Management Information

System

ASSOC. PROF. DR. AHMED BAHGAT EL SEDDAWY

Computer Science and Information Systems

Vice Dean of Educational Affairs

Arab Academy for Science and Technology

 Chapter 4

IT Infrastructure
Hardware and Software
 Essentials of Business Information Systems
Chapter 4 IT Infrastructure: Hardware and Software

STUDENT LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• What are the components of IT infrastructure?

• What are the major computer hardware, data storage,
input, and output technologies used in business?
• What are the major types of computer software used in
business?
• What are the most important contemporary hardware
and software trends?
• What are the principal issues in managing hardware
and software technology?
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Chapter 4 IT Infrastructure: Hardware and Software

University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s Technology Cure

⚫ Problem: Large, complicated

infrastructure was difficult to
manage, storage needs increased
quickly.

⚫ Solutions: Use IBM storage

technology to reduce infrastructure
spending and conserve space.

⚫ IBM System p5 595 servers and VMware helped UPMC increase server
utilization rates and decrease storage space.

⚫ Demonstrates IT’s role in standardizing technology and managing

infrastructure.

⚫ Illustrates digital technology’s role cutting costs and increasing

resource utilization rates.
Essentials of Business Information Systems
Chapter 4 IT Infrastructure: Hardware and Software

University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s Technology Cure

 Essentials of Business Information Systems
Chapter 4 IT Infrastructure: Hardware and Software

IT Infrastructure: Computer Hardware

Infrastructure Components
• IT infrastructure: Provides platform for supporting all information
systems in the business
• Computer hardware
• Computer software
• Data management technology
• Organizes, manages, and processes business data concerned with
inventory, customers, and vendors

• Networking and telecommunications technology

• Technology services
• E.g. consultants for systems integration with legacy (old) systems
Essentials of Business Information Systems
Chapter 4 IT Infrastructure: Hardware and Software

IT Infrastructure: Computer Hardware

IT Infrastructure Components
 Essentials of Business Information Systems
Chapter 4 IT Infrastructure: Hardware and Software

IT Infrastructure: Computer Hardware

Types of Computers
• Computers come in different sizes with varying capabilities for
processing information
• FLOPS (Floating point operations per second)
-FLOPS is a measure of computer performance.

1- Personal computer (PC):

-includes desktops, laptops, Personal Digital Assistants(PDAs), and
even cell phones.
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Chapter 4 IT Infrastructure: Hardware and Software

IT Infrastructure: Computer Hardware

Types of Computers

2- Workstation:
-has more computing capacity in its CPU than a typical personal
computer. Scientists, engineers, and those working with large graphics
files are the main users.
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Chapter 4 IT Infrastructure: Hardware and Software

IT Infrastructure: Computer Hardware

Types of Computers
3- Servers
• Type of midrange computer less power and capacity than a
mainframe
• Support computer network, sharing files and resources
• Provide hardware platform for e-commerce
4- Mainframes
• Large-capacity, high-performance computer that can process
large amounts of data very rapidly
• E.g. used by airlines for thousands of reservations per second
 Essentials of Business Information Systems
Chapter 4 IT Infrastructure: Hardware and Software

IT Infrastructure: Computer Hardware

Types of Computers

Server
s
Mainframes
 Essentials of Business Information Systems
Chapter 4 IT Infrastructure: Hardware and Software

IT Infrastructure: Computer Hardware

Types of Computers

5- Supercomputer
• More sophisticated computer used for tasks requiring
extremely rapid and complex calculations with thousands of
variables, millions of measurements
• Used in engineering, scientific simulations,
military/weapons research, weather forecasting
 Essentials of Business Information Systems
Chapter 4 IT Infrastructure: Hardware and Software

IT Infrastructure: Computer Hardware

Types of Computers

6- Grid computing
• Power of geographically remote computers connected into
single network to act as “virtual supercomputer”
 Essentials of Business Information Systems
Chapter 4 IT Infrastructure: Hardware and Software

