Introduction to Information Technology 

1 Introduction to
Information Technology

Learning Objectives
l To recapitulate history of Information technology is much more than just computers.
computers Today, it is the convergence of hardware, software,
l To differentiate between telecommunication, data, networks, multimedia, images,
computers of various
generations
Internet, applications, and people. These all revolve round
one object—computer. But computers were not the same
l To appreciate revolution in
digital computing with the what we see today.
invention of microcomputer
l To define basic computer  Y  
hardware architecture
l To know various types of Computers have come a long way since Charles Babbage, a
software mathematician, designed his mechanical device in 1835. He
l To understand various called his machine Analytical Engine. Babbage drew his
generations of programming inspiration from the centuries-old abacus that was used for
languages and tools
counting numbers. Babbage’s machine could only perform
very simple arithmetical calculations. He replaced the abacus
beads with mechanical gears, which were similar to the
arithmetic logic unit of modern computers. There were lots
of developments by scientists world wide. During World
War II, there were many developments in the digital arena.
The electronic circuits, relays, capacitors, and vacuum tubes
replaced the mechanical parts. The architecture designed
by John von Neumann was most suitable for digital
computing. Even today, most contemporary computers use
this architecture. But the most noticeable development and
improvement over Charles’ machine was the invention of
ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer)
in 1945 by John Mauchly and J. Presper at the University of
Pennsylvania. It was the first electronic general-purpose
machine and was 1000 times faster than other contemporary
computers.

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Later EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable

Automatic Computer) was designed by John
von Neumann. With the end of the War, the
US Army sold to John Von Neumann the tech-
nology that was the basis of modern computers
and most mainframes and minicomputers were
developed around that architecture. In the real
sense of the term, we can call this as the first
generation of computers.
The first generation of computers, called the
Fig. 1.1 Mainframe computer ‘baby’ mainframe, came out in 1952 (Fig. 1.1). This time,
IBM launched its first ‘mainframe’ IBM701. This
machine was huge, weighed around 30 tons, had 18,000 vacuum tubes to
operate them, and hardly fitted into a room of 400 square feet. It used the
‘machine-level language’, which was later known as ‘first-generation computer
language’, and could only understand 0’s and 1’s as the programming language.
(The programming language is an instruction code to the computer that gets
translated into the binary numbers, i.e. 0 and 1.) Programming and operating
this computer was a strenuous job. It took hundreds and thousands of days to
write a small program for simple calculations.
The decade 1960–70 was the period of minicomputers. In 1960, Digital
Equipment Corporation developed a computer with keyboard and monitor
that was commercially available. Thus came the turn of the second generation
of computers, which were called minicomputers.
These were called so because of their smaller
size as compared to the mainframe. In 1969, Data
General launched ‘Nova’, which was the first
16-bit minicomputer (Fig. 1.2). These computers
offered relatively more features and were easy
to program, use, and maintain.
The programming language had also evolved
from the first generation of machine language
to the second generation, called ‘assembly
language’, which was converted into machine
Fig. 1.2 DG’s Nova minicomputer language by a converter in the computer.

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 Introduction to Information Technology 

—  

With the invention of a microprocessor by Ted Hoff and F. Foggin at Intel
Corporation in the early 1970s, computer technology underwent a sea change.
Very large-scale integrated (VLSI) circuits technology was behind this
revolution. The third-generation computers came into the picture, which were
called microcomputers, because they used microprocessors. These computers
were extremely small, had much more processing speed, and could store
information in magnetic disks called floppy disks. Thus, the PC was born. These
computers were called personal computers because now any individual person
could buy and own one of his/her own. The mainframes and minicomputers
were only bought and owned by the government agencies such as defence or
large corporations.
In 1971, Intel Corporation released the first microprocessor ‘4004’, which
was made for a Japanese calculator company. Later in 1975, Intel 8080 was
used to build MITS Altair, the personal computer (Fig. 1.3). This was the first
time that Paul Allen and his friend, Bill Gates, developed a BASIC interpreter
for Altair and later they formed Microsoft. It was only in August 1981 when
IBM released its first PC and used the Intel 8088 microprocessor, which had
a speed of 4.77 MHz. This computer was developed on a memory chip that
could store 1024 bits of data, which is equal to 1 kilobyte.
Almost at the same time, floppy disks were introduced. These were the
first-generation floppy diskettes of 8′′ size. IBM (then known as International
Business Machines) standardized the configuration of the personal computer
(Fig. 1.4). The following components were made compulsory in any PC:
l Central processing unit (having a microprocessor and a memory chip)
l Monitor

