Information Systems and Networks
by
Samuel Rota Bulò
Department of Management
Università Ca' Foscari Venezia
Lesson 4
IT Infrastructure and
Emerging Technologies
Case study:
BART
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Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) is a heavy-rail public transit
system
connects San Francisco to Oakland, California, and other
neighboring cities to the east and south
BART has provided fast, reliable transportation for more than 35
years and now carries more than 346,000 passengers each day
over 104 miles of track and 43 stations.
It provides an alternative to driving on
bridges and highways, decreasing
travel time and the number of cars on
the Bay Area’s congested roads
It is the fifth busiest rapid transit system
in the United States
Case study: BART
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BART recently embarked on an ambitious
modernization effort
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overhaul stations, deploy new rail cars, and extend routes
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improve the information technology infrastructure
BART’s information systems were no longer
state-of-the art
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they were starting to affect its ability to provide good
service
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could no longer provide information rapidly enough for
making timely decisions
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they were too unreliable to support its 24/7 operations
Case study: BART
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BART upgraded both its hardware and software
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they use grid computing technology to improve availability and
better match computational and storage requirements
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Oracle’s PeopleSoft Enterprise applications running on HP Integrity
blade servers and the Oracle Enterprise Linux operating system
if needed a new server can be easily added to the system
they use virtualization to
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run multiple applications on the same server, increasing server
capacity utilization to 50% or higher
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minimize the use of physical space and energy
Case study: BART
IT Infrastructure
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set of physical devices and software
applications required to operate the entire
enterprise
set of firmwide services budgeted by
management and comprising both human and
technical capabilities
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computing platforms, telecommunication, data
management, application software, physical
facilities management, IT management, IT
standards, IT education, IT research and
development
IT Infrastructure services
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computing platforms
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connect employees, customers and suppliers into a coherent digital
environment
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large mainframes, midrange computers, desktop and laptop computers, mobile
handheld devices
telecommunication services
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data management services
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store and manage corporate data and provide capabilities for analyzing the
data
application software
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provide data, voice and video connectivity to employees, customers and
suppliers
provide enterprise-wide capabilities such as enterprise resource planning,
customer relationship management, supply chain management, and
knowledge management systems that are shared by all business units
physical facilities management
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develop and manage the physical installations required for computing and
telecommunication and data management services
IT Infrastructure services
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IT management services
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IT standards services
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provide the firm and its business units with policies that
determine which information technology will be used, when, and
how
IT education services
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plan and develop the infrastructure, coordinate with the business
units for IT services, manage accounting for the IT expenditure,
and provide project management services
provide training in system use to employees and offer managers
training in how to plan for and manage IT investments
IT research and development services
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provide the firm with research on potential future IT projects and
investments that could help the firm differentiate itself in the
marketplace
IT Infrastructure
Evolution of IT Infrastructure:
Mainframe
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1959 – present
IBM opens the era of commercial mainframes (IBM
1401, 7090, 360 series)
centralized computing controlled by professional
programmers and systems operators
remote terminals connected to centralized mainframe
using proprietary communication protocols and data
lines.
most elements of the infrastructure
provided by a single vendor
Evolution of IT Infrastructure:
IBM 360
Evolution of IT Infrastructure:
Minicomputers
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1965, Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC)
introduces minicomputers (PDP-11 and later VAX
machines)
minicomputers were powerful machines (for that
time) at far lower prices than IBM mainframes
decentralized computing started to be possible
customized to the needs of individual business units
rather than time sharing on a huge mainframe
Evolution of IT Infrastructure:
PDP-11
Evolution of IT infrastructure:
Personal Computer (PC) Era
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1981 – present
first PCs appeared in 1970 (Xerox Alto, MITS Atair 8800, Apple I and II,...)
but limited distribution
1981 IBM PCs open the PC era as it was widely adopted by American
businesses
Initially, DOS operating system with text-based command language. Later
Microsoft Windows OS.
