Chapter 2
Information Technology and IT infrastructure
IT Infrastructure
Information technology (IT) infrastructure is the shared technology resources
that provide the platform for the firm’s specific information system
applications.
IT infrastructure includes investment in hardware, software, and services—
such as consulting, education, and training—that are shared across the entire
firm or across entire business units in the firm.
A firm’s IT infrastructure provides the foundation for serving customers,
working with vendors, and managing internal firm business processes.
See the figure in the next slide-
Figure 5-1
IT infrastructure consists of a set of physical devices and software
applications that are required to operate the entire enterprise.
But IT infrastructure is also a set of firm wide services budgeted by
management and comprising both human and technical capabilities.
These services include the following:
Computing platforms used to provide computing services that connect employees,
customers, and suppliers into a coherent digital environment, including large
mainframes, midrange computers, desktop and laptop computers, and mobile
handheld devices.
Telecommunications services that provide data, voice, and video connectivity to
employees, customers, and suppliers.
Data management services that store and manage corporate data and provide
capabilities for analyzing the data.
Application software services that provide enterprise-wide capabilities such as
enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management, supply chain
management, and knowledge management systems that are shared by all business
units.
Physical facilities management services that develop and manage the
physical installations required for computing, telecommunications, and
data management services.
IT management services that plan and develop the infrastructure,
coordinate with the business units for IT services, manage accounting for
the IT expenditure, and provide project management services.
IT standards services that provide the firm and its business units with
policies that determine which information technology will be used, when,
and how.
IT education services that provide training in system use to employees
and offer managers training in how to plan for and manage IT
investments.
IT research and development services that provide the firm with research
on potential future IT projects and investments that could help the firm
differentiate itself in the marketplace.
Evolution of IT Infrastructure
The IT infrastructure in organizations today is an outgrowth of over 50 years of
evolution in computing platforms.
There have been five stages in this evolution, each representing a different
configuration of computing power and infrastructure elements (see Figure in next
slide).
The five eras are general-purpose mainframe and minicomputer computing,
personal computers, client/server networks, enterprise computing, and cloud and
mobile computing.
Technologies that characterize one era may also be used in another time period
for other purposes.
For example, some companies still run traditional mainframe systems or use
mainframe computers as massive servers supporting large Web sites and corporate
enterprise applications.
General-Purpose Mainframe and Minicomputer Era:
(1959 to Present)
The introduction of the IBM 1401 and 7090 transistorized machines in 1959
marked the beginning of widespread commercial use of mainframe
computers.
In 1965, the mainframe computer truly came into its own with the
introduction of the IBM 360 series.
The 360 was the first commercial computer with a powerful operating system
that could provide time sharing, multitasking, and virtual memory in more
advanced models.
IBM has dominated mainframe computing from this point on.
Mainframe computers became powerful enough to support thousands of online
remote terminals connected to the centralized mainframe using proprietary
communication protocols and proprietary data lines.
This pattern began to change with the introduction of minicomputers
produced by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) in 1965.
DEC minicomputers (PDP-11 and later the VAX machines) offered powerful
machines
at far lower prices than IBM mainframes,
making possible decentralized computing,
customized to the specific needs of individual departments or business units
rather than time sharing on a single huge mainframe.
In recent years, the minicomputer has evolved into a midrange computer or
midrange server and is part of a network.
Personal Computer Era: (1981 to Present)
The first truly personal computers (PCs) appeared in the 1970s (the Xerox Alto, the
MITS Altair 8800, and the Apple I and II, to name a few), these machines had only
limited distribution to computer enthusiasts.
The appearance of the IBM PC in 1981 is usually considered the beginning of the
PC era because this machine was the first to be widely adopted by American
businesses.
At first using the DOS operating system, a text-based command language, and
later the Microsoft Windows operating system, the Wintel PC computer (Windows
operating system software on a computer with an Intel microprocessor) became
the standard desktop personal computer.
Today, 95 percent of the world’s estimated 1.5 billion computers use the Wintel
standard.
