E-Commerce

1. E-Commerce Mohammed Saiyeedur Rahman

2. What is E-commerce? • E-commerce is buying and selling goods over the internet. This could include selling/buying mobile phones, clothes or DVD’s etc. E-commerce has grown as the internet has expanded and the industry has become more bigger.

3. What types of products and services are offered by E‐commerce websites? • The types of products that are offered by E-commerce websites are many things that could be clothes, food etc. and the services allow you to buy products and sell your own goods online for other customers to look at and purchase if they have an interest. Examples of these websites could be Tesco, Sainsbury, amazon and eBay as there is a lot of e-commerce websites on the internet that are expanding.

4. Hardware • Web server- A web server are computers that deliver web pages. Every web page has a domain name on the URL that you type in and then the web server then sends a request of the domain name to the web server and sends it to the browser e.g. www.google.com the domain would be Google so it would address me to it. Web servers can deal with many requests coming in at the same time as it is really fast and big. • Router- A router is a computer which allows you to move data between computer networks. It goes through the shortest path so it can get through quicker and connect. Routers come in various of sizes, the small ones are the simple ones that you would use for the internet that connect to the ISP. The bigger ones and complicated routers are involved in large businesses which need to work more faster and need to be more dedicatedso this will be helpful for the online system to connect to various amount of networks. • Network Cards – Network cards area piece of computer hardware to exchange data with networks. They are mostly fixed in the computers and work with Ethernet cables (routers) network cards can work are designed for specific type of network and protocal. Some can deal with many multiple networks.

5. Hardware • Network Hub- A network Hub is a port with many slots that allows you to add more then one router into it which gets all the data together into that port but still works individually which prevents Ethernet traffic. The only time a collision occurs is when two or more devices send the same data at the same time which causes a collision. • Bridges – A bridge device is were it filters data traffic at a network boundary. The reason for bridge is that it reduces the traffic between them. It is similar to switches as they switch data filtering and separating the collision domain for it to prevent traffic from happening. Bridges are mainly for extended distances with capability of networks. The disadvantage for bridges are that they don’t come with many ports.

6. Software • Web browser- A web browser allows you to go to a variety of websites on the internet (internet explorer or Mozilla fox) It can allow you to work with text, music, videos and other things that are based on the web browser. The text could be different types of hyperlinks on pages which you can click on and addresses you to that specific page. Also, many pages with music videos e.g. YouTube including videos that you can watch by clicking on the link/image etc. Most pages are in HTML (Hypertext mark up language) it reads the address and directs you to the page. • Database systems- Database is for keeping large quantity's of data and making them look more organized with the data that you store. E- commerce sites usually has the database attached to the catalogue of products with the customers records e.g. name and number etc. An example would be if you sign in to an e-commerce website, that website would have your details stored In the system and will verify the detail (data) that you put in is correct. If there's any changes that are needed to be made in the system then they will make you aware of it. • Firewall- Firewall is a software that lets specific data go through and some that get discarded because that data is not safe , which could be a virus and not trusted to go through to the system. It basically doesn't let unauthorised access. Setting up a firewall could prevent your system from being hacked into especially for big businesses as they could get bankrupt or certain data could be stolen so this will be important for this online system for it being safe.

7. Software • Platform- A platform is basically defines a standard around which a system can develop. Once the platform has been defined then the software developers can produce the appropriate software that's needed and the manager can buy the appropriate hardware/application. • Web authoring tool- Web authoring tools are basically groups of software's that are used to create web contents. It includes programs like desktop publishing programs, web builders and HTML editors etc. Any software program that can be used to create web contents that can be shown on the internet are called web authoring tool. This would be very helpful for the company as this will allow them to create a website and launch it online for other people to see and making it more worldwide.

8. Networking Technologies • TCP/IP addresses ports and protocol- TCI/IP is a network protocol that sets out rules on how communication will take place or how data will be transmitted so it basically outlines how computer communicates and understands each other. • Ports- A port is a number that identifies one bit of a connection between two computers. Ports are identified by each address and the protocol by a 16 digit number which is mainly called the port number. They are linked to internet protocol address for the host as the protocol that is used for communication. The two types of protocols are Transport layer protocols and the user datagram protocol that uses ports. • Protocols- Protocol is the a set of rules in networking and communication between the telecommunication devices. These rules include guidelines that regulate the following characteristics of a network e.g. Access method and speed of data transfer.

9. Some Factors • Domain Names: the domain name is mainly used for identifying IP address. Domain names are used in URL to identify specific web pages e.g. In the URL www.google.com/index.html, the domain of this would be google.com. • Multiple registrations of Domains- The multiple registration of domain is basically when other users have registered multiple domain names. In needs to be in mind that during the registration some domains are expensive to purchase. • Programming Requirements- This is the basic instruction that are to be followed while programming software. They differ regarding to what software is being produced and what that software is intended for. Using the appropriate programming that can function on every web browser is a Programming Requirements. • Download Speed- Download speed is basically how fast u download files, folders, application off the internet. This will be important for e commerce websites even for this and fast downloading will effect the efficiency of how the company will function itself. • Browser and Platform Compatibility- This is basically the support of websites by specific web browsers. Thiss is important for e commerce websites because some retail/commercial websites may not be supported by all web browsers and this can affect the functions of the website and company.