MIS Chapter 5
94) The decision to purchase your own IT assets or rent them from external providers is also referred to as the rent-versus-buy decision. A) TRUE B) FALSE
A
95) Scalability refers to the ability of a computer, product, or system to expand to serve a large number of users without breaking down. A) TRUE B) FALSE
A
25) In financial services firms, investments in IT infrastructure represent more than half of all capital invested. A) TRUE B) FALSE
A
26) Microsoft is the market leader in client/server networking. A) TRUE B) FALSE
A
27) Cloud computing is the fastest growing form of computing. A) TRUE B) FALSE
A
33) Software that manages the resources of the computer is called: A) operating system software. B) application software. C) data management software. D) network software. E) web services software.
A
78) A formal contract between customers and their service providers that outlines the specific responsibilities of the service provider and to the customer is called a(n): A) SOA. B) SLA. C) TCO. D) RFQ. E) SaaS.
B
92) How would you determine the market demand for your firm's IT services? A) Perform a TCO analysis B) Benchmark your services C) Hold focus groups to assess your services D) Analyze sales returns on key investments E) Perform a stress test
C
60) Distinguish between cloud computing, green computing, and quantum computing. Short Answer:
Cloud Computing: technology services are provided over a network, primarily the internet Green Computing: practices and technologies for designing a computer to minimize impact on the environment. Quantum Computing: emerging technology that uses the principles of quantum physics to dramatically boost computer processing power.
1) Which type of infrastructure service provides data, voice and video connectivity to employees, customers, and suppliers? A) Networking B) Telephone C) VOIP D) Telecommunications E) Data management
D
4) A(n)________ is used to communicate between a user and an organization's back-end systems. A) public server B) private server C) legacy server D) application server E) blade server
D
41) Which of the following is not an example of the mobile digital platform? A) Tablets B) Kindle C) Cell phones D) CRM E) Apps
D
93) Which of the following is not one of the main six factors to consider when evaluating how much your firm should spend on IT infrastructure? A) Your firm's business strategy B) The IT investments made by competitor firms C) Market demand for your firm's services D) Your firm's organizational culture E) Information technology assessment
D
43) The ability to be in multiple states at once, dramatically increasing processing power, is a hallmark of: A) co-location. B) edge computing. C) grid computing. D) utility computing. E) quantum computing.
E
67) Which of the following is not one of the current software platform trends? A) Web services and service-oriented architecture B) Open-source software C) HTML5 D) Software outsourcing E) Multicore processors
E
44) Which of the following is a recent addition to the mobile digital platform? A) Quantum computing devices B) Wearable computing devices C) Cloud computing devices D) Grid computing devices E) Green computing devices
B
5) Place the following eras of IT infrastructure evolution in order, from earliest to most recent: 1. Cloud Computing Era; 2. Client/Server; 3. Enterprise Era; 4. Personal Computer; and 5. Mainframe and Minicomputer. A) 5, 2, 3, 4, 1 B) 5, 4, 2, 3, 1 C) 4, 5, 2, 3, 1 D) 5, 4, 2, 1, 3 E) 4, 5, 3, 2, 1
B
15) ________ uses individual atoms and molecules to create computer chips and other devices. A) Virtualization B) Nanotechnology C) Quantum computing D) A minicomputer E) On-demand computing
B
18) Client/server computing is a primary example of centralized processing. A) TRUE B) FALSE
B
40) SANs maintain a series of servers and provide fee-paying subscribers with space to maintain their websites. A) TRUE B) FALSE
B
10) Today's nanotechnology-produced computer transistors are roughly equivalent in size to: A) the width of a fingernail. B) a human hair. C) a virus. D) an atom. E) a grain of sand.
C
22) An application server may reside on the same computer as a web server or on its own dedicated computer. A) TRUE B) FALSE
A
50) The marketplace for computer hardware: A) has become increasingly concentrated in top firms. B) has expanded to include a wide variety of start-up and mobile-computing firms. C) has moved significantly to Asian firms. D) has been decimated by mobile and cloud computing. E) has begun moving away from blade servers.
