
HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE
OBJECTIVES • What computer hardware does our organization need? • What networking arrangement is best for our organization? • What software do we need to run our business, and how do we select it? • How should we acquire and manage the firm’s hardware and software assets?
COMPUTER HARDWARE • Bit • Binary digit - Smallest unit of data - either 0 or 1 • Byte • String of 8 bits - Stores one number or character • Units • K - 1,000 (really 1,024) • M - 1,000,000 • G - 1,000,000,000 • T - 1,000,000,000,000 • What do we use this for? • 56K bps modem • 50KB/sec download speed • 256MB RAM • 30GB hard drive
COMPUTER HARDWARE RAM • volatile, very fast, internal memory • chip(s) on motherboard • holds programs and data currently executing • e.g. 256MB, 16 GB ROM • Chip on motherboard used to control basic operations (eg boot)
COMPUTER HARDWARE Processor • Speed measured in MHz (millions of cycles per second) • e.g. Intel Pentium – 900Mhz • 1.6 Ghz? Parallel Processing • Problem broken down into smaller parts • Multiple instructions processed simultaneously with multiple processors • Used for large computing tasks
COMPUTER HARDWARE Secondary Storage Technology: Long term, nonvolatile storage outside the CPU • Magnetic Disk • Floppy disk or diskette (1.4 MB) • hard disk (eg 40 GB) • RAID • Redundant Array of Independent Disks • Multiple copies of data online – why? • Magnetic Tape • Inexpensive, sequential access only • great for backup
COMPUTER HARDWARE Secondary Storage Technology(continued) • USB ‘key’ • 128 MB • Optical Disks • Use laser technology • CD-ROM (read only) – 600MB • CD-R (recordable) • CD-RW (rewriteable) • Digital Video (Versatile) Disks (DVD) – 4GB • Storage Area Networking (SAN) • Multiple storage devices on a high-speed network
COMPUTER HARDWARE Input and Output Devices • Output • Display screens • Printers • Audio output Input • Keyboard / mouse • OCR (optical character recognition) • MICR (magnetic ink character recognition) • Digital scanners • Audio input • Biometric Sensors • RFID (radio frequency identification)
COMPUTER HARDWARE Ports: Connections to the Processor • Modem • for Dial-up network connections • eg - 56K bps • Ethernet (NIC) • for high-speed (broadband) network connections • eg – 10MB per sec • Parallel Port • older printers • Universal Serial Bus (USB) Port(s) • High speed port for digital camera, video, printer etc
COMPUTER HARDWARE Batch Processing • Transactions accumulated and stored until processing Online Processing • Transactions processed as they occur
COMPUTER HARDWARE Batch and Online Input and Processing
OBJECTIVES • What computer hardware does our organization need? • What networking arrangement is best for our organization? • What software do we need to run our business, and how do we select it? • How should we acquire and manage the firm’s hardware and software assets?