IT Infrastructure and Platforms
Chapter 6
6-1
Chapter 6
IT Infrastructure and Platforms
True-False Questions
1.
IT infrastructure technology is a set of physical devices and software applications that are
required to operate the entire enterprise.
Answer: True
2.
p. 188
Difficulty:
Medium
Reference:
p. 188
Difficulty:
Medium
Reference:
p. 189
Difficulty:
Medium
Reference:
p. 189
Difficulty:
Medium
Reference:
p. 191
Difficulty:
Medium
Reference:
p. 191
In two-tiered client/server architecture, the processing is split between the two types of
machines.
Answer: True
9.
Reference:
Client/server computing is a widely used form of centralized processing.
Answer: False
8.
Medium
Apple II is usually credited as the beginning of the PC era because this machine was the first
to become widely adopted in American business.
Answer: False
7.
Difficulty:
Sun dominated mainframe computing from 1965 onward and still dominates.
Answer: False
6.
p. 186
The first era of business computers used transistors.
Answer: False
5.
Reference:
Business unit infrastructure includes specialized production software and systems, customer
and vendor systems, and local order entry and other transaction systems.
Answer: True
4.
Easy
A firm’s infrastructure is organized by three major levels: competitors, enterprise, and
business unit.
Answer: False
3.
Difficulty:
Difficulty:
Medium
Reference:
p. 191
Application server software is responsible for locating and managing stored Web pages.
Answer: False
Difficulty:
Medium
Reference:
p. 192
IT Infrastructure and Platforms
6-2
10.
Enterprise infrastructure requires software that can link disparate applications and enable
data to flow freely among different parts of the business.
Answer: True
11.
Difficulty:
Easy
Reference:
p. 196
Difficulty:
Easy
Reference:
p. 197
Difficulty:
Easy
Reference:
p. 197
Difficulty:
Easy
Reference:
p. 200
Difficulty:
Easy
Reference:
p. 200
Difficulty:
Hard
Reference:
p. 201
Difficulty:
Medium
Reference:
p. 201
The largest provider of enterprise application software is Microsoft.
Answer: False
20.
p. 194
Unix and Linux operating systems can run on many different types of processors.
Answer: True
19.
Reference:
In the server marketplace, more than 85 percent of the corporate servers in the United States
use some form of the Unix or Linux operating systems.
Answer: True
18.
Medium
The three major microprocessor chip producers are Intel, Dell, and AMD.
Answer: False
17.
Difficulty:
The marketplace for computer hardware has increasingly become concentrated in top firms
such as IBM, HP, Dell, and Sun Microsystems.
Answer: True
16.
p. 192
Technology standards unleash powerful economies of scale and result in price declines as
manufacturers focus on the products built in a single standard.
Answer: True
15.
Reference:
Robert Metcalfe claimed in 1970 that the value of power of a network grows exponentially as
a function of the number of network members.
Answer: True
14.
Medium
The first Pentium microprocessors operated with 3-gigahertz speed.
Answer: False
13.
Difficulty:
Moore’s Law implies that the power of microprocessors doubles every two years.
Answer: False
12.
Chapter 6
Difficulty:
Medium
Reference:
p. 201
The leading database software providers are Corel, Microsoft, and Lotus.
Answer: False
Difficulty:
Easy
Reference:
p. 201
IT Infrastructure and Platforms
Chapter 6
21.
MySQL is a Linux open-source relational database product available for free on the Internet.
Answer: True
22.
Difficulty:
Medium
Reference:
p. 202
Difficulty:
Medium
Reference:
p. 202
Difficulty:
Medium
Reference:
p. 202
Difficulty:
Medium
Reference:
p. 202
Difficulty:
Easy
Reference:
p. 204
Difficulty:
Easy
Reference:
p. 205
Difficulty:
Easy
Reference:
p. 209
Windows XP is now the world’s fastest growing client and server operating system.
Answer: False
31.
p. 202
Contributors to open-source software receive respect, prestige, and access to a network of
knowledgeable programmers.