Fig 1.3 MITS Altair 8800 Fig. 1.4 IBM’s first PC 5150 with two floppy drives

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l Keyboard
l Floppy drive
l Speaker
The journey of personal computer started with Intel
Corporation introducing the tiny microprocessor or
integrated chip (IC) by the code name ‘8088’. The
technology was improved continuously. The size
became shorter and the speed and efficiency doubled
and quadrupled with every new release (Fig. 1.5). It is
Fig. 1.5 Modern-day personal computer: said that if the automobile industry had made the
really personal!
progress like the computers did, we would have a car
of size of match box with a speed of a jet within forty years. Table 1.1 shows a
tentative time of introduction of the chip and its speed.
The fast evolution of microcomputers was because of the invention of the
microchip called integrated circuits (ICs). In this technology, the computer
logic is ‘burnt into’ the layers of the microprocessor (Fig. 1.6). A chip of a
size of our thumbnail can hold enough logic to run the computer programs
we have in our computers. The pace of the evolution of computers was
always followed by the development in the field of peripheral devices.
Peripheral devices are the various input, output and storage equipment,
such as mouse, monitor, printer, and hard disk. Monitors evolved from
monochromes to high-resolution coloured to liquid crystal display (LCD) and

Table 1.1 Evolution of microprocessors

Year Chip Computers Built around the Chip Word-length* Clock Speed*

1981 i8086, i8088 IBM PC 8 bit 8–10 MHz

1983 i8088 IBM PC-XT (Hard disk was added.) 8 bit 8–12 MHz
1983 Motorola-68000 Apple Macintosh, GUI, Mouse Driven 16 bit
1984 i80286 IBM PC-AT (Advanced Technology) 16 bit 12–16 MHz
1986 i80386 IBM PC-386 32 bit 16–32 MHz
1990 i80484 IBM PC-486 32 bit 32–64 MHz
1996 Pentium I Pentium 32 bit 64–200 MHz
1998–00 Pentium II-MMX/III Pentium II/MMX (multimedia 32 bit 233–450 MHz
extensions)/P-III
2003 AMD-Athlon AMD microprocessor based 64 bit 450–1200 MHz
2004 Pentium IV Pentium IV 64 bit 1200–2800 MHz
2006 Duo Core Pentium Duo Core 64 bit 2800+ MHz

* We will discuss word-length and clock speed later in this chapter.

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 Introduction to Information Technology 

thin film transistor (TFT). Similarly, introduction of graphic user

interface (GUI) based operating system software came along with a
mouse. The headache of memorizing DOS commands was gone.
Printers evolved from the ubiquitous dot matrix printers to ink-jet
and laser jets. In the same way, the hard disks available in 1988 had
a 10 MB (megabyte) capacity. Today, we buy a PC with 160 GB
(160000 MB) space. This development has been phenomenal by
Fig. 1.6 Microprocessor—
microchip all accounts.

  

In this section, we will discuss the basic components of a computer system.

--
These devices, made mandatory by IBM, form a complete computer and are
ingredients of input, output, and processing system of a computer. Figure 1.7
explains the basic input and output devices. We can add the latest devices in
the subsequent diagram.
The central processing unit (CPU) consists of three main components—
arithmetic logic unit (ALU), control unit, and primary storage unit.
The arithmetic logic unit (ALU) performs all arithmetical and logical
calculations in the computer. It can add, subtract, multiply, and divide numbers.
Also, it can understand logical calculations and negative numbers. The control
unit controls and coordinates between various parts and components of a
computer. These parts are all input and output devices, storage units, and
other internal units of a computer. We will now briefly discuss primary storage
system in a computer.

Input devices Central processing unit Output devices

Arithmetic Control Primary

logic unit unit storage
Keyboard unit Monitor
Floppy disk Printer
Mouse Plotter
Joystick Speaker
Pen drive Floppy
CD ROM Disk
CD ROM

Fig. 1.7 Basic computer architecture and peripheral devices

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ay a 

Storage of the operating system program during operation and data related to
that operation is done in the primary storage area. This is also known as memory
of the computer system. There are two types of memory systems in a computer—
ROM and RAM.