Proliferation of PCs in the 1980s and early 1990s launched a spate of personal
desktop productivity software tools—word processors, spreadsheets, electronic
presentation software, and small data management programs—that were very
valuable to both home and corporate users.
These PCs were standalone systems until PC operating system software in the
1990s made it possible to link them into networks.
Client/Server Era (1983 to Present)
In client/server computing, desktop or laptop computers called
clients are networked to powerful server computers that provide the
client computers with a variety of services and capabilities.
Computer processing work is split between these two types of
machines.
The client is the user point of entry, whereas the server typically
processes and stores shared data, serves up Web pages, or manages
network activities.
The term “server” refers to both the software application and the
physical computer on which the network software runs.
The server could be a mainframe, but today, server computers
typically are more powerful versions of personal computers, based on
inexpensive chips and often using multiple processors in a single
computer box.
The simplest client/server network consists of a client computer networked
to a server computer, with processing split between the two types of
machines. This is called a two-tiered client/server architecture.
Whereas simple client/server networks can be found in small businesses, most
corporations have more complex, multitiered (often called N-tier)
client/server architectures in which the work of the entire network is
balanced over several different levels of servers, depending on the kind of
service being requested. See the figure in the next slide-
Novell NetWare was the leading technology for client/server networking at
the beginning of the client/server era.
Today, Microsoft is the market leader with its Windows operating systems
(Windows Server, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and
Windows XP).
Enterprise Computing Era (1992 to Present)
In the early 1990s, firms turned to networking standards and software tools that
could integrate disparate networks and applications throughout the firm into an
enterprise-wide infrastructure.
As the Internet developed into a trusted communications environment after 1995,
business firms began seriously using the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet
Protocol (TCP/IP) networking standard to tie their disparate networks together.
The resulting IT infrastructure links different pieces of computer hardware and
smaller networks into an enterprise-wide network so that information can flow
freely across the organization and between the firm and other organizations.
It can link different types of computer hardware, including mainframes, servers,
PCs, mobile phones, and other handheld devices, and it includes public
infrastructures such as the telephone system, the Internet, and public network
services.
The enterprise infrastructure also requires software to link disparate applications
and enable data to flow freely among different parts of the business, such as
enterprise applications and Web services.
Cloud and Mobile Computing Era (2000 to Present)
The growing bandwidth power of the Internet has pushed the client/server model
one step further, towards what is called the “Cloud Computing Model.”
Cloud computing refers to a model of computing that provides access to a shared
pool of computing resources (computers, storage, applications, and services), over
a network, often the Internet.
These “clouds” of computing resources can be accessed on an as-needed basis
from any connected device and location.
Currently, cloud computing is the fastest growing form of computing.
Thousands or even hundreds of thousands computers are located in cloud data
centers, where they can be accessed by desktop computers, laptop computers,
netbooks, entertainment centers, mobile devices, and other client machines
linked to the Internet, with both personal and corporate computing increasingly
moving to mobile platforms.
IBM, HP, Dell, and Amazon operate huge, scalable cloud computing centers that
provide computing power, data storage, and high-speed Internet connections to
firms that want to maintain their IT infrastructures remotely.
Software firms such as Google, Microsoft, SAP, Oracle, and [Link] sell
software applications as services delivered over the Internet.
IT Infrastructure Components
IT infrastructure today is composed of seven major components. Figure in the
next slide illustrates these infrastructure components and the major vendors
within each component category.
These components constitute investments that must be coordinated with one
another to provide the firm with a coherent infrastructure.
In the past, technology vendors supplying these components were often in
competition with one another, offering purchasing firms a mixture of
incompatible, proprietary, partial solutions.
But increasingly the vendor firms have been forced by large customers to
cooperate in strategic partnerships with one another.
For instance, a hardware and services provider such as IBM cooperates with
all the major enterprise software providers, has strategic relationships with
system integrators, and promises to work with whichever database products
its client firms wish to use.
