Four Major Points: Blueprint Architectural Design for MPLS Fiber 1

Major Points to Building an Enterprise Fiber Network for a Local Government

Based on the “Blueprint Architectural Design on MPLS Fiber”************

By E. Rey Garcia, MPA CandidateSeptember 21, 2015

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV)College of Liberal Arts, Public Affairs & Behavioral Sciences

Public Affairs-AdministrationPAFF 6315 Management of Government Information Systems

This document summarizes the four major key design, development, and operational points of

the Blueprint Architectural Design for the City of Weslaco’s Multiprotocol Label Switching

(MPLS) Fiber Network. This is a joint team effort between the City of Weslaco’s Information

Technology Department and SmartCom Internet of McAllen, Texas.

Four Major Key Design, Development, and Operational Points:

1. Background, System Definitions, & Routing Processes – Identifies the purpose and

mission of the project, the users affected, the design and development team, the benefits of

the fiber network, the relationships between variables, and the characterization of the system,

and the routing processes used to transmit data flow to and from the fiber network.

2. Structure & Framework – Identifies the components of the project, the technical Literature

and Methodology requirements, the key stakeholders, and the technical responsibilities and

requirements of the design and development team. The correlation of the relationships

between the variables involved.

3. Four Layers of Enterprise Architecture – Identifies the (1) Access Layer, which allows

users at remote locations to access data from the primary servers at the central data center.

The fiber network allows the layer of (2) E-Government, the ability to provide a one-stop

Four Major Points: Blueprint Architectural Design for MPLS Fiber 2

for users to access public information. The (3) Business Layer identifies the IT tools to be

used through the existing applications, and the integration of those applications with the fiber

network. Finally, the (4) Infrastructural Layer identifies the technologies used to operate

and manage the fiber network, and the established layout of the foundation for all layers to

function.

4. Five Elements of Enterprise Architecture – After the four key layers are established, the

five elements of design for the enterprise architecture must be met. These are (1) Defining

the Organizational Culture, by creating an awareness campaign and indenting the values

and attitudes of management and employees; (2) Evaluating the Competencies or the

assessment of aptitudes to create responsibilities of the key members involved (IT

Department and SmartCom Internet of McAllen, Texas); (3) Defining the Processes to

develop the scope of the fiber network, and the financial support of management, including

the operational aspects of the project; (4) Define the Technology to assess and measure the

layout of the plan and all facilities being affected, including equipment needed (software and

hardware); and (5) Defining the Framework, how it will affect the organization, the roles of

members, the support of management, the central “Authority” (the IT Department) as the

primary means of communications (both formal and informal) between user and vendor,

building a level of credibility and trust from the organization to the design and developments

team.

In conclusion, the benefits of a robust, state-of-the-art MPLS Fiber Network are evident when

one assess the cost of the project. At half the cost of the old legacy wireless connection, the new

fiber is a bargain. The fiber allows the streamline of interoperable data to a central cloud-based

virtual location, the redundancy of public records, the ease of management of the network by the

Four Major Points: Blueprint Architectural Design for MPLS Fiber 3

IT staff, the experience of no down-time. Finally, the vendor allows for flexibility to adjust the

project specs as needed.

Four Major Points: Blueprint Architectural Design for MPLS Fiber 4

References

MPLS IP VPN - SmartCom Telephone, LLC. (n.d.). Retrieved September 19, 2015, from http://smartcomtelephone.com/business/networking-services/mpls-ip-vpn/

What is MPLS and GMPLS? (n.d.). Retrieved September 19, 2015, from http://www.metaswitch.com/resources/what-is-mpls-and-gmpls

What is Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS)? - Definition from WhatIs.com. (n.d.). Retrieved September 19, 2015, from http://searchenterprisewan.techtarget.com/definition/Multiprotocol-Label-Switching