Read-only Memory (ROM)

It is a permanent memory and the retrieval is sequential in nature, i.e. the
system can access the second block of memory data only after reading the
first block. The data or information in this memory is fused in the chip and
stores information about the computer, called BIOS (basic input/output
system). You must have noticed some information being displayed on the
screen of your computer when your computer boots on. This information
comes from the ROM part of the memory.

Random-access Memory (RAM)

It is a temporary memory. This is called ‘random’ because it can be accessed
and retrieved randomly from any location in the memory area. This memory
is used to store data or application when the system is working. For example,
after starting the computer, it retrieves the operating system files from the
hard disk, brings it in the RAM area and executes the commands. In the same
way, if you are working on a spreadsheet like Excel, your Excel application,
which was stored and dormant in the hard disk, comes in the RAM and you
start working on it. The data that you enter in the Excel worksheet remains in
this volatile memory until you click the Save button and permanently write it
on the disk. If you have not saved your work and the computer accidentally
switches off, the work done will be lost.

aa a y

The unit of measurement of memory is byte. Every piece of information in the
form of a word, a symbol, an image, or a character in computer is stored and
processed in the form of binary digits. A binary digit is called a bit and is
represented by either 0 or 1. All types of data are represented by 0’s and 1’s.
Eight bits form one byte or character. Look at the following conversion table:
8 bits = 1 byte
1024 bytes = 1 kilobyte (KB)
1024 kilobytes = 1 megabyte (MB)

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1024 megabyte = 1 gigabyte (GB)

1024 gigabyte = 1 terabyte (TB)

Computer Speed
As memory is measured in bits and bytes, computer speed is measured in
word-length. It is the number of bits a computer processes at a time. If a
computer has a word-length of 16 bits, it can process 16 bits or 2 bytes at a
time. As we have seen in Table 1.1, a Pentium computer has a 32-bit word-
length, i.e. it can process up to 4 bytes at a time. The chip speed is guided and
affected by the ‘clock’ speed of the computer. This is an internal speed and
measured in megahertz (MHz). The megahertz speed is many millions of
cycles per second. If a computer has a clock speed of 2600 MHz, it means it
can perform 2600 million cycles per second.

 
A computer system is built of mainly two major components, hardware and
software. We can see, touch, and feel hardware. It is a tangible part of the
computer, whereas the software is intangible and stays in coded form either in
the hard disk drive, or in the memory of the computer.

awa 
Hardware consists of the following components.
Cabinet It is a box that houses the main components of the computer such
as motherboard, microprocessor, memory chips, hard disk, floppy disk drive,
and the CD-ROM drive.
Monitor It is also known as visual display unit (VDU). Monitors come with
cathode-ray tube (CRT) technology, in which a beam of electrons is thrown
on the inner surface of the tube to form characters and images. Now, the new-
generation monitors are LCD and TFT.
Keyboard It is an input device. Computer keyboard has all numerals and
alphabets of the English language. Besides, it has some special-purpose keys
and function keys, which need no elaborate discussion here.
Mouse It is also an input device and is a must for running Windows (or
GUI) applications.
Motherboard This is the main board inside the computer box that
accommodates the main microprocessor, memory chips (RAM and ROM),
and input-output unit for connecting with the peripheral devices.

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Hard Disk It is a storage device. It stores data permanently in the computer

and the information is retrieved through the software interface, either for system
or application (which is discussed in the next section).
Floppy Disk or CD-ROM Before CD-ROMs were invented, putting a
floppy disk was mandatory to load programs and take outputs in the data
form. Now, the CD-ROMs have taken this space.
Power Supply Unit switch mode power supply (SMPS) is the power supply
unit in the cabinet box that supplies power to different parts of the computer.
Memory Chips or SIM Cards These are plugged on the motherboard.
One can add memory chips as required and support by the motherboard.


