Chapter

E-commerce software building blocks

1
 Learning Objectives
 Discuss the origins of the Internet
 Identify the key technology concepts behind the Internet
 Describe the role of Internet programs and utility programs
 Explain the current structure of the Internet
 Understand the limitations of today’s Internet
 Describe the potential capabilities of Internet II
 Understand how the World Wide Web works
 Describe how Internet and Web features and services support
e-commerce
 Discuss the e-commerce architecture and m-commerce
2
 3.1 The Internet: Technology Background
Key e-commerce technology concepts behind the Internet
 E-commerce must be supported by corresponding technologies. To
study e-commerce, one must masters the e-commerce supporting
technologies behind the Internet. Generally speaking, ecommerce
supporting technologies behind the Internet can be divided
into three categories:
I. Information display technologies which include Web, HTML,
XML and Java technologies.
II. Information transmission technologies which consist of
EDI, TCP/IP, WAP, WLAN and Bluetooth technologies.
III. Information processing technologies which comprise some
common used. Technology such as GPS, GIS, DSS, GDSS, IDSS
Nowadays, e-commerce is a popular topic. However, traditional
3 programming languages are not sufficient for e-commerce systems.
 Continued…
Internet: system of interconnected networks that spans the globe
 routers, TCP/IP, firewalls, network infrastructure, network protocols
World Wide Web (Web): Part of the Internet and allows users to share
information with an easy-to-use interface.
 Web browsers, web servers, HTTP, HTML
The Evolution of the Internet 1961-2010
 History of Internet can be segmented into 3 phases:
 Innovation Phase – fundamental building blocks conceptualized and
realized
 Institutional Phase – providing funding and legitimization for
Internet
 Commercialization Phase – private corporations take over and
4 expand Internet backbone and services
 Continued…

Stages in the Development of the Internet

5
 The Internet: Key Technology Concepts

 Federal Networking Council definition of Internet

highlights three important concepts that are basis for
understanding the Internet:
 Packet switching
 TCP/IP communications protocol
 Client/server computing

6
 Resolution of the Federal Networking Council

7
 3.2.1 Packet Switching
 A method of slicing digital messages into packets, sending the
packets along different communication paths as they become
available, and then reassembling the packets once they arrive
at their destination
 It uses routers: special purpose computers that interconnect
the computer networks that make up the Internet and route
packets to their ultimate destination
 Routers use computer programs called routing algorithms to
ensure packets take the best available path toward their
destination

8
 Continued…

Figure 3.1—Packet Switching

9
 3.2.2 TCP/IP (Transmission Control
Protocol/Internet Protocol)
 Protocol: a set of rules for formatting, ordering, compressing
and error-checking messages
 TCP: Establishes the connections among sending and receiving
Web computers, handles the assembly of packets at the point of
transmission, and then reassembly at the receiving end
 IP: Provides the Internet’s addressing scheme
TCP/IP is divided into 4 separate layers:
 Network Interface Layer
 Internet Layer
 Transport Layer
 Application Layer
10
 Continued…

Figure 3.2-- The TCP/IP Architecture and Protocol Suite

11
 Continued…
IP Addresses
 Internet address (also called IP address): a 32-bit number
expressed as a series of four separate numbers marked
off by periods, such as 201.61.186.227
 IPv4 the current version of IP. Can handle up to 4 billion
addresses
 IPv6 (next generation of IP) will use 128-bit addresses
and be able to handle up 1 quadrillion addresses

12
 Continued…

13 Figure 3.3--Routing Internet Messages: TCP/IP and Packet

Switching
 3.2.3 Domain Names and URLs
 Domain name: IP address expressed in natural language
 Domain name system (DNS): allows numeric IP
addresses to be expressed in natural language
 Example: cnet.com = 216.200.247.134
 Uniform resource locator (URL): addresses used by Web
browsers to identify location of content on the Web

14
 Continued…

Figure 3.4-- The Hierarchical Domain Name System

15
 Continued…

Table 3.1-- Pieces of the Internet Puzzle: Names and Addresses

16
 3.2.4 Client/Server Computing
 Model of computing in which very powerful personal
computers (clients) are connected in a network with one or
more server computers that perform common functions for
the clients, such as storing files, software applications, etc.