Answer: True
30.
Reference:
On-demand computing is far more expensive than owning the required hardware resources.
Answer: False
29.
Medium
High-capacity networks are becoming the source of computing power, enabling business
firms to expand their computing power greatly at very little cost.
Answer: True
28.
Difficulty:
The Internet hardware server market has become increasingly concentrated in the hands of
Cisco, Lucent, and Nortel.
Answer: False
27.
p. 201
Cisco, Lucent, Nortel, and Juniper are the leading networking hardware providers.
Answer: True
26.
Reference:
Nearly all contemporary local area networks, as well as wide area enterprise networks use the
TCP/IP protocol suite as a standard.
Answer: True
25.
Easy
SANs create large central pools of storage that can be rapidly accessed and shared by
multiple servers.
Answer: True
24.
Difficulty:
The physical data storage market is dominated by Western Digital.
Answer: False
23.
6-3
Difficulty:
Easy
Reference:
p. 210
Java software is designed to run on any computer or computing device, regardless of the
specific microprocessor or operating system it uses.
Answer: True
Difficulty:
Easy
Reference:
p. 210
IT Infrastructure and Platforms
6-4
32.
Web services can exchange information between two different systems regardless of the
operating system or programming languages on which the systems are based.
Answer: True
33.
Reference:
p. 213
Difficulty:
Easy
Reference:
p. 213
Difficulty:
Medium
Reference:
p. 214
Difficulty:
Medium
Reference:
p. 214
Difficulty:
Medium
Reference:
p. 214
Difficulty:
Medium
Reference:
p. 216
Software development is seldom outsourced to offshore, low-wage areas of the world.
Answer: False
40.
Easy
Service computing is the model of computing in which companies pay only for the
information technology resources they actually use during a specific period of time.
Answer: False
39.
Difficulty:
Today most business firms have discontinued operating their legacy systems, and they have
been extremely inexpensive to replace with newer technology.
Answer: False
38.
p. 213
The collection of Web services that are used to build a firm’s software systems constitutes
what is known as a service-oriented architecture.
Answer: True
37.
Reference:
Web Services Description Language is a set of rules for structuring messages that enables
applications to pass data and instructions to one another.
Answer: False
36.
Medium
Hypertext markup language specifies how text, graphics, video, and sound are placed on a
document.
Answer: True
35.
Difficulty:
XML is limited to describing how data should be presented in the form of Web pages;
HTML can perform presentation, communication, and storage of data.
Answer: False
34.
Chapter 6
Difficulty:
Medium
Reference:
p. 217
Reference:
p. 220
TCO refers to the original cost of the hardware and software.
Answer: False
Difficulty:
Easy
IT Infrastructure and Platforms
Chapter 6
6-5
Multiple-Choice Questions
41.
When defining IT infrastructure, the computing platforms component would not include:
a.
b.
c.
d.
providing computing services that connect employees, customers, and suppliers.
large mainframes, desktop and laptop computers.
personal digital assistants and Internet appliances.
telecommunications and data management services.
Answer:
42.
d
Difficulty:
Medium
Reference:
p. 187
Public IT infrastructure includes:
a. computing power that is off-loaded during peak demand to remote, large-scale data
processing centers.
b. specialized production software and systems, customer and vendor systems, and local
order entry and other transaction systems.
c. services such as e-mail, a central corporate Web site, corporate-wide intranets, and
an increasing array of enterprise-wide software applications.
d. the Internet, the public switched telephone network, industry-operated networks, and
other IT support facilities such as cable systems and cellular networks.
Answer:
43.
Difficulty:
Medium
Reference:
p. 188
Which of the following would not be characteristic of the first era of business
computing?
a.
b.
c.
d.
used specialized machines to sort computer cards into bins
used machines that were large and cumbersome
used software programs that were hardwired into circuit boards
used in business
Answer:
44.
d
d
Difficulty:
Medium
Reference:
p. 189
A network that contains one or more host computers that provide some type of service to
the other computers in a network is a:
a.
b.
c.
d.
peer-to-peer network.
client/server network.
local area network.
wide area network.