A
51) Which of the following is the most popular mobile operating system? A) Linux B) Android C) Chrome OS D) iOS E) Unix
A
54) A(n) ________ is an integrated circuit to which two or more processors have been attached for enhanced performance and reduced power consumption. A) multicore processor B) legacy processor C) scalable processor D) aggregate circuit E) green circuit
A
57) In green computing, reducing computer power consumption is a top priority. A) TRUE B) FALSE
A
70) Running a Java program on a computer requires: A) a Java Virtual Machine to be installed on that computer. B) a Java Virtual Machine to be installed on the server hosting the Java applet. C) a miniature program to be downloaded to the user's computer. D) no specialized software, as Java is platform-independent. E) the Mozilla Firefox browser and no other browsers.
A
58) Quantum computing is implemented primarily with enterprise or ISP servers. A) TRUE B) FALSE
B
59) Quantum computing is not yet available to the general public. A) TRUE B) FALSE
B
31) Have mainframes disappeared? Short Answer:
Mainframes have not disappeared. They continue to be used to reliably and securely handle huge volumes of transactions, for analyzing very large quantities of data, and for handling large workloads in cloud computing centers. The mainframe is still the digital workhorse for banking and telecommunications networks that are often running software programs that are older and require a specific hardware platform. Currently, mainframes process 30 billion business transactions per day, and 80 percent of the world's corporate data also originates on the mainframe
84) A service-oriented architecture is set of self-contained services that communicate with each other to create a working software application. A) TRUE B) FALSE
A
90) Hardware and software acquisition costs account for about ________ percent of TCO. A) 20 B) 40 C) 50 D) 75 E) 90
A
6) The introduction of the minicomputer: A) allowed computers to be customized to the specific needs of departments or business units. B) strengthened centralized computing. C) offered new, powerful machines at higher prices than mainframes. D) represented the rise of Microsoft. E) was dominated by IBM.
A
72) Sets of loosely coupled software components that exchange information with each other using standard web communication standards and languages are referred to as: A) web services. B) EAI software. C) SOA. D) SOAP. E) SaaS.
A
73) Which of the following is the foundation technology for web services? A) XML B) HTML C) SOAP D) UDDI E) SCSI
A
75) Prewritten, commercially available sets of software programs that eliminate the need for a firm to write its own software programs for certain functions, are referred to as: A) software packages. B) mashups. C) outsourced software. D) open-source software. E) service level agreements.
A
80) Java software is designed to run on any computing device, regardless of the specific microprocessor or operating system it uses. A) TRUE B) FALSE
A
12) Which of the following is the 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? A) TCP/IP B) COBOL C) Ethernet D) ASCII E) Linux
C
69) Which of the following statements about Linux is not true? A) It plays a major role in the back office running local area networks. B) It is available in free versions downloadable from the Internet. C) It has garnered 20 percent of the server operating system market. D) Linux applications are embedded in cell phones, smartphones, netbooks, and other handheld devices. E) Linux works on all the major hardware platforms.
C
56) Which of the following involves practices and technologies to minimize the environmental effects of manufacturing and managing computing devices? A) Capacity planning B) Cloud computing C) Green computing D) Utility computing E) On-demand computing
C
68) Linux is: A) primarily concerned with the tasks of end users. B) designed for specific machines and specific microprocessors. C) an example of open-source software. D) especially useful for processing numeric data. E) poorly suited to power fast computers.
C
7) A client computer networked to a server computer, with processing split between the two types of machines, is called a(n): A) service-oriented architecture. B) on-demand architecture. C) multi-tiered client/server architecture. D) two-tiered client/server architecture. E) divided architecture.
