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Understanding IT Infrastructure

Understanding IT Infrastructure. Lecture 9. Announcements. Business Case due Thursday Business Analysis teams have been formed Business Analysis Proposals will be due next week – details to come. IT increasingly embedded in business model

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Understanding IT Infrastructure

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  1. Understanding IT Infrastructure Lecture 9

  2. Announcements • Business Case due Thursday • Business Analysis teams have been formed • Business Analysis Proposals will be due next week – details to come

  3. IT increasingly embedded in business model • Advancing technologies drive new products, processes, & industries • IT capability critical to business model execution • Operational results affect business value creation • Requires sound IT management • We need to explore how: • Changing infrastructure affects business • Management priorities must shift • To exploit opportunities and reduce operational risks Module 2: The Business of IT

  4. Overview of Module 2 Chapters • Chapter 5 • Introduces elements of modern IT infrastructure and core IT management issues • Chapter 6 • Addresses the robustness of IT capabilities; system availability and security • Chapter 7 • Explores contemporary IT service models and their management requirements • Chapter 8 • Examines IT project management

  5. CareGroup • Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center • Widely known as leader in the use of IT • Three-day network outage • What can we learn from this case • IT is vital to modern organizations • Network redundancy important • Challenges arise from infrastructure complexity • IT leadership is important

  6. The iPremier Company • Luxury goods retailer • Under attack from an unknown hacker • Case covers events as they unfold • What can we learn from this case • IT infrastructure must be secured • Decisions involved, however technical, must be addressed by business and IT executives

  7. Ford Motor Company / The Power of Virtual Integration • Century-old U.S. manufacturer • Trying to determine whether to model operations on acclaimed young company (Dell) • Complex questions regarding how IT supports business operations • What can we learn from this case • How Dell leverages information technologies to advantage • Potential of an Industrial Economy firm to adopt Network Economy IT and business designs • How Ford’s legacies (systems, organizations, relationships) influence the opportunities the company can pursue

  8. Cisco Systems, Inc.: Implementing ERP • Young, rapidly growing company • Urgent need to replace IT systems supporting core operations • Legacy too difficult to tackle on functional basis • Implementation of an ERP • Goal: one-shot, minimal customization • Budget of $15million and 9 months • Elements of implementation: • People and partners, roles and structures, processes and infrastructure • What can we learn from this case? • The importance of IT in building a operating platform for growth • An implementation approach to high-risk, high-reward IT initiatives

  9. Understanding IT Infrastructure Key Learning Objectives Recognize the core components of modern IT infrastructure and understand the management issues associated with these components Understand the business opportunities and challenges associated with pervasive internetworked computing power “75% of all IT dollars to go Infrastructure. Isn’t it time you learned what it is?” IBM ad campaign

  10. Key trends • More reliance on IT infrastructure • New services • Distributed Processing • New business models

  11. Challenges • Poor IT decisions lead to • Products with insufficient support • Relying on outdated protocols/systems • Technology / management divide • Who makes decisions?

  12. Fig. 5.1 Moore’s Law

  13. 1980’s • PC released • People moved jobs to computers • No longer needed staff for computing/data processing • LANs allowed people to share files, printers etc. • IT services provided over distributed servers

  14. 1990’s • Internet boom • TCP/IP provided robust standard for messages between all computers on web • Network resources available to individuals

  15. Fig 5.2 Evolution of Corporate IT Infrastructure

  16. Fig 5.3 Metcalfe’s Law “The usefulness of a network increases with the square of the number of users connected to the network”

  17. Fig 5.4 Bandwidth Explosion Growth faster than computer chips

  18. Components of Internetworking Infrastructure • Network • Hardware/software that permit exchange of information between processing units and organizations • Processing Systems • Hardware/software providing ability to handle business transactions • Facilities • Physical systems that house and protect devices • Trend: Increasing freedom to manage resources • See table 5.1

  19. Table 5.1: Fundamental components of internetworking infrastructure

  20. Networks • Local Area Networks (LANs) • Hubs, switches, wireless access points, network adapters • Wide Area networks (WANs) • Routers • Firewalls, Security Systems • Caching, Content Acceleration

  21. Fig 5.5 LAN

  22. An Example of a WAN

  23. Processing Systems • Client Devices and Systems • Server Devices and Systems • Mainframe Devices and Systems • Middleware • Infrastructure Management Systems • Business Applications

  24. Fig 5.7 Servers in possible E-commerce configuration

  25. Facilities • Buildings, physical space • Network Conduits, connections • Power • Environmental Controls • Security

  26. Fig 5.8 Modern Data Center

  27. Discussion • How much does a typical manager understand of computing networks? • What educational opportunities are there?

  28. Operational Characteristics if Internetworking • Internetworking Technologies are Based on Open Standards • Internetworking Technologies operate asynchronously • Internetworking communications have inherent latency • Internetworking technologies are naturally decentralized • Internetworking technologies are scalable • See tables 5.2, 5.3

  29. Table 5.2: Measuring Network Bandwidth

  30. Table 5.3: Communication Technology, Bandwidths and User Groups

  31. Business Implications • Quicker communications leads to efficiency • More data leads to better-informed decisions • Progress of processes become transparent • Processes more efficient • Make and sell becomes sense and respond

  32. Threats • Automation can lead to chain reaction, cascading failures • Outside attacks • See table 5.4

  33. Table 5.4: Denial of Service Attacks

  34. New service models • Physical location of computers less important • Economies of scale for particular services • New capabilities must be integrated into existing systems • Deal with legacy technology • Reliability must improve • See next case!

  35. Discussion: Outsourcing • What about outsourcing of infrastructure?

  36. Case Thursday • iPremier • Made-up case of IT failure

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