Answer:
b
Difficulty:
Medium
Reference:
p. 191
IT Infrastructure and Platforms
6-6
45.
The simplest client/server network consists of a client computer networked to a server
computer which would most likely be:
a.
b.
c.
d.
a mainframe.
a workstation.
a minicomputer.
a powerful personal computer.
Answer:
46.
Medium
Reference:
p. 191
b
Difficulty:
Medium
Reference:
p. 192
Reference:
p. 192
Today, the leading technology for client/server networking is:
a.
b.
c.
d.
Microsoft.
Novell Netware.
Cisco.
Apache.
Answer:
a
Difficulty:
Medium
Which of the following statements is not one of the three variations of Moore’s Law?
a.
b.
c.
d.
The power of microprocessors doubles every 18 months.
Computing power doubles every 18 months.
The price of information appliances will fall by half every 18 months.
The price of computing falls by half every 18 months.
Answer:
49.
Difficulty:
Web server.
application server.
groupware.
capacity server.
Answer:
48.
d
Software in a multi-tiered network that provides the business logic for handling all
application operations between a user and an organization’s back-end business systems
best describes:
a.
b.
c.
d.
47.
Chapter 6
c
Difficulty:
Medium
Reference:
p. 194
The amount of digital information is roughly doubling every year. This hypothesis is
referred to as:
a.
b.
c.
d.
Moore’s Law.
Law of Diminishing Returns.
Law of Mass Digital Storage.
Metcalfe’s Law.
Answer:
c
Difficulty:
Medium
Reference:
p. 194
IT Infrastructure and Platforms
Chapter 6
50.
Which of the following statements is not one of the four technology drivers related to
transforming IT infrastructures?
a.
b.
c.
d.
Metcalfe’s Law and Network Economics
Moore’s Law and Microprocessor Power
The Law of Mass Digital Storage
Rising Communications Costs
Answer:
51.
Medium
Reference:
p. 194
c
Difficulty:
Medium
Reference:
p. 197
This standard made it possible for computer machines from different manufacturers to
exchange data:
a.
b.
c.
d.
American Standard Code for Information Interchange.
Ethernet.
World Wide Web.
Common Business Oriented Language.
Answer:
a
Difficulty:
Medium
Reference:
p. 198
Which is a suite of communications protocols and a common addressing scheme that
enables millions of computers to connect together in one giant global network?
a.
b.
c.
d.
TCP/IP
UNIX
Turbolinux
COBOL
Answer:
54.
Difficulty:
protocols.
business policies.
technology standards.
operating standards.
Answer:
53.
d
Specifications that establish the compatibility of products and the ability to communicate
in a network are referred to as:
a.
b.
c.
d.
52.
6-7
a
Difficulty:
Medium
Reference:
p. 198
At the client level, 95 percent of PCs and 45 percent of handheld devices use some form
of ________________ operating system.
a.
b.
c.
d.
Windows
Linux
IBM OS
MacOS
Answer:
a
Difficulty:
Medium
Reference:
p. 201
IT Infrastructure and Platforms
6-8
55.
At the server level, more than 85 percent of the corporate servers in the United States use
some form of ________________ operating system.
a.
b.
c.
d.
Windows
Unix
IBM OS
MacOS
Answer:
56.
Medium
Reference:
p. 201
d
Difficulty:
Easy
Reference:
p. 201
Which software company would not be considered as a major provider of the Unix
operating system?
a.
b.
c.
d.
Dell
IBM
HP
Sun
Answer:
a
Difficulty:
Medium
Reference:
p. 201
Linux is:
a.
b.
c.
d.
primarily concerned with the tasks of end users.
designed for specific machines and specific microprocessors.
an example of open-source software.
especially useful for processing numeric data.
Answer: c
59.
Difficulty:
They are scalable.
They are reliable.
They are less expensive than mainframe operating systems.
They are more expensive than mainframe operating systems.
