| Background.
When designing wireless services it is important to have some sort of
overall process involved to help make sure everything that is important
is accomplished appropriately. I am primarily working from the
Wheat and Hiser source. While they work for Lucent designing and
implementing wireless networks, I still have my concerns about the
processes and approaches they use in their book. But, it still
seems to give the best overall picture of most of the major issues
involved. Thus I will use an outline approach,
with many other things filled in beyond what is normal for an outline.
This step will be quite broad in its brush strokes. Refinements
will be done in subsequent sections.
- Conducting the Preliminary Investigation
- assess the network that is already in place
- usually this will be some sort of
10/100BaseT Ethernet
- what are the impetuses for change?
- obtain floor plans
- make sure you really know state of existing
facility
- note plans for structural
changes/improvements
- understand anticipated personnel moves
- remember you are developing a
three-dimensional network design
- Analyze the Existing Environment
- this allows much more focus on the actual
existing network
- this allows much more focus on the actual
existing building
- this allows much more focus on the actual
existing issues/services
- document network and system dependencies
- interdependencies between
- network elements
- security
- management systems
- billing and accounting systems
- other services
- what are their physical locations?
- what are their logical locations?
- where will users access the wireless systems?
- Create a Preliminary Design
- the more reality based the better, but this is
still preliminary
- location of user groups and their appropriate
services
- consider location of existing equipment
- what are mobility requirements for wireless
users?
- implications for additional hardware
- cost estimates
- new process flows and their interactions with
existing
- Finalize a Detailed Design
- integrate customer feedback on the preliminary
design
- feature/service functionality
- actually create the BOM - Bill of Materials
- software
- hardware
- upgrades
- if the preliminary design is quite far along this
stage will require less
- Execute the Implementation
- installing
- configuring
- testing
- work very hard to minimize impact on the existing
network and its users
- timing
- work out some issues in small sections first
- prototypes
- hopefully you have the option of building and
testing somewhat independently of the existing network
- usually best to add implementation in a building
block fashion rather than all at once.
- Documentation
- really needs to occur all throughout the process
- should be iterating the documentation development
as process goes along
- develop
- instructional materials
- manuals
- troubleshooting references
- keep logs of devices, even wiring
More Detail.
So far we have really only looked at the big picture and large steps with
not much defining detail. While this is still
all quite hand wavy to me, we will at least get into somewhat more
depth in the following outline.
- Creating the Network Plan
- Gathering the Requirements
- these are the basis for formulating the
architecture and design
- if a particular requirement is missed early
on the implications can be farreaching
- make sure to meet for verifications on these
- Business Requirements
- budget
- time frame
- impact on existing network
- outages during transitions
- maintenance window
- Regulatory Issues
- some wireless or wired network
options require licensing
- Service Offerings
- this is the primary justification
for the design of a new network or enhancements to
an existing network
- Service Levels
- CIR -
Committed Information Rate
- SLA - Service
Level Agreement
- what are the customer's
expectations on the levels of services?
- Customer Base
- who are the intended end
users?
- what are their anticipated
services and applications?
- what are the anticipated
traffic patterns?
- Operations Management,
Provisioning and Administration Requirements
- how will the network
impact these job functions
- is any training required?
- Technical Requirements
- preferred vendors
- make-or-buy?
- what and who is
providing particular capabilities?
