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  Ch 5 - IT Infrastructure and Emerging Technologies

  1. Opening Case - Cars.com      (p161)
    1. Problem: IT cannot keep up with aggressive business strategy.  Desire to have two Super Bowl ads.
    2. Solution: Replace multiple systems with IBM platform.
    3. Illustrates how an appropriate IT infrastructure can enable business growth.  Cars.com became exclusive provider on Yahoo Autos handling an inventory of 2.7 million vehicles per month.
       
  2. IT Infrastructure     (p163)
    1. Defining IT Infrastructure - IT Infrastructure consists of:
      1. Hardware Platforms (p176) - mainframes, desktops, laptops, personal digital assistants (PDA), . . .
      2. Software Platforms (p176) - operating systems, PC applications, enterprise applications, see Ch2 outline, Item IV, and Section IV below - more in Ch9
      3. Data Management Services (p177) - store, manage, analyze data - more in Ch6
      4. Telecommunications Services (p178) - data, voice, Internet services, . . .  more in Ch7, 8
      5. Management, Consulting and System Integration Services (p178) - plan and develop IT infrastructure, provide training, . . .
        Note by PJL: Def - Platform - a platform describes some sort of framework, either in hardware or software, which allows software to run.  See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platform_(computing)
         
    2. Evolution of IT infrastructure: 1950-present - Fig 5-2, p165
      1. General-purpose mainframe and minicomputer era: 1959 to present
      2. Personal computer era: 1981 to present
      3. Client/server era: 1983 to present
      4. Enterprise Internet computing era: 1992 to present
      5. Cloud computing era: 2000 to present
         
    3. Technology drivers of infrastructure evolution     (p168)
      1. Moore’s Law - microprocessor computing power doubles every 18 months - measured in MIPS (millions of instructions per second) - Figs 5-4, 5
      2. The Law of Mass Digital Storage - for a fixed dollar amount, storage capacity doubles roughly every 15 months
      3. Metcalfe’s Law and network economics - as the number of network (Internet) members increases, the value of the network increases exponentially
      4. Declining communications costs and the Internet - 1.5 billion people worldwide have Internet access
      5. Standards - widespread adoption of technology standards result in price declines - Table 5-2, p174 - IBM/Microsoft/Intel PC
         
  3. Hardware Platform Trends     (p179)
    1. Emerging Mobil Hardware Platform
      1. Smartphones (BlackBerry, iPhone) can surf Web, edit email, exchange data with corporate systems
      2. Netbooks - small subnotebook PCs with Internet access, basic wordprocessing, and worksheets
    2. Def - Cloud - used as a metaphor for the Internet, based on how the Internet is depicted in computer network diagrams.  See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_computing.
    3. Def - Cloud computing - computing where applications and data are stored on remote servers and accessed via the Internet with a standard Web browser.
      1. Example - Google Apps - see www.google.com/apps.
         
  4. Software Platform Trends     (p184)
    1. Linux and Open-source Software
      1. Def - Open-source Software - software that provides free access to its program code, allowing users to modify the program code to make improvements.
        1. Open-source software may be superior to commercially produced software because thousands of programmers around the world read, perfect, and modify the source code more reliably than a smaller team from a single company.
      2. Operating System - the software that manages and controls the activities of  a computer. 
      3. Linux - most well-known open-source software.  Created by Linus Torvalds in 1991.  Linux is the world's fastest growing client and server operating system, competing with Microsoft Windows.  See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux.
         
    2. Java - a programming language used for Web applications that can run on any computer and any operating system. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_(software_platform).
       
    3. Web Services       (p186)
      1. Def - Web Services - a set of loosely coupled software components that exchange info with each other using universal Web communication standards and languages.  They can exchange info between two systems regardless of the operating systems or programming languages.
      2. Example - Dollar Rent A Car's info system uses Web Services to link its online booking system with Southwest Airlines's website.  A person booking a flight on Southwest.com can reserve a car from Dollar without leaving Southwest.com.
      3. Def - Legacy Info System - an older transaction processing system created for a mainframe computer that continues to be used to avoid the high cost of replacing it.       (p179)
      4. Web Services enable the integration of existing legacy info systems with newer Web-based applications without time-consuming custom coding.
         
    4. Mashups, Web 2.0      (p188)
      1. Def - Mashup - a software application that combines the capabilities of two or more online applications to create a hybrid with more customer value than the original sources alone.
        1. Example - www.HousingMaps.com - displays local real estate listings from www.Craigslist.org overlaid on Google Maps.
      2. Def - Web 2.0 - a phrase that refers to a perceived second generation of Web-based services that emphasize online collaboration and sharing among users.  Its exact meaning remains open to debate.  See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0.
         
    5. External Sources for Software      (p189)
      1. Def - Software Package - a prewritten commercially available set of software programs that eliminates the need for a firm to write its own software programs for certain functions, such as payroll processing.
      2. Def - Software as a Service (SaaS) - a model of software deployment where a provider licenses an application to customers for use as a service on demand.  The provider may host the application on their own web servers (cloud computing) or download the application to the customer's server, disabling it after the contract expires.
        1. Customers pay either on a subscription or per transaction basis.
        2. Classic example of SaaS - ADP's (Automatic Data Processing, www.adp.com) pioneering development of remote payroll processing.
      3. Def - Software Outsourcing - a firm contracts custom software development and maintenance of legacy programs to an outside firm.
      4. In the past, most firms developed much of their software inhouse.  Presently, many firms use software packages, software as a service (SaaS), and/or software outsourcing.
      5. Web Hosting Service - an example of SaaS, where the provider operates Web servers to maintain websites for fee-paying subscribers.     (p178)
         
  5. Interactive Session: Organizations            (192)
    1. Read: Salesforce.com: SaaS Goes Mainstream
    2. Be prepared to discuss the following questions:
      1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the SaaS model?

         
      2. What are some of the challenges facing Salesforce as it continues its growth?


         
      3. What kinds of businesses could benefit from switching to Salesforce and why?

         
      4. For your info only: listen to the first 2:30 minutes of Marc Benioff's (CEO of Salesforce.com) presentation about Service Cloud 2 located at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47NKbUH9vhA. 

                           (This page was last edited on February 16, 2010 .)