For a computer network to be successful, it has to be able to support the curren

Question

For a computer network to be successful, it has to be able to support the current and future amount of traffic, pay for itself within an acceptable amount of time, and provide the services necessary to support users of the system. Why are these goals so challenging? First, computer networks continue to increase in complexity. A second reason is how difficult it is for an individual or a business to properly define the future of computing within a company. Finally, computer network technology changes at a break-neck speed. Why is understanding basic computer system development concepts so important? These concepts are important because during your computer network career you will either be designing or updating a network system, or you will be assisting one or more persons who are designing or updating a network system.

This week you will be reading and hopefully learn something about "Risk Management". This to me is the most important aspect of every business in corporate America. Risk that is not identified can destroy a company and force it to close, or it can allow a company to grow and stay in business for a long time to come. The telecom companies manage risk by simply having a redundant network, they call this method a 1+1 protection scheme. If something was to happen to a network, the backup system would automatically take over. It would be the same method if you have a generator attached to your home, if you lose electricity, the generator would supply electricity. The problem with redundancy is, the expense. The cost to build 2 networks at the same time, is very expensive and how often does the network really fail? This came to a head during 9/11/2001, when the network stayed up, but the customer did not. The banks, trading floor and many other institutions did not have this redundancy, and when 09/11 hit, they went out of business. Bank of NY was sued for millions of dollars, because the people that put in transactions right before the plane hit the WTC, did not go through and hence they lost millions. In my opinion, they decided to risk paying for redundancy, because they felt their network would never go down. I'm sure that the person in charge of their network, had to answer to the corporation and probably got fired. How important is managing risk, I rate it as high as marrying your soul mate.

1. Is the importance of a certified network engineer going to be replaced with individuals that do not have a certificate but have much experience or a college degree and 2. Speculate why the maintenance phase of SDLC is often so much larger than the other phases.

Explanation / Answer

The CF cert is a pretty good indicator of competency in CF. Sure, it says nothing about coding style or product lifecycle management abilities. But, if I'm hiring someone to do some maintenance on existing CF code, then a CF cert goes a long way towards making me feel comfortable. Obviously, if I need a rockstar developer, I'm going to look for skills far beyond just having a cert. Conversely, having an A+ would not have any effect whatsoever on my decision to hire someone. I've got the cert. I know it's completely memorization with no practical knowledge. As for the CCNA, it would definitely influence my hiring decision. That is a *tough* cert to get, and by the end of it you know your stuff. Far too many web programmers don't truly understand how the web works, so when I see one with a CCNA, I know they aren't going to bug me every time their network card hangs. Sure, a CCNA isn't *meant* for web programming, but there are certain skills that you can't be missing if you have a CCNA, and they are all at least *applicable* to web programming. System Life Cycle Just like humans, each information system (IS) has a life cycle. An IS is born as an initial concept, is built and used and ultimately is retired when it is no longer useful. The four phases of the Systems Life Cycle (SLC) are Concept and Implementation, Growth, Maintenance, and Decline. Conceptual and Implementation - In this phase the user identifies information related needs. The requirement for a new (or upgraded system) can be due to environmental pressures (competition, regulation, new technology etc.) or because an older system is no longer providing the required functionality. The user requests the assistance of the systems analyst who studies the problem and offers a solution. During this phase the IS is designed and installed. This phase is fully described in the Waterfall Model section that follows.

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