Software is a set of instructions to the computer to perform a certain task and
that resides in the computer in the coded form as binary digits of 0 and 1.
Windows, Word, Excel, SAP, Tally, Unix, Linux, Visual Basic, and Oracle
Forms are all examples of software. Software is an important part of a computer
system. You can compare software with the blood and life of a person, which
makes the person alive. W.S. Jawadekar (2004) defines software as ‘a set of
instructions to acquire inputs and manipulate them to produce the desired
output in terms of functions and performance as determined by the user of
the software.’ It also includes a set of documents such as the software manual,
meant for the users to understand the software system. Today’s software
comprises the source code, executables, design documents, operations and
system manuals, and installation and implementation manuals.
Software can be broadly classified into two categories—system software
and application software.

y wa
System software manages computer resources, such as the file system,
other hardware peripherals, and communication links. Various operating
systems, browsers, utilities, compilers, and device drivers are examples of
system software. As the computer technology evolved from mainframes to
minicomputers, to microcomputers, software systems also went through major
metamorphosis. Initially, the mainframe did not have an operating system at
all. Then, Unix was introduced and became a very popular operating system
for mainframes and minicomputers.

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 Introduction to Information Technology 

Operating Systems (OS)

The basic function of operating systems is to mange the computers’ internal
and external resources, such as files and peripherals devices. It helps in creating
directories and folders as well as copying, deleting, and moving files from a
physical storage to another. Operating systems offer various utilities to configure
the computer as per your environmental settings, such as date formats,
numbering system, and memory management. This also helps in adding new
programs and removing unwanted programs from the computer. The various
devices attached with a computer are linked through drivers, which are
commensurate with the computer’s operating system.
With the invention of microcomputers, disk operating system was
introduced. IBM developed the first disk operating system (DOS) for its
personal computers, which was known as PC-DOS. IBM outsourced the
development of PC-DOS to Bill Gates and his friend, Paul Allen. Since IBM
did not buy the proprietary rights (which is known as the biggest blunder a
company ever made in the modern business history), Bill Gates re-launched
the DOS under the banner of Microsoft. It was renamed as Microsoft-DOS or
MS-DOS as commonly called. IBM sold PC-DOS preloaded in the desktop
computers for some time and finally stopped selling it. MS-DOS supports
IBM PC standards and is a 16-bit operating system, i.e. it can address data in
chunks of 16-bits at a time. The maximum application size it can handle in the
memory is 640 KB and it can run only one program at a time (as opposed to
multitasking in Windows).
Windows overcame the constraints in DOS. Microsoft launched the second
generation of disk operating system in 1995, which was completely based on
GUI and was named Windows 95. This was a true 32-bit operating system
with more capabilities, such as fax, e-mail, scheduling, and Internet browsing.
Though Apple Macintosh, which was launched in 1976, already had an
operating system that was full GUI, it was popular only with Mac users.
Macintosh systems were mainly used for publishing work. Windows family of
operating systems, viz. Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows XP, (Fig. 1.8),
and Windows 2003, became popular for modern personal computers.
Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows ME (Millennium Edition), Windows
XP (eXPerience), and Windows Vista are the subsequent versions of Windows
that were launched with some modifications and improvements from the earlier
version. Windows can handle files of sizes more than 640 KB because of its
capability to use extended memory. Windows has great functionality to perform
multitasking, i.e. it can perform several programs at the same time. You may
minimize a program and then run another, and yet another. This functionality
is available to users only with Windows (Fig. 1.9).

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Fig. 1.8 A typical Windows XP desktop screen

Fig. 1.9 Windows’ multitasking capability—working on two documents together

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 Introduction to Information Technology 

Fig. 1.10 Linux operating system: GUI

Microsoft had a monopoly on the PC operating systems market, until Linux

was launched at the turn of the century. Linux kernel was developed by Linus
Torvalds in 1991. The kernel is the core of the software, around which
developers can build tools and utilities. Linux supports open-source technology
and is a freeware, that is, nobody legally owns rights over it. Open-source
concept propagates non-proprietary rights on the product and allows
developments, addition and improvement in the software by any user, mentor,
or developer of the system. It can be redistributed along with the improved
source code. The source code of Linux is available and one can create additional
tools around this OS (Fig. 1.10). One of the many advantages offered by Linux
is that it can run on major processors developed by the corporations, such as
Intel, Motorola, SPARK, Alpha, and Mips.
Use and development of Linux is supported by Sun Microsystems and IBM,
in particular, and Oracle, HP, and other, in general, to champion the cause of
open-source technology and also to counter the monopoly of Windows in the
market. Initially faced with some hitches, now Linux is gaining acceptance
and is quite popular for web-based applications. It is a popular operating system
for I Servers. (Also see Case Study at the end of the chapter.)

