BUS 290: Chapter 5

1. BUS 290: Chapter 5 I.T. Infrastructure & Emerging Issues

2. Objectives • What is I.T. Infrastructure & what are the components? • What are the stages & drivers of I.T. infrastructure evolution? • What are the current trends in computer hardware & software platforms? • What are the challenges of managing IT infrastructure & MGMT solutions?

3. What is IT Infrastructure? A: “A set of firm-wide services budgeted by management and comprising both human & technical capabilities” • Computers of all types & handhelds • Telecommunication services that provide data, voice & video connectivity to Employees, C & S • Data management • Application software • Physical facilities • IT management services • Education, R & D (new projects) … and more

4. Evolution • Mainframe/minicomputer (1959 – now) • Midrange computer/server • Personal Computer (1981 – now) • Stand-alone then networked • Client/server (1983 – now) • Multi-tiered • Enterprise Computing (1992 – now) • Enterprise wide networks • Cloud & Mobile Computing (2000 – now) • Shared pool of resources

5. Drivers • Moore’s Law … computing power doubles every 2 years. • Power of microprocessors doubles or • Computing power doubles or • Cost drops by 50% • Nanotechnology • Law of mass digital storage • Cost dropping exponentially • Metcalfe’s Law • Value of network grows exponentially with # users

6. Drivers (2) • Declining Communication costs (Internet) • Ability to use VOIP, data sharing increases • Technology Standards • ASCII (‘58) • COBOL (‘59) • TCP/IP (‘74) • IBM/Microsoft/Intel PC (‘81) • WWW (‘89-’93)

7. Components • Hardware platforms (Mainframes, PC’s & laptops) • IBM, HP, Dell, Sun • Intel, AMD, IBM • Operating Systems • Windows (75%), Apple, Unix/Linux (Mainframe) • Chrome OS for cloud • Android

8. Components (2) • Enterprise Software Applications • SAP, Oracle • Data Management & Storage • Oracle, IBM – DB2, Microsoft SQL • Seagate, Maxtor, Western Digital • EMC – large scale • Network storage devices • Zettabyte is either … • A) what Catherine does to Michael Douglas • B) 10^21 bytes

9. Contemporary H/W Trends • Mobile platforms • Grid Computing • Akin to cloud • Most computers using CPU 25% of time • Virtualization • Splitting the hardware resources to serve several users (ups usage from 20% - 70+%), virtual drives.

10. More Trends • Cloud Computing • 3 types of service • Sell unused computing capacity to other users • Using infrastructure & programming tools • Using hosted software over a network • Public or private Clouds • Pay as you go/on demand computing • Green Computing • Recycling etc • Autonomic Computing • Self managing systems

11. Contemporary Trends • Linux & Open Source S/w • S/W for the web • Java • object-oriented programming • Handles text, graphics, sound & video • GUI • Ajax • For web applications to avoid redoing from start • Small amounts of data exchanged

12. Web Services • Software components that exchange info with each other. • The can exchange info between different systems regardless of their operating systems. • HTML & WYSIWYG • XML the basis for web services is an improved HTML • Java: applets embedded in web pages

13. Software outsourcing • Legacy systems are expensive to replace • ERP – Software packages (SAP & Oracle) • Software now outsourced • Cloud based services: • SAAS • PAAS • Mashups

14. MGMT Issues • Growing business  increased needs • Platform & Infrastructure Changes • Scalability • Policies & procedures • Contracts with providers • Governance issues

15. Investments • Rent (Lease) or buy • Total cost of ownership • H/w & S/W • Installation & training • Maintenance • Support & Downtime • Infrastructure • Space & Energy

16. Chapter 5 Homework • Both Decision Problems • Neither computer based one