Information Systems 12 Hardware and Software Information Technology Infrastructure the shared technology resources that provide the platform for the firm s specific information system applications The set of physical devices and software required to operate enterprise and the set of firm wide services budgeted by management and comprising both human and technical capabilities Provides a foundation for serving customers working with vendors and managing internal firm business processes Services platform perspective has a more accurate view of the value of investments o Computing Platform provide computing services that connect employees customers and suppliers into a coherent digital environment including large mainframes desktop and laptop computers and personal digital assistants and internet appliances Telecommunication Services provide data voice and video connectivity to employees customers and suppliers Data Management Services store and manage corporate data and provide capabilities for analyzing the data Physical facilities Management Services develop and manage the physical installations required for computing telecommunications and data management services IT Management Services plan and develop the infrastructure coordinate with the business units for IT services manage accounting for the IT expenditure and provide project management services IT Standards Services provide the firm and its business units with policies that determine which information technology will be used when and how IT Education Services provide training in system use to employees and offer managers training in how to plan for and manage IT investments IT Research and Development Services provide the firm with research on potential future IT projects and investments that could help the firm differentiate itself in the marketplace o o o o o o o Main Components of IT Infrastructure Computer Hardware Platforms o o Client Machines ex Desktop PCs mobile computing devices laptops Server Machines Blade Servers ultrathin computers consisting of a circuit board with processors memory and network connections that are stored in racks take up less space than traditional box based servers Top Chip Producers AMD Intel IBM Top Firms IBM HP Dell Sun Microsystems o Mainframes capable of replacing thousands of smaller blade servers o o Operating System Platforms o Operating System used to manage the resources and activities of the computer Allows multiple programs to share a single computer multi tasking Provides services to software applications Access memory hard drive network and devices such as printers cameras display mouse etc Provides users with access to system Run programs copy files change settings etc Windows Vista VP Mobile etc o o Client Level 95 of PCs and 45 of handheld devices run Microsoft Windows Server Level 85 run Unix or Linux Scalable Reliable Less expensive than mainframe operating systems Customer Relationship Management CRM Enterprise Resource Planning ERP Supply Chain Management SCM Enterprise Application Providers SAP Oracle Once a firm decides to work with an enterprise vendor switching can be difficult and costly Enterprise Software Applications o o o o o Data management and storage o Database Software IBM Oracle Microsoft Sybase MySQL o Physical Data Storage EMC Corp large scale systems Seagate Maxtor Western Digital o o Storage Area Networks SANs connect multiple storage devices on a separate high speed network dedicated to storage creating a large central pool of storage that can be rapidly accessed and shared by multiple servers The amount of new digital information in the world is doubling every 3 years requiring firms to invest in extensive data storage devices growing at more than 15 annually over the past 5 years Networking telecommunications platforms o Telecommunication Services cable phone internet access Typically provided by telecommunications telephone services companies that offer voice and data connectivity wide area networking and internet access Network Operating Systems Windows Servers Novell Linux Unix Network Hardware Providers Cisco Lucent Nortel Juniper Networks o o Internet Platforms o Web Hosting Service maintains a large Web server or series of servers and provides fee paying subscribers with space to maintain their Web sites Hardware software management services to support company Websites intranets and extranets Internet hardware server market dell HP Compaq IBM o o o Web Development tools suites Microsoft IBM Sun Independent software developers o Macromedia Adobe RealMedia Since there has been a steady push toward server consolidation reducing the number of server computers by increasing the size and power of each Consulting System Integration Services o o Even large firms do not have resources for full range support for new complex infrastructures Legacy Systems generally older transaction processing system created for mainframe computers that continue to be used to avoid the high cost of replacing or redesigning them Replacing legacy systems is cost prohibitive and generally not necessary if the system can be integrated into a contemporary infrastructure o Software integration ensuring new infrastructure works with legacy systems Evolution of IT Infrastructure General Purpose Mainframe and Minicomputer Era 1959 Present o Wide spread commercial use of mainframe computers o Mainframe Era a period of highly centralized computing under the control of professional programmers and system operators usually in a corporate data center with most elements of infrastructure provided by a single vendor the manufacturer of the hardware and software 1958 IBM first mainframes introduced eventually used to support thousands of online remote terminals 1965 less expensive DEV minicomputers introduced allowing decentralized computing o o o Minicomputers powerful machines making it possible to decentralize computing customized to the specific needs of individual departments or business units rather than time sharing on a single huge mainframe Personal Computer Era 1981 Present 1981 Introduction of IBM PC o Growth of personal software o Eventually personal desktop productivity software tools work processors spreadsheets etc were o introduced Client Server Era 1983 Present o Desktop clients networked to servers with processing work split between clients and servers Client desktop or laptop computers the user point of entry Server processes and stores shared data serves up web