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 Information Technology for Retail

Network Operating Systems

As Microsoft had a monopoly on the PC disk operating system, Novell Corp
had a monopoly on the network operating systems (NOS). Novell Netware was
a very popular, strong, sturdy, and secure network operating system. It offered
capability to network diskless nodes with dedicated Novell servers. Microsoft
introduced Windows-NT as the operating system for the networks. Windows
NT gave flexibility and an ease of a graphic user interface (mouse compatibility)
and was secure enough for local networks. Windows 2000 integrated capability
of Windows NT for secure networking. It can work on PCs, laptops, and
servers. As Laudon (2002, p. 177) puts it: ‘Windows 2000 can support software
written for Windows and it can provide mainframe-like computing power for
new applications with massive memory and file managements. It can even
support multiprocessing with multiple CPUs.’ Like Unix, Linux also supports
single machines and multiple servers under networks.
Unix and Xenix were operating systems for mainframes and minicomputers.
Unix was developed by Bell Laboratories in 1969 primarily to make it run
over network. This was made to offer functionalities like multitasking,
interactive, and multi-user. Unix is still regarded as a secure and robust
operating system that runs on large networks and high-end servers. But with
increase in the popularity and power of personal computers, development on
Unix and Xenix stopped in the nineties of the last century.

a wa
Application software is a program created to perform certain tasks for the end
users. Some of these tasks are maintaining a fee register in a school, keeping
transaction records of an account-holder in a bank, creating bills at the point-
of-sales location, managing inventory in a warehouse, playing a music or movie
file, creating a database system allowing users to construct database structure,
and developing a programming language that further facilitates creation of
software by a programmer.
All kinds of software that are used to manage, run and monitor businesses
and process data come under application software category. The word
processors, database management software, spreadsheet software, compressing-
decompressing software, media players, and software that can play a movie
file are all examples of application software. It is assumed that students are
aware of the basic office management tools such as word processors,
spreadsheets, and Internet browsers. Therefore, detailed study of these
applications is not a part of this text. Under application software, we will discuss
retail application software in Chapters 7, 10, and 11.

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 Introduction to Information Technology 

   

As we have discussed earlier, for the first and second generations of computers,
programming was done using either machine or assembly languages. These
languages were used by scientists and engineers for scientific applications.
They themselves were users and creators of the programs. The programs were
mainly for numerical calculations using scientific formulae and arithmetical
rules and logic. It was a time-consuming and cumbersome job to write programs
using these low-level languages. Slowly, the languages evolved to higher levels,
popularly known as third-generation (3GL) and fourth-generation languages
(4GL).

-a aa
In these languages, one can write software for both microcomputers and
mainframe computers. The main third-generation languages are C, COBOL,
FORTRAN, BASIC, and Pascal, which were developed and became popular
in development of the system, database and application programming. System
programming is the development of tools, compilers, utilities, and operating
systems. DOS, Windows, Internet browsers, and Linux are all examples of
operating systems. Database programming is the development of applications
around the database management systems, such as FoxPro, Access, and Oracle.
Application programming is development of applications to perform a certain
task and capture, manipulate and retrieve data from databases. Development
of websites and business software packages (such as Tally, RetailPro, SAP, and
MS-Office) are examples of application programming. These programming
languages are much easier than the assembly languages since these come with
a compiler, which converts the normal English-like phrases into binary
language that the machines understand.

-a aa
The third-generation languages needed deep procedural details and step-by-
step instruction to carry out a task. The job of the programmer was not only to
tell the computer what to do but also how to do it. Besides, these languages
are not capable of handling GUI and multimedia convergence. So, computer
technologists worldwide developed more languages to overcome the drawbacks
of the third-generation languages. These languages were called fourth-
generation languages (4GL). Visual, C++, Visual Basic, Oracle Developer
Tools, SQL, PowerBuilder, FrontPage, Java, CGI-Perl, PHP, and Dot.Net are
examples of 4GL.

