What is IT infrastructure and what are its components?
Define IT infrastructure from both a technology and a services perspective.
· Technical perspective is defined as the shared technology resources that provide the platform for the firm’s specific information system applications. It consists of a set of physical devices and software applications that are required to operate the entire enterprise.
· Service perspective is defined as providing the foundation for serving customers, working with vendors, and managing internal firm business processes. In this sense, IT infrastructure focuses on the services provided by all the hardware and software. IT infrastructure is a set of firm-wide services budgeted by management and comprising both human and technical capabilities.
List and describe the components of IT infrastructure that firms need to manage.
Students may wish to use Figure 5-10 to answer the question. IT infrastructure today is composed of seven major components.
· Internet Platforms – Apache, Microsoft IIS, .NET, UNIX, Cisco, Java
· Computer Hardware Platforms – Dell, IBM, Sun, HP, Apple, Linux machines
· Operating Systems Platforms – Microsoft Windows, UNIX, Linux, Mac OS X
· Enterprise Software Applications – (including middleware), SAP, Oracle, PeopleSoft, Microsoft, BEA
· Networking/Telecommunications – Microsoft Windows Server, Linux, Novell, Cisco, Lucent, Nortel, MCI, AT&T, Verizon
· Consultants and System Integrators – IBM/KPMG, EDS, Accenture
· Data Management and Storage – IBM DB2, Oracle, SQL Server, Sybase, MySQL, EMC Systems
2. What are the stages and technology drivers of IT infrastructure evolution?
List each of the eras in IT infrastructure evolution and describe its distinguishing characteristics.
Five stages of IT infrastructure evolution include:
· General-purpose mainframe and minicomputer era (1959 to present): consists of a mainframe performing centralized processing that could be networked to thousands of terminals and eventually some decentralized and departmental computing using networked minicomputers.
· Personal computer era (1981 to present): dominated by the widespread use of standalone desktop computers with office productivity tools.
· Client/server era (1983 to present): consists of desktop or laptop clients networked to more powerful server computers that handle most of the data management and processing.
· Enterprise computing era (1992 to present): defined by large numbers of PCs linked together into local area networks and growing use of standards and software to link disparate networks and devices into an enterprise-wide network so that information can flow freely across the organization.
· Cloud computing era (2000 to present): a model of computing where firms and individuals obtain computing power and software applications over the Internet, rather than purchasing their won hardware and software.
Define and describe the following: Web server, application server, multitiered client/server architecture.
· Web server: software that manages requests for Web pages on the computer where they are stored and that delivers the page to the user’s computer.
· Application server: software that handles all application operations between browser-based computers and a company’s back-end business applications or databases.
· Multitiered client/server architecture: client/server network in which the work of the entire network is balanced over several different levels of servers.
Describe Moore’s Law and the Law of Mass Digital Storage
· Moore’s Law: the number of components on a chip with the smallest manufacturing costs per component (generally transistors) had doubled each year. Moore later reduced the rate of growth to a doubling every two years.
· Law of Mass Digital Storage: the amount of digital information is roughly doubling every year. Almost all of this information growth involves magnetic storage of digital data, and printed documents account for only 0.003 percent of the annual growth. The cost of storing digital information is falling at an exponential rate of 100 percent a year.
Both of these concepts explain developments that have taken place in computer processing, memory chips, storage devices, telecommunications and networking hardware and software, and software design that have exponentially increased computing power while exponentially reducing costs.
Describe how network economics, declining communication costs, and technology standards affect IT infrastructure.
Network economics: Metcalfe’s Law helps explain the mushrooming use of computers by showing that a network’s value to participants grows exponentially as the network takes on more members. As the number of members in a network grows linearly, the value of the entire system grows exponentially and theoretically continues to grow forever as members increase.
Declining communication costs: Rapid decline in costs of communication and the exponential growth in the size of the Internet is a driving force that affects the IT infrastructure. As communication costs fall toward a very small number and approach zero, utilization of communication and computing facilities explodes.
Technology standards: Growing agreement in the technology industry to use computing and communication standards. Technology standards unleash powerful economies of scale and result in price declines as manufacturers focus on the products built to a single standard. Without economies of scale, computing of any sort would be far more expensive than is currently the case.
