Proposed home network
With cost of technology becoming cheaper, readily available seamless integration of hardware and software technology is making creation of a smart home a reality for many families and home owners. This document is intended to help in preparing and making a smart home. The sections covered will be cost of the IT infrastructure, types of hardware utilized, security of all private material, expandability, and upgrade potential, and software to be used within a budget of $5,000.
Besides, the document will present adjustments that can be made to the network with an additional $2,000. The proposed complete home network will be modeled on a platform called the BCM with full home automation that employs speech recognition. The BCM home automation and security will able to provide the following services.
- Monitored home security
- Full home automation
- Wi-Fi and web access to home system
- Voice activation of the system
Hardware to build/purchase and justification
Many forms of computer systems and portable devices will be utilized. Specifically, Smartphone, a desktop computer, cable, home theater, whole home audio, and phone intercom system will be considered for use in the button key fob and Smartphone based network. The use of Smartphone and proximity single button key fobs will be ideal for the backup for personal home use.
Most people today carry a Smartphone, and there are “apps’ designed to be used with home security and home automation hardware. Proximity key fob is a useful tool; if the home owner does not like Smartphone. The home user can choose to use Smartphone with an associated ‘app’, designed to be user friendly.
These apps can control any devises in a home, for instance, turning on and off security system, turning on and off light, opening and closing garage door, and remoter viewing security camera(s) (Checkland, 2007).
BCM home automation and security will provide the customer with state-of-the-art hardware that will incorporate home automation with the security system. BCM’s exclusive and innovative home-automated hard drive is loaded with all of the proprietary software that is required to integrate the monitored home security system, voice activation, home automation, and video feeds into one complete system.
This integration of software allows for customization and expandability of the system for a customer. The hard drive is the essential backbone of the networked home that utilizes a secured router to access the network for monitoring and external control of the system.
The BCM allows the customers the flexibility of providing their own router for the entire home network. For added protection in the event of power failure or malicious activities, the BCM provides a wireless back up that utilize the cellular network to maintain security of a home (Checkland, 2007).
Cost of home network
The total cost of a home security and home automation infrastructure must be evaluated, especially if the home owner is on a budget. Several companies sell Add-In systems, which offer a base setup that can be added later if needed. A home owner who is building a home with a limited budget has to plan for the most cost effective and reliable home network against the constraint of resources.
In relation to the limited budget of $5,000, the spreadsheet below summarizes the distribution of different costs involved in developing the complete home network. The chart below, from dummies.com, shows the average prices of different hardware and software for home network.
(Source: Briere, 2014)
From the dummies.com website, the cost of complete home network security ranges from $4,950 to more than $292,000, depending on hardware and software specifications and area coverage. Since the budget of $5,000 falls within the first option, the proposed home network will be done at cost of $4,950 (Briere, 2014).
Approach for backing up the devises
To ensure a safe and reliable service to the customers, the BCM will provide a network of multiple data centers, utilizing DNS with Anycast routing with DDOS mitigation protocols. The organization of the devises is determined to employ a multiple data points for reasons including redundancy of the centralized data center for backup, comprehensive disaster recovery plan, and fault tolerance (O’Brien & Marakas, 2012).
The use of the multiple data centers also allows for future expansion and upgraded capabilities without have to incur the cost of new equipment. To ensure safe and reliable service to the customer, Anycast routing is used with the DNS infrastructure to provide load balancing, redundancy, decreased latency, a response to denial of service (DoS), and distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks (O’Brien & Marakas, 2012).
An encrypted link using SSL, as a security protocol, establishes the relationship between the server and client (Briere, 2014). The networking provided will ensure for a safe, reliable, secure, and simplistic application for the homeowners.
It is of the upmost importance to protect and ensure the client’s information is secure and protected. The use of the numerous security layers safeguards the clients and the organization against cyber-attacks and privacy. The information and data of the clients and company is stored and complied on full disk encrypted remote data center within the home.
This layer provides for fault tolerance, redundancy, and security. The multiple data center network also provides for system back-up and restoration features that would not be possible with a centralized system. This also confirms the privacy and security of vital data will not be lost.
Changes within additional budget of $2,000
With an additional $2,000, I will improve the security system by installing the upgraded addition layer of securing the network through integrating the Anycast routing in conjunction with the DNS infrastructure to provide a response to denial of service (DoS) and distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks (O’Brien & Marakas, 2012). This will cost $2,000 as indicated in the dummies.com website. Besides, the system will offer additional backup memory of up to 30 terabytes.
The Anycast DNS infrastructure combination provides for health checking of the system, while maintaining TTL’s for fast fall over, and directing users to active data center as solutions to any redundancy issue. If the system is compromised, Anycast routing will provide new IP routes to assist to alleviate DoS or DDoS attacks. The implementation of the SSL provides a secured means for clients to access the system as well as to monitor security of the home.
References
Briere, D. (2014). Smart homes for dummies. Web.
Checkland, P. (2007). Systems thinking, systems practice. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.
O’Brien, J., & Marakas, G. (2012). Introduction to information systems-Loose Leaf (16th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.