Answer:
58.
b
Unix and Linux constitute the backbone of corporate infrastructure throughout much of
the world. Which one of the following options does not apply to this statement?
a.
b.
c.
d.
57.
Chapter 6
Difficulty:
Medium
Reference:
p. 201
Linux:
a.
b.
c.
d.
is an earlier version of the Windows operating system for home users.
can be modified by software developers.
is used on 95 percent of all business computers.
is a 16-bit operating system.
Answer:
b
Difficulty:
Medium
Reference:
p. 201
IT Infrastructure and Platforms
Chapter 6
60.
The process of tying together multiple applications to support the flow of information
across multiple business units and systems is called:
a.
b.
c.
d.
the Internet.
enterprise application integration.
integrated programming.
enterprise programming applications.
Answer:
61.
Medium
Reference:
p. 201
d
Difficulty:
Easy
Reference:
p. 201
Software that functions as a translation layer between two disparate applications so they
can work together is called:
a.
b.
c.
d.
integration software.
groupware.
extensible software.
middleware.
Answer:
d
Difficulty:
Easy
Reference:
p. 201
A growing new entrant in the database management software market is:
a.
b.
c.
d.
IBM (DB2).
Sybase (Adaptive Server Enterprise).
Linux (MySQL).
Microsoft (SQL Server).
Answer:
64.
Difficulty:
SAP
Oracle
PeopleSoft
Macromedia
Answer:
63.
b
Which software company would not be classified as one of the largest providers of
enterprise application software?
a.
b.
c.
d.
62.
6-9
c
Difficulty:
Medium
Reference:
p. 201
A high-speed network dedicated to storage that connects different kinds of storage
devices, such as tape libraries and disk arrays so they can be shared by multiple servers
best describes:
a.
b.
c.
d.
SSN.
ASP.
LAN.
SAN.
Answer:
d
Difficulty:
Medium
Reference:
p. 202
IT Infrastructure and Platforms
6-10
65.
Which of the following is not classified as a leading telecommunication service vendor?
a.
b.
c.
d.
IBM
AT&T
Verizon
MCI
Answer:
66.
Easy
Reference:
p. 202
c
Difficulty:
Easy
Reference:
p. 202
Your text defines a legacy system as:
a.
b.
c.
d.
traditional mainframe-based business information systems.
electronic spreadsheets used on a PC.
computerized account inquiry system for access by customers.
systems found on services.
Answer:
a
Difficulty:
Easy
Reference:
p. 203
The business case for using grid computing involves all of the following EXCEPT:
a.
b.
c.
d.
cost savings.
breakeven point.
speed of computation.
agility.
Answer:
69.
Difficulty:
Dell
HP/Compaq
Sybase
IBM
Answer:
68.
a
Which of the following would not be considered a major Internet hardware server
company?
a.
b.
c.
d.
67.
Chapter 6
b
Difficulty:
Easy
Reference:
p. 205
This type of computing refers to firms off-loading peak request for computing power to
remote, large-scale data processing centers:
a.
b.
c.
d.
on-demand.
grid.
edge.
autonomic.
Answer:
a
Difficulty:
Medium
Reference:
p. 205
IT Infrastructure and Platforms
Chapter 6
70.
When a firm purchases computing power from a central computing service and pays only
for the amount of computing power it uses, this is commonly referred to as:
a.
b.
c.
d.
grid computing.
utility computing.
edge computing.
autonomic computing.
Answer: b
71.
Difficulty: Medium
grid computing.
utility computing.
edge computing.
autonomic computing.
Answer:
d
Reference:
p. 207
cost.
reliability.
resilience.
integration.
Answer: a
Difficulty: Medium
Reference: p. 210
Java is a:
a.
b.
c.
d.
hybrid language providing more flexibility than the popular language in current use.
language that delivers only the software functionality needed for a specific task.
page description language for creating Web pages and other hypermedia documents.
the leading data processing language in the world.
Answer:
74.
Difficulty: Medium
The major driver for the adoption of Linux for most corporations would be:
a.
b.
c.
d.
73.