COMPUTER HARDWARE PLATFORMS
U.S. firms have spent about $109 billion in 2010 on computer hardware.
This component includes client machines (desktop PCs, mobile computing devices such as
netbooks and laptops but not including iPhones or BlackBerrys) and server machines. The
client machines use primarily Intel or AMD microprocessors.
In 2010, there were about 90 million PCs sold to U.S. customers (400 million worldwide).
The server market uses mostly Intel or AMD processors in the form of blade servers in
racks, but also includes Sun SPARC microprocessors and IBM POWER chips specially
designed for server use.
Blade servers are ultrathin computers consisting of a circuit board with processors,
memory, and network connections that are stored in racks.
They take up less space than traditional box-based servers.
Secondary storage may be provided by a hard drive in each blade server or by external
mass-storage drives.
Essential Computer Hardware
Any computer’s hardware devices fall into one of four categories. They are -
Processor
Memory
Input and Output
Storage
1. Processing Devices
The procedure that converts raw data into information is data processing.
Two components handle processing data in a computer:
the Central Processing Unit (CPU) and the Memory unit.
Both are located on the computer’s motherboard.
The processor is like a brain of the computer; it organizes controls and carries out
instructions that come from either the user or the software.
In a personal computer, the processor is a specialized chip, called microprocessor.
The microprocessor is plugged into the computer’s motherboard.
The motherboard is a rectangular card containing the circuitry that connects the
processor to the other hardware.
A CPU consists of two parts; i) the control unit, and ii) the arithmetic-logic
unit (ALU).
Regardless of its construction and size, every processing unit performs
essentially the following four functions:
Store the program instructions and data being processed
Interprets the instructions in the program according to the type and sequence of
processing operations that are to be performed on input data
Performs varied arithmetic and logical operations that are necessary to convert
the input data into information
Directs all other devices telling each what to do and when to do
The Control Unit
The control unit acts as a manager over all the operations of the computer.
It interprets the instructions in the computer program and directs the operation of the
computer’s other devices in the execution of the program instructions.
The control unit also operates as a communications link between the person operating the
computer and the machine itself.
The ALU
The arithmetic-logic unit of the CPU performs the processing operation in two ways: arithmetic and logical
operation.
The arithmetic operation includes the operation addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
And the logical operation includes logical operations like whether a value is greater than or less than or equal
to any other value and all other calculating operations called for by a computer program.
The unit also performs other processing operations such as sorting and classifying.
2. Memory
The Storage Unit (Main Memory)
The CPU needs to have millions of bytes of space where it can quickly read or
write programs and data while they are being used.
This area is called memory, and it consists of chips either on the motherboard
or on a small circuit board attached to the motherboard.
This unit is also named working storage or primary storage or main memory.
The functions of Memory are as follows:
One function of the memory of the processor is holding the program
instructions.
The computer retrieves one or more instructions at time from storage, performs
the operations called for, and returns the instructions to the storage unit so that
they are available when needed again.
In addition to holding the program instructions the main memory unit is used
to store active input that is to be processed and the processing results until
they are transferred to an output device.
Types of Memory
In a computer, memory is one or more sets of chips that store data and or program instructions.
Memory is an essential processing component in any computer system.
Personal computers use several different types of memory, but the two most important are called
(1) Random Access Memory (RAM) and (2) Read-Only- Memory (ROM).
(1) Random Access Memory
The most common type of memory is called random access memory (RAM).
RAM is like an electronic scratch pad inside the computer.
RAM holds data and program instructions while the CPU works with them.
It is a temporary memory.
When a program is launched, it is loaded into and run from the memory.
As the program needs data, it is loaded into memory for fast access.
As new data is entered into the computer, it is also stored in the RAM.
Data is both written to and read from this memory. For that, sometimes it is called read-write memory.
RAM is Volatile; meaning that it loses it contents when the computer power is shut off or if there is a power
failure.
RAM has a tremendous impact on the speed and the power of a computer.
(2) Read-only Memory
Unlike RAM, read-only memory (ROM) permanently stores its data, even when the
computer is shut off.
