The Quality Of The Network

The Quality of the Network

This is the one subject that truly makes me nervous, perhaps because I have gone through the trials and tribulations of setting up and maintaining networks in my workplace. I must admit that technology has improved a great deal over the years, and the quality issue has somewhat settled in the most part, but it was not always that easy. We had to deal with all sort of inconveniences regarding; software, PC equipment, peripherals, physical network design, etc. The combination of all these factors is what ultimately determines the quality of the local area network. There is another huge element involved, which is the bandwidth available. I will cover both aspects throughout this paper, and will analyze some relevant issues regarding the importance of quality of service in general

Selection of Equipment

Quality begins with the selection of the components. These components are not only limited to hardware itself, but the software also plays an important roll in the development of quality in general. In the world of networks, cheap, does not work, no matter how hard we try, so our first order of business is to acquire some well known, top of the line equipment. For this matter, we must develop a deep sense of researching and getting to get familiar with what is out there leading the industry. Who is using what, or how effective and reliable the equipment performs, and what kind of efficiency is being provided in general; should be the dictating rules when choosing components. Where to obtain the equipment is another important factor that seems irrelevant, but as a general rule, we must stay away from those stores that advertise products at unbelievable low prices. I will not dare mentioning the name of any these stores. It would not be appropriate for ethical reasons, but if your electronic component fries within a week after you have purchased it, you must stay away from that store.

Consolidating LAN Quality

One of the most significant improvements in network hardware has been the migration from traditional hubs to switches. In essence, a hub and a switch do the same functions, but they are two different components in technological structure and performance. A switch, guarantees the QoS for higher priority traffic, provides adequate security, gives a better response time, and it prevents more collision and packet losses.