The background scenario: how the solution being provided fits in

Describe about the Network Engineering And Telecommunications Systems for Creative Developer Limited ?

Creative Developer Limited or the CDL is an organization that is headquartered at Stratford in London. The organization operates in the domain of website designing and development and has been able to gather a wide customer base within a very short period of time.  The management of the organization is expecting that they would be able to expand their business very soon: thus they have expressed their interests in upgrading the computer systems that are already being used in the organization, besides installing new hardware and software systems.

In this report, the details of the various systems that are being recommended to the management have been incorporated, along with various policies that the organization should implement.

In this report, we are about to provide infrastructural solutions to an organization that operates in the domain of Wed page designing and development. Creative Developer Limited or the CDL, located at Stratford in London operates in the domain of web page and other application development and within a short period of time has developed a niche market. London, being one of the busiest business hubs in the world has a large number of potential customers, and the number is increasing very rapidly. Since the management of the Creative Developer Limited has already been able to gather a larger customer base within a very short period of time, they are anticipating that the business will be expanding very soon, as potential customers from various other regions of the city have started calling or visiting them in order to utilize the services provided by the company. 

At present, the structure of the organization is quite small: the management has employed three people who are associated with the task of developing software; two other developers are associated with the   development of various other applications, one employee who has expertise in graphics designing and four other people who are assigned with the task of developing web pages.

In order to cope up with the large number of orders that are being placed by the new customers of the company, the higher management should immediately invest in a wide range of hardware and software that are essential for the designing and production of the various  software, web pages and web applications that the organization develops (YIN, DEVANEY and STAHURA, 2005).

The development of web pages and web applications involve the installation and usage of the following types of tools (software):

Detailed Specification of the solution

1.    Text editors

2.    Browsers, as, for example, Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Inter Explorer and so on and so forth.

3.    A web editor.

4.    A version controller.

5.    A clipboard history manager

6.    Tools for editing graphics and images.

7.    SSH clients.

8.    Tools that allow searching and replacing a specific group of words from a web document.

9.    Tools that can be used to maintain web statistics and analyze web logs.

10.    Web page sizers.

11.    Tools that can be used to change the typography  of the web pages

12.    Wireframing tools

13.    Layout and boilerplates

However, all the applications that have been mentioned in the above section run easily on any personal computer. Hence, the organization would not require very sophisticated or high quality hardware components to install such software applications.

The computing devices that are being recommended to be used in the above mentioned organization is the sophisticatedly designed, space saving and sleek Packard Bell OneTwo M D6020uk All-in-one PC or desktop computer (PACKARD BELL, 2015). This desktop computer is able to support the latest Windows® 8 Premium OS and would be able to support all the applications that are necessary for the purpose of web development.

The various web applications that would be installed in these machines have already been mentioned and will be described in details in the next section.

The hardware devices that are being recommended to the organization, along with the operating system and the various other software applications have been described in this section. The prices of each and every component that has been recommended have also been mentioned in this section of the report.

The management of the Creative Developer Limited is being advised to install such computing devices in their organization that would have the following specifications (Berger, 2005):

Type:   Intel Pentium Dual-Core T4300 processor

RAM Memory Clock Speed:  800MHz FSB

Chipset: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500 M

L2 Cache: 2MB

Processor Clock Speed: 2.1GHz

Technology and ratio: TOUCH PANEL – 1000:1 (Contrast ratio)

Screen Size:20’’ inch

Screen resolution:1600×900

Speakers:Stereo speakers

Sound Card: Integrated on motherboard or on PCI Slot (Capstick, 2011)

RAM Memory Clock Speed: 800MHz FSB

RAM:  3GB DDR2 memory

Hard Drive

HDD rotation speed 7200rpm SATA

Hard Drive   640GB Hard Drive (Blundell, 2008)

Operating System

Operating System mode: 64-bit

Operating System: Genuine Windows® 8 Home Premium

Monitor:20 inch Touch screen

DVD: DVD Rewriter

Graphics card: Integrated Graphics

Hardware

Wireless internet connectivity: Built-in wireless (802.11b/g/n)

Multimedia card reader: 5 in 1 (xD,SD,SD HC,MS,MS pro,MMC)

Optical drive: TRAY SUPER MULTI DVDRW

Others: Digital TV Tuner

The price of such computing devices in the electronic market of United Kingdom would be around £ 549 to £ 599 (amazon, 2015).