IT Infrastructure: Computer Hardware

Types of Computers
• Client/server computing
• Form of distributed computing (decentralized)

• Splits processing between “clients” and “servers”

• Clients: User point of entry

• Servers: Store and process shared data and perform network

management activities
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Chapter 4 IT Infrastructure: Hardware and Software

IT Infrastructure: Computer Hardware

Types of Computers
• Client/server computing (cont.)
• Two-tiered client/server architecture

• Uses two types of machines

• Multitiered client/server architecture (N-tier)

• Balances load of network over several levels of servers

• E.g. Web servers and application servers

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Chapter 4 IT Infrastructure: Hardware and Software

IT Infrastructure: Computer Hardware

Client/Server Computing

In client/server computing, computer

processing is split between client machines and
server machines linked by a network. Users
interface with the client machines.
Figure 4-2
 Essentials of Business Information Systems
Chapter 4 IT Infrastructure: Hardware and Software

IT Infrastructure: Computer Hardware

A Multitiered Client/Server Network (N-Tier)

In a multitiered client/server network, client requests for service are handled by different levels of servers.

Figure 4-3
 Essentials of Business Information Systems
Chapter 4 IT Infrastructure: Hardware and Software

IT Infrastructure: Computer Hardware

Storage, Input, and Output Technology

• Primary secondary storage technologies
• Magnetic disk:
• Hard drives, USB flash drives
• RAID: Can package hundreds of drives for massage storage
requirements
• Optical disks
• CD-ROM, CD-RW, DVD
• Magnetic tape
• Storage networking: SANs
• Connect multiple storage devices on a separate high-speed
network dedicated to storage
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IT Infrastructure: Computer Hardware

A Storage Area Network (SAN)

Figure 4-4
A typical SAN consists of a
server, storage devices, and
networking devices, and is
used strictly for storage. The
SAN stores data on many
different types of storage
devices, providing data to the
enterprise. The SAN supports
communication between any
server and the storage unit as
well as between different
storage devices in the network.
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Chapter 4 IT Infrastructure: Hardware and Software

IT Infrastructure: Computer Hardware

Storage, Input, and Output Technology

• Input devices:
• Gather data and convert them into electronic form
• Keyboard
• Computer mouse
• Touch screen
• Optical character recognition
• Magnetic ink character recognition
• Pen-based input
• Digital scanner
• Audio input
• Sensors
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Chapter 4 IT Infrastructure: Hardware and Software

IT Infrastructure: Computer Hardware

Storage, Input, and Output Technology

• Output devices:
• Display data after they have been processed
• Monitor
• Printer
• Audio output
• Information systems collect and process
information in one of two ways
• Batch processing: Transactions stored for predefined
amount of time, then processed as group
• Online processing: Transactions processed immediately
 Essentials of Business Information Systems
Chapter 4 IT Infrastructure: Hardware and Software

IT Infrastructure: Computer Hardware

Contemporary Hardware Trends

• Integration of computing and telecommunications

platforms
• Cell phones merging with handhelds
• Growth of Internet telephony

• Nanotechnology
• Creating computer chips and other devices thousands of times
smaller through manipulating individual atoms, molecules
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IT Infrastructure: Computer Hardware

Examples of Nanotubes

Figure 4-5
Nanotubes are tiny tubes about
10,000 times thinner than a
human hair. They consist of
rolled up sheets of carbon
hexagons, have potential uses
as minuscule wires or in
ultrasmall electronic devices,
and are very powerful
conductors of electrical
current.
 Essentials of Business Information Systems
Chapter 4 IT Infrastructure: Hardware and Software

IT Infrastructure: Computer Hardware

Contemporary Hardware Trends

• Edge computing
• Multitier, load-balancing scheme for Web-based applications
• Significant parts of Web site content, logic, and processing
performed by smaller, less expensive servers located nearby
the user
• Increases response time and resilience and lowers technology
costs.
• Autonomic computing
• Development of systems that can configure themselves, heal
themselves; e.g. self-updating antivirus software
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Chapter 4 IT Infrastructure: Hardware and Software

IT Infrastructure: Computer Software

Edge Computing Platform

Edge computing involves the use of the Internet to balance the processing load of enterprise platforms across the client and edge computing platform.

