Chapter 6: Architecture & Infrastructure Flashcards
Mohawk transformed itself in three ways:
- Moving from a primary focus on manufacturing to providing service
- Shifted to a model of collaboration with a network of partners
- Ensured that the partner network was flexible and its capabilities were tightly integrated with those of Mohawk.
How did Mohawk accomplish this transformation?
- by using service‐oriented architecture (SOA) tools
- Scaled technology services instantaneously according to its needs (applications added or subtracted as needed)
- managed costs while increasing flexibility and capacity throughout the transformation.
a blueprint for translating business strategy into a plan for IS
IT architecture
everything that supports the flow and processing of information in an organization, including hardware, software, data, and network components
IT infrastructure
Two Major steps for Managers to implement A&I framework
- translating strategy into architecture
- translating architecture into infrastructure
what are the 5 steps to translate Strategy to Architecture?
- Create a Business Strategy
- Us the business strategy to develop specific goals
- Derive business requirements from each goal
- Translate business requirements into system requirements, standards, and processes
- Design IT Architecture
what are the 4 steps to translate Architecture to infrastructure?
- add hardware, data, networking and software to architectual plan
- create a functional specification
- break functional specification down into hardware spec, software spec, storage spec, interface spec, and network spec
- implementation decisions are made
The underlying system to an IT infrastructure
Platform
a combination of hardware and software that form the basic system that hosts applications and services used by the business and others in its ecosystem.
A platform
What are the 4 ways the term platform is used?
- To identify the hardware and operating system of a computer (MS Windows)
- To refer to the operating system and device (MacBook & iOS)
- A specialized system for specific business applications (Salesforce.com)
- Can refer to a firm’s collection of cloud‐based, modular tools (Google Maps)
What are the 4 basic components of transforming business strategy into architecture and then into infrastructure?
- Hardware
- Software
- Network
- Data
The physical components that handle computation, storage, or transmission of data
Hardware
The programs that run on the hardware to enable work to be performed
Software
Two groups of Software
- System Software
- Applications
Software and hardware components for local or long‐distance networking
Network
The electronic representation of the numbers and text.
Data
Platforms and apps describe the technology behind
architectures and infrastructures
Platforms are often _________________and/or _________________ that offer basic functionality, and _________ are plug‐ins to the platform that offer additional features and services.
- hardware
- software
- apps
Three questions for each Infrastructure component:
- What type of technology/devices
- Who are involved (users/owners)
- Where will it be located/accessed
systems in place before organizations transform to newer systems
Legacy systems
What are the common configurations of Legacy Systems
- Centralized
- Decentralized
- Service-Oriented
- Software Defined
Software used in SOA is called what?
Software-as-a-service (SaaS)
Applications delivered over the internet
Web Services
This phrase means that the processing, applications, and data are all hosted by a provider and not residing at a location owned by the manager’s company.
“in the cloud”
A cutting‐edge type of configuration is one that can allocate or remove resources automatically based on traffic or other indicators of utilization, referred to as a
software‐defined architecture
What trade-offs must a Manager be aware of when considering Architectual Decisions (pros and cons of Architectual Frameworks)
- decentralized architectures are more modular
- a centralized architecture is easier to manage
- SOA is useful for building applications quickly
- Software‐defined architectures self‐manage many of their features.
architecture that allows networked computers to share resources without needing a central server to play a dominant role.
Peer-to-Peer
Type of infrastructure that allows communication from remote locations using a variety of wireless technologies
Wireless (mobile) infrastructures
locate significant hardware, software, and possibly even data elements on the Internet.
Web-based and Cloud Architecture
the availability of additional processing capability for a fee.
Capacity On-demand
Allows managers to use the web‐available capacity as needed, rather than purchasing additional computers to handle the larger loads. This is an advantage of what?
Advantage of Capacity On-Demand
When employees or Customers connect their own devices to the corporate network
Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)
Examples of Architectual Principles
- Ease of Use
- Single Point of View
- Buy Rather than Build
- Speed and Quality
- Flexibility and Agility
- Innovation
- Data and System security
- Common Data Vocabulary
- Data Quality
- Data Asset
- Specifies how information technologies support the overall business processes, align with business needs, and produce business outcomes.
- Includes the standard technical capabilities and activities for all parts of the enterprise and guidelines for making choices.
Enterprise Architecture
What are the four Layers to Enterprise Architecture (BAIT)
- Business Layer
- Application Layer
- Information Layer
- Technology Layer
A virtual architecture design that enables resources to be shared and allocated as needed by the user
Virtualization
Describes any architecture that is based on services provided over the Internet.
Cloud computing
This type of infrastructure uses the cloud as a large cluster of virtual servers or storage devices
infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS)
What are the three Major Types of Cloud Computing Services
- Platform as a Service (PaaS)
- Software as a Service (SaaS)
- Hardware as a Service (HaaS)
- Purchasing any part of the consumers’ storage or processing infrastructure they need when they need it.
- Uses a third‐party infrastructure to do its processing or transactions and pay only for what it uses.
Utility Computing
Five (5) Advantages of Virtualization and Cloud Computing
- Reduced physical costs
- Reduced physical space
- Simpler Network
- Greater speed in adding capacity
What are the three (3) disadvantages of Virtualization and Cloud Computing
- Dependence on third‐party suppliers
- May require retooling
- Applications may not port easily to other vendor’s environments
The primary reason to base an architecture on an organization’s strategic goals is to?
allow for inevitable future changes—
1. Business environment
2. Organization,
3. IT requirements
4. Technology itself.
Steps to Consider the future Impact to infrastructure and architecture
- Exisiting Architecture
- Strategic TImeframe
- Adaptability
- Scalability and Standardization
- Maintainability
- Security
- FInancial and Managerial Issues
What are the Three Steps to understand the current IT environment?
- analyze the existing architecture and infrastructure
- analyze the strategy served by the existing architecture
- analyze the ability of the existing architecture and infrastructure to further the current strategic goals
What five (5) factors need to be consider when assessing the Strategic Timeframe?
- Commitment to fixed resources
- Maturity of the industry
- Industry cyclicality
- Barriers to entry
- Competitive environment
the architecture should be able to handle expected technological advances, such as innovations in storage capacity, end‐user devices, and computing power
Adaptability
What are the Three (3) guidlines for planning an adaptable IT architecture?
- Plan independant applications and systems
- Set clear boundaries between infrastructure components
- Provide access to all users when it makes sense to do so
refers to how well an infrastructure component can adapt to increased, or in some cases decreased, demands.
Scalability
technical specifications that are expected to be followed throughout the infrastructure
Standards
the ease and speed with which a system can be made to run correctly again after a failure occurs, is an aspect of infrastructure and architecture that can greatly affect overall lifetime costs of the IT
Maintainability
What are the five (5) steps to Assess Financial and Managerial Issues of Architecture and Infrastructure
- Quantify Costs
- Determine the anticipated life cycles of systems components
- Quantify Benefits
- Quantify Risks
- Consider ongoing dollar costs and benefits