The Wintel computer (Windows on Intel processors) was the standard
desktop PC
Today, 1.5 billion computers use the Wintel standard
Proliferation of PC between 80's and 90's launched a
spate of personal desktop productivity software tools
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word processors, spreadsheets electronic presentation
software, small data management programs
PCs were standalone systems that in the 90s started
to be linked into networks
Evolution of IT infrastructure:
Personal Computer (PC) Era
Evolution of IT infrastructure:
DOS Operating System
Evolution of IT infrastructure:
Windows Operating System
Evolution of IT infrastructure:
Client/Server (C/S) Era
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1983 – present
server: powerful computer that provides client computers with a
variety of serivces and capabilities
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processes and stores shared data, serves up web pages, manages
network activities
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can be a mainframe, or more powerful versions of PCs based on
inexpensive chips and multiple processors
client: desktop or laptop computers networked to servers
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user point of entry
Evolution of IT infrastructure:
Client/Server Era
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two-tiered C/S architecture
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simplest setting with a client computer networked to a server
computer with processing split between the two types of machines
multi-tiered (or N-tiered) C/S architecture
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the work of the entire network is balanced over several different
levels of servers, depending on the kind of service being requested
Evolution of IT infrastructure:
Enterprise Computing Era
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1992 – present
in the 90's firms turned to networking standards and
software tools that could integrate disparate networks
and applications throughout the firm into an
enterprise-wide infrastructure
information can freely flow within and across the
organization
different types of computer hardware
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mainframes, PCs, mobile phones, hand-held devices
includes public infrastructures such as telephone
system, the Internet and public network services
uses enterprise applications and Web services
Evolution of IT infrastructure:
Enterprise Computing Era
Evolution of IT infrastructure:
Cloud and Mobile Computing Era
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2000 – present
cloud computing is a model of computing that provides
access to a shared pool of computing resources (computers,
storage, applications, and services), over a network (e.g.,
Internet).
“clouds” can be accessed from any
location on an as-needs basis from
any connected device
fastest growing form of computing
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global revenue in 2011: $89 billion. Expected for 2014: $149 billion
IBM, HP, Dell, Amazon operate huge, scalable cloud
computing centers providing computing power, data storage,
high-speed internet connections to firms that want to maintain
their IT infrastructure remotely.
Moore's Law (1965) and
Microprocessing Power
Moore's Law and
Microprocessing Power
The Law of Mass Digital Storage
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The amount of digital information is roughly
doubling every year
The cost of storing digital information is falling
at an exponential rate
The Law of Mass Digital Storage
Metcalfe's Law (1970) and
Network Economics
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Moore's Law and the Law of Mass Storage
help us understand why computing resources
are now so readily available
Metcalfe, inventor of Ethernet LAN technology
claimed that the value or power of a network
grows exponentially as a function of the
number of network members
Declining Communications Costs
and the Internet
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Rapid decline of the cost of communication
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Exponential growth in the size of the Internet
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Business should take advantage of this ongoing trend by
expanding their internet connections, wireless
connectivity, power of client/server networks, desktop
clients and mobile computing devices
Standards and Network Effects
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Today's enterprise infrastructure and Internet
computing would be impossible without agreements
among manufacturers and widespread consumer
acceptance of technology standards
A technology standard is a specification that
establishes the compatibility of products and the
ability to communicate in a network
Standards contributed to lowering prices and
unleashed powerful economies of scale
Standards and Network Effects
Infrastructure components
Contemporary
Hardware Platform Trends
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Mobile digital platform
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mobile phone have taken many functions of
handheld computers: transmission of data, surfing
the Web, transmitting email, instant messaging,
displaying digital content...
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netbooks: low-cost, lightweight notebooks
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digital ebook readers and tablets
in few years, smartphones, netbooks, tablets
will be the primary means of accessing internet
with business computing moving from PCs to
mobile devices
Contemporary
Hardware Platform Trends
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Grid computing
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single network of remote computers that creates a virtual
supercomputer by combining the computational power of
all computers on the grid
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Computers use actively their central processing unit
(CPU) only 25% of the time, on average.