3. What are the current trends in computer hardware platforms?
Describe the evolving mobile platform, grid computing, and cloud computing.
Mobile platform: more and more business computing is moving from PCs and desktop machines to mobile devices like cell phones and smartphones. Data transmissions, Web surfing, e-mail and instant messaging, digital content displays, and data exchanges with internal corporate systems are all available through a mobile digital platform. Netbooks, small low-cost lightweight subnotebooks that are optimized for wireless communication and Internet access, are included.
Grid computing: connects geographically remote computers into a single network to create a “virtual supercomputer” by combining the computational power of all computers on the grid.
Cloud computing: a model of computing where firms and individuals obtain computing power and software applications over the Internet, rather than purchasing their own hardware and software. Data are stored on powerful servers in massive data centers, and can be accessed by anyone with an Internet connection and standard Web browser.
Explain how businesses can benefit from autonomic computing, virtualization, and multicore processors.
Autonomic computing
Benefits of autonomic computing include systems that automatically do the following:
· Configure themselves
· Optimize and tune themselves
· Heal themselves when broken
· Protect themselves from outside intruders and self-destruction
· Reduces maintenance costs
· Reduces downtime from system crashes
Virtualization
· Run more than one operating system at the same time on a single machine.
· Increase server utilization rates to 70 percent or higher.
· Reduce hardware expenditures. Higher utilization rates translate into fewer computers required to process the same amount of work.
· Mask server resources from server users.
· Reduce power expenditures.
· Run legacy applications on older versions of an operating system on the same server as newer applications.
· Facilitates centralization of hardware administration.
Multicore processors
· Cost savings by reducing power requirements and hardware sprawl
· Less costly to maintain as fewer systems need to be monitored.
· Performance and productivity benefits beyond the capabilities of today’s single-core processors.
· Able to handle the exponential growth of digital data and the globalization of the Internet.
· Able to meet the demands of sophisticated software applications under development.
· Run applications more efficiently than single-core processors – giving users the ability to keep working even while running the most processor intensive task in the background.
· Able to increase performance in areas such as data mining, mathematical analysis, and Web serving.
4. What are the current trends in software platforms?
Define and describe open source software and Linux and explain their business benefits.
Open-source software provides all computer users with free access to the program code so they can modify the code, fix errors in it, or to make improvements. Open-source software is not owned by any company or individual. A global network of programmers and users manage and modify the software. By definition, open-source software is not restricted to any specific operating system or hardware technology. Several large software companies are converting some of their commercial programs to open source.
Linux is the most well-known open-source software. It’s a UNIX-like operating system that can be downloaded from the Internet, free of charge, or purchased for a small fee from companies that provide additional tools for the software. It is reliable, compactly designed, and capable of running on many different hardware platforms, including servers, handheld computers, and consumer electronics. Linux has become popular during the past few years as a robust low-cost alternative to UNIX and the Windows operating system.
Thousands of open-source programs are available from hundreds of Web sites. Businesses can choose from a range of open-source software including operating systems, office suites, Web browsers, and games. Open-source software allows businesses to reduce the total cost of ownership. It provides more robust software that’s often more secure than proprietary software.
Define Java and Ajax and explain why they are important.
Java: Java is a programming language that delivers only the software functionality needed for a particular task. With Java, the programmer writes small programs called applets that can run on another machine on a network. With Java, programmers write programs that can execute on a variety of operating systems and environments. Further, any program could be a series of applets that are distributed over networks as they are needed and as they are upgraded.
Java is important because of the dramatic growth of Web applications. Java is an operating system-independent, processor-independent, object-oriented programming language that can run on multiple hardware platforms. It provides a standard format for data exchange on Web sites.
Ajax: Ajax is short for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML. It allows a client and server to exchange small pieces of data behind the scene so that an entire Web page does not have to be reloaded each time the user requests a change. It’s another Web development technique for creating interactive Web applications that make it easier and more efficient for Web site users to complete forms and other interactive features.
Define and describe Web services and the role played by XML.