D
20) Application server software is responsible for locating and managing stored webpages. A) TRUE B) FALSE
B
21) IT infrastructure consists of only those physical computing devices required to operate the enterprise. A) TRUE B) FALSE
B
28) Exponential growth in the number of transistors and the power of processors is expected to increase for the foreseeable future. A) TRUE B) FALSE
B
34) A SAN is a ________ network. A) server area B) storage area C) scalable architecture D) service-oriented architecture E) software arrangement
B
13) The development of TCP/IP occurred during the ________ era. A) cloud and mobile computing B) general-purpose mainframe and minicomputer C) client/server era D) personal computer E) enterprise computing
E
63) What are the essential characteristics of cloud computing? Short Answer:
On-demand self-service: consumers can obtain computing capabilities such as server time or network storage as needed automatically on their own Ubiquitous network access: Cloud resources can be accessed using standard network and Internet devices, including mobile platforms Location-independent resource pooling: Computing resources are pooled to serve multiple users, with different virtual resources dynamically assigned according to user demand. The user generally does not know where the computing resources are located. Rapid elasticity: Computing resources can be rapidly provisioned, increased, or decreased to meet changing user demand Measured service: Charges for cloud resources are based on amount of resources actually used
30) Explain why standards are so important in information technology. What standards have been important for the growth of Internet technologies? Short Answer:
Standards are important because they result in different manufacturers creating products that can be used either with each other or to communicate with each other. For example, without standards, each light-bulb manufacturer would have to also create specific light-bulb sockets for use with their light bulbs. In the same way, computers and computer technology have been enabled through standards. Standards have allowed many different manufacturers to contribute to the same, standardized definitions of a technological application. For example, the ASCII data standards made it possible for computer machines from different manufacturers to exchange data, and standardized software languages have enabled programmers to write programs that can be used on different machines.
62) What are the drawbacks of cloud computing? Do you think these ever outweigh the benefits, and if so, in what cases? Short Answer:
There is concern over cloud computing reliability and security, especially given widespread outages in the past. Another drawback is, for some large companies, paying a public cloud provider may end up being more expensive than maintaining their own infrastructure.
99) You are starting a market research company with a single business partner and are planning the hardware and software needs for the two of you. Which factors should play into your decision of how much to spend on these investments? Short Answer:
Using the competitive forces model for IT infrastructure investment, the most relevant factors in this decision are: The firm's business strategy. What capabilities will we want to have over the next five years? Alignment of IT strategy. How does our IT strategy match up with the business plan? IT assessment. What are the current technology levels for the services we are offering and our business type? We would probably not need to be at the bleeding edge, but not behind the times either. Competitor firm services. What technology-enabled capabilities do our competitors have? We would want to match services with our competitors. Competitor firm IT investments. How much are competitor firms investing in their technology? Because this is a startup, one other factor may not play such a large role: that of market demand for services. However, finding out the market demand for competitor's services may uncover ways that this new company could have a competitive advantage.
39) The operating system is used to manage the computer's activities. A) TRUE B) FALSE
A
19) In N-tier computing, significant parts of website content, logic, and processing are performed by different servers. A) TRUE B) FALSE
A
81) Web services can exchange information between two different systems only if the operating systems and programming languages upon which the systems are based are identical. A) TRUE B) FALSE
B
89) Which of the following refers to the ability of a computer, product, or system to expand to serve a larger number of users without breaking down? A) Modality B) Scalability C) Expandability D) Disintermediation E) Customizability
B
61) An ad-hoc group of oceanographers needs to set up a system to analyze massive amounts of data on ocean temperatures. The technology and hardware for gathering the data and transmitting the data to a central computer is in place. What additional hardware might they need? What techniques might they use to make their research more efficient and lower costs? Short Answer: To store their data they may want to use a SAN. To process their data, they will need a supercomputer. To lower costs, they could look at on-demand computing as well as virtualization and implementing multicore processors.
To store their data they may want to use a SAN. To process their data, they will need a supercomputer. To lower costs, they could look at on-demand computing as well as virtualization and implementing multicore processors.
