Lecturer: Gareth Jones. What are the components of IT infrastructure? What are the major computer hardware, data storage, input, and output technologies

Lecturer: Gareth Jones

• 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?

Friday, 20 March 2009Management Information Systems

(BUS-141 MIS) 2

Problem: Large, complicated infrastructure was difficult to manage, storage needs increased quickly.

Solutions: Use IBM storage technology to reduce infrastructure spending and conserve space.


(BUS-141 MIS) 3


(BUS-141 MIS) 4

• Provides platform for supporting all information systems in the business

• Computer hardware

• Computer software

• Data management technology

• Organises, manages, and processes business data concerned with inventory, customers, and vendors

• Networking and telecommunications technology


(BUS-141 MIS) 5

• Computers come in different sizes with varying capabilities for processing information (speed)

• PDAs, handheld mobile devices• PCs• Workstation

• More powerful mathematical and graphics-processing capabilities than a PC


(BUS-141 MIS) 6

• 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


(BUS-141 MIS) 7

• 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• Power of geographically remote computers connected into single

network to act as “virtual supercomputer”


(BUS-141 MIS) 8

• Form of distributed computing

• Splits processing between “clients” and “servers”

• Clients: User point of entry

• Servers: Store and process shared data and perform network management activities

• Two-tiered client/server architecture

• Uses two types of machines


(BUS-141 MIS) 9


(BUS-141 MIS) 10


(BUS-141 MIS) 11

• Primary secondary storage technologies• Magnetic disk:

• Hard drives, USB flash drives

• RAID: Can package hundreds of drives for massage 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


(BUS-141 MIS) 12


(BUS-141 MIS) 13

• 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


(BUS-141 MIS) 14

• Output devices:• Display data after they have been processed

• Monitor• Projector• Printer• Audio output


(BUS-141 MIS) 15

• 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


(BUS-141 MIS) 16

• Integration of computing and telecommunications platforms

• Cell phones merging with handhelds

• Growth of Internet telephony

• Nanotechnology (纳米技术 )• Creating computer chips and other devices thousands of times smaller

through manipulating individual atoms, molecules


(BUS-141 MIS) 17

• Edge computing• Multitier, load-balancing scheme for Web-based applications

• Significant parts of Web site content, logic, and processing performed by smaller, less expensive servers located nearby the user

• Increases response time and resilience and lowers technology costs.


(BUS-141 MIS) 18


(BUS-141 MIS) 19

• Multi-core processors• Integrated circuit with two or more processors

• Enhanced performance, reduced power consumption and more efficient simultaneous processing of multiple tasks


(BUS-141 MIS) 20

• The software that manages and controls the computer’s activities

• PC operating systems and graphical user interfaces• GUIs

• Windows

• Linux (and other UNIX based systems)

• Mac


(BUS-141 MIS) 21

• Software packages and desktop productivity tools• Word processing software• Spreadsheet software• Data management software• Presentation graphics• Software suites• Web browsers


(BUS-141 MIS) 22

• Java• Operating system-independent, processor-independent, object-

oriented programming language (powerful but can be slow)

• 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


(BUS-141 MIS) 23

CSS◦ Allows separation of presentation from content (you can change

one page of code and change the design of your website) PHP◦ Common open-source web based object orientated programming

language (free, but less powerful than .NET) .NET ◦ Powerful Microsoft development technology. Object orientated

programming language (expensive but powerful)


(BUS-141 MIS) 24

• Web services: • Software components that exchange information with each other

using universal Web communication standards and languages• XML (extensible markup language)

• SOAP (simple object access protocol)• WSDL (web services description language)• UDDI (universal description, discovery, and integration)

• Service oriented architecture (SOA)


(BUS-141 MIS) 25


(BUS-141 MIS) 26

• Open Source Software• Ubuntu (Form of Linux)

• Cloud Computing• Google Apps, Windows Live

• Widgets• Apple Dashboard, facebook, myspace


(BUS-141 MIS) 27


(BUS-141 MIS) 28

• Windows like experience

• Free software• Comes with many

applications• Can download

many free applications

• Takes up less processing power


(BUS-141 MIS) 29

• Processing done in one or more other locations

• Saves processing power on your machine

• Uses other code• Uses other database


(BUS-141 MIS) 30

Weather Stock Ex News Search Calander System Use

• 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

• Scalability: Ability of system to expand to serve large number of users without breaking down


(BUS-141 MIS) 31

• 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

• TCO can be reduced through increased centralization, standardization of hardware and software resources


(BUS-141 MIS) 32

• 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)


(BUS-141 MIS) 33

• Managing software localisation 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, etc.• Differences in local cultures• Differences in business processes

• All of these factors add to TCO of using technology service providers


(BUS-141 MIS) 34

Software◦Must fit the needs of the business◦ Be standards compliant (work across all platforms and

browsers) Hardware◦Must fit the needs of the business◦ Be affordable, but be scalable for future use


(BUS-141 MIS) 35

Understanding the key hardware terms, different types of computers, storage, processing and trends

Understanding different operating systems, programming languages and choices of software


(BUS-141 MIS) 36

Anything you’ve done this week which you want to do go through again?

Any questions about your case study?


(BUS-141 MIS) 37

What type of hardware and software can be used by our Chinese Traditional Medicine Company?◦ Think about the type of information the business will use◦ Think about the type of software the company will need to

support it’s business activities and potentially e-commerce website

◦ Think about the size of the company- how much hardware does it actually need?


(BUS-141 MIS) 38

Documents

Lecturer: Gareth Jones. What are the components of IT infrastructure? What are the major computer hardware, data storage, input, and output technologies