ROM is called non-volatile memory because it never loses its contents.
ROM holds instructions that the computer needs to operate.
Whenever the computer’s power is turned on, it checks ROM for directions that
help it start up, and for information about its hardware devices.
ROM contains a set of start-up instructions called basic input-output system
(BIOS) for a computer.
In addition to booting the machine, BIOS contains another set of routine, which
ensure that the system is functioning properly and all expected hardware devices
are present. This routine is called the power on self test (POST).
There are two other subclasses of ROM chips:
Programmable Read-Only Memory (PROM), and
erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM)
(i) Programmable Read Only Memory (PROM)
The chips that can not be changed are called programmable read only memory.
PROM chips are often found on hard drives and printers.
They contain the instructions that power the devices.
These instructions, one set never need not to be changed.
PROM chips are used by manufactures as control devices in their products.
(ii) Erasable Programmable Read-Only memory (EPROM)
EPROM chips are used for device control, such as in robots, where the program may have to
be changed on a routine basis.
With EPROM chips, the program can be erased and reprogrammed.
Unit Approximate Value Actual Value
Kilobyte (KB) 1,000 = 103 Bytes 1,024 Bytes
Megabyte (MB) 1 Million = 106 Bytes 10242 Bytes
Gigabyte (GB) 1 Billion = 109 Bytes 10243 Bytes
Terabyte (TB) 1 Trillion = 1012 Bytes 10244 Bytes
OPERATING SYSTEM PLATFORMS
In 2010, Microsoft Windows comprises about 75 percent of the server
operating system market, with 25 percent of corporate servers using some
form of the Unix operating system or Linux, an inexpensive and robust open
source relative of Unix.
Microsoft Windows Server is capable of providing enterprise-wide operating
system and network services, and appeals to organizations seeking Windows-
based IT infrastructures.
Unix and Linux are scalable, reliable, and much less expensive than
mainframe operating systems.
They can also run on many different types of processors.
The major providers of Unix operating systems are IBM, HP, and Sun, each
with slightly different and partially incompatible versions.
At the client level, 90 percent of PCs use some form of Microsoft Windows
operating system (such as Windows 7, Windows Vista, or Windows XP) to
manage the resources and activities of the computer.
However, there is now a much greater variety of operating systems than in
the past, with new operating systems for computing on handheld mobile
digital devices or cloud-connected computers.
Google’s Chrome OS provides a lightweight operating system for cloud
computing using netbooks.
Programs are not stored on the user’s PC but are used over the Internet and
accessed through the Chrome Web browser.
User data resides on servers across the Internet. Microsoft has introduced the
Windows Azure operating system for its cloud services and platform.
Android is a mobile operating system developed by Android, Inc. (purchased
by Google) and later the Open Handset Alliance as a flexible, upgradeable
mobile device platform.
Conventional client operating system software is designed around the mouse
and keyboard, but increasingly becoming more natural and intuitive by using
touch technology.
IPhone OS, the operating system for the phenomenally popular Apple iPad,
iPhone, and iPod Touch, features a multitouch interface, where users use
their fingers to manipulate objects on the screen.
The Interactive Session on Technology explores the implications of using
multitouch to interact with the computer.
ENTERPRISE SOFTWARE APPLICATIONS
In addition to software for applications used by specific groups or business
units, U.S. firms have spent about $165 billion in 2010 on software for
enterprise applications that are treated as components of IT infrastructure.
The largest providers of enterprise application software are SAP and Oracle
(which acquired PeopleSoft).
Also included in this category is middleware software supplied by vendors
such as BEA for achieving firm wide integration by linking the firm’s existing
application systems.
Microsoft is attempting to move into the lower ends of this market by focusing
on small and medium sized businesses that have not yet implemented
enterprise applications.
DATA MANAGEMENT AND STORAGE
Enterprise database management software is responsible for organizing and
managing the firm’s data so that they can be efficiently accessed and used.
