MGMT 2006 – Management

Information Systems I
Module 4
IT Infrastructure
Simon Fraser
[email protected]
 Objectives
• By the end of this module you should be able to:

• identify the hardware components in a typical computer

system and their role in processing information.
• describe the principal storage, input, and output
technologies for computer systems and interactive
multimedia.
• compare the capabilities of mainframes, minicomputers,
PCs, workstations, servers, and supercomputers.
• evaluate different arrangements of computer processing,
including client/server computing, network computers, and
peer-to-peer computing.
 Objectives
• describe the major types of software.
• examine the functions of system software and
compare leading operating systems.
• understand the technology drivers behind the
evolution of computer systems
 Readings

• Bourgeois, Information Systems for Business and

Beyond, Chapters 2 and 3.
• Laudon and Laudon, Management Information
Systems, Ninth Edition, Chapter 6. OR
• Laudon and Laudon, Management Information
Systems, Tenth Edition, Chapter 5. OR
• Laudon and Laudon, Management Information
Systems, Eleventh, Twelfth and Thirteenth
Editions, Chapter 5
 Major Themes
• Computers come in many forms, ranging in
size from embedded systems right on up to
the largest mainframes.
• All computers work in more or less the same
way - input – processing and output.
• All computers use some form of software.
 Systems Check
• What type of computers can you think of?
 Types of Computers
• Personal Computers
• Mainframes
• Smart Phones
• Wearables
• Embedded Systems (Car, Elevator, Aircraft)
• Game Consoles (X Box, Play Station, Switch)
• Television Sets
• DVD Players
• Set Top Boxes (from Flow, Digicel, Amplia)
 Super Computer

ENIAC – Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer

www.wikipedia.org/wiki/eniac
Vacuum Tubes
Cray Research Supercomputer
 Main Frame
I think there is a world market for maybe 5 computers.
(Thomas Watson – Chairman of IBM 1941)
Mainframe
Smart Phone

Smart phone
 Electronic Control Unit
BOSCH Engine Control Unit
Game Console
 How a Computer Represents Data

• Computers use the presence or absence of electrical or

magnetic signal to represent data.

• In the current is ON a computer uses a 1. If the current is off,

the computer uses a 0.

• This is the basis of the Binary System.

• Thus a computer can use a sequence of eight 1s and 0s to

represent an individual letter, number or special character.
 How a Computer Represents Data

0 or 1 One bit
Characters are
represented by one
byte for each letter.
0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 One byte for character A
Basic Character Sets in a PC
Components of a Computer
The Central Processing Unit
The Microprocessor
Parallel Processing
 Secondary Storage
• Magnetic Disk
• CD Rom
• CD RW
• Magnetic Tape
• DVD
• RAID Systems
• Storage Area Networks
Input Devices
Output Devices
 Computer Network Architectures
• Computers networks are normally set up in one of two modes. They are
either centralized or decentralized.

• In a centralized mode all the processing takes place on the central host.
Terminals and printers are the primary input and output devices.

• While the terminal can look very much like a PC, unlike a PC, a terminal
has little processing capability of its own.

• Mainframes and minicomputers are found at the heart of centralized

networks.
Centralized Processing

Dumb
Terminal

Dumb Dumb
Terminal Terminal

Host
Dumb Dumb
Terminal Terminal

Dumb
Terminal
Decentralized Processing

Smart
Terminal

Smart
Smart
Terminal
Terminal

Host
Smart Smart
Terminal Terminal

Smart
Terminal
 Computer Network Architectures
• In decentralized systems processing is distributed to many computers in
the network.

• Two popular forms of distributed processing include the client-server

model and the peer to peer model.

• The computer networks on campus are based on the client server model.
Data is stored on the server, but most processing is handled locally.

• SETI uses the peer to peer model to process radio signals from space.
Data and Processing is done on the local computer.
 Systems Check
• What was the name of the first electronic
computer and what was it used for?
 Systems Check
• What are some common types of computers
available today?
 Systems Check
• What form will computers take in the future?
In the future we will probably
implant microprocessors to
help augment or own OEM
computers (aka brains).
We will also probably
upgrade our sensory input
devices (eyes, ears, nose,
touch and taste)
This is not as far fetched as
you may think as we are
already in the early stages of
using technology to improve
sight and hearing.
So computers will probably
disappear into our
environments and into …
us??
 Software
• All computers need software to function.

• This software can be embedded with the hardware at the

time of manufacture.

