9/23/2013

IT Infrastructure: Hardware
and Software

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

What are the components of IT infrastructure?

What are the major computer hardware, data storage, input, and output
technologies used in business?
What are the major types of computer software used in business?
What are the most important contemporary hardware and software trends?
What are the principal issues in managing hardware and software
technology?
What is the meaning of Moores Law

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IT Infrastructure: Computer Hardware

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: Computer Hardware

IT Infrastructure Components

A firms IT infrastructure is
composed of hardware,
software, data management
technology, networking
technology, and technology
services.

Figure 4-1

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Moores Law
Moores Law predicts that the number of
transistors fitting on a computer chip will double
every one and a half to two years.
This prediction about density also captures
advances in processing speed, storage
capabilities, cost, and other component features.
Processing power and speed and storage
capabilities have increased exponentially as the
cost of computing devices has decreased.

IT Infrastructure: Computer Hardware

Types of Computers
Computers come in different sizes with varying capabilities for processing
information.
FLOPS (Floating point operations per second)
Smartphones, netbooks, e-book readers
Todays smartphones are far more powerful than the early PCs of
the 1980s
PCs
Workstations
More powerful mathematical and graphics-processing capabilities
than a PC
Used primarily for advanced design or engineering work requiring
powerful graphics or computational capabilities.

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IT Infrastructure: Computer Hardware

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
Mainframes are still a major revenue and profit source for IBM, one
of the last large-scale commercial manufacturers of mainframe
computers. They are used often as huge Web servers where they are
more efficient than tens of thousands of PCs in processing large
volumes of records

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

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IT Infrastructure: Computer Hardware

Types of Computers

Client/server computing:

Form of distributed computing

Splits processing between clients and servers

Clients: user point of entry

The user generally interacts directly only with the client portion
of the application, often to input data or retrieve data for
further analysis.

Servers: store and process shared data and perform network

management activities

IT Infrastructure: Computer Hardware

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.

Figure 4-2

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IT Infrastructure: Computer Hardware

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

IT Infrastructure: Computer Hardware

A Storage Area Network (SAN)

SANs are an effort by corporations to reduce

storage costs, manage information, increase
flexibility, and provide near-certain backup.
One of the major worries of business firms is
losing customer or other digital data.
Extraordinary efforts are taken to make
redundant copies of digital information, and
placing it on separate secure servers, even
remote servers in separate facilities.

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.

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IT Infrastructure: Computer Hardware

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

IT Infrastructure: Computer Hardware

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

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IT Infrastructure: Computer Hardware

Contemporary Hardware Trends

The emerging mobile digital platform

Based on new handheld hardware like cell phones, netbooks, and

tablet computers. A new platform.
Wireless communications through 3G cell networks and Wi-Fi.
New software apps.
Nanotechnology: video

Uses individual atoms and molecules to create computer chips and

other devices that are thousands of times smaller than current
technologies permit.
Nanotechnology shrinks the size of transistors down to the width of
several atoms.

IT Infrastructure: Computer Hardware

Examples of Nanotubes

Nanotubes are tiny

tubes about 10,000
times thinner than a
human hair. They
consist of rolled up
sheets of carbon
hexagons, have
potential uses as
minuscule wires or in
ultrasmall electronic
devices, and are very
powerful conductors of
electrical current.

Figure 4-5

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IT Infrastructure: Computer Hardware

Contemporary Hardware Trends
Cloud Computing: video
A model of computing in which firms and individuals obtain computing
resources over the Internet
Cloud infrastructure as a service
customers use processing, storage, networking, and other
computing resources from cloud service providers to run their
information systems.
Cloud platform as a service
customers use infrastructure and programming tools hosted by
the service provider to develop their own applications.
Cloud software as a service
customers use software hosted by the vendor.
Top Free Cloud Computing Software

Cloud Advantages
Eliminates need for large up-front capital investments in systems
Eliminates lengthy implementations on corporate computers
Low cost subscriptions; no expensive licensing and maintenance
fees
No hardware for subscribers to purchase, scale, and maintain
No operating systems, database servers or applications servers to
install
No consultants and staff
Accessible via standard Web browser with behind-the-scene
software updates
Better scalability, eliminate cost and complexity of managing
multiple layers of hardware and software

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Cloud Disadvantages
May not be attractive to larger companies for
their application needs
Responsibility of data storage and control is in the
hands of the provider
Security risks may increase and open
vulnerabilities to data maintenance
System reliability issues
Users dependency on the cloud computing
provider

IT Infrastructure: Computer Software

Cloud Computing Platform

In cloud computing, hardware and software capabilities are provided as services over the Internet. Businesses and employees have access to
applications and IT infrastructure anywhere at any time using an Internet-connected device.