Figure 3.5-- The Client/Server Computing Model

17
 Ecommerce infrastructure
 Information superhighway infrastructure
 Internet, LAN, WAN, routers, etc. Telecom, cable TV, wireless,
etc.
 Messaging and information distribution infrastructure
 HTML, XML, e-mail, HTTP, etc.
 Common business infrastructure
 Security, authentication, electronic payment, directories,
catalogs, etc.
Web based ecommerce architecture
 Client/server model
 N-tier architecture; e.g., web servers, application servers,
database servers

18
 3.3 Other Internet Protocols and Utility Programs
 HTTP: Protocol used to transfer Web pages
 SMTP, POP and IMAP: Protocols used to send and receive e-mail
 FTP: Protocol that permits users to transfer files from server to
client and vice versa
 SSL: Protocol that provides secure communications between client
and server
 Telnet: Program that enables a client to emulate a mainframe
computer terminal
 Finger: Utility program that lets you check who is logged on, for
how long and user name
 Ping: Utility program that allows you to check connection between
client and server
 Tracert: Utility program that allows you to follow path of a message
19
sent from a client to a remote computer
 Continued…

20 Figure 3.6-- Sample FTP Session

 Current structure of the Internet
 Client/server computing model, coupled with hourglass, has
allowed Internet to handle explosive growth without
disruption
Hourglass/layered architecture has 4 layers:
 Network Technology Substrate
 Transport Services and Representation Standards
 Middleware Services
 Applications

21
 Continued…

22 Figure 3.9-- The Hourglass Model of the Internet

 Continued…

23 Figure 3.10—Internet network architecture

 The Internet Backbone
 Consists of high-bandwidth fiber-optic cable owned by a variety of
Network Service Providers (NSPs)
 Term bandwidth refers to how much data can be transferred over the
communications media within a fixed period of time
 May be expressed bits per second (bps), kilobits per second (Kbps),
megabits per second (Mbps) or gigabits per second (Gbps)
NAPs, MAEs and CANs
 Hubs where backbones intersect with regional and local networks,
and where backbone owners connect with one another called
Network Access Points (NAPs) or Metropolitan Access Exchanges
(MAEs).
 Campus area network (CAN): Local area network operating within a
single organization that leases Internet access directly from regional
24
or national carrier
 Internet Service Providers (ISPs)
 Leases Internet access to home owners, small businesses
and some large institutions
 Retail providers that deal with ―last mile of service‖
 Major international ISPs include AOL, MSN, and AT&T
Worldwide.
 Offer both narrowband (traditional telephone modem
connection at 56.6 Kbps) and broadband (service based
on DSL, cable modem, T1 or T3 telephone lines, and
satellite)

25
 Broadband Service Choices
 Digital Subscriber Line (DSL): Telephone technology delivers
high-speed access through ordinary telephone lines; speeds
from about 385 Kbps to 1.5 Mbps
 Cable modem: Cable television technology piggybacks digital
access to Internet on top of analog video cable line; speeds
from about 500 Kbps to 2 Mbps
 T1 and T3: International telephone standards for digital
communication that offer guaranteed delivery rates
 T1: 1.54 Mbps
 T3: 43 Mbps
 Satellite: high-speed downloads (256 Kbps to 1 Mbps), but
26 no upload available
 Continued…

Table 3.2-- Time to Download a 10 Megabyte File by Type of Internet Service

27
 Who Governs the Internet?
A number of different organizations that influence
Internet and monitor its operations including:
 Internet Architecture Board (IAB)
 Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
(ICANN)
 Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG)
 Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
 Internet Society (ISOC)
 World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)

28
 3.5 Internet II: The Future Infrastructure
 Internet II: The second era of the Internet that is being built
today by private corporations, universities and government
agencies.
Limitations of Internet I
 To appreciate potential benefits of Internet II, we must
understand the limitations of Internet’s current infrastructure:
 Bandwidth limitations
 Quality of service limitations
 Network architecture limitations
 Language development limitations
 Wired Internet limitations