The software set which enables the hardware of the computer to communicate with the various software that has been installed in the machine and operate accordingly (Andrews, 2005).

The various types of operating systems that are available in the market can be classified into the following groups:

Real Time Operating Systems or RTOS: A multitasking operating system which is intended for  supporting real time application sis often known as a Real time operating system or the RTOS.

Examples of such operating systems are: RTLinux, QNX, VxWorks, etc.

2. Single User and Single Tasking Operating Systems: Such an operating system has been designed so as to allow a single user to perform a single task efficiently.

Examples of such operating systems are: the operating systems used in small devices like that of Palmtops.

3. Single User and Multi Tasking Operating Systems: Such an operating system has been designed so as to allow a single user to perform multiple tasks simultaneously and efficiently.

Examples of such operating systems are: Mac OS 9, Windows 8, Windows 98/95/XP

4. Multi User, Multi Tasking:

Such an operating system has been designed so as to allow multiple users to perform a large number of tasks simultaneously and efficiently.

Examples of such operating systems are: Mainframe, VMS, UNIX, etc.

It is evident from the names of the applications that have been provided in task 1, that a single user multi tasking operating system would be sufficient for the employees who are associated with the tasks of website development and application development. Thus, it is being recommended to the management of the Creative Developer Limited that the computing devices being installed in the organization should run on the latest operating systems launched by Microsoft, the Windows 8 home premium.

The hardware devices that have been recommended to the organization are in most of the cases pre-installed with the latest versions of windows operating systems, thus the operating systems need not be procured from the market place. However, if the management of the organization decides to install these latest versions of Windows 8 in those machines which have already being used in the organization, then the products are available on various online shopping websites at £99 to £120.

Operating System

The following software tools are required for software development (Best free web design software, 2015):

Text editors: available with windows 8, free of cost

, as for example, Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Inter Explorer and so on and so forth: freeware, can be easily downloaded from the internet

A web editor: Adobe dream weaver, price: £38 per month

A version controller: HTML Applications (HTAs), developed by Microsoft, a freeware.

A clipboard history manager: Clipmate, a product developed by Microsoft, available on the internet, price: $34.95

Tools for editing graphics and images: Adobe photo shop, Lightroom, Price: £17.15, and £103.88

SSH clients: PuTTY, freeware

Tools that allow searching and replacing a specific group of words from a web document.

Tools that can be used to maintain web statistics and analyze logs: provided by internet domain registrars.

Web page sizers: Adobe dream weaver, price: £38 per month (Adobe, 2015).

Tools that can be used to change the typographyof the web pages: Adobe dream weaver, price: £38 per month

Wire framing tools: Balsamiq, to be downloaded from the internet, Price: $89 (Balsamiq, 2015).

Layout and boilerplates: Adobe dream weaver, price: £38 per month

The system that has been proposed needs to be tested, in order to make sure that the various specifications and characteristics required to facilitate the operational activities of the organization are met with. Only after such testing procedure is successfully carried out that the organization makes in any investment in this sector (Chakraborty and Bhunia, 2011).

The very first activities revolve around the documentation available with the software products: the new features available with the software are considered with great importance, besides considering the time period at which the application was updated for the last time.  Other comparable products are considered, along with the interoperability of the application with other tools (Conklin, 2005). 

The additional features that are being provided by the new version of an application are compared with the price of the new version: the updated version is procured if and only if the price being paid is reasonable when compared to the benefits that are available.

Even before the prices of the proposed devices are available, a basic testing is conducted based on the experience of the users, then various standards that are incorporated by the industry and the requirements of the organization.  The various characteristics and/ or properties of the devices which should be tested before the actual process of procurement occurs have been described in the following section:

i.    Desktops: Current memory size, Cost, speed, type, capacity of the hard drive and its speed, processor speed, requirements for running tier one applications, along with the future projections of these requirements for at least a period of three years monitor, size of the monitor, functionality of the mouse and the keyboard; size of the chassis and its functionality; warranty of the parts; acoustic properties; availability of the I/O ports.

ii.    Laptops: Same characteristics as that of the desktops, the docking solutions; weight  and size,  battery life; spindle size , that is, the number of slots  which are available for connecting peripherals,  availability of the functionality of wireless network; along with portability (Thomas and Moorby, 2002).

iii.    Printers: Cost; quality; speed; acoustic properties; the cost of the cartridge, the cost of other parts, the process of cartridge replacement; maintenance record; warranty; availability of  I/O interface.

iv.    PDAs:  memory; Cost; operating system; resolution and screen quality; weight and size; synchronization capabilities; multimedia capabilities, wireless functionality, along with expandability.

