Today’s networks must be developed with vision. That vision includes answering today’s requirements as well as being able to accommodate tomorrow’s demands. Favor develops network topologies that offer the right level of redundancy along with scalability and flexibility. Such characteristics assure you that your investment in building a network infrastructure is one that pays off in the long run, not one that simply becomes an expense.

Favor uses formal presentation tools to document the design. The topology may be depicted using Visio. Favor defines the requirements and how they are addressed in clear, concise prose. Hierarchical IP numbering schemes documented in tables or spreadsheets provide flexibility and scalability of the IP address space. Favor also develops high-level presentations using tools such as MS PowerPoint for management and project sponsors.

Networks do not operate in isolation. Internetworking deals with the communication between networks. Remote access deals with communication between a network and its users – no matter how far apart they may be.

Virtual Private Networking (VPN): Remote users may access your private network resources over a secure tunnel using VPN techniques. Security features implemented include authentication, authorization and accounting (AAA) services, data encryption using one-way keys and authentication. Favor’s solutions support standards such as PKI, DES3, SHA-MD5 and third-party certificate authority (CA) servers.

LAN-to-LAN: A second VPN application is using the public infrastructure to connect private local area networks. Favor will design a solution using existing Internet access facilities such as ISDN, cable modem or xDSL and modern tunneling techniques to build connections between remote sites. This solution is the most useful for connecting sites in fixed locations.

Security is not a feature to be added on to an existing network. It must be designed into the network. Security that is implemented using a find and patch methodology becomes a game of cat and mouse for a potential intruder and often results in firewalls becoming become network choke points even for authorized users. A network designed with security in mind becomes uninteresting to the casual intruder and a formidable challenge to someone intent on compromising corporate assets.

Security is achieved through a plan, not through a knee-jerk reaction to a perceived potential or actual breach. The security plan must include physical security in addition to protecting the data once it is on the wire. Favor’s network security solutions include the use of Authentication, Authorization and Accounting tools such as RADIUS and TACACS to verify a user’s identity, grant privileges and record network access information.

Network management systems vary in the types of services provided. Favor has implemented and used a variety of network monitoring tools that provide visual, pager or email alerts to changes in network status. Other network management systems record network events over periods of time and provide insight into how the network behaves and how it is being used. Tools which provide daily, weekly and monthly trends can be used to adjust demands for network resources as well as develop capacity projections.

Network management tools vary from network-layer tools, such as Cisco Traffic Director, which provides an easy-to-use graphical interface for mangement of Catalyst switches, to application mangement tools such as the Microsoft Management Console. Many tools offer open and extensible tools such as HP Openview. Solutions range from feature-rich commercial applications such as CA- Unicenter to open systems tools such as MRTG. Favor’s network management solutions include Unix and Windows NT/2000 systems. Favor will look at the alternatives and help you select the right tools for you.

When something goes wrong in your network, you need to know and you need to know immediately. Modern network monitoring tools, coupled with a sound network design, allow you to be notified of network issues along with the information needed to help you locate, isolate and repair the problems. A robust network monitoring system will not only notify you of failure, but will help you establish performance thresholds that may help predict outages before they occur. Network alarms can generate visual displays, email messages and pager notifications. Modern tools allow alarms to be viewed and handled remotely.

Network monitoring tools can record events and utilization over periods of time. This kind of information can be used to identify and predict network resource requirements. Network resource demands may show periodic spikes, such as at the end of the week or at the end of an accounting period, or they may show growth over time. Such information is invaluable in planning for network growth or identifying portions of the network where additional resources or tuning may be required.

Information Technology departments are increasingly under scrutiny to perform. Performance measurements often take the form of service level agreements. IT departments usually have to develop, measure and achieve the SLA standards. Favor has the expertise to develop the standards and benchmarks – device uptime, packet loss, bandwidth availability. Favor can provide tools to document that service level standards are being met as well as provide the expertise to tune the network to assure adequate performance.

Favor’s experience in network troubleshooting gives us the experience to quickly identify, isolate and correct network issues. Favor also understands that the shotgun approach to changing configurations without thoroughly understanding the problem can cause additional problems.

In Favor’s approach, the first step is to correctly identify the nature and scope of the problem. Next, Favor examines the network layer by layer, beginning with physical connections. Favor’s experience and understanding the OSI network layers gives us the skill to identify physical layer problems even if physical access in not available. Once the failure is identified, Favor develops alternative solutions and implements the one most practical for the situation.

In doing a thorough network analysis, Favor will review the current implementation from the top down. The analysis begins with the applications and completes with a review of the physical topology. At the highest layer Favor will look at applications scheduling including backups, periodic applications and updates. At the next layer, Favor will examine routing tables and review the IP addressing plan. Favor will then look at media and speeds, identify shared and dedicated bandwidth including utilization. Finally Favor will review the physical topology. The analysis will attempt to identify potential and actual sources of network issues as well as identify ways in which network reliability and efficiency may be improved.

There comes a time when you must decide whether the current infrastructure can continue to support your mission. If your requirements are basically the same but you need higher throughput or more redundancy, perhaps an upgrade is the best choice. Other times, a complete replacement of the infrastructure is the best long-term solution.

Favor offers design and implementation services for your physical infrastructure. Our experience includes copper, fiber and wireless solutions.

Favor’s solutions for infrastructure design balance redundancy and path diversity against the cost to install and maintain. Redundancy may be achieved through duplicate hardware, independent power and cooling systems and multiple data cabling systems, Internet access points and carrier entrance points. Often the value of a reliable and flexible infrastructure greatly outweighs the small incremental cost required for redundant, expansion or stand-by facilities.

Modern structured cabling systems facilitate installation, cable management and documentation of your cable plant. Favor keeps abreast of the latest and evolving methods and technology for cabling, testing and certification.

Favors data center solutions include implementing a redundant switched core for reliability, use of 50-pair RJ-21 (telco) connector patch systems to reduce the physical number of cables in the center, implementation of VLAN technology to reduce the number of physical changes required and installation of terminal servers to provide out-of-band access to equipment.

Favor has developed operations solutions to ensure the network users have access to the resources they need to do their jobs. Operations entails understanding the importance of network to the business functions.

The network operations center is often the heartbeat of a reliable network. Favor’s network operation solutions include the use of dedicated consoles and terminals for continuous monitoring of the network.

Favors LAN Support solutions include server configuration and upgrade, desktop support, applications support. Favor has implemented WINS forwarding for remote LAN segments, use of Citrix and Terminal Services for remote access of servers. We also train LAN users in standard office packages such as Word, Excel and Outlook.

Favor can establish and even operate the help desk that serves as the first level of response for your customers concerns or problems with the network. Favor has developed help desk operations pollicies and procedures, but can also take over the help desk function, free your staff to address problems