Figure 4-6
 Essentials of Business Information Systems
Chapter 4 IT Infrastructure: Hardware and Software

IT Infrastructure: Computer Hardware

Contemporary Hardware Trends

• Virtualization
• Process of presenting a set of computing
resources so they can be accessed in ways that
are unrestricted by physical configuration or
geographic location
• Server virtualization: Running more than one
operating system at the same time on single
machine.
 Essentials of Business Information Systems
Chapter 4 IT Infrastructure: Hardware and Software

IT Infrastructure: Computer Hardware

Contemporary Hardware Trends

• Multicore processors
• Integrated circuit with two or more processors
• Enhanced performance, reduced power
consumption and more efficient simultaneous
processing of multiple tasks
 Essentials of Business Information Systems
Chapter 4 IT Infrastructure: Hardware and Software

IT Infrastructure: Computer Hardware

Interactive Session: Technology

Computing Goes Green
• Read the Interactive Session and then discuss
the following questions:
• What business and social problems does data center
power consumption cause?
• What solutions are available for these problems? Which
are the most environment-friendly?
• What are the business benefits and costs of these
solutions?
• Should all firms move toward green computing? Why or
why not?
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Chapter 4 IT Infrastructure: Hardware and Software

IT Infrastructure: Computer Software

Operating System Software

• The software that manages and controls the
computer’s activities
• PC operating systems and graphical user
interfaces
• GUIs
• Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows Server 2003
• UNIX
• Linux
• Open-source software
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Chapter 4 IT Infrastructure: Hardware and Software

IT Infrastructure: Computer Software

The Major Types of Software

The relationship among the system software,

application software, and users can be
illustrated by a series of nested boxes. System
software—consisting of operating systems,
language translators, and utility
programs—controls access to the hardware.
Application software, including programming
languages and “fourth-generation” languages,
must work through the system software to
operate. The user interacts primarily with the
application software.
Figure 4-7
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Chapter 4 IT Infrastructure: Hardware and Software

IT Infrastructure: Computer Software

Application Software and Desktop Productivity Tools

• Application programming languages for business
• COBOL
• C, C++
• Visual Basic: Visual programming language

• Fourth-generation languages
• Software tools that enable end-users to develop software
applications
• Tend to be nonprocedural, may use natural languages
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IT Infrastructure: Computer Software

Categories of Fourth-Generation Languages

Tool Description Example

PC software tools General-purpose software packages for WordPerfect

PCs Microsoft Access

Query language Languages for retrieving data stored in SQL

databases or files
Report generator Specialized tools for creating highly Crystal Reports
customized reports
Graphics language Display data from databases in graphic SAS Graph
format Systat
Application generator Preprogrammed modules to generate FOCUS
entire applications Microsoft FrontPage
Application software Software programs that eliminate need Oracle PeopleSoft HCM
package for custom, in-house software mySAP ERP
Very high-level Generate program code with fewer APL
programming language instructions than conventional languages Nomad2
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Chapter 4 IT Infrastructure: Hardware and Software

IT Infrastructure: Computer Software

Application Software and Desktop Productivity Tools

• Software packages and desktop

productivity tools
• Word processing software
• Spreadsheet software
• Data management software
• Presentation graphics
• Software suites
• Web browsers
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Chapter 4 IT Infrastructure: Hardware and Software

IT Infrastructure: Computer Software

Spreadsheet Software
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Chapter 4 IT Infrastructure: Hardware and Software

IT Infrastructure: Computer Software

Software for the Web: Java, AJAX, and HTML

• Java
• Operating system-independent, processor-independent,
object-oriented programming language
• AJAX
• Allows a client and server to exchange data behind the
scenes to avoid reloading a Web page after each change
• Hypertext markup language (HTML)
• Page description language for specifying how elements
are placed on a Web page and for creating links to other
pages and objects
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Chapter 4 IT Infrastructure: Hardware and Software

