Although a top-down approach is preferred to the bottom-up method, both have associated advantages and disadvantages. The lists below take a look at some of the relative advantages and disadvantages of each method.
Top-down Network Design:
Advantages: Begins with a focus on an organization’s specific goals and requirements for network applications and services, while allowing potential future needs to be considered and accounted for.
Disadvantages: Requires thorough initial needs analysis in order to determine specific requirements, and ensure that all possible applications and services have been considered.
Bottom-up Network Design:
Advantages: Generally a faster approach based on past projects and implementations that works within an existing environment.
Disadvantages: The approach may not take all necessary applications and services into consideration, leading to a design that ultimately may not meet the needs of an organization, and may need to be redesigned in the future.