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became possible after the establishment of high-speed
internet connections
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requires special software to control and allocate
resources on the grid
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client software communicates with a server software
application, which breaks data and application code into
chunks that are then parcelled out to the grid machines
Contemporary
Hardware Platform Trends
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Virtualization
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process of presenting a set of computing resources (e.g.,
computing power or data storage) so that they can all be
accessed in ways that are not restricted by physical
configuration or geographic location
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multiple physical devices are abstracted as a single logical
resource
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a company can handle its computer processing and storage
using computer resources housed in remote locations
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allows to increase the equipment utilization rates and reduce the
number of computer required
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facilitates centralization and consolidation of hardware
administration
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e.g., VMWare, Ms Virtual Server
Contemporary
Hardware Platform Trends
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Cloud Computing
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individuals can obtain computing capabilities such as server
time or network storage on-demand (on-demand self-service)
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individuals can use standard network and Internet devices,
including mobile platforms, to access cloud resources
(ubiquitous network access)
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computer resources are pooled to serve multiple users, with
different virtual resources dynamically assigned according to
user demand (location independence resource pooling)
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computing resources can be rapidly provisioned, increased,
or decreased to meet changing user demand (rapid elasticity)
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charges for cloud resources are based on amount of
resources actually used (measured service)
Contemporary
Hardware Platform Trends
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Cloud Computing
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customers use processing, storage, networking
and other computing resources from cloud service
to run their IS (cloud infrastructure as a service)
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customers use infrastructure and programming
tools hosted by the service provider to develop
their own applications (cloud platform as service)
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customers user hosted by the vendor on the
vendor's hardware and delivered over the network
(cloud software as a service)
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can be public maintained by an external service
provider, or private maintained inside a company
Contemporary
Hardware Platform Trends
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Cloud Computing
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organizations using cloud computing do not own
the infrastructure so they don't have to make large
investments, but they pay only for the amount of
computing power used (utility computing)
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drawback: unless users make provisions for
storing their data locally, the responsibility for data
storage and control is in the hands of the provider.
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data security issues and risk of service unavailability
appealing to small and medium-sized companies,
lacking resources to purchase their own
infrastructure
Contemporary
Hardware Platform Trends
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Green computing
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practice and technologies for designing, manufacturing,
using, and disposing of computers, servers, and
associated devices to minimize impact on the
environment
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reducing computer power consumption is a green priority
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companies spend almost as much on electricity to power
and cool their systems as they did on purchasing the
hardware
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data centers used more than 2% of all US electrical
power in 2011
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IT is believed to contribute about 2% of the world's
greenhouse gases
Contemporary
Hardware Platform Trends
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Autonomic computing
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industry-wide effort to develop systems that can
configure, optimize and tune themselves, heal
themselves when broken, and protect themselves
from outside intruders and self-destruction
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e.g., antivirus and firewall protection software
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IBM and other vendors are starting to build
autonomic features into products for large systems
Contemporary
Hardware Platform Trends
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High-performance and power-saving processors
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another way to reduce power requirements and hardware
sprawl is to use more efficient and power-saving
processors
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multi-core processors is an integrated circuit to which two
or more processor cores have been attached for enhanced
performance, reduced power consumption, and more
efficient simultaneous processing of multiple tasks
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Intel and other chip makers have developed
microprocessors that minimize power consumption, which
increase e.g. the battery life in smartphones, netbooks and
other mobile digital devices.
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the A4 processors used in iPhone and iPad consumes
500-800 milliwatts, about 1/50 to 1/30 the power
consumption of a laptop dual-core processor
Contemporary
Software Platform Trends
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Open source software
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software produced by a community of several
hundred thousand programmers around the world
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is free and can be modified by users
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works derived from the original code must also be
free and the software can be redistributed by the
user without additional licensing
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not restricted to any specific operating system or
hardware technology
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e.g., Linux OS, Apache HTTP Web server, Mozilla
Firefox Web browser, Oracle Open Office, ...
Contemporary
Software Platform Trends
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Linux
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the most well known open source software
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operating system originated from Unix and created by
Finnish programmer Linus Torvalds
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linux is embedded in cell phones, smartphones,
netbooks and consumer electronics
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available in free versions downloadable from the
Internet
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it has profound implications for corporate software
platforms: cost reduction, reliability and resiliance, and
integration, as Linux works on all the major hardware
platforms from mainframes to servers to clients
Software for the web
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Java
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operating-system-independent, hardware-independent,
object-oriented programming language that has become the
leading interactive environment for the Web
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Created in 1992 at Sun Microsystems
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Became open source software in 2007
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the Java platform has migrated into mobile phones, smartphones,
cars, music players, game machines, cable television systems
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can run on any computer or computing device regardless of
microprocessor or operating system because it relies on a machine
abstraction called Virtual Machine
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can be embedded in web pages as applets and run on web
