Chapter 3 E-business Infrastructure

1. Chapter 3E-business Infrastructure

2. Learning outcomes • Outline the hardware and software technologies used to build an e-business infrastructure within an organisation and with its partners • Outline the hardware and software requirements necessary to enable employee access to the Internet and hosting ofe-commerce services.

3. E-business infrastructure • The architecture of hardware, software. Content and data used to deliver e-business services to employees, customers and partners

4. Typical problems • Web site communications too slow. • Web site not available. • Bugs on site through pages being unavailable or information typed in forms not being executed. • Ordered products not delivered on time. • E-mails not replied to. • Customers’ privacy or trust is broken through security problems such as credit cards being stolen or addresses sold to other companies.

5. Figure 3.1 A five-layer model of e-business infrastructure

6. Table 3.1 Key management issues of e-business infrastructure

7. Table 3.1 Key management issues of e-business infrastructure (Continued)

8. What is the Internet? “The Internet, sometimes called simply "the Net," is a worldwide system of computer networks - a network of networks in which users at any one computer can, if they have permission, get information from any other computer” -whatis.com “A global network connecting millions of computers. More than 100 countries are linked into exchanges of data, news and opinions. -webopedia.com “is logically linked together by a globally unique address space based on the Internet Protocol (IP) or its subsequent extensions/follow-ons” -FNC

9. Figure 3.2 Physical and network infrastructure components of the Internet(Levels IV and III in Figure 3.1)

10. London Internet Exchange • Located in Docklands area in East London • Second large IX in Europe

11. Malaysia and Internet • Internet Usage Statistics:13,528,200 Internet users as of Sept/2006, 47.8% of the population, according to M.C.M.C. • Malaysia Internet Exchange (MyIX) • Established in November, 2003 • Launched on 15th December 2006 • 3 nodes connected in AIMS, NCC and TPM Jaring

12. Table 3.2 Six stages of advances in the dissemination of information

13. Clay tablets Guternberg Press

14. Figure 3.3 A five-layer model of e-business infrastructure

15. How big is the Internet? • Over 1 billion Internet users worldwide • How big the infrastructure they accessing? • Measured by number of servers • Number of pages indexed by search engines • 2006: 9 billion pages • Dec 2007:????

16. Figure 3.4 The Netcraft index of number of servers Source: Netcraft Web Server Survey. http://news.netcraft.com/archives/web server survey.html. Netcraft, http://netcraft.com

17. Intranet and extranet • Intranet: • A private network within a single company using Internet standards to enable employees to share information • Extranet: • Formed by extending an intranet beyond a company to customers, suppliers and collaborators

18. Figure 3.5The relationship between intranets, extranets and the Internet

19. Intranet applications • Used extensively for supporting sell-side e-commerce • Also used for internal marketing communications

20. Extranet applications • Used to provide online services which are restricted to business customers

21. Business benefits of extranet • Information sharing • Cost reduction • Order processing and distribution • Customer service

22. Premier Dell.com

23. Questions on extranet? • Are the levels of usage sufficient? • Is it effective and efficient? • Who has ownership of the extranet? • What are the levels of service quality? • Is the quality of information adequate?

24. Use of extranet on global basis

25. Firewalls • A specialized software mounted on a separate server at the point where the company is connected to the Internet • Use to protect information on the company

26. Figure 3.6Firewall positions within the e-business infrastructure of theB2B company

27. Figure 3.7Information exchange between a web browser and web server

28. What is the Internet? • World Wide Web – standard method for exchanging information on the Internet • Web browsers – a method of accessing and viewing information stored as web documents • Web servers – store and present the web pages

29. World Wide Web • Based on standard document formats such as HTML • Offers hyperlink • Supports a wide range of formatting • Can integrate graphics and animations • Make interactions possible

30. Web 2.0 • It isn’t a new web standard • Just an evolution of technologies and communication approaches • Some main characteristics: • Web services or interactive applications hosted on the Web • Ad funding of neutral sites • Encouraging creation of user-generated content • Enabling rating of content

31. del.icio.us

32. Internet tools • E-mail • Instant messaging (IM) and Internet Relay Chat (IRC) • Usenet newsgroups • FTP file transfer • Telnet • Blogs • RSS (Really Simple Syndication) • World Wide Web • IPTV • BitTorrent

33. Blogs

34. RSS • An Internet standard for publishing and exchanging content using XML • Content can be published on a site that originates from another site • New method of distributing messages to subscribers

35. RSS

36. RSS feeds

37. VOIP • Voice data is transferred across the Internet – it enables phone calls to be made over the Internet • Peer-to-peer • Hosted service • Complete replacement of all telephone systems • Upgrading telephone systems

38. Figure 3.8The TCP/IP protocol

39. URLS and domain names • Web addresses are structured in a standard way as follows: • http://www.domain-name.extension/filename.html • What do the following extensions or global top level domains stand for? • .com • .co.uk, .uk.com • .org or .org.uk • .gov • .edu, .ac.uk • .int • .net • .biz • .info

40. HTML and XML • HTML (Hypertext Markup Language)A standard format used to define the text and layout of web pages. HTML files usually have the extension .HTML or .HTM. • XML or eXtensible Markup Language • A standard for transferring structured data, unlike HTML which is purely presentational.

41. Figure 3.9Home page index.html for The B2B Company in a web browser showing HTML source in text editor

42. Figure 3.10 (a) Fragmented applications infrastructure, (b) integrated applications infrastructure Source: Adapted from Hasselbring (2000)

43. XML example Product> <Action Value5”Delete”/> <ProductID>118003-008</ProductID> </Product> <Product Type5”Good” SchemaCategoryRef5”C43171801”> <ProductID>140141-002</ProductID> <UOM><UOMCoded>EA</UOMCoded></UOM> <Manufacturer>Compaq</Manufacturer> <LeadTime>2</LeadTime> <CountryOfOrigin> <Country><CountryCoded>US</CountryCoded></Country> </CountryOfOrigin>

44. Media standards • GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) A graphics format and compression algorithm best used for simple graphics • JPEG (Joint Photographics Experts Group) A graphics format and compression algorithm best used for photographs • Streaming media. Sound and video that can be experienced within a web browser before the whole clip is downloaded e.g. Real Networks .rm format • Video standards include MPEG and .AVI • Sound standards include MP3 and WMA

45. Who controls the Internet? • ICANN • The Internet Society (www.isoc.org) • The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) • The World Wide Web Consortium (www.w3.org) • Telecommunications Information Networking Architecture Consortium TINA-C

46. Managing e-business infrastructure • Layer II – Systems software • Standardization throughout organization • Layer III – Transport or network • Based on internal company network • Laver IV – Storage • Based on company needs

47. Internet service providers (ISP) • ISP connection method • Speed of access • Availability • Service-level agreements • Security

48. Figure 3.11Differing use of applications at levels of management within companies

49. Figure 3.12Elements of e-business infrastructure that require management

50. New access devices • Mobile access devices • Wi-Fi mobile access • Bluetooth • Next-generation mobile services • Interactive digital television