MIS lecture 5
Terms
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- IT infrastructure
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includes hardware, software, and serices.
- a set of physical devices and software applications that are required to operate the entire enterprise. - Three main levels of infrastructure
- public, enterprise, business unit
- public intfrastructure includes:
- Internet, telephone network, industry network, cable systems, cellular networks
- enterprise-wide infrastructure includes:
- email, corporate website, enterprise systems, corporate-wide intranets
- business unit infrastructure includes:
- order processing, production systems, transaction systems, customer data, vendor data.
- Evolution of IT infrastructure
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- electronic accounting machine era (1930-1950)
- general-purpose mainframe and minicomputer era (1959-present)
- personal computer era (1931-present)
- client/server era (1983-present)
- enterprise internet computing era (1992-present) - Moore's Law
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assertation that the number of components on a chip doubles every year.
- the power of microprocessors doubles every 18 months
- computing power doubles every 18 months
- the price of computing falls by half every 18 months - Law of Mass Digital Storage
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the amountof digital information is roughly doubling every year.
- the cost of storing digital information is falling at an exponential rate - Metcalfe's law and network economics
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there are increasing returns to scale for network members as more and more people join the network
- as the number of members in a network grows linearly, the value of the entire system grows exponentially - declining communication costs and the internet
- communication costs are declining rapidly, causing more people to utilize facilities
- Technology standards
- specifications that establish the compatibility of products and the ability to communicate in a network
- Seven major IT infrastructure components (must be coordinated to provide the firm with a coherent IT infrastructure)
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1. computer hardware
2. operating systems
3. enterprise software
4.networking/telecommunications
5. consultants and system integrators
6. data management and storage
7. internet - computer hardware platforms
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intel, AMD, IBM, Dell
- server market increasingly dominated by inexpensive generic processors from the same manufacturers - operating systems platform
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Microsoft OS dominates client and handheld market
Linux is growing in corporate server market
Windows 2002 and 2003 Server remains strong in smaller enterprises and workgroup networks - Enterprise Software Applications
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the enterprise market is consolidating around a few huge firms that have gained a signficant market share such as SAP and Oracle
Microsoft is expanding into smaller firm enterprise systems where it can build on its Windows server-installed base - Data Management and Storage
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Oracle and IBM dominate th e database software market
Microsoft (SQL Server) and Sybase tend to serve smaller firms
Open source Linux MySQL now supported by HP - inexpensive - used in small to midsize firms - Networking / Telecommunications
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local area networking still dominated by microsoft serer but strong growth of lunix challenge this dominance
enterprise networking almost entirely lunix or unix
cisco, lucent, nortel, and juniper networks continue to dominate network hardware
telecommunications services market is highly dynamic with MCI, AT&T, and Sprint providing most trunk line services for both phone and internet
growth of non-telephone Wi-Fi and Wi-Max services, and Internet telephony - Intenet Platforms
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internet hardware server market concentrated in Dell, HP, and IBM
prices fall rapdily for low-power servers
open-source Apache remains the dominant Web server software, followed by Microsoft's IIS server
Sun's Java grows as the most widely used tool for interactive Web application - Consulting and System Integration Services
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most firms need signifant outside help in order to develop their systems
integration services invole integrating data, and applications in a firm
connecting new applications and systems to legacy systems
IBM has transformed itself into a systems integration firm with IBM Global Services, the largest system integration firm - Integrating Computing and Telecommunications Platforms at the CLIENT LEVEL
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itegration of cell phones and PDAs
- TV, video, and radio move toward digital production - Integrating Computing and Telecommunications Platforms at the SERVER LEVEL
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the integration of voice telephone and the Internet bring together two historically separate and distinct global networks
network is the source of computing power - Grid Computing
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involves connecting geographically remote computers into a single network capable of working in parallel on business problems that require short-term access to a large computational capacity
firms can chain together thousands of smaller desktop clients into a single compting grid
grid computing saves infrastructure spending, increases speed of computing, and increases the agility of firms - On-Demand (Utility) Computing
