Infrastructure Design

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 Cabling is very important at this stage.  If your facility has older cabling in place, it's best to ensure cables are at the latest CAT6A standard.  From security controls to cameras and wireless access points, all signals are carried on your cables.  Proper investment here determines the ease of technology integration.   Network devices physically connect and begin transmitting signals at this layer.

All devices are provided with a specific network (IP) address.  If you want to join your friends, you'll need a unique phone number where they can contact you.  It is the same concept with network devices all over the world.  They all require a unique address.  At this layer network devices also determine methods of contact.  Packets from specific sources and with specific destinations are the final product of this layer.

TCP/IP is a statement and an intricate method of communication.  It describes how transport control information is passed on to be wrapped into packets at the network layer.  All of your favorite applications from your Internet browser to your email client have their own numerical designations identifying their type of traffic at this layer.  Finally a transport session between two hosts is established through a very intricate TCP 'handshake' at the transport layer.

We arrive at more familiar territory.  This is where the user interfaces with the network.  Computer applications reside at this layer and all network devices are governed by applications, which gather user data and pass it down to other layers.  Encryption and all raw data reside at this layer.