Figure 4-6

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Virtualization
Autonomic computing:

Development of systems that can configure

themselves, heal themselves; e.g., self-updating
antivirus software

IT Infrastructure: Computer Hardware

Contemporary Hardware Trends

Virtualization: video
Process of presenting a set of computing resources so they can be
accessed in ways that are unrestricted by physical configuration or
geographic location

IBMs mainframes run tens of thousands of separate instances of

Windows or Linux on a single large mainframe computer, giving users
the impression they have their own dedicated computer

Server virtualization: running more than one operating system at the

same time on single machine.

Virtual memory is memory which fools the processor into thinking it

is hardware memory but in fact is memory located on a hard drive.

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IT Infrastructure: Computer Hardware

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

IT Infrastructure: Computer Software

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

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IT Infrastructure: Computer 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 software
consisting of operating systems,
language translators, and utility
programscontrols 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.
Figure 4-7

IT Infrastructure: Computer Software

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

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IT Infrastructure: Computer Software

Web 2.0 Video

Web services:
Software components that exchange information with one another using
universal Web communication standards and languages
Its a messaging system which allows diverse computing applications in a firm to
communicate data with one another without extensive integration of the
constituent applications (which tends to be very expensive)
XML (extensible markup language)
SOAP (simple object access protocol)
WSDL (Web services description language)
UDDI (universal description, discovery, and integration)
Service oriented architecture (SOA)
In a service-oriented architecture, various applications provide services
(data) on request to other applications needing data.
SOA is a major alternative to installing large scale enterprise systems.

IT Infrastructure: Computer Software

How Dollar Rent-A-Car Uses Web Services

Dollar Rent-A-Car uses Web

services to provide a
standard intermediate layer
of software to talk to
other companies
information systems. Dollar
Rent-A-Car can use this set
of Web services to link to
other companies
information systems
without having to build a
separate link to each firms
systems.

Figure 4-9

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IT Infrastructure: Computer Software

Software Trends

Open Source Software

Linux, Apache
Cloud Computing
Google Apps, Office Web Apps
Mashups are Web applications that combine content or data from multiple
online sources into new Web applications
Contents are continually updated
Content for mashups often comes from Web feeds and Web services
Amazon uses mashup technologies to aggregate product descriptions
with partner sites and user profiles, commentaries, and images.
Travel sites, such as Travelocity, Kayak, Matador, and Travature, integrate
standard content (such as airfare search engines, travel guides, maps,
and hotel reviews) with comments, ratings, and images from users.
Software as a Service (SaaS)
Salesforce.com

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
minimum response time for processing business transactions.
Throughput
Scalability: ability of system to expand to serve large number of users without
breaking down
Organizations must ensure they have sufficient computer processing, storage, and
network resources to handle surging volumes of digital transactions and to make
such data immediately available online.

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Managing Hardware and Software Technology

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
Five year TCO for computing equipment can be 3 10 times the original
purchase price
TCO can be reduced through increased centralization, standardization
of hardware and software resources.

Components of TCO for a IT System

Hardware acquisition Purchase price of hardware including computers, terminals, storage and printers

Software acquisition Purchase or license of software for each user

Installation Cost to install hardware and software

Training Cost to train IT staff and end-users

Support Cost to provide ongoing technical support; help desks, documentation etc

Infrastructure Cost to acquire, maintain and support related infrastructure such as networks and
specialized equipment (including storage and backup units)

Downtime Lost productivity if hardware or software failures cause the system to unavailable for
processing user tasks

Space and energy Real estate and utility costs for hosing and providing power for the technology

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Strategies for Creating and Deploying Software

Commercial off-the-shelf software solutions are
ready-made and available for licensing or sale to the
general public
Off-the-shelf software systems that cannot be modified to
meet the specific needs of a particular organization are
sometimes called turn-key systems or software

Custom software development describes how an

organization develops and builds software tailored
specifically to its needs.

Strategies for Creating and Deploying Software continued

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)
a 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.

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Advantages of Outsourcing

Allows a business to concentrate on its core competencies rather

than focusing on technology issues.
Instead of purchasing all the necessary hardware and software for
hosting a Web site, a business can use a Web hosting service that
maintains a large Web server
Outsourcing custom software development or maintenance to
outside firms benefits a company because it wont have to hire
programmers, analysts, and managers with the necessary skills.
An outsourcer often has the technical and management skills to do
the job better, faster, and more efficiently.
Even though its 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.

Managing Hardware and Software Technology

Using cloud services

Small businesses rent infrastructure from another firm to avoid

expenses of maintaining hardware and software on their own.
Off-loading peak demand to remote data centers

Amazon Markets http://www.amazonservices.com/

Amazon provides cloud services to major business firms, and also to

thousands of small merchants who want to use Amazon software to
sell their goods and services.

Managing mobile platforms

Balancing gains in productivity from using mobile devices with expenses of
equipping employees with these devices

TCO for wireless devices ranges from $1,000 to $3,000

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Managing Hardware and Software Technology

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, and so on
Differences in local cultures
Differences in monetary structure
Differences in business processes
All of these factors add to TCO of using technology service providers
http://www.ricintl.com Language Scientific
firms are translating their systems and localizing them (which is more than
just translation).

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