Review Chapter 4 : IT Infrastructure : Hardware and Software

COMPUTER HARDWARE

Infrastructure Components

IT infrastructure consists of the shared technology resources that provide the platform for the firm’s specific information system applications. Major IT infrastructure components include : computer hardware, software, data management technology, networking and telecommunications technology, and technology services.

Types Of Computers

Computers come in different sizes with varying capabilities for processing information.

• FLOPS (Floating point operations per second) [long division] – range from 500 FLOPS for handheld to a trillion for supercomputers.

• PDAs, handheld mobile devices

• PCs

• Workstation: More powerful mathematical and graphics-processing capabilities than a PC

• Servers  :Type of midrange computer, support computer network, sharing files and resources, provide hardware platform for e-commerce.

• Mainframes : Large-capacity, high-performance computer that can process large amounts of data very rapidly, e.g., used by airlines for thousands of reservations per second.

• Supercomputer : More sophisticated computer used for tasks requiring extremely rapid and complex calculations with thousands of variables, millions of measurements; and used in engineering, scientific simulations, military/weapons research, weather forecasting.

• Grid computing : Power of geographically remote computers connected into single network to act as “virtual supercomputer”

• Client/server computing : Form of distributed computing; splits processing between “clients” and “servers”; clients: User point of entry; servers: Store and process shared data and perform network management activities; two-tiered client/server architecture : Uses two types of machines; multitiered client/server architecture (N-tier) : Balances load of network over several levels of servers, e.g., Web servers and application servers.

Storage,  Input, And Output Technology 

• Primary secondary  storage technologies
• Magnetic disk: Hard drives, USB flash drives; RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks): a technology that package hundreds of drives into a single, large unit for massage data delivery and storage requirements
• Optical disks : CD-ROM, CD-RW, DVD
• Magnetic tape
• Storage networking: SANs : Connect multiple storage devices on a separate high-speed network dedicated to storage
• Input devices:

Gather data and convert them into electronic form : Keyboard, Computer mouse, Touch screen, Optical character recognition, Magnetic ink character recognition, Pen-based input, Digital scanner, Audio input, Sensors.

• Output devices:

Display data after they have been processed. Output devices : Monitor, Printer, Audio output, etc.

Information systems collect and process information in one of two ways

o    Batch processing: Transactions stored for predefined amount of time, then processed as group

o    Online processing: Transactions processed immediately

Contemporary Hardware Trends

• Integration of computing  and telecommunications platforms

o    Cell phones merging with handhelds

o    Growth of Internet telephony

• Nanotechnology : Creating computer chips and other devices thousands of times smaller through manipulating individual atoms, molecules
• Edge computing
• Multitier, load-balancing scheme for Web-based applications
• Significant parts of Web site content, logic, and processing performed by smaller, less expensive servers located nearby the user
• Increases response time and resilience and lowers technology costs
• Autonomic computing
• Development of systems that can configure themselves, heal themselves; e.g., self-updating antivirus software.
• Virtualization 
• Process of presenting a set of computing resources so they can be accessed in ways that are unrestricted by physical configuration or geographic location
• Server virtualization: Running more than one operating system at the same time on single machine.
• Multicore processors
• Integrated circuit with two or more processors
• Enhanced performance, reduced power consumption and more efficient simultaneous processing of multiple tasks
• The  software that  manages and controls the computer’s activities
• PC operating systems and graphical user interfaces
• GUIs
• Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows Server 2003
• UNIX
• Linux: Open-source software

COMPUTER  SOFTWARE

Operating  System Software 

• The software that  manages and controls the computer’s activities
• PC operating systems and graphical user interfaces : GUIs, Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows Server 2003, UNIX, Linux: Open-source software

Application  Software and Desktop  Productivity Tools 

• Application programming  languages for business : COBOL, C, C++, Visual Basic: Visual programming language.
• Fourth-generation languages : Software tools that enable end-users to develop software applications and tend to be nonprocedural, may use natural languages.

Software packages and desktop productivity tools : Word processing software, spreadsheet software, data management software, presentation graphics, software suites, web browsers.

Software For The Web: Java,  AJAX, And HTML 

• Java : Operating system-independent, processor-independent, object-oriented programming language
• AJAX : Allows a client and server to exchange data behind the scenes to avoid reloading a Web page after each change
• Hypertext markup language (HTML) :  Page description language for specifying how elements are placed on a Web page and for creating links to other pages and objects

Web  Services : software components that exchange information with each other using universal Web communication standards and languange.

o    XML (extensible markup language)

§  SOAP (simple object access protocol)

§  WSDL (web services description language)

§  UDDI (universal description, discovery, and integration)

o    Service oriented architecture (SOA) – a set of self-contained services that communicate with each other to create a working software application

Software Trends 

• Open Source software 
• Ubuntu – an alternative to Microsoft desktop products
• Cloud Computing – Web-based apps stored and accessed via the “cloud” of the Internet
• Google Apps, Windows Live
• Mashups – software components that users used to create their own customized apps
• ChicagoCrime.org – combines Google Maps with crime data
• Widgets – small software programs that can be added to Web pages to provide additional functionality, e.g., Flixter
• Apple Dashboard

MANAGING HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGY 

• Capacity planning
• Process of predicting when hardware system becomes saturated
• Ensuring firm has enough computing power for current and future needs
• Factors include:
• Maximum number of users
• Impact of current, future  software
• Performance measures
• Scalability: Ability of system to expand to serve large number of users without breaking down
• Total Cost of  Ownership (TCO) model
• Used to analyze direct and indirect costs to help determine the actual cost of owning a specific technology
• Direct costs: hardware, software purchase costs
• Indirect costs: Ongoing administration costs, upgrades, maintenance, technical support, training, utility and real estate costs
• Hidden costs: Support staff, downtime, additional network management
• TCO can be reduced through increased centralization, standardization of hardware and software resources
• Using technology  service providers
• Outsourcing
• Using external provider to:
• Run networks
• Host, manage Web site(s)
• Develop software (offshore software outsourcing)
• Manage IT infrastructures
• Requires Service Level Agreements (SLAs)
• Using technology  service providers
• On-demand computing (utility computing)
• Firms off-loading peak demand for computing power to remote, large-scale data processing centers
• software as a Service (SaaS)
• Firms rent software functions from Web-based services, with users paying either on a subscription or per-transaction basis
• Managing  software localization for global business
• Local language interfaces
• English not typically standard at middle, lower levels
• Interfaces are complex: Menu bars, error messages, online forms, search results, etc.
• Differences in local cultures
• Differences in business processes
• All of these factors add to TCO of using technology service providers