IT Infrastructure

Metcalfe's Law

# of people increase → value grows exponentially → # of people increase , etc.; increasing returns to scale

Unix

(1969-1975): powerful multitasking, multiuser, portable operating system initially developed at Bell Labs (1969) and later released for use by others (1975); operates on a wide variety of computers from different manufacturers; adopted by Sun, IBM, HP, and others in 1980s, most widely used enterprise-level operating system

Ethernet

(1973): network standard for connecting desktop computers into local area networks that enabled the widespread adoption of client/server computing and local area networks, and further stimulated the adoption of personal computers

World Wide Web

(1989-1993): standards for storing, retrieving, formatting, displaying information as a worldwide web of electronic pages incorporating text, graphics, audio, and video enables creation of a global repository of billions of Web Pages

ASCII

1958: possible for different computer machines from different manufacturers to exchange data; later used as universal language linking input and output devices such as keyboards and mice to computers; adopted by ANSI in 1963

CBOL

1959): easy-to-use software language that greatly expanded ability of programmers to write business-related programs and reduced cost of software; sponsored by Defense Department in 1959

TCP/IP

1974; suite of communications protocols and a common addressing scheme that enables millions of computers to connect together in one giant global network (the Internet); later used as default networking protocol suite for local area networks and intranets, developed in early 1970s for US Department of Defense

IBM/Microsoft/Intel Personal Computer

1981): standard Wintel design for personal desktop computing based on standard Intel processors and other standard devices, Microsoft DOS, and later Windows software, emergence of standard/low-cost product laid foundation for a 25-year period of explosive growth in computing throughout all organizations around the globe

Web Server

1st level of multitiered server architecture

Application Server

2nd level of multitiered server architecture

1983

Client Server Era began

1981

Personal Computer Era began

N-tier client/server architecturr

another word for multitiered client/server architecture

1992

beg. of enterprise computing era

"clouds"

can be accessed on an as-needed basis from any connected/device location

enterprise computing

can link computer hardware and public infrastructures

two-tiered client/server architecture

client computer networked to a server computer, simplest form

2000

cloud computing began in this year

client/server computing

desktop/laptop computers connected to powerful server computers

enterprise computing

links different pieces of computer hardware and smaller network into an enterprise-wide network, so info. can flow freely across the organization and b/t firms and other organizations

cloud computing

model of computing that provides access to a shared pool of computing resources

multitiered client/server architecture

most corporations, entire network is balanced over several different levels of servers, depending on kind of service being requested

TCP/IP

networking standard to tie disparate networks together

Law of Mass Digital Storage

o Amount of digital information is roughly doubling every year o Cost of storing digital information is falling at an exponential rate of 100%/year

Moore's Law

power of microprocessors doubles every 18 months; computing power doubles every 18 months; price of computing falls by half every 18 months

IT infrastructure

shared technology resources that provide platform for firm's specific information system applications

technology standards

specifications that est. compatibility of products and ability to communicate in a network

nanotechnology

uses individual atoms and molecules to create computer chips and other devices that are thousands of times smaller than current technologies permit

1956

year of minicomputesr

1959

yr which marked beg. of widespread use of mainframe computers IBM 360 series