IT Infrastructure: Computer Software

Interactive Session: Organizations

Will Google Take Over the Desktop?
• Read the Interactive Session and then discuss the
following questions:
• What are the benefits of using Google Apps? What kinds of
businesses are most likely to benefit? What kinds are least
likely to benefit?
• What reasons might a business have to continue using
Microsoft Office for desktop productivity?
• Search the Web for an article titled Microsoft Office Live Vs.
Google Apps For Your Domain by Preston Gralla from
September 2006. Do you agree with the author’s
conclusion?
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Chapter 4 IT Infrastructure: Hardware and Software

IT Infrastructure: Computer Software

Web Services
• Web services:
• Software components that exchange information with
each other using universal Web communication
standards and languages
• XML (extensible markup language)
• SOAP (simple object access protocol)
• WSDL (web services description language)
• UDDI (universal description, discovery, and
integration)
• Service oriented architecture (SOA)
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Chapter 4 IT Infrastructure: Hardware and Software

IT Infrastructure: Computer Software

How Dollar Rent-a-Car Uses Web Services

 Essentials of Business Information Systems
Chapter 4 IT Infrastructure: Hardware and Software

IT Infrastructure: Computer Software

Software Trends

• Open Source Software

• Ubuntu
• Cloud Computing
• Google Apps, Windows Live
• Mashups
• ChicagoCrime.org
• Widgets
• Apple Dashboard
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Chapter 4 IT Infrastructure: Hardware and Software

Managing Hardware and Software Technology

• Capacity planning
• Process of predicting when hardware system
becomes saturated
• Ensuring firm has enough computing power for
current and future needs
• Factors include:
• Maximum number of users
• Impact of current, future software
• Performance measures
• Scalability: Ability of system to expand to serve large
number of users without breaking down
 Essentials of Business Information Systems
Chapter 4 IT Infrastructure: Hardware and Software

Managing Hardware and Software Technology

• Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) model

• Used to analyze direct and indirect costs to help determine
the actual cost of owning a specific technology
• Direct costs: Hardware, software purchase costs
• Indirect costs: Ongoing administration costs, upgrades,
maintenance, technical support, training, utility and real
estate costs
• Hidden costs: Support staff, downtime, additional network
management
• TCO can be reduced through increased centralization,
standardization of hardware and software resources
 Essentials of Business Information Systems
Chapter 4 IT Infrastructure: Hardware and Software

Managing Hardware and Software Technology

• Using technology service providers

• Outsourcing
• Using external provider to:
• Run networks
• Host, manage Web site(s)
• Develop software (offshore software outsourcing)
• Manage IT infrastructures
• Requires Service Level Agreements (SLAs)
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Chapter 4 IT Infrastructure: Hardware and Software

Managing Hardware and Software Technology

• Using technology service providers

• On-demand computing (utility computing)
• Firms off-loading peak demand for computing power to
remote, large-scale data processing centers

• Software as a Service (SaaS)

• Firms rent software functions from Web-based
services, with users paying either on a subscription or
per-transaction basis
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Chapter 4 IT Infrastructure: Hardware and Software

Managing Hardware and Software Technology

• Managing software localization for global

business
• Local language interfaces
• English not typically standard at middle, lower levels
• Interfaces are complex: Menu bars, error messages,
online forms, search results, etc.
• Differences in local cultures
• Differences in business processes
• All of these factors add to TCO of using technology
service providers
 Essentials of Business Information Systems
Chapter 4 IT Infrastructure: Hardware and Software

Managing Hardware and Software Technology

This page from the

Pearson Prentice Hall
Web site for Laudon text
books was translated into
Chinese using AltaVista
Babel Fish translation
tools. Web sites and
software interfaces for
global systems may have
to be translated into
multiple languages to
accommodate users in
other parts of the world.