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Most organizations are experiencing rapid growth in data communications. New technologies, by making new business applications commercially viable, are fueling this growth. In addition, many new applications are shifting the patterns of network loading. If networks are to stay ahead of this wave of growth and change, capacity planning is vital.
Capacity planning for voice networks is usually done by reviewing past usage, as this is a fairly reliable indication of future requirements. This is not a safe technique for data networks, however. The increase in data traffic is often from new usages and new services. Furthermore, this increase is becoming more and more rapid. Many organizations are discovering that data traffic is poised to overtake voice in its demands for bandwidth.
Over the next few years, facing mounting costs and competitive pressures, many more organizations will turn to IT for help in maintaining revenues and profitability. The telecommunications network is vital in providing access for the organization's personnel, customers, and suppliers to its IT services.
Telecommunication managers carry the responsibility for delivering this service. An inadequate network can mean low productivity, lost business, and reduced profits. Therefore, in order to support business goals, the successful organization should plan and manage the capacity of the network and establish network performance and availability service targets.
This article discusses network capacity and performance, and describes a practical approach to network capacity planning.
WHY NETWORK CAPACITY PLANNING?
Network capacity planning is an iterative process. It establishes the current usage of a network through monitoring, and predicts the required capacity to support future requirements through planning. When required, network design is implemented when capacity exceeds its available supply.
The reason for doing capacity planning is simple. Its purpose is to forecast when the "system" will no longer be able to deliver the required service. Forecasting must be done at a point early enough however, to allow sufficient time for the planning, budgeting, and implementation of required upgrades. Figure 1 illustrates this concept. (Figure 1 omitted)
Traditionally, capacity planning is a process that has been applied to important investments such as mainframes and voice networks. These systems and their processes are generally well understood,and have become almost routine. In the same way, most data networks have grown significantly in...