An efficient and cost effective internetworking setup for research and teaching purpose

Melbourne Institute of Technology (MIT) is a leading private educational provider, offering higher education degrees in Information Technology, Computer Networking and Business. It has two campuses, Melbourne and Sydney. Currently there is a significant market demand for computer network design professionals. Cisco certifications are very popular in the networking field. Cisco offers valuable and measurable rewards to network professional from entry level to expert level. These certifications give in-depth knowledge of network plan, design and analysis. Based on the current market demand, MIT is offering undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in the networking field. There are more than 250 students studying in this degree. Based on a literature survey and consultation with networking specialists, MIT planned, designed and implemented a networking laboratory. This paper emphasises an efficient, cost effective internetworking laboratory infrastructure for research and teaching purpose. The proposed networking infrastructure technology solution is proven self-perpetuate, scalable and cost effective. OPNET IT Guru is used to analyse performance in terms of remote login, server load and link utilization. From the analysis, this paper concludes that the planned lab setup is an efficient and cost effective for any educational provider.