browsers
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at enterprise level, Java is used for the development of more
complex e-commerce and e-business applications
Software for the web
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Ajax (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML)
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Web development technique that allows a client
and server to exchange small pieces of data
behind the scene so that entire web page does not
have to be reloaded each time the user requests a
change
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Ajax uses Javascript programs (Javascript is
different from Java) that are downloaded on the
client to maintain a near-continuous conversation
with the server, making the user experience more
seamless
Software for the web
Software for the web
Web services
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Web services refer to a set of loosely coupled
software components that exchange
information with each other using universal
Web communication standards and languages
allow to link systems of two different
organizations or disparate systems within a
single company
based on standards independent of operating
system or programming language
Web services
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XML (eXtensible Markup Language)
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foundation technology for Web services
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language developed in 1996 by the WWW Consortium (W3C,
international body that oversees the development of the Web)
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more powerful and flexible markup language than HyperText Markup
Language (HTML) used for Web pages
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HTML is a page description language specifying how text, graphics,
video, sounds, etc., are placed on a Web page document
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XML instead can perform presentation, communication and storage of
data
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XML allows to surround data with tags specifying their meaning, which
can be processed by computers in order to manipulate and interpret
data automatically and perform operations on the data without human
intervention
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XML provides a standard format for data exchange, enabling Web
services to pass data from one process to another
HTML vs XML
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HTML:
HTML vs XML
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Rendered HTML in a browser
HTML vs XML
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XML:
Web services
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Web services communicate through XML messages over
standard Web protocols
SOAP: Simple Object Access Protocol
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WSDL: Web Services Description Language
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set of rules for structuring messages that enables applications
to pass data and instructions to on another
describes the tasks performed by a Web service and the
commands and data that it will accept so that it can be used by
other applications
UDDI: Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration
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enables a Web service to be listed in a directory of Web
services so that it can be easily accessed
Web services
SOAP example
Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA)
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Service-Oriented Architecture:
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collection of web services that are used to build a
firm's software systems
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set of self-contained services that communicate
with each other to create working software
application
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Business tasks are accomplished by executing a
series of these services
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Software developer reuse these services in other
combinations to assemble other applications as
needed
Service-Oriented Architecture
Software outsourcing
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Many firms continue to operate legacy
systems that still meet a business need and
that would be extremely costly to replace
they will also purchase or rent most of their
new software applications from external
sources:
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software packages from a commercial software
vendor
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outsourcing custom application development to
external vendor
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cloud-based software services and tools
Software outsourcing
Software outsourcing:
software packages
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A software package is a commercially available set of
software programs that eliminates the need for a firm to
write its own software programs for certain functions,
e.g., payroll processing or order handling.
Enterprise application software vendors (e.g., SAP,
Oracle-PeopleSoft) have developed powerful software
that can support the primary business processes of a
firm worldwide from warehousing, customer relationship
management, supply chain management, and finance
to human resources.
Buying the system costs much less than developing it
by themselves
Software outsourcing
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development of custom software or
maintenance of existing legacy programs
contracted to outside firms, which often
operate offshore in low-wage areas of the
world (e.g., India)
Cloud-based software
services and tools
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cloud-based software and the data is uses is hosted on powerful
servers in massive data centers, and can be accessed with an
Internet connection and standard Web browser
we find free or low-cost tools for individuals and small businesses
provided by Google or Yahoo!
enterprise software and other complex business functions are
available as services from the major commercial vendors
users pay either on a subscription or per-transaction basis
services for delivering and providing access to software remotely as
a Web-based service are referred to as software as a service
(SaaS)
e.g., Salesforce.com
to manage the relationship with an outsourcer or technology service
provider, firms need a contract including a service level of
agreement reporting responsibilities and expected levels of service
Management Issues:
dealing with platform and infrastructure change
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as firm grows they quickly outgrow their infrastructure
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as firm shrink they get stuck with excessive infrastructure
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Scalability refers to the ability of a computer, product, or
system to expand to serve a large number of users without
breaking down
firms using mobile and cloud computing platforms will require
new policies and procedures for managing these platforms
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inventory, tracking, updating and securing mobile devices
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new contractual agreements with remote vendors to make
sure that the hardware and software for critical applications
are always available when needed and that they meet
corporate standards for information security
Total cost of ownership of
Technology assets
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Hardware acquisition
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Software acquisition
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cost to provide training for information systems specialists and end
users
Support
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cost to install computers and software
Training
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purchase or license of software for each user
Installation
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purchase price of computer hardware equipment, including computers,
terminals, storage and printers
...
cost to provide ongoing technical support, help desk, and so forth
Total cost of ownership of
Technology assets
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Maintenance
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Infrastructure
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cost to acquire, maintain, and support related infrastructure,
such as networks and specialized equipment
Downtime
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cost to upgrade the hardware and software
cost of lost productivity due to system unavailability caused by
hardware or software failures
Space and energy
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real estate and utility costs for housing and providing power for
the technology