Web services offer a standardized alternative for dealing with integration across various computer platforms. Web services are loosely coupled software components based on XML and open Web standards that are not product specific and can work with any application software and operating system. They can be used as components of Web-based applications linking the systems of two different organizations or to link disparate systems of a single company. Web services are not tied to a particular operating system or programming language. Different applications can use them to communicate with each other in a standard way without time-consuming custom coding.
XML provides a standard format for data exchange, enabling Web services to pass data from one process to another
Businesses use Web services to tie their Web sites with external Web sites creating an apparently seamless experience for users. The benefit derives from not having to re-create applications for each business partner or specific functions within a single company.
Define and describe software mashups and widgets.
Mashups are new software applications and services based on combining different online software applications using high-speed data networks, universal communication standards, and open-source code. Entrepreneurs are able to create new software applications and services based on combining different online software applications. The idea is to take different sources and produce a new work that is “greater than” the sum of its parts. Web mashups combine the capabilities of two or more online applications to create a kind of hybrid that provides more customer value than the original sources alone.
Widgets are small software programs that can be added to Web pages or placed on the desktop to provide additional functionality. Web widgets run inside a Web page or a blog. Desktop widgets integrate content from an external source into the user’s desktop to provide services such as a calculator, dictionary, or display current weather conditions.
Businesses benefit most from these new tools and trends by not having to re-invent the wheel. Widgets have already been developed by someone else and a business can use them for its own purposes. Mashups let a business combine previously developed Web applications into new ones with new purposes. They don’t have to re-invent the previous applications from scratch—merely use them in the new processes.
Name and describe the three external sources for software.
Software packages from a commercial software vendor: prewritten commercially available set of software programs that eliminates the need for a firm to write its own software program for certain functions, such as payroll processing or order handling.
Software-as-a-service: a business that delivers and manages applications and computer services from remote computer centers to multiple users using the Internet or a private network. Instead of buying and installing software programs, subscribing companies can rent the same functions from these services. Users pay for the use of this software either on a subscription or a per-transaction basis. The business must carefully assess the costs and benefits of the service, weighing all people, organizational, and technology issues. It must ensure it can integrate the software with its existing systems and deliver a level of service and performance that is acceptable for the business.
Outsourcing custom application development: an organization contracts its custom software development or maintenance of existing legacy programs to outside firms, frequently firms that operate offshore in low-wage areas of the world An outsourcer often has the technical and management skills to do the job better, faster, and more efficiently. Even though it’s often cheaper to outsource the maintenance of an IT infrastructure and the development of new systems to external vendors, a business must weight the pros and cons carefully. Service level agreements are formal contracts between customers and service providers that define the specific responsibilities of the service provider and the level of service expected by the customer.
5.. What are the challenges of managing IT infrastructure and management solutions?
Name and describe the management challenges posed by IT infrastructure.
Creating and maintaining a coherent IT infrastructure raises multiple challenges including:
Making wise infrastructure investments: IT infrastructure is a major capital investment for the firm. If too much is spent on infrastructure, it lies idle and constitutes a drag on firm financial performance. If too little is spent, important business services cannot be delivered and the firm’s competitors will outperform the underinvesting firm
Coordinating infrastructure components: firms create IT infrastructures by choosing combinations of vendors, people, and technology services and fitting them together so they function as a coherent whole.
Dealing with scalability and technology change: as firms grow, they can quickly outgrow their infrastructure. As firms shrink, they can get stuck with excessive infrastructure purchased in better times. Scalability refers to the ability of a computer, product, or system to expand to serve a larger number of users without breaking down.
Management and governance: involves who will control and manage the firm’s IT infrastructure.
Explain how using a competitive forces model and calculating the TCO of technology assets help firms make infrastructure investments
The competitive forces model can be used to determine how much to spend on IT infrastructure and where to make strategic infrastructure investments, starting out new infrastructure initiatives with small experimental pilot projects and establishing the total cost of ownership of information technology assets.
The total cost of owning technology resources includes not only the original cost of acquiring and installing hardware and software, but it also includes the ongoing administration costs for hardware and upgrades, maintenance, technical support, training, and even utility and real estate costs for running and housing the technology. The TCO model can be used to analyze these direct and indirect costs to help firms determine the actual cost of specific technology implementations.