29
 Areas of Focus of Internet II
 Advanced network infrastructure: New backbone networks that
interconnect GigaPoPs used by Internet2 members to access network
 New networking capabilities:
Projects include
 Deploying IPv6
 Developing and implementing new QOS technologies
 Developing more effective routing practices
 Coordinating the interconnection of different components of the
Internet2 infrastructure
 Creating an infrastructure to handle multicasting
 Middleware: incorporating identification, authentication, authorization,
directory and security services into standardized middleware
30 Advanced applications: distributed computation, virtual labs, digital
libraries, distributed learning, tele-immersion
 Benefits of Internet II Technologies
 IP Multicasting – set of technologies that enables efficient
delivery of data to many locations on a network
 Latency solutions – diffserve (differentiated quality of service)
will be able to assign different levels of priority to packets
depending on type of data being transmitted
 Guaranteed service levels – ability to purchase right to move data
through network at guaranteed speed in return for higher fee
 Lower error rates
 Declining costs

31
 Continued…

Figure 3.11-- IP Multicasting

32
 3.6 Development of the Web
 1989-1991: Web invented by Tim Berners-Lee at European Particle
Physics Laboratory (CERN)
 1993: Marc Andreesen and others at NCSA create Mosaic, a Web
browser with a graphical user interface that could run on Windows,
Macintosh, or Unix computer
 1994: Andreesen and Jim Clark found Netscape, and create first
commercial Web browser, Netscape Navigator
 August 1995: Microsoft introduces its version of Web browser,
Internet Explorer
Hypertext
 A way of formatting pages with embedded links that connect
documents to one another, and that also link pages to other objects
such as sound, video or animation files
33 Uses Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and URLs to locate
 3.6.1 Markup Languages
 Generalized Markup Languages (GMLs) include:
 Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) – an early
GML
 Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) – a GML that is
relatively easy to use; provides fixed set of markup ―tags‖
used to format a Web page
 eXtensible Markup Language (XML) – new markup
language specification developed by W3C that is designed to
describe data and information; tags used are defined by user

34
 3.6.2 Web Servers and Web Clients
 Web server software: Enables a computer to deliver Web
pages written in HTML or XML to clients on network that
request this service by sending an HTTP request
 Leading brands: Apache and Microsoft
 Basic capabilities: Security services, FTP, search engine, data
capture
 Term Web server also used to refer to physical computer that
runs Web server software
 Specialized types include database servers, ad servers, mail
servers, video servers
 Web client: Any computing device attached to the Internet
35 that is capable of making HTTP requests and displaying HTML
pages
 Web Browsers

 Primary purpose to display Web pages.

 Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator dominate the
market (94%)
Other browsers include:
 Opera
 Safari (for Apple Macintosh)
 NeoPlanet

36
 3.7 The Internet and Web: Features

 Internet and Web features on which the foundations of e-

commerce are built include:
 E-mail
 Instant messaging
 Search engines
 Intelligent agents (bots)
 Chat
 Music, video and other standard files
 Streaming media
 Cookies
37
 E-mail
 Most used application of the Internet
 Uses a series of protocols to enable messages containing
text, images, sound, video clips, etc to be transferred
from one Internet user to another
 Also allows attachments (files attached to the e-mail
message)
 Can be an effective marketing tool
 Spam: unsolicited e-mail. A worsening problem

38
 Continued…
Instant Messaging
 Fastest growing form of online human communication
 Displays words type on a computer almost instantly, and
recipients can then respond immediately in the same way
 Different proprietary systems offered by AOL, MSN,Yahoo
Search Engines
 Identifies Web pages that appear to match keywords
(queries) entered by a user, and provides list of best matches
based on one or more of a variety of techniques
 No longer simply search engines, but also shopping tools
and advertising vehicles (search engine marketing)
39
 Continued…

40 Figure 3.14-- Top Ten Search Engines

 Continued…
 Intelligent Agents (Bots)
 Software programs that gather and/or filter information
on a specific topic and then provide a list of results
 Types include search bot, shopping bot, Web monitoring
bot, news bot, chatterbot