Reference: p. 205
An industry-wide effort to develop systems that can configure, optimize, tune, and heal
themselves when broken, and protect themselves from outside intruders and selfdestruction is called:
a.
b.
c.
d.
72.
6-11
b
Difficulty:
Medium
Reference:
210
Software that connects two disparate applications, allowing them to communicate with
each other and to exchange data best describes:
a.
b.
c.
d.
C++.
COBOL.
Linux.
middleware.
Answer:
d
Difficulty:
Easy
Reference:
212
IT Infrastructure and Platforms
6-12
75.
HTML is a:
a.
b.
c.
d.
hybrid language providing more flexibility than the popular language in current use.
language that delivers only the software functionality needed for a specific task.
page description language for creating Web pages and other hypermedia documents.
language that combines data and program code.
Answer:
76.
Chapter 6
c
Difficulty:
Medium
Reference:
213
An application service provider:
a. supplies online access over networks to storage devices and storage area network
technology.
b. manages combinations of applications, networks, systems, storage, and security as
well as providing Web site and systems performance monitoring to subscribers over
the Internet.
c. uses centrally managed facilities to host and manage access to package applications
delivered over networks on a subscription basis.
d. provides only usage-based pricing during a specified time period.
Answer:
77.
Difficulty:
Hard
Reference:
216
When a firm contracts custom software development to an outside firm, it is commonly
referred to as:
a.
b.
c.
d.
outsourcing.
scaling.
service-oriented architecture.
application integration.
Answer:
78.
c
a
Difficulty:
Easy
Reference:
217
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.
b.
c.
d.
Modifiability
Scalability
Expandability
Disintermediation
Answer:
b
Difficulty:
Easy
Reference:
218
IT Infrastructure and Platforms
Chapter 6
79.
Hardware and software acquisition costs account for about ________________percent of
total cost of ownership.
a.
b.
c.
d.
ten
twenty
thirty
forty
Answer:
80.
6-13
b
Difficulty:
Medium
Reference:
220
This model can be used to analyze the direct and indirect costs to help firms determine
the actual cost of specific technology implementations:
a.
b.
c.
d.
total cost of ownership.
return on investment.
breakeven point.
cost benefit analysis.
Answer:
a
Difficulty:
Easy
Reference:
220
Fill in the Blanks
81.
Information technology infrastructure is the shared technology resources that provide the
platform for the firm’s specific information systems applications.
Difficulty: Easy
82.
p. 186
Reference:
p. 187
Firm infrastructure is organized at three major levels: public, enterprise, and business unit.
Difficulty: Medium
85.
Reference:
Physical facilities management services develop and manage the physical installations
required for computing, telecommunications, and data management services.
Difficulty: Medium
84.
p. 186
Telecommunication services provide data, voice, and video connectivity to employees,
customers, and suppliers.
Difficulty: Easy
83.
Reference:
Reference:
p. 188
Business unit infrastructure includes production and transaction systems.
Difficulty: Medium
Reference:
p. 188
IT Infrastructure and Platforms
6-14
86.
Minicomputers were the first type of computer that could be used for decentralized
computing.
Difficulty: Hard
87.
p. 189
Reference:
p. 191
Reference:
p. 191
Reference:
p. 191
Reference:
p. 192
Moore’s Law asserts that the power of microprocessors doubles every 18 months.
Difficulty: Easy
95.
Reference:
Client/server computing enables businesses to distribute computing work across a series of
smaller, inexpensive machines that cost much less than minicomputers or centralized
mainframe systems.
Difficulty: Easy
94.
p. 189
In the n-tier architecture, the work of the entire network is balanced over multiple levels of
servers.
Difficulty: Medium
93.
Reference:
In client/server computing, desktop computers called clients are networked to powerful
server computers that provide the client computers with a variety of services and capabilities.
Difficulty: Easy
92.
p. 189
At first using the DOS operating system, and later the Microsoft Windows operating system,
the Wintel PC computer became the standard desktop personal computer.
Difficulty: Hard
91.