- management system
requirements
- Additional
Information
- Baselining the Existing
Network
- provide an accurate picture of the existing
situation
- basis for how the new design will interface/interact
with existing network
- Business Processes
- Network Architecture
- IP Addressing
- Network Equipment
- Utilization/Overutilization
- Bandwidth
- Growth
- Performance
- Traffic Patterns
- Applications
- Site Identification/Surveys
- Cost Analysis
- Analyzing Competitive Practices
- benchmark
- best practices
- what will help with competitive edge
- Beginning the Operations Planning
- daily operations of the telecommunications
infrastructure
- identify all of the key elements for the operations
system
- develop the client's needs
- Pre-order
- Order Management
- Provisioning
- Billing
- Maintenance
- Repair
- Customer Care
- if not planning on offering any new services with the
new design you can skip this step
- Gap Analysis
- a comparison of the existing network to the future
requirements
- helps develop the plan to bridge the gap
- the documented results should demonstrate at least
the following
- baseline
- future requirements
- gap analysis
- alternative technology plans
- plan of action
- once such an analysis is reviewed, iterated and
accepted it is much more possible to create a time frame
- Create a Technology Plan
- identify the technology that will enable the
business goals to be accomplished
- primary plan
- alternative plans
- identify the following
- types of equipment
- transport
- protocols
- short term focus
- long term considerations
- understand the
- present
- migrations
- future technology plans
- some of the more important steps are
- business assessment
- future requirements analysis
- current network assessment
- identify technology trends and options
- map technology to customer needs
- this plan doesn't contains specific details
about how the network will operate - it will identify the
technologies that will enable the network
- Create an Integration Plan
- this specifies what systems will be
integrated and where and how
- specifies appropriate levels of testing
- specifies steps involved in implementing the
integration
- Begin the Collocation Plan
- if some of the equipment must be located off
premises then collocation agreements must be made
- for example wireless bridges between
leased buildings likely require equipment on the rooftops
- Perform a Risk Analysis
- identify the risks for the client and/or
their prospective clients
- present these risks to the client
- typical to develop a risk/return matrix with
- risks on horizontal axis
- returns on vertical
- usually put higher risks more towards the
upper right and lower risks more towards the lower corner
- Create an Action Plan
- Prepare the Planning Deliverables
- gather and organize all information and
documentation developed in these phases and put them into a
deliverable document
- can be considered as a sanity checkpoint
- some of the important items to be included
- requirements document
- current environment analysis
- industry practice analysis
- operations plan
- gap analysis
- technology plan
- collocation plan
- risk analysis
- action plan
- The Network
Architecture/High Level Developments
- this is a
conceptual design rather than a more
detailed design
- Review and Validate the Planning phase
- make sure everyone is on board with where things are
going
- Create a High Level Topology
- this consists of the logical architecture of the
network
- should also describe the functions required to
implement a network
- should also describe the relationships between these
functions
- for example, how will users be authenticated
- will not contain details such as specific hardware
- some of the main components are
- logical network diagrams
- functional network diagrams
- radio frequency topology
- call/data flows
- functional connectivity to resources
- wireless network topology
- Create a Collocation Architecture
- once the overall collocation plan has been developed
it is vital to develop a more detailed architecture
- this architecture should be included as part of the
overall requirements package sent to vendors for bids on locations
- information to include in the requirements includes
- power requirements (watts)
- amperage requirements
- voltage values (AC and DC)
- BTUs dissipated by the equipment
- equipment and cabinet quantities and dimensions
- equipment weights
- equipment drawings (front, side, top and back)
- environmental requirements
- this information is important in order to submit an
RFI - Request for Information or an
RFP - Request for Proposal to
vendors
- the client needs to make sure they give enough
information to get an adequate and informed response from the vendors,
but they also need to be careful to not give away information that can
be used by competitors
- Define the High Level
Services
- what services does the client expect to provide to
its customers?
- these should match up with those presented in the
risk analysis portion
- Creating a High Level Physical Design
- now we finally define the physical locations and
types of equipment to be used
- though it doesn't yet specify specific brands or
models
- it does specify functional components such as
routers, layer2 switches and so on
- this also makes use of the
RF - Radio Frequency topology
- Define the Operations Services
- what functionalities are required within each
operations discipline?
- pre-order
- order management
- provisioning
- billing
- maintenance
- repair
- customer care
- ?
- Create a High Level Operating Model
- how will the network be managed?
- how will the network be maintained?
- how will the new network management system
interoperate with the existing management systems?
- make sure to leverage technical abilities to optimize
delivery of management information
- make sure to consider manageability, ease of
troubleshooting of sufficiently high quality
- identify expectations and responsibilities
- Evaluate the Products
- make sure to match products with customer/client
needs
- responses to RFI/RFP will be evaluated
- evaluate which vendor(s) best fit the needs of the
client
- some important factors
- requirements satisfaction
- cost
- vendor relationship
- vendor stability
- support options
- interoperability with other devices
- product availability
- manufacturing/delivery lag time
- future directions
- Create an Action Plan
- what is necessary in order to move further?