• More commonly, the software can be installed on the

computer at any time.

• The ability to add and upgrade software adds to the flexibility

of the system.
 Software
• There are two main types of software.
– Systems Software (Operating System)
– Application Software.

• The line between the two can be blurred and

it is sometimes difficult to tell where the
systems software “ends” and the application
software begins.
 Systems Software
• Systems software controls the allocation of
resources and the scheduling of tasks on a
computer.

• The system software also keeps track of where

data is at any given time.
 Systems Software
• The systems software “sits” between the application
software and the hardware.

• Applications software request resources from the

system software. The systems software passes these
requests onto the hardware and then return the
hardware responses to the application software.

• This frees the application programmer to

concentrate on solving a specific problem (payroll
processing) without having to worry about
hardware interfaces. This specialization improves
productivity.
Systems Software
 Application Software
• Application software is designed for a specific job.
– Payroll Processing
– Human Resource Management
– Accounting
– Word Processing
– Computer Aided Design (CAD)
– SCM, ERP, CRM, KM.

• The focus of application software is the user. System

software focuses on managing the hardware.
 Types of Application Software
• Personal Productivity Applications
• Enterprise Applications
• Development Tools
 Personal Productivity Applications

• The focus of personal productivity applications

is on the individual user.
– Word processing (Word, WordPerfect)
– Spreadsheets (Excel, Lotus 123)
– E Mail (Outlook, Eudora)
– Browsers (Internet Explorer, Opera)
– Presentation Managers (PowerPoint)
– Graphic Design (Freehand, Illustrator)
– Computer Aided Design (AutoCAD)
 Enterprise Software
• Enterprise class applications focus on
improving the efficiency and effectiveness of
the organization as a whole.
– Enterprise Resource Planning
– Supply Chain Management,
– Customer Relationship Management
– Knowledge Management
 Development Tools
• Development tools are used to create systems
and applications software.
– Programming Languages
– Compilers
– Database Management Systems
– Web Development Packages
– Query Languages
 Programming
• A Programmer chooses a language that is
designed for a specific task.

• The programmer writes the program based on

the “syntax” of that language.

• In order to test the program it must be

“compiled” into machine readable code (1s
and Os) and “debugged.
 Programming

• Source Code • Complied

– Fetch users, where – 01000100101001101
country=TT + – 10101100101001111
Occupation = Sales. – 00001110100011010
– For each, CALC – 00111010101011110
Commissions where
QUOTA>100%
– Print ALL
 Evolution of Programming Languages

• First Generation = Machine Code

• Second Generation = Assembler
• Third Generation (Fortran, Basic, Pascal,
COBOL, C, C++)
• Fourth Generation (SQL, ADA, Focus)
 Other Development Tools
• HTML
• XML
• XHTML
• JAVA
• JavaScript
• Flash
• ASP, ASP.NET, JSP, PHP
• Cold Fusion
 Object Oriented Programming
• Modern Programming is moving away from
separating data and the programming code.

• Object oriented programming relies on

constructs called objects.
 Object Oriented Programming
• Each object represents something real – an
employee, a product, a customer.

• Each object encapsulates information about

the object (properties) as well as the things
that that object can do (methods).
Object Oriented Programming
Student Object

• Properties • Methods
– Age – Enroll in Class
– Degree – Pay
– Year – Write Exams
– Status – Graduate
– Grades – …
– Courses
– …
 Object Oriented Programming
• Programs are constructed by bundling objects
together.

• Thus the “customer” object can “buy” the

“product” object.
 Object Oriented Programming
• Many believe that Object oriented
programming will improve programmer
productivity and program reliability.

• No longer will programmers have to write

procedures for each new program. They will
be able to reuse objects already in use.
 Object Oriented Programming
• Thus she will be able to reuse the “customer”
object created for the sales order system and
use it in the accounts payable system.

• Since the customer object has already been

debugged it will not introduce bugs into a new
system.
 Systems Check
• Why don’t designers just code all the
instructions directly into the hardware and do
away with software altogether?
 Systems Check
• What is the role of the operating system?
What does it do?
 Systems Check
• What do you have to do to “source code” to
get it to “run” on a computer?
 Systems Check
• Why don’t companies write all their
application software from scratch?
 Objectives
By the end of this module students will be able to:

q define it infrastructure and its components

q define the evolution of it infrastructure
q understand the technology drivers behind the
evolution
q discuss hardware and software infrastructure trends