The software solutions that have been recommended to the organization has been chosen such that the tools are supported by the operating system that has been recommended, the Windows 8.The text editors that are to be used while developing the web pages are already available in the Windows 8 package: the browsers that will be used for this very same purpose are also readily available on the internet. The HTML version controller is also available as a freeware.  Adobe dream weaver can be used as a web editor and a web page sizer: it is also useful in changing the typography of the web pages. Clipmate is an application developed by Microsoft which can be used as clipboard history manager.

The Adobe photoshop and Lightroom by Adobe are two applications that are widely used for the purpose of editing images and graphics. The utilities of an SSH client is readily provided by a freeware named PuTTY. The process of Wireframing will be supported by the application known as Balsamiq whereas the internet domain registrars will provide those tools that are helpful in the process of maintaining web statistics and log analyzing.

Before the new hardware and software systems are installed and put into use, a thorough checking should be done, the process being described in the following section (Towson, 2015):

1.    The newly installed computing machines should be switched on.

2.    The booting process should be carefully noticed in order to ensure that the operating system is running smoothly (Karri et al., 2010).

3.    All the necessary peripherals should be connected to the machines.

4.    When all the hardware systems are properly tested, the software system should be installed one by one and the entire process should be noticed carefully (Hodges and Villar, 2010).

1.  After all the software tools have been installed, some of those tools that are considered as   RAM-hungry, like that of Dreamweaver and/or Photoshop, should be opened.

2.    A few basic operations should be conducted on all of the applications that have been installed, and some of them should be run simultaneously so as check their inter-operability. 3.    Such a test is said to be successful if and only if the system crash when the RAM hungry applications are made to run simultaneously.

The following section describes the instructions that are being provided to the employees such that they are able to work on the systems.

The employees should log into the systems through the user accounts.

The employees should change the passwords of the user accounts periodically.

The employees should not try to access the administrator accounts.

In case the machines malfunction, the employees should immediately communicate with the system administrator.

The users should not try to install any software or upgrade any already installed software in the system, but should communicate with the system administrator to do so (Sidiroglou, Locasto and Keromytis, 2005).

In the case the installed machines malfunction, the system administrator should contact the customer care service number provided by the hardware manufacture.

The system administrator should only allow authenticated personfrom the manufacturing companies to work on the malfunctioning parts or the non-functional parts

The non functional hardware parts should only be replaced with authenticated and original parts provided by the manufacturing company (Singh and Singh, 2009).

The electrical wiring of the system should be properly maintained.

Proper precaution must be taken while working on the electrical system.

The security policy that should be implemented in the organization in concern has been discussed in the following section:

Only the system administrator will be allowed to install applications or uninstall them from the computing machines provided to the employees: the administrator account should be password protected on each machine.

The user would not have access to the administrator account, and hence would not be able to install or uninstall software tools, without the permission of the administrator.

Some of the tools that are required for the purpose of development are available as online tools and the organization needs to create a paid account those websites to avail the tools: the passwords to such accounts should be change4d from time to time.

The employees would not be allowed to visit any site that has been restricted by the government: the access to such sites would be blocked by using firewalls.

The users will have the access to only a part of the system, and will be allowed to make changes to only those folders where they save their works.

The users will be encouraged to backup their data in regular intervals (Zhi-hong, Jian-zhen and Zhi-qiang, 2011).

The healthy and safety policies that should be implemented in the organization in concern have been discussed in the following section:

The computing machines being installed in the organization should not be subjected to high temperature, smoke or humidity.

In case any part of the machines stop functioning; only authenticated parts should be used for replacement (Roscam Abbing, 2007).

No edible material or drinks would be allowed near the computing machines.

No live wire should be left open in the working areas.

The electrical wiring should be properly done, using materials of industry recommended standards.

Whole installing new devices or while working on the electrical wiring and/ or switches, the employees should take proper precautions.

