ABSTRACT
For businesses with multiple locations, remote or home users, or integrated communications with specific vendors or partners, the Wide Area Network (WAN) is their lifeblood. Information technology (IT) organizations face pressure to increase WAN productivity, improve application performance, support global collaboration, improve data protection, and minimize costs. WANs enable an organization to have a single network connecting all of its departments and offices, even if they are not all in the same building, city, or even continent. In the increasingly globalized marketplace, WANs have become an integral element of many businesses' networks. The systematic methodology is to provide planning tools for network engineers. The three fundamentals of IT WAN planning are requirements, constraints, and presentation. In the framework of the full planning pattern, the chapter develops the possible best WAN plan: collect key data, investigate and clarify requirements, clarify constraints and relate to requirements, integrate presentation and develop WAN plans and evaluate and accept the best plan.
