Leveraging IT Infrastructure for Competitive Advantage

1. 5 Chapter IT Infrastructure and Emerging Technologies

2. Management Information Systems Chapter 5 IT Infrastructure and Emerging Technologies LEARNING OBJECTIVES • Define IT infrastructure and describe its components. • Identify and describe the stages of IT infrastructure evolution. • Identify and describe the technology drivers of IT infrastructure evolution. • Assess contemporary computer hardware platform trends. • Assess contemporary software platform trends. • Evaluate the challenges of managing IT infrastructure and management solutions.

3. Problem: Gaining an edge in an intensely competitive market, working with technology-intensive processes. Solutions: Deploy custom-built E-motion software to render more realistic animations and increase quality of films. HP processors, Linux, and high-speed network facilitate rapid production schedule, increasing productivity. Demonstrates IT’s role in strengthening a firm’s product and productivity beyond what human talent can accomplish. Illustrates digital technology’s role in gaining an advantage in a fiercely competitive market. Management Information Systems Chapter 5 IT Infrastructure and Emerging Technologies DreamWorks Animation Turns to Technology for Production Support

4. Management Information Systems Chapter 5 IT Infrastructure and Emerging Technologies IT Infrastructure • Defining IT infrastructure • Evolution of IT infrastructure: 1950-2007 • Electronic accounting machine era: 1930-1950 • General-purpose mainframe and minicomputer era: 1959 to present • Personal computer era: 1981 to present • Client/server era: 1983 to present • Enterprise Internet computing era: 1992 to present

5. Management Information Systems Chapter 5 IT Infrastructure and Emerging Technologies IT Infrastructure • Technology drivers of infrastructure evolution • Moore’s Law and microprocessing power • The Law of Mass Digital Storage • Metcalfe’s Law and network economics • Declining communications costs and the Internet • Standards and network effects

6. Management Information Systems Chapter 5 IT Infrastructure and Emerging Technologies IT Infrastructure Moore’s Law and Microprocessor Performance Packing more transistors into a tiny microprocessor has exponentially increased processing power. Source: 2004 Intel Corporation; updated by the authors. Figure 5-4

7. Management Information Systems Chapter 5 IT Infrastructure and Emerging Technologies IT Infrastructure The Capacity of Hard Disk Drives Grows Exponentially 1980-2007 From 1980 to 1990, hard disk drive capacities for PCs grew at the rate of 25 percent annual compound growth, but after 1990, growth accelerated to more than 65 percent each year. Figure 5-7

8. Management Information Systems Chapter 5 IT Infrastructure and Emerging Technologies Infrastructure Components • Computer hardware platforms • Computer software platforms • Enterprise software applications • Data management and storage • Networking/telecommunications platforms • Internet platforms • Consulting and system integration services

9. Management Information Systems Chapter 5 IT Infrastructure and Emerging Technologies Hardware Platform Trends and Emerging Technologies • The integration of computing and telecommunications platforms • Grid computing • On-demand computing (utility computing) • Autonomic computing and edge computing • Virtualization and multicore processors

10. Management Information Systems Chapter 5 IT Infrastructure and Emerging Technologies Software Platform Trends and Emerging Technologies • The rise of Linux and open-source software • Java is everywhere • Software for enterprise integration • Web services and service-oriented architecture (SOA) • Ajax, mashups, Web 2.0, and Web-based software applications

11. Management Information Systems Chapter 5 IT Infrastructure and Emerging Technologies Software Platform Trends and Emerging Technologies Is It Time for Open-Source? • Read the Interactive Session: Technology, and then discuss the following questions: • What problems do Linux and other open-source software address? How does open-source software help solve these problems? • What issues and challenges do open-source software present? What can be done to address these issues? • What are the business as well as the technology issues that should be addressed when deciding whether to use open-source software?

12. Management Information Systems Chapter 5 IT Infrastructure and Emerging Technologies Software Platform Trends and Emerging Technologies • Software outsourcing • Changing sources of software • Software packages and enterprise software • Application service providers • Software outsourcing

13. Management Information Systems Chapter 5 IT Infrastructure and Emerging Technologies Software Platform Trends and Emerging Technologies Application Service Providers: Two Tales • Read the Interactive Session: Technology, and then discuss the following questions: • Compare Thermos’s experience with an application software provider with the experience of ResortCom. • Why do you think Thermos had an easier time with a hosted software service than ResortCom? What management, organization, and technology factors account for this difference? • If your company was considering using an application service provider, what management, organization, and technology factors should be addressed when making your decision?

14. Management Information Systems Chapter 5 IT Infrastructure and Emerging Technologies Management Issues • Dealing with infrastructure change • Management and governance • Making wise infrastructure investments • Competitive forces model for IT infrastructure investment • Total cost of ownership of technology assets

15. Management Information Systems Chapter 5 IT Infrastructure and Emerging Technologies Management Issues Competitive Forces Model for IT Infrastructure There are six factors you can use to answer the question, “How much should our firm spend on IT infrastructure?” Figure 5-15