LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Components of IT infrastructure : Computer hardware, data storage, input, and output technologies used in business Types of computer software contemporary hardware and software trends issues in managing hardware and software technology

organizational content for systems development and

the information specialists are and how they can be integrated into an information services organization end-user computing, benefits and risks of end-user computing

Infrastructure Components
IT infrastructure: Provides platform for supporting all information systems in the business Computer hardware Computer software

Data management technology

Organizes, manages, and processes business data concerned with inventory, customers, and vendors

Networking and telecommunications technology Technology services E.g. consultants for systems integration with legacy systems

IT Infrastructure Components

Types of Computers Computers come in different sizes with varying capabilities for processing information FLOPS (Floating point operations per second) PDAs, handheld mobile devices

PCs
Workstation More powerful mathematical and graphicsprocessing capabilities than a PC

Types of Computers

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

IT Infrastructure: Computer Hardware

Types of Computers

Supercomputer

More sophisticated computer used for tasks requiring extremely rapid and complex calculations with thousands of variables, millions of measurements

Used in engineering, scientific simulations, military/weapons research, weather forecasting

Power of geographically remote computers connected into single network to act as virtual supercomputer

Grid computing

Types of Computers

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

Client/Server Computing

In client/server computing, computer processing is split between client machines and server machines linked by a network. Users interface with the client machines.

IT Infrastructure: Computer Hardware

A Multitiered Client/Server Network (N-Tier)

In a multitiered client/server network, client requests for service are handled by different levels of servers.

Figure 4-3

Storage, Input, and Output Technology

Primary secondary storage technologies

Magnetic disk:
Hard drives, USB flash drives RAID: Can package hundreds of drives for massive 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

A Storage Area Network (SAN)

Figure 4-4
A typical SAN consists of a server, storage devices, and networking devices, and is used strictly for storage. The SAN stores data on many different types of storage devices, providing data to the enterprise. The SAN supports communication between any server and the storage unit as well as between different storage devices in the network.

Storage, Input, and Output Technology 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

Storage, Input, and Output Technology

Output devices: Display data after they have been processed Monitor Printer Audio output Information systems collect and process information in one of two ways Batch processing: Transactions stored for predefined amount of time, then processed as group Online processing: Transactions processed immediately

Contemporary Hardware Trends Multicore processors Integrated circuit with two or more processors Enhanced performance, reduced power consumption and more efficient simultaneous processing of multiple tasks

Contemporary Hardware Trends Integration of computing and telecommunications platforms Cell phones merging with handhelds

Growth of Internet telephony

Nanotechnology Creating computer chips and other devices thousands of times smaller through manipulating individual atoms, molecules

Contemporary Hardware Trends

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

Edge Computing Platform

Edge computing involves the use of the Internet to balance the processing load of enterprise platforms across the client and edge computing platform.

Figure 4-6

Contemporary Hardware Trends

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.

Contemporary Hardware Trends

Multicore processors Integrated circuit with two or more processors Enhanced performance, reduced power consumption and more efficient simultaneous processing of multiple tasks

Operating System Software The software that manages and controls the computers activities PC operating systems and graphical user interfaces GUIs Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows Server 2003 UNIX Linux Open-source software

The Major Types of Software

The relationship among the system software, application software, and users can be illustrated by a series of nested boxes. System softwareconsisting of operating systems, language translators, and utility programs controls access to the hardware. Application software, including programming languages and fourth-generation languages, must work through the system software to operate. The user interacts primarily with the application 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 Tend to be nonprocedural, may use natural languages

Application Software and Desktop Productivity Tools

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, processorindependent, 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

Web services:
Software components that exchange information with each other using universal Web communication standards and languages SOAP (simple object access protocol) WSDL (web services description language) UDDI (universal description, discovery, and integration) Service oriented architecture (SOA)

XML (extensible markup language)

Software Trends

Open Source Software Ubuntu Cloud Computing

Google Apps, Windows Live Mashups ChicagoCrime.org Widgets 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

Managing Hardware and Software Technology

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)

Managing Hardware and Software Technology

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 pertransaction basis

Information Services (IS) Organization

Information resources Information specialists System analysts Database administrators Webmasters Network specialists Programmers Operators

The Informational Services Organizational Structure

Trend from centralized to decentralized structure. Divisional information officer (DIO) Innovative Partner model Platform model Scalable model

A Network Model of Information Services Organization

Network Model (Contd)

Visioning network enables the CIO to work with top

management in strategic planning for information resources.

Innovation network is used by the CIO to interface

with business areas so that innovations can be developed.

Sourcing network is utilized to interface with vendor

for acquiring information resources.

End-user Computing

End-user computing (EUC) is the development by

users of all or parts of their information systems. EUC has 4 main influences:
The impact of computer education. The information services backlog.

Low-cost hardware.
Prewritten software.

Benefits of EUC
Match capabilities and challenges.

Reduce the communication gap.

Risks of EUC
Poorly targeted systems.
Poorly designed and documented systems. Inefficient use of information resources.

Loss of data integrity.

Loss of security. Loss of control.

Education Criteria, Knowledge, and Skills Needed for Careers in Information Systems
Systems development knowledge
Computer literacy Information literacy Business fundamentals Systems theory Systems development process Systems life cycle (SLC) and Systems development life

cycle (SDLC) Systems modeling

References:
Business Information Systems, Prentice Hall 2007
Raymond McLeod Jr. and George P. Schell,

Management Information Systems, 10/e, Prentice Hall 2007