Chapter 5IT Infrastructures and Emerging Technologies

IT Infrastructure Hardware and software (IT), and Human

resources Computing platforms Telecommunications services Data management services Application software services Physical facilities management services IT management services IT standards service IT education IT research

Terms Mainframe computer Mini computer Supercomputer Personal computer

Evolution Mainframe and Minicomputer Era Personal Computer Era Client/Server Era Enterprise Computing Era Cloud and Mobile Computing Era

Cloud computing – model/provides access to a shared pool of computing resources over a network (most commonly Internet)

Servers Server – computer/provides software

and other resources to other computers over a network

Blade Server Web Server Application

Server

Server racks

Technology Drivers of Infrastructure Evolution Moore’s Law

Nanotechnology The Law of Mass Digital Storage Metcalfe’s Law and Network Economics Declining Communication Costs and the

Internet

Other: technology standards

7 Major Infrastructure Components

Terms Operating System Web hosting service Legacy systems

Hardware Platform trends Mobile Digital Platform Grid Computing (Geographically

dispersed; connecting to a single network) Ex: SETI, GridCafe

Virtualization (presenting computer resources so they can all be accessed in ways not restricted to physical or geographical location)

Hardware Platform Trends (cont) Cloud Computing

Public vs Private Green Computing Autonomic Computing (organization-wide

initiative; develop systems that can fix themselves)

High performance and Power saving processors Multicore processors (perform reading and

execution of computer instructions; two or more attached)

Software Platform Trends Linux and Open Source Software Software for the Web: Java and Ajax Web Services and Service-Oriented Architecture

Web services – loosely coupled software components; exchange information using universal web communication standards

XML – Extensible Markup Language HTML – Hypertext Markup Language SOA – Service Oriented Architecture (collection of

web services; used to build a firm’s software system)

Software Platform Trends (cont) Software Outsourcing

Software package Enterprise software Software outsourcing

Cloud Services SaaS Service-level agreement (SLA)

Mashups and Apps

XML Example

Management Issues Platform and Infrastructure

change Scalability

Management and governance

Making Wise Infrastructure Investments Total cost of ownership

(TOC) Competitive Forces Model

for IT Infrastructure Investment