IT Infrastructure and Platforms

1. IT Infrastructure and Platforms

2. Management Information Systems IT Infrastructure and Platforms OBJECTIVES • Define IT infrastructure and describe the components and levels of IT infrastructure • Identify and describe the stages of IT infrastructure evolution • Identify and describe the technology drivers of IT infrastructure evolution

3. Management Information Systems IT Infrastructure and Platforms OBJECTIVES (Continued) • Assess contemporary computer hardware platform trends • Assess contemporary software platform trends • Evaluate the challenges of managing IT infrastructure and management solutions

4. Challenge: fragmented, high-cost IT infrastructure slowed down market and customer response times Solutions: integrated storage area network to enable the flow of information among different types and brands of computer servers Reduce number of servers from 107 to 70 Illustrates the importance of IT infrastructure for achieving business objectives Management Information Systems IT Infrastructure and Platforms Hong Kong’s New World Telecommunications Case

5. Management Information Systems IT Infrastructure and Platforms IT INFRASTRUCTURE Defining IT Infrastructure • Includes hardware, software, and IT services or any other components which are need to deliver IT services to customers • A set of physical devices and software applications that are required to operate the entire enterprise • Your firm is largely dependent on its infrastructure for delivering services to customers, employees, and suppliers.

6. IT infrastructure Categories • Purchased software's : ERP, RDMS , OS office tools • IT infrastructure hardware: machine ,desktops, server ,Communication devices. • S/W development • S/W maintenance ( corrective ,perfective ) • IT services : S/W setup, help desk, computer administration) • Human resource : staff

7. Figure 6-1 Management Information Systems Chapter 6 IT Infrastructure and Platforms IT INFRASTRUCTURE The Connection between the Firm, IT Infrastructure, and Business Capabilities

8. Management Information Systems IT Infrastructure and Platforms IT INFRASTRUCTURE Levels of IT Infrastructure • Three major levels of infrastructure: • Public • Enterprise • Business unit

9. Figure 6-2 Management Information Systems IT Infrastructure and Platforms IT INFRASTRUCTURE Levels of IT Infrastructure

10. Management Information Systems IT Infrastructure and Platforms IT INFRASTRUCTURE Evolution of IT Infrastructure: 1950–2005 • 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)

11. Figure 6-4 Management Information Systems IT Infrastructure and Platforms IT INFRASTRUCTURE A Multitiered Client/Server Network (N-tier)

12. Management Information Systems IT Infrastructure and Platforms INFRASTRUCTURE COMPONENTS Seven Key Infrastructure Components • Computer Hardware Platforms • Operating System Platforms • Enterprise Software Applications • Data Management and Storage

13. Management Information Systems IT Infrastructure and Platforms INFRASTRUCTURE COMPONENTS Seven Key Infrastructure Components (Continued) • Networking/Telecommunications Platforms • Internet Platforms • Consulting and System Integration Services

14. Figure 6-11 Management Information Systems IT Infrastructure and Platforms INFRASTRUCTURE COMPONENTS The IT Infrastructure Ecosystem

15. Management Information Systems Chapter 6 IT Infrastructure and Platforms INFRASTRUCTURE COMPONENTS Networking/Telecommunications Platform (Continued) • Enterprise networking almost entirely Linux or UNIX • Cisco, Lucent, Nortel, and Juniper Networks continue to dominate networking hardware. • The telecommunications services market is highly dynamic with MCI, AT&T, and Sprint providing most trunk line services for both phone and Internet. • Growth of non-telephone Wi-Fi and Internet telephony

16. Management Information Systems Chapter 6 IT Infrastructure and Platforms CONTEMPORARY HARDWARE PLATFORM TRENDS Grid Computing: • Involves connecting geographically remote computers into a single network capable of working in parallel on business problems that require short-term access to large computational capacity • Rather than purchase huge mainframes or super computers, firms can chain together thousands of smaller desktop clients into a single computing grid.

17. Management Information Systems Chapter 6 IT Infrastructure and Platforms CONTEMPORARY HARDWARE PLATFORM TRENDS Grid Computing (Continued) • Most computers in the world are loafing, and at night they are sleeping. • It is estimated that from 25% - 50% of the computing power in the United States is unused. • Grid computing saves infrastructure spending, increases speed of computing, and increases the agility of firms. • Examples: Royal Dutch/Shell Group and the National Digital Mammography Archive

18. Management Information Systems Chapter 6 IT Infrastructure and Platforms CONTEMPORARY HARDWARE PLATFORM TRENDS On-Demand (Utility) Computing: • Firms off-loading peak demand for computing power to remote, large-scale data processing centers • Developed by IBM, SUN, and HP • Firms pay only for the computing power they use, as with an electrical utility.

19. Management Information Systems Chapter 6 IT Infrastructure and Platforms CONTEMPORARY HARDWARE PLATFORM TRENDS On-Demand (Utility) Computing: (Continued) • Excellent for firms with spiked demand curves caused by seasonal variations in consumer demand, e.g. holiday shopping • Example: Harry and David use IBM’s On-Demand computing • Saves firms from purchasing excessive levels of infrastructure

20. Management Information Systems Chapter 6 IT Infrastructure and Platforms CONTEMPORARY HARDWARE PLATFORM TRENDS Autonomic Computing: • Computer systems (both hardware and software) have become so complex that the cost of managing them has risen. • Thirty to fifty percent of a company’s IT budget is spent preventing or recovering from system crashes. • Operator error is the most common cause of crashes.

21. Management Information Systems Chapter 6 IT Infrastructure and Platforms CONTEMPORARY HARDWARE PLATFORM TRENDS • Autonomic computing is an industry-wide effort to develop systems that can: • Configure, optimize, and tune themselves • Heal themselves when broken • Protect themselves from outside intruders and self-destruction • Example: Windows XP and Max X OS automatically download patches and updates.

22. Management Information Systems Chapter 6 IT Infrastructure and Platforms MANAGEMENT OPPORTUNITIES, CHALLENGES, AND SOLUTIONS • Total cost of ownership of technology assets: • When calculating the costs of systems, be sure to include all the costs: • Hardware acquisition • Software acquisition • Installation • Training • Support • Maintenance • Infrastructure requirements • Downtime • Space and energy

23. Design of IT infrastructure • Design of data centre and server room • Design of IT network • Hardware and software specifications of servers and desktops and laptops • Details of access ,controls to be implemented to access critical IT assets • Internet bandwidth ,security devices and applications • E-mail service to be set up • Design of backup and disaster recovery mechanism

24. IT infrastructure services includes: • Active directory design: structure ,geographic spread of organization. Design of directory ,deployment of domain controllers ,global catalogue servers ,single master role servers. • Migration to new release of infrastructure products • protecting the Enterprise: security risk • Network : LAN and WAN ,hub switch ,routers • And configuration of servers