14) Which of the following became the standard PC in the Personal Computer Era? A) Wintel PC B) DOS PC C) MITS PC D) Altair E) Apple II
A
16) ________ states that the value or power of a network grows exponentially as a function of the number of network members. A) Metcalfe's Law B) Moore's Law C) Law of scalability D) Law of outsourcing E) Law of networks
A
79) ________ provides a standard format for data exchange, enabling web services to pass data from one process to another. A) HTML B) HTML5 C) Java D) Chrome OS E) XML
E
87) Identify and describe five or more of the current trends in contemporary software platforms. Short Answer:
1. Growing use of Linux and open-source software—Open-source software is produced and maintained by a global community of programmers and is downloadable for free. Linux is a powerful, resilient open-source operating system that can run on multiple hardware platforms and is used widely to run Web servers. 2. HTML5—This is the next evolution of HTML which simplifies embedding multimedia, rich media, and animation in the browser. 3. Cloud-based services—In cloud-based services and software, users rent applications or storage space from online providers rather than running these applications or themselves or using local storage. 4. Web services and service-oriented architecture—Web services are loosely coupled software components based on open web standards that are not product-specific and can work with any application software and operating system. They can be used as components of Web-based applications linking the systems of two different organizations or to link disparate systems of a single company. 5. Software outsourcing—Companies are purchasing their new software applications from outside sources, including application software packages, by outsourcing custom application development to an external vendor (that may be offshore), or by renting software services from an application service provider. 6. Cloud-based services—Companies are leasing infrastructure, hardware, and software from vendors, paying on a subscription or per-transaction basis. 7. Mashups and apps—Mashups are programs created by combining two or more existing Internet applications. Apps are small programs developed for mobiles and handhelds, turning them into more robust computing tools.
11) Which of the following is a multitasking, multi-user, operating system developed by Bell Laboratories that operates on a wide variety of computing platforms? A) Unix B) Linux C) OS X D) COBOL E) DOS
A
98) A small design agency you are consulting for will be creating client websites and wants to purchase a web server so they can host the sites themselves. How will you advise them on this purchase? Short Answer:
They need to understand total cost of ownership: the costs will go beyond the cost of the server, but they will also need to purchase the server software and any application software they will be using. They will also need someone in their IT department to manage and maintain the computers. They will also incur facilities costs for running the computer. They need to have a backup plan should the server fail. The design agency will need to add up all the potential costs and risks. Additionally, they need to prepare for their plan if they need more servers. Will they eventually have to run and maintain their own server farm? What if one of their clients' sites is more popular than anticipated and the server has difficulty handling the load? How quickly can they add servers or processing power? The company should look at colocation, Web hosting services, and ASPs to see if their needs will be better met this way.
64) What is virtualization and how and why is it used? Short Answer:
Virtualization is the process of presenting a set of computing resources so that they can all be accessed in ways that are not restricted by physical configuration or geographic location. It enabled a single physical resource to appear to the user as multiple logical resources. It also reduces technology costs by providing the ability to host multiple systems on a single physical machine.
2) Which of the following is not an IT infrastructure service component? A) Operating system software B) Computing platforms to provide a coherent digital environment C) Physical facilities management to manage the facilities housing physical components D) IT management services to plan and develop the infrastructure and provide project management E) IT education services that provide training to employees
A
23) Enterprise infrastructure requires software that can link disparate applications and enable data to flow freely among different parts of the business. A) TRUE B) FALSE
A
24) It is much easier to eliminate a cloud service than to remove functionality from a company's core internal systems. A) TRUE B) FALSE
A
35) Which of the following is an example of a legacy system? A) Transaction processing system running on a mainframe B) Scalable grid computing system C) Web services running on a cloud computing platform D) MDM software E) Quantum computing system
A
47) Which of the following types of computing involves purchasing computing power from a remote provider and paying only for the computing power used? A) On-demand B) Grid C) Edge D) Autonomic E) Quantum
A
77) The practice of contracting custom software development to an outside firm is commonly referred to as: A) outsourcing. B) scaling. C) service-oriented architecture. D) application integration. E) utility computing.
