Networking is evolving fast

Networking is not just a few connected computers. Networks became intelligent and play a dynamic role in helping to increase business performance. Corporations are trying to develop their networks. By taking advantage of new technologies, businesses can use new services and improve productivity.

Cisco Lifecycle Facilities

Cisco Lifecycle Facilities and Services are intended to support growing networks. Cisco introduced a revolutionary six-phase method. Each phase describes the necessary actions to productively deploy and operate networking technologies. It also describes how to enhance performance inside a corporate network. The six phases are: Prepare Phase, Plan Phase, Design Phase, Implement Phase, Operate Phase and finally Optimize Phase.

The Prepare Phase

Throughout the Prepare Phase, the network designers try to find ways to improve customer experience, reduce costs, introduce additional services and of course support company’s expansion.

The above goals provide a foundation for a corporate case. The corporate case is used to define the required budget. After the corporate case is approved, the network designers assist in the creation of the high-level technology strategy and solution.

The Plan Phase

For the duration of the Plan Phase, the network designers implement a complete site assessment. This assessment will analyze and describe the current network, the services as well as the network management infrastructure.

The network designers must identify all the physical, environmental as well as electrical changes. They will also evaluate the all operations and network management infrastructure.
During this phase, the network designers create a plan to help manage the project. The proposal should be within the available budget and resource limits described in the original business goals.

The Design Phase

In this Phase, the responsible team uses the original requirements described during the Plan Phase to direct its work. The project needs to be flexible and allow changes or additions if new goals or needs appear.

Implementation Phase

After the Design Phase, we have to create a plan that will guide the installation and guarantee that the final result is what the customer requested. At this point we have to configure and test connectivity, Implement the proposed system, demonstrate the functionality of the net, migrate corporate applications, validate network operations and finally train users and support personnel.

Testing the New Network

Testing all or part of a new network solution in a controlled environment helps to identify and resolve any implementation issues before the actual installation. After the issues have been resolved, the responsible staff installs the new solution and integrates it into the existing network. When the installation is complete, additional testing is done.

The Operate Phase

The Operate and Optimize phases are ongoing. They represent the day-to-day operations of a network. The network admins monitor the network and establishes a network baseline. This monitoring helps the company achieve maximum scalability, availability, security and manageability.

The Optimize Phase

Optimizing the network is a continuous process. Its purpose is to improve network performance and reliability by identifying and resolving potential network problems before they happen. Doing this ensures that the business goals and requirements of the company are maintained. Common network problems that could be discovered in the Optimize Phase include: Feature incompatibilities, Insufficient link capacity, Device performance problems when multiple features are enabled.