Laud11Ch07

Mgt 4322 - Home Spring 2010 Email to Dr. Lyons PatLyons Home
[ Calendar10:10 | PortWebsite | StuWebs | Port1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Showcase | Presentation ]
[ Ch 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 || AppDatabase | Ex1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 ]
[ HW 1| 2 | 3 | 4 | | Career1| 2 | 3 ] [ SJU | TCB | CareerCtr | StuInfo | CareerLinks ] [ SJU Closing ] [H1N1SelfAssessment]

Ch 7 - Telecommunications, the Internet, and Wireless Technology

Opening Case - Virgin Megastores (p247)
1. Problem: Can Virgin Megastores compete with Wal-Mart and online music download services in selling DVDs, books, video games?
2. Solution: Integrate voice mail, e-mail, instant messaging, conferencing with Microsoft Office Communicator and Roundtable.
3. Illustrates benefit of using collaboration tools among 11 retail locations to react effectively and efficiently to changes in sales trends(???).
  Illustrates that, even if you have good IT infrastructure, you may be put out of business by a new business model (downloading as opposed to physical distribution).
  Note by PJL: On March 2, 2009, all Virgin Megastores in the USA closed. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_Megastores. Stores still operating in France, Australia, Greece.
Telecommunications and Networking (p249)
1. Def - Network - a group of two or more connected computers. Fig 7-1, p250.
2. Def - Hub - a device that connects network components, sending a packet of data to all other connected devices.
3. Def - Switch - a device that connects network components by filtering and forwarding info to a specified device.
4. Def - Router - a device that forwards packets of data from one network to another network.
5. See www.webopedia.com/DidYouKnow/Hardware_Software/2006/router_switch_hub.asp for discussion of hubs, switches, and routers.
6. Key Digital Networking Technologies
  1. Client/server Computing - a network with client computers under user control (desktops, laptops, handheld devices) and a network server that provides every client with an address so others can find it on the network.
  2. Packet Switching - a method of slicing digital messages into parcels (packets), sending the packets along different paths, and reassembling them at the destination. Before this, circuit-switched networks completed a point-to-point circuit. This did not use network capacity as efficiently as packet switching.
  3. Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)
    1. Def - Protocol - a set of rules and procedures governing the transmission of information between two points in a network.
    2. Def - Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) - the protocol that handles the movement of data between computers.
    3. Def - Internet Protocol (IP) - the protocol that handles the delivery of packets.
Communications Networks (p254)
1. Types of Networks
  1. Def - Local Area Network (LAN) - a network capable of connecting PCs and other digital devices (printer) within a half-mile radius.
  2. Def - Wide Area Network (WAN) - a network capable of spanning the globe. The Internet is a WAN.
2. Physical Transmission Media
  1. Twisted Wire - consists of a pair of solid copper wires. Used originally for traditional (analog) telephone. Transmission speed up to 1 Gbps (gigabits per second) possible.
  2. Coaxial Cable - consists of a single, thickly insulated copper wire surrounded by a metal shield. Transmission speed up to 1 Gbps.
  3. Fiber-optic Cable - consists of strands of clear glass fiber, each the thickness of a human hair, bound into a cable. Transmission speed for each strand up to 6,000 Gbps.
The Internet (p259)
1. Def - Internet - a client/server computing network that links hundreds of thousands of individual networks and more than 1 billion people.
2. Def - Internet Service Provider - a business with a permanent connection to the Internet that sells temporary connections to retail subscribers.
3. Internet Addressing and Architecture
  1. Def - Internet Protocol (IP) Address - the unique address assigned to every device (router, computer, ...) connected to the Internet. Currently, the IP address consists of a string of four integers, each ranging from 0 to 255. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_address.
    1. For your info only - demo to class - ping www.google.com
    2. For your info only - demo to class - tracert www.google.com
  2. Def - Domain Name - the English-like name that corresponds to the IP address. The domain name for 216.239.37.99 is google.com.
    1. Def - Top-level Domain Name - the last two or three characters following the final dot of a domain name. Examples are com, edu, gov, ca (Canada), and it (Italy).
    2. Def - Second-level Domain Name - the characters between the last two dots of a domain name. Example is google.
    3. Def - Third-level Domain Name - the characters to the left of the second to last dot of a domain name. Historically, it designated a specific host computer. Examples, mail.stjohns.edu designated the email server computer, www.stjohns.edu designated the World Wide Web server. Current technology allows multiple servers to serve a single subdomain, or multiple domains to be served by a single server.
  3. Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) - the organization that assigns IP addresses.
4. The World Wide Web (p270)
  1. Def - Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) - a page description language used to create webpages.
    Microsoft FrontPage and Word make it possible to create webpages without using html directly.
  2. Def - Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) - the communications standard used to transfer html pages on the Internet.
  3. Def - Uniform Resource Locator (URL) - a string of characters used to locate a resource on the Internet.
    1. The URL syntax starts with a scheme name such as "http", "ftp", "mailto", etc., followed by a colon character, and then a scheme-specific part.
    2. For http, the scheme-specific part consists of two forward slashes, a domain name, the directory path, page name and page format.
      Example - http://www.patlyons.com/m4322/chapters/Laud10Ch07.htm is the URL for this webpage.
  4. Def - The World Wide Web (or simply, the Web) - an Internet service that uses the Hypertext Transfer Protocol to retrieve html formatted webpages by the use of URLs.
5. Voice Transmission (p267)
  1. Def - Voice over IP (VoIP) - the protocol that enables the transmission of ordinary telephone calls over the Internet or private intranets.
The Wireless Revolution (p277)
1. Wireless Computer Networks (p278)
  1. Complementary standards for wireless computer networks have been established. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.
  2. Def - Bluetooth - the popular name for the IEEE 802.15 wireless networking standard used for a small personal area network (PAN) that can link up to 8 devices within a 10-meter range. It can transmit up to 722 Kbps. Fig 7-15, p279.
2. RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification)
  1. Def - RFID tag - a tag consisting of a microchip, antenna, and optional battery.
    The microchip is encoded with information, such as a product ID number.
    Avery Dennison has developed several tags. See www.rfid.averydennison.com.
  2. Def - RFID reader - typically, a handheld unit that has a transmitting range of up to 100 feet. When a requested RFID tag comes within range of the reader, the tag is activated and transmits its stored information to the reader.
  3. Uses of RFID
    1. Supply chain management - can track each pallet, lot, or even unit item.
    2. Inventory control - customer can find desired size jeans, when each pair of jeans has its own RFID tag.
    3. Automated toll collection - E-ZPass
  4. Costs - currently about $0.10/tag. RFID will become more cost effective for many applications as costs drop even further.
(This page was last edited on January 09, 2010 .)