Midterm 3 Flashcards
1
Q
IT Infrastructure
A
- Set of physical devices and software required to operate
an enterprise - Set of firm-wide services including:
– Computing platforms providing computing services
– Physical facilities management services
– I T management, education, and other services - “Service platform” perspective
– More accurate view of value of investments
2
Q
Evolution of IT Infrastructure
A
- General-purpose mainframe and minicomputer era: 1959
to present - Personal computer era: 1981 to present
- Client/server era: 1983 to present
- Enterprise computing era: 1992 to present
- Cloud and mobile computing: 2000 to present
3
Q
Drivers of Infrastructure
Evolution
A
- Moore’s law and microprocessing power
– Computing power doubles every 2 years
– Nanotechnology - Law of Mass Digital Storage
– The amount of data being stored each year doubles - Metcalfe’s Law and network economics
– Value or power of a network grows exponentially as a
function of the number of network members - Declining communication costs and the Internet
– Exponential growth in size of the Internet - Standards and network effects
– Technology standards
Specifications that establish the compatibility of products
and the ability to communicate in a network
Unleash powerful economies of scale and result in price
declines
4
Q
Components of IT
Infrastructure
A
- Computer hardware platforms
- Operating system platforms
- Enterprise software applications
- Data management and storage
- Networking/telecommunications platforms
- Internet platforms
- Consulting system integration services
5
Q
Computer Hardware Platforms
A
- Client machines
– Desktop PC s, laptops
– Mobile computing: smartphones, tablets
– Desktop chips vs. mobile chips - Servers
- Mainframes
– IBM mainframe
– Digital workhorse for banking and telecommunications
networks
6
Q
Operating System Platforms
A
- Corporate servers
– Windows Server
– Unix
– Linux - Client level
– Microsoft Windows
– Android, iO S, Windows 10 (mobile/multitouch)
– Google’s Chrome O S (cloud computing)
7
Q
Data Management and Storage
A
- Database software providers
– IBM (DB2)
– Oracle
– Microsoft (SQL Server)
– SAP Sybase (Adaptive Server Enterprise),
– MySQL (Oracle)
– Apache Hadoop
8
Q
Telecomunications Platforms
A
- Network operating systems
– Windows Server, Linux, Unix - Network hardware providers
– Cisco, Juniper Networks - Telecommunication services
– Telecommunications, cable, telephone company
charges for voice lines and Internet access
– AT&T, Verizon
9
Q
Internet Platforms
A
- Hardware, software, management services to support company
websites, intranets
– Web-hosting services
– Routers
– Cabling or wireless equipment - Internet hardware server market
– IBM, Dell, Oracle, HP - Web development tools/suites
– Microsoft (Visual Studio and .NET), Oracle-Sun (Java),
Adobe
10
Q
Current Trends in
Computer Hardware Platforms
A
- The mobile digital platform
- Consumerization of IT and BYOD (bring your own device)
- Quantum computing
– Uses quantum physics to represent and operate on data
– Dramatic increases in computing speed - Virtualization
– Allows single physical resource to act as multiple resources, also enables multiple physical resources to appear as a single logical resource
– Reduces hardware and power expenditures
– Facilitates hardware centralization - Cloud computing
Infrastructure as a service (IaaS)
Software as a service (SaaS)
Platform as a service (PaaS) - Edge computing
– Servers at the edge of the network, near the source of
the data
– Reduces latency and network traffic - Green computing (Green IT )
– Practices and technologies for manufacturing, using,
disposing of computing and networking hardware
– Reducing power consumption a high priority
– Green data centers - High-performance, power-saving processors
– Multicore processors
11
Q
Current Computer Software
Platforms and Trends
A
- Linux and opensource software
– Produced by community of programmers
– Linux - Software for the web: Java, HTML, and HTML5
– Java Virtual Machine
– Web browsers
– HTML and HTML 5
– Ruby and Python - Web services and service-oriented architecture
– SOA : service-oriented architecture
Set of self-contained services that communicate with one
another to create a working software application
Software developers reuse these services in other
combinations to assemble other applications as needed - Software outsourcing and cloud services
- Mashups and apps
12
Q
Dealing with Platform and Infrastructure
Change
A
- Scalability
– Ability to expand to serve larger number of users
13
Q
How should IT department be organized?
A
– Centralized
Central IT department makes decisions
– Decentralized
Business unit IT departments make own decisions
14
Q
Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Model
A
- Analyzes direct and indirect costs
- Hardware, software account for only about 20% of TCO
- Other costs: Installation, training, support, maintenance,
infrastructure, downtime, space, and energy - TCO can be reduced
– Use of cloud services, greater centralization and standardization of hardware and software resources
15
Q
Competitive Forces Model for IT
Infrastructure Investment
A
- Market demand for firm’s services
- Firm’s business strategy
- Firm’s IT strategy, infrastructure, and cost
- Information technology assessment
- Competitor firm services
- Competitor firm IT infrastructure investments
16
Q
File Organization Terms and Concepts
A
- Database: Group of related files
- File: Group of records of same type
- Record: Group of related fields
- Field: Group of characters as word(s) or number(s)
- Entity: Person, place, thing on which we store information
- Attribute: Each characteristic, or quality, describing entity
