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Modularity

"Divide each difficulty into as many parts as is feasible and necessary to resolve it."

- Rene Descartes

Modularity refers to creating a network in small building blocks or modules such that each module performs a certain function. The idea is to simplify the design process and create small parts of the network that can be designed independently of each other. The only important thing to define in a modular network design is how would the different modules interact with each other and which would be the interfaces and protocols that would connect the different modules?

Building a modular network provides the flexibility to pull in subject matter experts for different domains to build individual modules and an overall architect who defines the interactions between the various modules so that the network can function cohesively as a whole.

From an operational perspective, modularity simplifies network troubleshooting, as it becomes easier to identify which module is causing a problem or needs optimization. Furthermore, the identified module can be redesigned or optimized independently of the other modules, as long as the functional specifications of the interconnectivity with the other modules do not change. Hence, modularity of network design provides the flexibility to efficiently change the network design at minimal risk to meet the changing business demands.

This approach is very helpful in network design and we will drill down deep into this in the next chapter.