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'--------------------------------------------------------------------------
' Procedure : LastDay
' DateTime : 19-Oct-2006
' Developer : Sunil
' Purpose : Return Last Date of Month and Year
' Modify History :
' Date Dr/Cr Developer Details
'--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Public Function fniLastDay(p_intMonth As Integer, p_intYear As Integer) As
Integer
On Error GoTo ErrorHandler

Select Case p_intMonth

Case 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 10, 12
LastDay = 31
Case 2
If p_intYear Mod 4 = 0 Then
LastDay = 29
Else
LastDay = 28
End If
Case 4, 6, 9, 11
LastDay = 30
End Select
Exit Function
ErrorHandler:
Err.Raise Err.Number, Err.Source, Err.Description
End Function

Fig. 1.11 Sample programming in 4GL

Fourth-generation languages offer an easy way of programming (Figures 1.11

and 1.12). They resemble natural English language and are less procedural in
nature. (Natural language refers to the language very close to what we speak.)
In the command line, the programmer tells the computer what to do. ‘How
to do it’ is taken care of by the machine when the programming codes are
compiled and assembled by the specialized tools provided in the language
kit.
The reason of 4GLs becoming popular was their ease in writing programs.
The lines of codes (LoC) that need to be written to create a function in different
languages reduce sharply as the languages evolved.

SELECT item_name FROM itemtable WHERE item_name LIKE ‘shirt%’;

SELECT customer_name FROM transactiontable WHERE amount = 10000 AND
staxamount=500;

Fig. 1.12 Query written in a structured query language (4GL)

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 Introduction to Information Technology 

Table 1.2 Programming languages in descending order of complexities

Assembly 320
C 128
Fortran 105
C++ 56
Java 55
Visual Basic 35
Other 4GL 20
Code Generators 15

Source: Jawadekar, W.S. 2005

Table 1.2 shows how lines of codes per function point drop sharply. (The
function point is a measure of the complexity of the software.)

    Y

After understanding the basic computer architecture and terminology, let us
discuss information systems and information technology in respect of modern
businesses.
Indian society was largely an agrarian society for centuries. After India’s
independence in 1947, the government tried to establish industries across the
country. It was only after 1960 that India started its steps to move from an
agricultural to an industrial society. But worldwide, highly industrialized
countries, such as the USA, moved from an industrial society to a service
society. The emphasis was on services and the service industry is a knowledge-
based industry. From the year 1990 onwards, India has ushered in a knowledge
society from an agricultural society and a half-baked industrial society. The
use of computers is increasing rapidly, especially with availability of the Internet
and high-quality telecommunication network. The way information technology
has penetrated society, it has become indispensable. Why do information
systems play such big roles within the organizations and affect people in all
walks of life? The answer is the ever-increasing power and sharply declining
costs of computer-technology products. As Laudon (2002) puts: ‘Computing
power, which has been doubling every 18 months, has improved the
performance of microprocessors over 25,000 times since their invention 30
years ago. With powerful, easy-to-use software, the computer can crunch
numbers, analyse vast pools of data, or simulate complex physical and logical
processes with animated drawings, sound, and even tactile feedback.’

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 Information Technology for Retail

The Internet, which is the network of the networks, has changed the world.
It has not only been instrumental in transforming world economies but also
has shaken the basic fabric of social interaction. It has changed the way we
shop, the way we socialize, the way we study, the way we bank, make payments,
the way scholars conduct research. It has also changed the way a father writes
a letter to his daughter, and the way we looked at our old family album.
We would not be doing business the way we did a decade back. E-commerce
has opened new avenues in business. Organizations cannot ignore the impact.
The dot.com burst in 2000 was a necessary shake-up for unprofitable businesses
that had built their foundation on faulty revenue models. Now, businesses are
taking care of this aspect. E-commerce has emerged as an enabler of the existing
business systems and is adding revenues and facilitating business operations
on click of a mouse.
Information technology influences every aspect of life and is going to have
a big impact on commerce and industry. Therefore, our progress depends on
what our system will be able to do. The market share of a company will depend
upon what its technology can support. The modern organizations will have to
be prepared for it.

