis. The database server will run on appropriate software such as Oracle and will provide Alpha Omega industries with advantages such as; all the data in the organization will be stored in one location, most preferably the head quarters. The database server will also allow the users to take measures that increase the security of the data stored in the database and the clients will be able to access the data stored in the database concurrently without any disrupting normal operation of the organization’s network (Bhaji, 2008). The database server will be important to the organization since it will facilitate faster processing of data. Alpha Omega Technologies will use the database server to store and process data. To deal with the file concurrency issue, each file will be stored in a centralized location that is accessible by all users. This helps eliminate file concurrency because Alpha Omega technologies will not have to store separate copies of the same file in different client machines. This also ensures that the IT department in other divisions such as Ukraine Germany will not have to worry about constant updating of their files since only one copy of a certain file will be stored in the database server acting a central storage location. With the database server, business and security regulations for Alpha Omega Technologies can be done in a more centralized manner from the headquarters is Los Angeles Ca and this regulation changes will be applied in all of the company’s divisions worldwide. Such measures may include triggers, stored procedures and the use of constraints. The database server will also optimize network traffic through transmitting data that only an application requires upon request of such data. The central database server will also simplify the backing up and restoring of data because of its centralized nature. Backup and Recovery This refers to the various methods that are used in order to protect the organizations database against losing data and restructuring the database after such a loss has occurred (Zhang, 2005). In order to achieve an efficient back up strategy, Alpha Omega strategies will have to carry out a physical backup whereby it will make a copy of all data files, archived logs, and control files and store this copy in another location preferably in the hybrid cloud it will implement. This physical back up will form the basis for recovery in case of any occurrence of a data loss. Oracle Corporation would be a good consideration when it comes to installing a recovery manager. The recovery manager is a software tool that incorporates with the database sessions running on a server in order to carry out a number of backup and recovery activities and also to maintain a recollection of historical data about backups carried out (Zhang, 2005 ). Conclusion In order to meet the challenges that arise from expansion, Alpha Omega Technical has to consider the option of cloud computing, and implement a hybrid cloud platform. This will ensure centralized control of all other subsidiary divisions of the company and in a great deal reduce the company’s infrastructure implementation cost. Having a centralized control center in Los Angeles Ca will also ensure easier implementation of rules and changes e.g. in databases since only one central database will be changed. File concurrency is also taken care of by the centralized implementation of the hybrid platform because instead of making multiple copys of the same file, only one file will be required. References Barreiros, M. (2010). QoS enabled networks tools and foundations. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley. Bhaiji, F. H. (2008). Network security technologies and solutions. Indianapolis, IN: Cisco Press. webopedia. (n.d.). .cloud computing. Retrieved from http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/C/cloud_computing.html Rybaczyk, P. (2005). Cisco network design solutions for small-medium businesses. Indianapolis, IN, USA: Cisco Press. Zhang, L. (2005). Network design. New York, NY: Springer. Read More