An architect prepares a network design for a startup company. The design must be able to meet business requirements while the business grows and divests due to rapidly changing markets. What is the…

Scalability ensures the network can accommodate increases in users, sites, and traffic during growth phases and can be reduced during divestitures without an architectural overhaul. Because the business requirements are explicitly described as rapidly and unpredictably changing, the network must resize dynamically in both directions, making scalability the overriding design priority above any specific topology characteristic.

Modularity is a design technique that enables scalability but is a means to achieve it rather than the primary business-driven requirement when the core concern is adapting to change.

A dedicated core is a specific topology element that improves performance and stability at scale but does not by itself address the need to rapidly resize the network in response to business changes.

Hierarchical design provides structure and manageability but does not directly address the need to scale up or down quickly as market conditions shift.