Y
The journey of modern computing started with the invention of the digital
computers in 1950s. The microcomputer revolution started in 1980s after the
invention of the microprocessor in early 1970. Very large-scale integrated
(VLSI) circuits technology was behind this revolution. Computers have the
same architecture of input-process-output. Data is entered in computers through
various input devices; it is processed in the CPU having an ALU, a control
unit, and memory units. The output is sent to devices such as monitor, printer.
Computers consist of various hardware components (such as CPU, input and
output devices, and peripherals) and software components.
Broadly, software is classified into system software and application software.
System software consists of various operating systems, drivers, compilers,
assemblers. DOS, Windows, Unix, Linux, and OS/2 are examples of operating
systems. The Internet browsers and modem drivers are utilities under the
same category. Computer programming languages, database management
software, business application packages, and retail EPOS software are examples
of application software. With the invention and evolution of new generation
of computer hardware, programming languages also evolved. As the
programming languages became rich in functionalities and delivery, it became
easier for a programmer to write a piece of software using them. Today,

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 Introduction to Information Technology 

languages and tools of fourth generation and beyond are available, with which
even a not-so-technical person can try to build programs.

  

1. Define the basic architecture of a computer system.
2. What are the core components of a modern personal computer?
3. Write a brief note on evolution of computers.
4. Define 4GL with suitable examples.
5. What are the basic functions of operating systems?
6. What is multitasking?

  

1. ‘It was only personal computer that brought about the computer revolution.’ Analyse this statement
with practical examples.
2. ‘It was not the hardware that forced software development but it was the software that had a catalytic
effect on the hardware growth.’ Do you agree? Fortify your answer with examples.


1. Visit a retail store in your neighbourhood and prepare a report on the use of IT at the store.
2. Your organization is implementing retail software. You, as a head of the implementing team, have
to decide about the operating system. Your liking is for Linux. Build a business case so that your
CEO is convinced.

 
Jawadekar, W.S. 2005, Software Engineering, Tata McGraw-Hill, New Delhi.
Laudon, Kenneth and Jane Laudon 2002, Management Information Systems, Pearson Education (Singapore).
Linux For You, www.lfymag.com.

CASE STUDY

Haldia Dock Complex: Laying its Own Linux

Linux is gaining ground in almost all spheres of computing, from small desktop configurations
to high-end cluster design for mission-critical work environments. And almost every
organization that has an implemented Linux swears by its power and stability.

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 Information Technology for Retail

The Company
The Haldia Dock Complex (HDC) has a uniquely designed Linux installation with an active-
active cluster set-up, which is considered as one of the best of its kind. This has ensured
efficiency and cost-effectiveness. The HDC, situated in the Bay of Bengal, is one of the most
active ports in the eastern front of the country. It manages day-to-day operations on Linux for
heavy-duty work applications. It is one of the uniquely designed Linux installations and presently
one of the best active-active clusters.
Initial Groundwork
The officials at HDC were keen on modernizing their IT and administrative network
infrastructure. At the same time, they were studying the cost-effectiveness of implementing a
solution to handle the overall load balancing that was required at the complex.
This set-up involved several major players, including (a) IBM, which supplied the machines
and its custom DB2 software in addition to other hardware infrastructure, (b) NIC, which was
the overall governing council body (unless NIC sanctioned the project, it couldn’t take off,
and (c) Officials from Haldia complex and Red Hat India, who configured and implemented
the active-active cluster.
Unlike earlier organizations that had proprietary systems in their infrastructure, HDC was
a fresh set-up. Without much ado, almost every one agreed to go in for Linux from the very
beginning.
The project was based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux cluster suite using DB2, a SAN switch
(for shared storage), WAS (Web Application Sphere) from IBM, and DRS (Disaster Recovery
Site) about 8 km away from the main installed base to provide redundancy, all connected
over a fibre-optic channel network.

Active-active clustering
In this type of application environment there are two servers simultaneously accessing
data. If one server shut downs, the other picks up the load of running all services. These
servers access different partitions. So, in a typical cluster manager environment, the user
can simply spread the application services across the two servers in any way that seems
appropriate. The applications are processed faster as both the servers share the total
load. This is called active-active clustering, since both servers are simultaneously active.