A
82) Whereas HTML is limited to describing how data should be presented in the form of Web pages, XML can perform presentation, communication, and data storage tasks. A) TRUE B) FALSE
A
83) Hypertext markup language specifies how text, graphics, video, and sound are placed on a webpage. A) TRUE B) FALSE
A
85) Today, many business firms continue to operate legacy systems because they meet a business need and would be costly to replace. A) TRUE B) FALSE
A
8) In a multi-tiered network: A) the work of the entire network is centralized. B) the work of the entire network is balanced over several levels of servers. C) processing is split between clients and servers. D) processing is handled by multiple, geographically-remote clients. E) processing is located in the cloud.
B
96) TCO refers to the original cost of purchased technology: both hardware and software. A) TRUE B) FALSE
B
71) A software program with a graphical user interface for displaying web pages and for accessing the web and other Internet resources is called a web: A) service. B) client. C) browser. D) app. E) beacon.
C
3) Specifications that establish the compatibility of products and the ability to communicate in a network are called: A) network standards. B) telecommunications standards. C) technology standards. D) Internet standards. E) compatibility standards.
C
36) Which of the following is not an example of a wearable computing device? A) Smartwatch B) Smart glasses C) Smartphones D) Activity trackers E) Smart ID badges
C
38) ________ interfaces allow users to employ one or more fingers to manipulate objects on a screen without a mouse or keyboard. A) Hypertouch B) Nanotech C) Multitouch D) Linux E) Scalable
C
46) Which of the following enables a single physical resource (such as a server or a storage device) to appear to the user as multiple logical resources? A) Cloud computing B) Autonomic computing C) Virtualization D) Multicore processing E) Ubiquitous computing
C
74) Which of the following refers to a set of self-contained services that communicate with each other to create a working software application? A) Web services B) EAI software C) SOA D) SOAP E) Prepackaged software
C
42) All of the following are current hardware platform trends except: A) green computing. B) virtualization. C) cloud computing. D) Unix. E) quantum computing.
D
49) Firms that allow employees to use their own devices are embracing which of the following? A) Wearable computing B) Mobile consolidation C) Cloud computing D) BYOD E) Self computing
D
65) ZipRealty, which combines Google Maps with real estate data, is an example of: A) cloud computing. B) SOA. C) a widget. D) a mashup. E) a web service.
D
66) Which type of software is created and updated by a worldwide community of programmers and available for free? A) Software packages B) Mashups C) Outsourced D) Open source E) Closed source
D
17) Which of the following factors does not help explain why computing resources today are even more available than in previous decades? A) Network economics B) Law of mass digital storage C) Moore's law D) Declining communications costs and the Internet E) Widespread rejection of technology standards
E
32) Which of the following is a leading networking hardware provider? A) Dell B) Intel C) Seagate D) IBM E) Cisco
E
37) ________ are computers consisting of a circuit board with processors, memory, and network connections that are stored in racks. A) Mainframes B) Rack servers C) Cloud servers D) Hybrid servers E) Blade servers
E
45) At what percent of capacity do most servers operate? A) 100% B) 80-90% C) approximately 70 percent D) 40-50% E) 15-20%
E
48) All of the following are cloud computing services except: A) infrastructure as a service. B) platform as a service. C) software as a service. D) on-demand computing. E) virtualization as a service.
E
52) Which of the following is not one of the NIST defined characteristics of cloud computing? A) Ubiquitous network access B) Location-independent resource pooling C) On-demand self service D) Measured service E) Reduced elasticity
E
53) Which of the following is not an example of the consumerization of IT? A) Google Apps B) Dropbox C) Facebook D) Gmail E) Amazon Web Services
E
55) SaaS refers to: A) supplying online access over networks to storage devices and storage area network technology. B) managing combinations of applications, networks, systems, storage, and security as well as providing Web site and systems performance monitoring to subscribers over the Internet. C) self-contained services that communicate with each other to create a working software application. D) easy-to-use software tools for displaying Web pages. E) hosting and managing access to software applications delivered over the Internet to clients on a subscription basis.
