- As part of the formal assessment for the programme you are required to submit a Current Trends in Networking assignment. Please refer to your Student Handbook for full details of the programme assessment scheme and general information on preparing and submitting assignments.
Scenario
The Orkney Islands lie 10 miles off the north east corner of Scotland and are an archipelago of approximately 70 islands covering 990 km2, of which 20 islands are inhabited. The exact number of islands depends on what you define as an island and what you define as a rock – the colloquial definition is that it is an island if you can keep a sheep on it for a year! The population of Orkney is approximately 20,000, with about 15,000 of these living on the largest island (known as Mainland). The largest population centres of Kirkwall (~8,500) and Stromness (~2,200) are both on mainland. The remainder of the population is scattered across the islands in small villages and isolated properties. Historically the mainstays of the economy have been crofting (small scale farming) and fishing. More recently the development of North Sea Oil has provided employment and income to the islands, mainly through the oil terminal on Flotta. There is also a developing tourist industry largely based on the many archaeological sites and unique wildlife of the islands. However, changes in farming and fishing along with doubts over the long term future of the North Sea Oil supply mean that alternative employment opportunities are necessary.
There are currently Internet connections to the main population centres but these are very variable. Some are modern high speed links via SHEFA-2 but others are rather slow and unreliable. More remote areas of Mainland and some of the more remote islands have difficulty getting any connection at all and some still rely on dial-up links. This limits the opportunities for modern e-commerce solutions and the development of on-line businesses. It even impacts tourism as more people research and book their holidays on line.
