Current Trends in Networking Assignment

Scenario

Rubha Reidh (means Red Point in the local Gaelic language, sometimes seen spelt Rua Reidh and pronounced “roo-a ree”) is a remote lighthouse on the west coast of Scotland. The lighthouse itself is now automated (as are all lighthouses in the UK) and the original keeper’s cottage is now run as a bed & breakfast holiday guest house. This is a VERY remote location. The nearest place on the map is Melvaig, which is just a camp site and an Inn. The nearest place with a shop is Gairlock, 12 miles (20km) away. Gairlock is so small that it does not have a Wikipedia entry! Oddly, Rubha Reidh itself does have a Wikipedia entry, so you can look it up. There is also a web site for the guest house, so you can search for that as well. The UK post code for Rubha Reidh is IV21 2EA. You may need this post code during your research. You can use it on mapping web sites such as maps.google.com and www.streetmap.co.uk to find the location. The places named here also come up in normal searches, with links to various local information.

Like any modern holiday accommodation, Rubha Reidh need to provide Internet access for their guests. However, given the remoteness of the location, this is obviously going to be a challenge. Your assignment is to determine how to provide an Internet connection to this location.

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Requirements

You are to provide a report for the owners of Rubha Reidh that explains the options available to provide high speed and reliable Internet connections to their location.

You should produce a formal report that outlines a suitable range of connection technologies that could be used for this location. You MUST focus on this location. Consider the problems that this location presents and how the technologies resolve those problems. You need to make recommendations for this location and clearly justify these recommendations.

You need to cover the entire backhaul connection route from the premises to a major Internet backbone. You do not need to discuss local distribution of the Internet connection at the premises. i.e. do not discuss LAN technologies.

You should research the connection technologies that are currently available to Rubha Reidh using the various web sites that provide such information. You should also consider novel connection technologies that are not commonly used but may be appropriate for this location.