The Fine Art of Cluster Management

Every organization has different needs depending on the work environment. It is up to the
system engineers to design and implement robust and scalable solutions taking into account
the future needs of the organization. So, when designing a high-availability configuration, the
first task is to identify whether the customer’s applications will be supported by the planned
system. The Haldia complex wanted a Unix-like, sturdy architecture, which ensured stability.
At the same time, the system needed to be cost-effective and free of licencing fees. To meet

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 Introduction to Information Technology 

Application Application
LAN/WAN
server A server B

Failover

Boot drive Boot drive

Data A Data B

Fig. 1.13 Basic cluster manager operations

these criteria, the experts on the project had to carefully design and implement a smart
maintenance and support strategy.
Sandeep Khuperkar, technical specialist, Red Hat India, one of the main architects
responsible for the active-active cluster set-up at HDC, agrees, ‘we at Red Hat saw the overall
design plan and recommended Linux as the de-facto platform for the mission-critical
applications. This decision was based on the compatibility and configurability of the OS with
other software and hardware such as IBM’s DB2 and WAS server applications in sync with
the DRS’.
The HDC set-up for the active-active cluster involves one pair of cluster for the database,
three servers for WAS and one for the database. The NIC had developed application for the
HDC active-active cluster, which is being used by the finance, marine, payroll and human
resource departments. At HDC, Red Hat Enterprise Linux forms the basic platform the entire
server set-up, with multiple instances running on active-active cluster accessing their own
respective DB (database) partitions on external storage (Fig. 1.13).
In the set-up depicted in Fig. 1.14, the cluster manager configuration developed by Red
Hat through the SAN switch comprises pair of server connected to an external storage array of
devices. The cluster manager software at the HDC is used to control access to storage partitions,
so that only one instance of DB2 can access a particular partition at a time. In the event that
one of the servers shuts down or fails, the other server will detect the event and will automatically
start to run the applications that were previously running on the failed server. This migration
of the application from the failed server to the remaining server is called fail-over.
Each server will then operate in the same manner, as if it were a single stand-alone system,
running applications and accessing data on its allocated storage partitions. But at the HDC,
multiple servers have been used to streamline the steady, demanding flow of data. This typical
layout is often referred to as scale-out computing. In addition to their connection to the shared
storage array, the two servers are interconnected using a network or serial interface so that

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 Information Technology for Retail

Application A

Application B

Application C

Fig. 1.14 Active-active configuration: multiple applications distributed

across both servers. (If either shuts down or fails, the other
takes over the total application load. Servers access
different partitions.)

they can communicate with each other. So, in this case, there are two nodes: Node 1 and
Node 2.
In case a particular application instance fails on Node 1, it is invoked at Node 2, thereby
giving continuity of data access to users. As soon as Node 1 is rectified, the application instance
that was earlier relocated to Node 2 is relocated back to Node 1.
Sandeep Khuperkar points out, ‘this is very important as scalability needs to be enhanced
without any breakdown in the service. So the entire application must be designed for fail-over
and maintenance.’

Cluster communication
Cluster manager configuration comprises two server systems connected to a shared
external storage array. Typically in most environments, the two servers are connected by
LAN or RS-232 serial cables. Cluster manager software uses these connections for heart
beating between the servers. Each server heart beats with other with regular short messages
to check that if it is operating correctly. If the heart beats do not receive an
acknowledgement, then the server will use this as an indication that the remote server
has failed.

The HDC is a very high-rate active-active cluster and there are various applications being
developed and ported on the system. As a result, the design had to consider compatibility
with other operating systems and high-end performance. Therefore, it is natural that the cluster
must be able to work with the most common database and applications (interconnectivity)
and must be easy to deploy and use with custom applications.
On this aspect, Sandeep adds, ‘we have tested the cluster successfully and it has worked
quite efficiently. Looking at the mission-critical applications required at HDC, the cluster
management suite (Red Hat) was configured to use multiple instances of DB2 running on
several nodes’.

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 Introduction to Information Technology 

How does one monitor the network effectively? Sandeep explains, ‘the enterprise suite
has a very good GUI, which helps the system administrator to check the status and monitor
the nodes on the cluster’.
So, what’s new?
Ask any expert or user of Linux and opinion will invariably be, ‘it’s a very strong, stable,
robust OS with scope for further enhancements and future requirements’. And what do the
people at the site had to say? Abhijit Das, Deputy Secretary, HDC, says, ‘we are completely
satisfied with the active-active cluster set-up and have found the Red Hat application suite to
be perfectly stable for our heavy-duty work’.
Questions:
1. What was the major activity at the Haldia Dock complex?
2. Which activities carried out at HDC were LAN establishing and which ones indicated
towards an operating system change?
3. Which part of the operations was most critical and why?
Source: Adapted from Nilesh Kakade, Linux For You, December 2003, www.lfymag.com.

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