41
 3.8 Other Internet and Web
Features Relevant to E-commerce
 Chat: Enables users to communicate via computer in real
time (simultaneously); used in e-commerce to help develop
community
 Music, video, and other standard files: routinely
used for marketing and advertising purposes
 Streaming media: enables music, video and other large
files to be sent to users in chunks so that when received and
played, file comes through uninterrupted
 Cookies: small text file stored on user’s computer with
information about the user that can be accessed by Web site
the next time user returns to the site
42
 3.9 Other Emerging Features and Services
 Digital libraries
 Distributed storage
 Distance learning
 Digital video
 Video teleconferencing
 Tele-immersion
 Virtual reality
 M-commerce applications

43
 E-COMMERCE ARCHITECTURE
Layered architecture of e-commerce systems
 When we examine a complex system, it is a good idea to break it up
into a number of parts where each part has a specific function to
perform.
 E-Commerce systems may also be thought of as consisting of many
layers, each layer providing a service (Kalakotta & Whinston 1999).
 Each layer has a specific function and can be described separately. The
lower layers support the upper ones.
 This provides us with a logical means of discussing the architecture
of e-commerce systems.
 The emergence of wireless communications has enabled one to use
mobile hand-held computers which is turn has resulted in the
emergence of mobile commerce, abbreviated to m-commerce.
44
 Continued…
 A layered architecture of e-commerce systems
Application layer
 C2B e-commerce
 B2B e-commerce
 C2C e-commerce
 C2G e-commerce
Middleman services layer
 Value-added networks
 Digital signature certifying authority
 Electronic payment schemes
 Electronic cash
 Hosting services
45
 Continued…
Messaging layer
 Digital encryption standard
 Advanced encryption standard
 Public key encryption
 Digital signature
 Electronic data interchange
Network services layer
 E-mail
 World wide web services; browsers
 Hyper-text transfer protocol: http
 Hypertext markup language: html
 Extensible markup language: XML

46
 Search engines
 Software agents
 Continued…
Logical layer
 Internet
 Intranet
 Extranet
 Firewalls
Physical layer
 Local area networks
 Public switched telephone networks
 Private communication networks
 Optical fiber and coaxial cable networks
 Routers
 Satellite-based networks

47
 Cellular networks
 Wireless networks
 Mobile Commerce Overview
 Mobile commerce (m-commerce-business) —any e-commerce
done in a wireless environment, especially via the Internet. It
can be done via the Internet, private communication lines,
smart cards, etc. Creates opportunity to deliver new services to
existing customers and to attract new ones. Mobile commerce
(M-commerce) is concerned with the use, application and
integration of wireless telecommunication technology and
wireless devices within the business systems domain.
 Location independent connectivity
 Mobile Internet
 Mobile E-commerce
 Mobile phone, Mobile device (PDA, wireless vending machines,
wireless LAN…)
48
 The M-commerce Systems Environment

49
 Mobile Computing Components and Infrastructure

Wireless mobile computing (mobile computing)

 Computing that connects a mobile device to a network or another
computing device, anytime, anywhere.
 MOBILE DEVICES
 Personal digital assistant (PDA)-A stand-alone handheld
computer principally used for personal information management.
 Smartphone. A mobile phone with PC-like capabilities.
 MOBILE COMPUTING SOFTWARE
 Mobile Operating System
 Mobile Application User Interface
 Micro browser. Wireless Web browser designed to operate with
50 small screens and limited bandwidth and memory requirements.
 MOBILE COMPUTING SERVICES
 Short Message Service (SMS). A service that supports the
sending and receiving of short text messages on mobile phones.
 Enhanced Messaging Service (EMS). An extension of SMS that
can send simple animation, tiny pictures, sounds, and formatted text.
 Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS).The emerging
generation of wireless messaging; MMS is able to deliver rich media.
 Location-Based Services. Global positioning system (GPS).
A worldwide satellite-based tracking system that enables users to
determine their position anywhere on the earth.
 Voice-Support Services
 Interactive voice response (IVR) A voice system that enables
users to request and receive information and to enter and change data
through a telephone to a computerized system.
 Voice portal. A Web site with an audio interface that can be accessed
51 through a telephone call.
Thank You!