Analysis Report of an Enterprise System Consultant

The primary focus of this class is on developing information technology architecture for the distribution system's long-term viability. The project's contents will be based on CompSec, a well-known security company. The standard operational strategy is to provide centralized help in major cities throughout the United States, as well as an internet boost to other organizations in need of security assistance. Eden Prairie is the site of the new location. In the twin cities is a large information technology hub. In order to make the opening of a new setting easier, IT infrastructure will have to be created for a small office with twenty workers. The local members of staff need to be located and employed to work in this new setting.

The project time frame will be one month. As the allocated time comes to an end, the system should be already set, and it must be functional. $150,000 will be the approximated budget for the system. The project deliverables will include high security, networking infrastructure, connection to min office, 8 x laptops, a server, 20 x desktops, VOIP system, and 2 x multifunction printers/ fax/ scan (Chew & Gottschalk, n.d).

Requirements for the System

There are various requirements which have been established by the individuals at CompSec. These are the minimum which needs to be met to enable the system to work at maximum functioning efficiently. The operating system needs to be windows newer or XP. The precise operating system is left out to the system expert. The exchange of information within the local office as well as from back to the central office should be allowed by the system. Furthermore, the server should be top of the line system. Security technicians, as well as the administrative members of staff, will be targeted users of the system. Ongoing machine and onsite setups will include the delivery. The load of the project will be moderate having fifteen security experts proportional amount of work per week. The system will be intended for onshore organizations and exchange of information with different offices located in the country.

Architecture

This section compares and contrasts three architectures for the distributed system. The architectures are Multi-Tier, Client-Server, and The Cloud structural designs. A multi-tier structural design is a client-server arrangement whereby the functions are physically separated. In this case, the developers have a choice of adding or changing specific layers without modifying the rest of the application. Besides, this kind of system gives an opportunity for developers to come up with reusable and flexible applications. A three-tier system is the most common multi-tier arrangement. Other multi-tier systems include the data storage, presentation, and application tiers. Data tier is an arrangement where information can be retrieved or stored then passed for processing at the application tier then finally to the user (Tutorialspoint.com, 2017). The presentation tier is the graphical user interface that in this case translates results and tasks for the users. It is the highest lever that users can access. On the other hand, application tier is a system that processes commands, coordinates the application, evaluates and performs decisions and as well makes decisions. It reads and transfers information between two adjacent tiers. The advantages of multi-tier architecture are that it enhances scalability and reusability, provides flexibility and maintainability, more straightforward than a thick client and performs better than the thin client. On the other hand, this kind of architecture is more critical server availability and reliability, and it is hard to test due to lack of testing tools.

The next architecture to be discussed is client-server structural design. Unquestionably, this is the most common distributed arrangement. In this case, the system is separated into two sub-arrangements that include the server and client. The server complies with the request, receives the demand and provides a reply to the user. On the contrary, the client server that involves the process of issuing requests to the server (Tutorialspoint.com, 2017). There are various advantages of client-server architecture which include more natural migration and integration of existing application, simplifies the structure of distributed applications and efficient utilization of resources when many clients access the server. Besides, it separates roles like the logic processing and user interface. The shortcomings of this type of distributed system include its limited scalability and testability, limited server reliability and availability and complicated security.

Last but not least, The Cloud is another type of architecture to be considered. In essence, the cloud is resources that are hosted on the internet (Rountree & Castrillo, 2014). In this situation, the client can access it through the internet. Due to drop in the requirements, the costs of maintaining software and hardware will reduce. With this said the need to install specialized software on the workstations of the clients is eliminated. According to Rountree & Castrillo (2014), the most significant benefit of the cloud is its scalable structural design. This advantage means that the user pays for the resources or services that they need. The resources are available when needed, and the cost goes up in a situation where more resources are required. This type of architecture has various demerits. The possible challenge for the cloud is that the whole system may go down if the cloud that a company pays occurs to crash. In the past, such situations have happened, and there is a possibility that it may be an intermittent or a frequent issue in a time to come. The good thing about the decrease in quality or unavailability of the cloud service is that they don’t take a long time before they are up and running yet again.

Internet Service Provider (ISP) controls the access to the cloud, and therefore it is another possible issue. In essence, ISP has the power of deciding whether a user access the resources or not. ISPS would like to find ways of making more money and thus are looking to raising profits. The soundest approach to carry out this is to meter their service such that they will be in a position to charge more whenever more function is utilized.

From the results of my analysis presented above, I think the cloud would be the most suitable and appropriate distributed system to be utilized by CompSec security professionals. In this case, access to the company resources and access to the system will be offered by the cloud in places that has a connection of internet ("What Is Cloud Computing?," 2016). The cloud will give an opportunity for the professionals to access what they need whether they are out of a job or at the office working with local companies. Aforementioned is indispensable since they will be in a position to better serving the clients. A client-server system is not necessary since it would function off of the cloud. Besides, data sharing and local network setup can be utilized in the office.

References

Chew, E. K., & Gottschalk, P. (n.d.). Enterprise and Technology Architectures. Information Technology Strategy and Management. doi:10.4018/9781599048024.ch006

Rountree, D., & Castrillo, I. (2014). The basics of cloud computing: Understanding the fundamentals of cloud computing in theory and practice.

Tutorialspoint.com. (2017, August 15). Software Architecture and Design Distributed Architecture. Retrieved from https://www.tutorialspoint.com/software_architecture_design/distributed_architecture.htm

What Is Cloud Computing? (2016, May 3). Retrieved from http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2372163,00.asp