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If you were hired by the university president as an IT consultant, what would you suggest (technology, infrastructure, innovations, steps, processes, etc) in order for the internet connectivity be improved? (3000words)

Before anything else, let us define first an IT consultant. An IT consultant works in partnership with clients, advising them how to use information technology in order to meet their business objectives or overcome problems. Consultants work to improve the structure and efficiency and of an organization's IT systems.

IT consultants may be involved in a variety of activities, including marketing, project management, client relationship management and systems development.

They may also be responsible for user training and feedback. In many companies, these tasks will be carried out by an IT project team. IT consultants are increasingly involved in sales and business development, as well as technical duties.

hmmmm.... by the way i'm just new in this campus and i'm not yet familiar to the technical facilities of the university... but based on the feedback of my new classmates there is a need for improvement in the IT/IS and i really observed that they are not maximizing the available resources the university....

Increase Signal Strength and Range of the Clients
As with wireless routers, Technicians can also improve the signal strength of wireless clients. They must consider this when dealing with a single Wi-Fi device that suffers from a very short signal range compared to the rest of these devices. This technique can improve the ability of laptop computers to connect to Wi-Fi hotspots, for example.
If I were hired by the the university president as an IT consultant, there lots of factors that we should consider, especially the resources of the university and their capacity to support in their IS/IT in terms of technology, infrastructure, innovations, steps, and processes financially. In improving the IS/IT we should keep in mind on what are the available resources of the university does, primarily it should be maximized.
In the aspect of technology, we all know that everyday technology evolves and it has a consistent change. In determining on what kind of technology, it should not follow on what's the latest trends but on meeting the needs of the university.



Identifying and Meeting Infrastructure Management Challenges
Managing today’s IT infrastructure requires an approach that maintains virtually continuous business operation, provides high levels of security, and reduces operating cost and complexity while increasing IT staff productivity.


Each of these challenges presents IT administrators with unique issues, many of which involve ensuring secure and immediate access to the IT infrastructure.

An effective way to achieve this access is through a console server, which connects the serial console ports of many managed devices to a single appliance. An IT administrator can access any managed device’s console from any location at any time, even when the production network is unavailable. State-of-the-art console servers offer the following features:

Scalability — The ability to manage several servers in high-density racks is beneficial.
Port density — A console server should use a minimum amount of space in a rack to manage all the equipment in that rack.
Reliability — All connectors are located on the same side of the console server; the unit must be rack-mountable; and the unit should require minimum cabling and offer a high level of integration.
Power supply — The console server’s power supply needs to be integrated into the device.
Compatibility — The console server needs to be compatible with all of the IT organization’s servers and network equipment.
Security — Comprehensive support for IT security policies, including multilevel user access control and logging capability, is critical.
Audit capability — The console server needs to log all its activities in order to maintain security and regulatory auditing compliance.
Hardware flexibility — Support for out-of-band management, the ability to connect to more than one LAN, and integration with service processors and intelligent power distribution units (IPDUs) is useful.
Software flexibility — Upgradability helps to take advantage of emerging technologies.
Cost and service — The console server vendor should be committed to a product roadmap in IT infrastructure services.


Maintaining High Availability
Widely dispersed computing resources create an environment that relies on component peak performance for a maximum amount of time. Infrastructure problems, including environmental factors, hardware and operating system errors, power failures, and natural disasters, comprise 20 percent of all unplanned data center downtime.

When the network is operating properly, local or remote access is available through the network (in-band) and standard programs such as SSH and encrypted Web browser sessions. However, if a server or a network router has failed, IT administrators need access to the failed device through an out-of-band mechanism that connects to the device’s serial port and provides low-level control such as hardware self-tests or power cycling.



The Advanced Console Server Solution
ACS advanced console servers provide IT and network operations center staff with the ability to perform secure, remote and out-of-band data center management of IT infrastructure from anywhere in the world. It also offers an Enhanced Security Framework that provides current security profi les and enough fl exibility for IT administrators to create custom security profi les that comply with existing network security policies.

Maximizing Network Availability
Perhaps the single most important objective of today’s IT staff is to ensure that data is available to suppliers and company employees without interruption. Unplanned server or network downtime undermines that objective and causes productivity losses and reduced revenue to every one of the company’s partners. To ensure that an organization’s data and its network are always available, the console server provides both in-band and out-of-
band remote access to servers and other serially connected networked devices. IT access to the console server is available from any location at any time, providing the IT administrator with low-level control of network attached hardware. This control includes hardware self-test, BIOS access, power cycling, and remote rebooting.


Protecting Network Security
The console server integrates with a company’s existing security structure and supports enterprise security policies. It
supports strong user authentication using two-factor authentication with RSA SecurID and device authentication using certifi cates and a host key. The console server is compatible with virtually all authentication servers, including RADIUS, LDAP, Active Directory, TACACS+, Kerberos, and NIS protocols. Supported authorization methods include local access control lists or server-based group authorization through Active Directory, LDAP, TACACS+, or RADIUS. The console server also supports role-based authorization, and maintains both remote and local data and event logs and audit trials. It supports data encryption and secure out-of-band dial-up access through ISDN modem.

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