Have you ever wondered how giant enterprises with multiple locations for offices or stores are connected? Here, the network architect comes into the picture, as they orchestrate an organization's network communication strategy and establish communication between IT resources, giving life to the IT infrastructure.
A network architect is responsible for designing the computer network, Local Area Network (LAN), Wide Area Network (WAN), internet, intranet, and other communication systems. They manage organizational information and network systems. They ensure low network latency and high network performance is available for users to increase their productivity. They establish secure connectivity between user workspaces and the internal network using Virtual Private Network (VPN) connectivity.
The network architect works closely with the infrastructure architect and sometimes you see this as an overlapping role to ensure all IT infrastructures are connected. They work with the security team and design the organization's firewall to protect against unethical attacks. They are responsible for monitoring and protecting the network via packet monitoring, port scanning, and putting an Intrusion Detection System (IDS) and Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) into place. You will learn more about IDS/IPS systems in Chapter 8, Security Considerations.
Overall, a network architect needs to have a good understanding of network strategies, network operations, secure connections using VPN, firewall configuration, network topology, load balance configuration, DNS routing, IT infrastructure connectivity, and so on.