While working on the CPUs, the machines should be unplugged even before opening the cabinets.

The employees should be provided with agronomic furniture, and should be encouraged to take breaks in periodic intervals in order to meet up with the health guidelines that are provide to those people who work on computer systems (Goodwin, 2000).

Conclusion:

In this report, the specifications of the hardware and software systems which   should be installed in Creative Developer Limited has been mentioned, besides providing the prices at which these systems would be  available in the  market.  A detailed testing plan has also been provided, using which the hardware and software system should be tested: once before the entire installation has been completed, and again after the system has been installed.  In the last part of the report, the test plan has been mentioned, along with an IT instruction sheet for the employees of the organization.  The security policies that should be implemented in the organization and the health and safety policies that the organization should abide by have also been mentioned.

References:

Adobe, (2015). Products. [online] Adobe.com. Available at: https://www.adobe.com/uk/products/catalog/software.html [Accessed 12 Aug. 2015].

amazon, (2015). [online] Available at: https://www.amazon.co.uk › Software › Digital Imaging › Photo Editing [Accessed 12 Aug. 2015].

Andrews, J. (2005). Co-verification of hardware and software for ARM SoC design. Burlington, MA: Elsevier Newnes.

Balsamiq, (2015). Balsamiq. Rapid, effective and fun wireframing software. – Balsamiq. [online] Balsamiq.com. Available at: https://balsamiq.com/ [Accessed 12 Aug. 2015].

Berger, A. (2005). Hardware and computer organization. Amsterdam: Elsevier/Newnes.

Best free web design software, (2015). Best free web design software: 10 programs to get the job done. [online] Available at: https://www.in.techradar.com/news/software/applications/Best-free-web-design-software-10-programs-to-get-the-job-done/articleshow/38583648.cms [Accessed 12 Aug. 2015].

Blundell, B. (2008). Computer hardware. London: Thomson.

Capstick, L. (2011). Computer hardware. Teddington, Richmond Upon Thames [England]: Key Note Ltd.

Chakraborty, R. and Bhunia, S. (2011). Security Against Hardware Trojan Attacks Using Key-Based Design Obfuscation. J Electron Test, 27(6), pp.767-785.

Conklin, M. (2005). Teaching IT hardware concepts using computer forensics as a motivator. SIGITE Newsl., 2(1), pp.1-4.

Goodwin, N. (2000). Leadership and the UK health service. Health Policy, 51(1), pp.49-60.

Hodges, S. and Villar, N. (2010). The Hardware Is Not a Given. Computer, 43(8), pp.106-109.

Karri, R., Rajendran, J., Rosenfeld, K. and Tehranipoor, M. (2010). Trustworthy Hardware: Identifying and Classifying Hardware Trojans. Computer, 43(10), pp.39-46.

PACKARD BELL, (2015). PACKARD BELL all-in-one PC with 20″ touchscreen D6020 just for �564.00 at PC World. [online] 123vouchercodes.co.uk. Available at: https://www.123vouchercodes.co.uk/discount-deals/pc-world/packard-bell-all-in-one-pc-with-20-touchscreen-d6020-just-for-56400-at-pc-world.html [Accessed 12 Aug. 2015].

Roscam Abbing, H. (1987). Medical devices and safety in health care. Health Policy, 8(1), pp.59-67.

Sidiroglou, S., Locasto, M. and Keromytis, A. (2005). Hardware support for self-healing software services. ACM SIGARCH Computer Architecture News, 33(1), p.42.

Singh, V. and Singh, M. (2009). Computer hardware course. New Delhi, India: Computech Publications.

Thomas, D. and Moorby, P. (2002). The Verilog hardware description language. Norwell, Mass.: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Towson, (2015). Software and Hardware Testing – Office of Technology Services – Towson University. [online] Towson.edu. Available at: https://towson.edu/adminfinance/ots/coretechsecurity/swhwtesting.asp [Accessed 12 Aug. 2015].

YIN, W., DEVANEY, S. and STAHURA, J. (2005). Determinants of Household Expenditure on Computer Hardware and Software. Journal of Consumer Affairs, 39(2), pp.254-275.

Zhi-hong, L., Jian-zhen, L. and Zhi-qiang, L. (2011). System Recovery Testing of Hardware Firewall.Procedia Engineering, 15, pp.4574-4578.