The leading database software providers are IBM (DB2), Oracle, Microsoft (SQL
Server), and Sybase (Adaptive Server Enterprise), which supply more than 90
percent of the U.S. database software marketplace.
MySQL is a Linux open source relational database product now owned by
Oracle Corporation.
The physical data storage market is dominated by EMC Corporation for large
scale systems, and a small number of PC hard disk manufacturers led by
Seagate, Maxtor, and Western Digital.
Digital information is estimated to be growing at 1.2 zetta bytes a year.
All the tweets, blogs, videos, e-mails, and Facebook postings as well as
traditional corporate data add up in 2010 to several thousand Libraries of
Congress.
With the amount of new digital information in the world growing so rapidly,
the market for digital data storage devices has been growing at more than 15
percent annually over the last five years.
In addition to traditional disk arrays and tape libraries, large firms are turning
to network-based storage technologies.
Storage area networks (SANs) connect multiple storage devices on a separate
high-speed network dedicated to storage.
The SAN creates a large central pool of storage that can be rapidly accessed
and shared by multiple servers.
NETWORKING/TELECOMMUNICATIONS PLATFORMS
U.S. firms spend $100 billon a year on networking and telecommunications
hardware and a huge $700 billion on networking services (consisting mainly of
telecommunications and telephone company charges for voice lines and Internet
access.
Windows Server is predominantly used as a local area network operating system,
followed by Linux and Unix.
Large enterprise wide area networks primarily use some variant of Unix.
Most local area networks, as well as wide area enterprise networks, use the
TCP/IP protocol suite as a standard
The leading networking hardware providers are Cisco, Alcatel-Lucent, Nortel, and
Juniper Networks.
Telecommunications platforms are typically provided by
telecommunications/telephone services companies that offer voice and data
connectivity, wide area networking, wireless services, and Internet access.
Leading telecommunications service vendors include AT&T and Verizon.
This market is exploding with new providers of cellular wireless, high-speed
Internet, and Internet telephone services.
INTERNET PLATFORMS
Internet platforms overlap with, and must relate to, the firm’s general networking
infrastructure and hardware and software platforms.
U.S. firms spent an estimated $40 billion annually on Internet-related
infrastructure.
These expenditures were for hardware, software, and management services to
support a firm’s Web site, including Web hosting services, routers, and cabling or
wireless equipment.
A Web hosting service maintains a large Web server, or series of servers, and
provides fee-paying subscribers with space to maintain their Web sites.
The Internet revolution created a veritable explosion in server computers, with
many firms collecting thousands of small servers to run their Internet operations.
Since then there has been a steady push toward server consolidation, reducing the
number of server computers by increasing the size and power of each.
The Internet hardware server market has become increasingly concentrated in the
hands of IBM, Dell, and HP/Compaq, as prices have fallen dramatically.
The major Web software application development tools and suites are
supplied by
Microsoft (Microsoft Expression Web, SharePoint Designer, and the Microsoft .NET
family of development tools);
Oracle-Sun (Sun’s Java is the most widely used tool for developing interactive Web
applications on both the server and client sides); and
a host of independent software developers, including Adobe (Flash and text tools
like Acrobat), and Real Media (media software).
CONSULTING AND SYSTEM INTEGRATION SERVICES
Today, even a large firm does not have the staff, the skills, the budget, or the
necessary experience to deploy and maintain its entire IT infrastructure.
Implementing a new infrastructure requires significant changes in business
processes and procedures, training and education, and software integration.
Leading consulting firms providing this expertise include Accenture, IBM
Global Services, HP Enterprise Services, Infosys, and Wipro Technologies.
Software integration means ensuring the new infrastructure works with the
firm’s older, so-called legacy systems and ensuring the new elements of the
infrastructure work with one another.
Legacy systems are generally older transaction processing systems created
for mainframe computers that continue to be used to avoid the high cost of
replacing or redesigning them.
Replacing these systems is cost prohibitive and generally not necessary if
these older systems can be integrated into a contemporary infrastructure.
Thank
You