E
76) ________ are created by combining and customizing components from different online software applications. A) Apps B) Web browsers C) SaaS D) Web services E) Web mashups
E
9) Interpretations of Moore's law assert that: A) computing power will eventually level off. B) transistors decrease in size 50% every two years. C) data storage costs decrease by 50% every 18 months. D) PCs decrease in market share by 9% every 5 years. E) computing power doubles every 18 months.
E
91) Which model can be used to analyze the direct and indirect costs to help firms determine the actual cost of specific technology implementations? A) Supply and demand B) Return on investment C) Breakeven point D) Cost-benefit analysis E) Total cost of ownership
E
86) Briefly explain why corporations are increasingly interested in using Unix or Linux for their operating systems. Short Answer:
Linux is an inexpensive and robust open-source relative of Unix. Unix and Linux constitute the backbone of corporate infrastructure throughout much of the world because they are scalable, reliable, and much less expensive than mainframe operating systems. They can also run on many different types of processors. The major providers of Unix operating systems are IBM, HP, and Sun with slightly different and partially incompatible versions. Although Windows continues to dominate the client marketplace, many corporations have begun to explore Linux as a low-cost desktop operating system provided by commercial vendors such as RedHat Linux and Linux-based desktop productivity suites such as Sun's StarOffice. Linux is also available in free versions downloadable from the Internet as open-source software. The rise of open-source software, particularly Linux and the applications it supports at the client and server level, has profound implications for corporate software platforms: cost, reduction, reliability and resilience, and integration, because Linux works on all the major hardware platforms from mainframes to servers to clients. Linux has the potential to break Microsoft's monopoly on the desktop. Sun's StarOffice has an inexpensive Linux-based version that competes with Microsoft's Office productivity suite.
88) Define outsourcing and explain some of the computing tasks that are well suited to outsourcing. Short Answer:
Outsourcing is the shift of IT infrastructure and systems development to external vendors. This is a good option for companies without the resources or technical capability to perform certain computing tasks. Tasks well suited to outsourcing include Web site hosting, Web design, development of custom software, and software maintenance. More basic tasks such as data entry and call center operation is often outsources as well. Outsourcing often requires firms to enter into a service level agreement (SLA) that defines the specific responsibilities of the service provider.
97) What is scalability? Why is it essential to the success of the modern business firm? Short Answer:
Scalability is the ability of the computer, product, or system to expand to survey larger numbers of users without breaking down. It is important because as firms grow, they can quickly outgrow their infrastructure. As firms shrink, they can get stuck with excessive infrastructure purchased in better times. Any modern company must be able to make plans for the future, even though that future may be different than what was expected. Computer equipment is expensive, though dropping in price, and budgets must be planned to allow for new purchases, upgrades, and training. It is generally assumed that a successful company will need more computer capacity for more people as it follows a path to continued success.
100) What are the components that must be considered in a TCO analysis? Short Answer:
TCO cost components include hardware acquisition, which includes the purchase price of computer hardware equipment, including computers, terminals, storage, and printers; software acquisition, which includes the purchase or license of software for each user; installation, which includes the cost to install computers and software; training, which includes the cost to provide training to information systems specialists and end users; support, which includes the cost to provide ongoing technical support; maintenance, which includes the cost to upgrade hardware and software; infrastructure, which includes the cost to acquire, maintain, and support related infrastructure, such as networks and specialized equipment; downtown, which includes the cost of lost productivity if hardware or software failures cost the system to be unavailable; and space and energy, such as real estate and utility costs.
29) List and describe four services that comprise IT infrastructure, beyond physical devices and software applications. Short Answer:
Telecommunications services that provide data, voice, and video connectivity. Data management services to store, manage, and analyze data. Application software services that provide enterprise-wide capabilities. Physical facilities management services, to develop and manage physical installations of technology. IT standards services that establish and monitor the firm's policies. IT education services that provide training in use of the systems. IT research and development services that research potential projects, products, and investments.