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firms off-loading peak demand for computing power to remote, large-scale data processing centers
developed by IBM, HP, and Sun
firms pay only for the computing power they use
excellent for firms with spiked demand curves caused by seasonal variations in consumer demand
saves firms from purchasing excessive levels of infrastructure - Autonomic Computing
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compuer systems (both hardware and software) have become so complex that the cost of managing them has risen
30-50% of a company's IT budget is spent preventing or recovering from system crashes
operator error is most common cause of crashes
autonomic computer is an industry-wide effort to develop systems that can:
- configure, optimize, and tune themselves
-heal themselves when broken
-protect themselves from outside intruders and self-destruction - Edge computing
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a multitier, load-balancing scheme for Web-based applications
processing load is distributed closer to the user and handled by lower-cost servers
lowers cost of hardware
increases serice levels
provides firm greater flexibility in responding to service requests
seasonal spikes in demand can be off-loaded to other edge servers - 4 major themes in contemporary software platform evolution
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- linux and open-source software
- java
- web services and service-oriented architecture
- software outsourcing - Linux and Open-Source Software
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open-source software is free and can be modified by users
developed and maintained by a worldwide network of programmers and designers under the management of user communities
linux is the most widely used open-source software program (derived from unix) - open-source software
- software that provides free access to its program code, allowing users to modify the program code to make improvements or fix errors
- Linux
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reliable and compactly designed operating system that is an offshoot of Unix, that can run on many different hardware platforms, and that is available for free or at very low cost
- used as alternative to Unix and Microsoft Windows NT - Java
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an operating system - independent, processor-independent, object-oriented programming language
applications written in java can run on any hardware for which a java virtual machine has been defined
java is embedded in PDAs, cell phones, and browsers
java is leading interactive programming environment for the web - software for enterprise integration
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one of the most important software trends of the last decade is the growth of "enterprise in a box" or the purchase of enterprise-wide software systems by firms
rather than build all their own software on a custom basis, large firms increasinly purchase enterprise applications prewritten by specialized software firms like SAP, Oracle, PeopleSoft, etc.
the goal is to achieve an integrated firm-wide information environment, reduce cost, increase reliability, and adopt business best practices which are captured by the software
enterprise software firms achieve economies of scale by selling the same software to hundreds of firms - Web services
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an alternative to enterprise systems is to use new Web-based standards to create a communication platform allowing older applications to communication with newer applications
web services refers to a set of loosely coupled software components that exchange information with each other using web communcation standards and language
web services permit computer programs to communicate with one another and share information without rewriting applications, or disturbing older legacy systems - Service-Oriented Architecture
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SOA refers to the use of Web services in a firm to achieve integreation among disparate applications and platforms
applications are integrated so that information stored on various systems can be brought together and fed into newer applications running on more contemporary equipment
SOA is generally less expensive than rebuilding all the older applications and adopting a new enterprise-wide system - Software Outsourcing - 3 types
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- purchase of software packages
- using application service providers
- custom outsourcing - Purchase of Software Packages and Enterprise Software
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enterprise software packages: prewritten off-the-shelf software
- a business that delivers and manages appications and comptuer services from remote computer centers to multiple users using the Internet or a private network
- rather than purchase hardware and software, firms can go onto the Intenet and find providers who offer the same functionality over the entertainment, and charge on a per-user or license basis - Software Outsourcing of Custom Applications
- a firm contracts customer software development or maintenance of existing legacy programs to outside firms, often in low-wage countries
- Competitive forces model - how much should a firm spend on IT infrastructure
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1. market demand for your firm's customer services, supplier services, and enterprise services
2. your firm's business strategy
3. you firm's IT strategy, infrastructure and cost
4. IT
5. competitor firms' IT services
6. competitor firms' IT infrastructure investments - total cost of ownership of technology assets includes:
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- hardware acquisition
- software acquisition
- installation
- training
- support
- maintenance
- infrastructure requirements
- downtime
- space and energy