CertiGuide to Network+  9  Chapter 1001: Networking in the Real World       9  II  Network Design and Planning

II  Network Design and Planning 1 Equipment Compatibility

Unlike the rest of your job, this typically proves to be the most challenging issue in networking. The rest of networking is ‘simple’ in that you are dealing with ‘speeds and feeds’ and other technical data.

Sure, everyone would like a color laser printer with a network pipe fat enough to carry CNN video broadcasts without bogging down the network. And your authors would like to see world peace. The biggest challenge comes from matching expenditures to user wants. Sometimes, even senior management doesn’t want to spend the money for user needs, not wants.

Pulling all this together involves a combination of being technically savvy as well as being gifted in human communications. The first step is getting a clear picture of what senior management sees as a vision for the company. This helps you develop of picture of what they see so you may accomplish the job. Other considerations include company growth rate, future network needs, etc.

II  Network Design and Planning 1 Equipment Compatibility