Whether you are setting up a new business or office or making huge changes to your growing business empire, a new plan to develop a solid IT network infrastructure is required as the individual units that make up your business are crucial for smooth operation of any business. It is not just how each computer unit works, but how they all work together and how they are connected. This is what the network governs and planning it right will ensure optimal and safe performance.

Below are a few tips that will help you plan your new IT network infrastructure:

Decide what Network Topology fits your Needs and Building Layout

There are many different ways in setting up a network for IT usage. Each network has their own advantages and disadvantages and some others can be more advantageous in certain room or building layouts. Analyze these factors and weigh them in with the kind of features you need in a network. Common networks use the star topology including the IT businesses that adopt structured cabling systems. Who knows? You might even need to incorporate wireless capabilities in the network when things get messy. Draw diagrams or use CAD software to help get the idea of the network to avoid backtracking.

Fulfil the Requirements of the Network

Once you have decided on which network to use, you will need to identify and fulfil the requirements of the network for it to function correctly. This includes the basics of networking like IP assignments and answers to simple questions like, whether or not the network will use public or private IP addresses, how IP addresses will be assigned to the client, units and if multiple subnets are required. The best way to plan for this step is to use network simulator software.

Optimizing the Network Performance

After you did all the network IP assignments and find that everything is working, you can proceed to optimizing the performance for faster operations and more reliable computing as a whole. If you chose the right topology, you may need to do very little here. This involves basic TCP/IP tweaking such as setting the Maximum Transmission Units, Maximum Segment Sizes and other packet settings. The objective is to cater to your bandwidth limitations and squeeze as much performance on your network as possible.

Take Security into Consideration

Now that you planned how optimized your network is, you should then put security into the picture. Normally security measures sacrifice network performance, but if you optimized the network to the best as possible, there should be room for a little bit of degradation to give way to security. This should be taken very seriously especially on the larger networks that have lots of sensitive data. Not only security from hackers and viruses, but also stable measures to avoid data loss and corruption. You need to make sure your network runs stable and that minimal problems arise to avoid time loss on troubleshooting.

A well-planned network can immediately go to work after you start executing your plans. Don’t forget to test everything and make sure the network runs properly so you can switch to the live environment and launch your new IT network infrastructure.