Communications in Business Why Should

¶ … Communications in Business Why should "overhead" in an organization's network concern a manager? The overhead present in any network is cause for concern for a network manager even when the performance of all devices and the network topology are all functioning correctly.

That's because the many variables that comprise the network architecture and define its performance are highly dependent on the applications in use at the time, relative resource loads by application, and the surge and drops in network availability based on load factors, including the configuration of protocol parameters (Heegaard, Wittner, 2010). The load levels of overhead of a network also must be continually monitored to evaluate the impact the increasing use of mobility applications have on network operations as well (Viennot, Jacquet, Thomas, 2004).

The proliferation of mobility applications is also beginning to also impact network topologies and the definition of network architectures to a much greater extent than ever before. This has led for example to redefinition of distributed path management systems as well (Heegaard, Wittner, 2010). Adding to the complexity of managing the overhead of a given network is also the role of queuing models put in place to alleviate costly bottlenecks of network packets and network control parameters.

As mobility continues to accelerate as a key area of concern for enterprises the use of queuing network models and associated traffic (Kritzinger, Krzesinski, Teunissen, 1980) in under constant scrutiny on how it can be optimized for the highest performance possible (Heegaard, Wittner, 2010). In conclusion, monitoring network overhead is critically important to ensure a network can stay secure & responsive over time.

What are the key security issues in using various guided and unguided media? The security issues for guided media are significantly different than those for unguided due to the essential differences in each technology. Guided media includes Twisted Pair, Coaxial, and Fiber Optic. Unguided media includes terrestrial microwave, satellite microwave, radio and infrared technologies (Warner, 2008). The security strategies for each class of media must taken into account how each codes, decodes and manages the stream of data across these media types.

For guided media there are several levels of security including access, protocol stability and security, locking data elements and packets, and the use of Cyclic Redundancy Checking (CRC) for accuracy and authentication of specific access points,. These media also require the use of protocols that can be used for protecting down to the packet level data being transmitted. The reliance on advanced TCP/IP protocols and options is a case in point. For unguided media the challenges are more significant as these are by nature broadcast technologies.

The protocols that these networks transmit must be protected down to the packet and frame level, including adoption of IEEE 802.11b security authentication and support (Warner,.