- bridge gaps between the architectural developments
and the actual design
- rectify problems identified during architecture
phases
- create a project plan
- establish equipment and/or circuit delivery dates
- Create the Network Architecture Deliverables
- gather and organize all the documents developed so
far
- these might be made available in a variety of ways
such as
- master document
- CD-ROM
- web page
- it is also important to include deliverables from the
planning phase
- as new things are developed they should be added
- Formalize the Detailed
Design
- last step before
implementation begins
- fills in more
details on architecture/high level
phase
- Review and Validate
the Network Architecture
- make sure all
functionality is included
- Create the Detailed
Topology
- this builds on
earlier high level topology
- adds information
to earlier efforts such as
- devices and
device connectivity
- data/voice
flows and service levels
- traffic
volume
- traffic
engineering
- number of
subscribers
- IP addressing
- routing
topology
- types of
technology
- locations of
devices
- data link
types
- bandwidth
requirements
- protocols
- wireless
topology
- this is still a
functional design, not a physical
design
- make sure there
are adequate detailed drawings
- Create Detailed
Service Collocation Design
- this builds on
the collocations architecture/high
level design
- make sure of the
following as well as other
-
NEBS -
Network Equipment Building
Standards compliance
- Facilities
- Cabling
- once completed
this can be submitted to the
vendor(s)
- Create the Detailed
Services
- documents
specific services the client intends
to offer to its customers
- this builds on
the services determined at earlier
phases
- service
definition
- service
name
-
description
- features
and benefits
- SLAs
- service
management
- functionality
- configuration
parameters
- access
options
- third party
equipment requirements
- service
provisioning
- network
engineering
- customer
engineering
- service
options
- it's important to
determine
- when services
will be available?
- how services
will be offered?
- how will
services interface with the
network?
- Create a Detailed
Physical Design
- builds on the
high level/architectural design
- include these
sorts of details
- equipment
model
- cabling
details
- rack details
- environment
requirements
- physical
location of devices
- detailed RF
design
- this design
builds on the following
- high level
physical design
- detailed
topology
- detailed
service collocation
- product
evaluation
- site survey
details
- Create a Detailed
Operations Design
- this builds on
the high level/architectural
operations design
- some of the
results of this step include
- vendor
products
- identify
technical requirements
- identify
support requirements
- determine
costs
- major steps in
this phase include
- develop the
system management design
- develop
services design
- develop
functional architecture
- develop
operations physical architecture
analysis and design
- develop data
architecture
- develop OSS
network architecture
- develop
computer platform and physical
facilities design
- this is completed
when documented and reviewed
- sometimes the
operations network is completely
separate or very small
- Create a Detailed
Operating Model Design
- describe the
operating model that will optimize
network management
- this builds on
the previous high
level/architectural operating model
- need to answer as
many of the following questions as
possible
- Which
organizations will support what
products and services?
- How will each
organization support what
products and services?
- Who is
responsible for specific tasks?
- How do the
different organizations
interact?
- How long will
a support person work with an
issue before escalating it?
- How will an
escalation take place?
- Which
procedures will be automated?
- What tools
are available to which
organization?
- What security
changes are required?
- depending on the
size of the network, the management
network may be integrated into the
main network or it can be its own
network
- it might run
on a single network manager's
desktop
- it might
involve a 24HR NOC - Network
Operations Center
- on larger
networks this will require
its own separate design
- Create a Training
Plan
- interview/survey
entire staff
- create a skills
matrix on capabilities to manage the
new network
- Develop a Maintenance
Plan
- how will
maintenance and operations take
place once the new network is
operational?
- also needs to
consider skill set and training
needs
- Develop an
Implementation Plan
- include things
such as
- timelines
- impacts on
existing network
- cost
- Create the Detailed
Design Documents
- These should be a
summarized section of all
documentation developed so far
- How should it be
delivered?
- CD-ROM
- single
document
- web site
- Finalize the
Implementation
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