Reference:
The minicomputer was introduced in 1965 by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC).
Difficulty: Hard
90.
p. 189
The first commercial all-electronic vacuum tube computers appeared in the early 1950s with
the introduction of the UNIVAC computers and the IBM 700 Series.
Difficulty: Hard
89.
Reference:
Mainframe computers today are used as massive servers supporting large Web sites and
corporate enterprise applications.
Difficulty: Medium
88.
Chapter 6
Reference:
p. 194
Nanotechnology uses individual atoms and molecules to create computer chips and other
devices that are thousands of times smaller than current technologies permit.
Difficulty: Easy
Reference:
p. 194
IT Infrastructure and Platforms
Chapter 6
96.
Technology standards are specifications that establish the compatibility of products and the
ability to communicate in a network.
Difficulty: Medium
97.
p. 197
Reference:
p. 200
The operating system manages and controls the computer’s activities.
Difficulty: Medium
99.
Reference:
Blade servers are ultrathin computers consisting of a circuit board with processors, memory,
and network connections that are stored in racks.
Difficulty: Medium
98.
6-15
Reference:
p. 201
Open-source software is software created and updated by a worldwide community of
programmers and available for free.
Difficulty: Medium
Reference:
p. 201
100. Storage area networks connect multiple storage devices on a separate high-speed network
dedicated to storage.
Difficulty: Medium
Reference:
p. 202
101. A(n) storage area network (SAN) is a high-speed network dedicated to storage that connects
different kinds of storage devices, such as tape libraries and disk arrays.
Difficulty: Easy
Reference:
p. 202
102. A Web hosting service maintains a large Web server, or series of servers, and provides feepaying subscribers with space to maintain their Web sites.
Difficulty: Medium
Reference:
p. 202
103. Software integration means ensuring the new infrastructure works with the firm’s older, socalled legacy systems and ensuring the new elements of the infrastructure work with one
another.
Difficulty: Medium
Reference:
p. 203
104. Legacy systems are generally older transaction processing systems created for mainframe
computers that continue to be used to avoid the high cost of replacing or redesigning them.
Difficulty: Medium
Reference:
p. 203
105. Grid computing involves connecting geographically remote computers into a single network
to create a virtual supercomputer by combining the computational power of all computers on
the grid.
Difficulty: Easy
Reference:
p. 204
IT Infrastructure and Platforms
6-16
Chapter 6
106. On-demand computing refers to firms off-loading peak demand for computing power to
remote, large-scale data processing centers.
Difficulty: Medium
Reference:
p. 205
107. Utility computing is the model of computing in which companies pay only for the
information technology resources they actually use during a specified time.
Difficulty: Medium
Reference:
p. 205
108. Autonomic computing is an industry-wide effort to develop systems that can configure,
optimize, tune, heal, and protect themselves from outside intruders and self-destruction.
Difficulty: Medium
Reference:
p. 207
109. Edge computing is a multitier, load-balancing scheme for Web-based applications in which
significant parts of Web site content, logic, and processing are performed by smaller, less
expensive servers located nearby the user.
Difficulty: Medium
Reference:
p. 207
110. Java software is designed to run on any computer or computing device, regardless of the
specific microprocessor or operating system the device uses.
Difficulty: Medium
Reference:
p. 210
111. A Web browser is an easy-to-use software tool with a graphical user interface for displaying
Web pages and for accessing the Web and other Internet resources.
Difficulty: Medium
Reference:
p. 212
112. Middleware is software that connects two otherwise separate applications, enabling them to
communicate with each other and to exchange data.
Difficulty: Medium
Reference:
p. 212
113. Web services refer to a set of loosely coupled software components that exchange
information with each other using standard Web communication standards and languages.
Difficulty: Medium
Reference:
p. 213
114. XML provides a standard format for data exchange, enabling Web services to pass data from
one process to another.
Difficulty: Medium
Reference:
p. 213
115. In a service-oriented architecture, software applications are created by combining selfcontained software services that communicate with each other.
Difficulty: Medium
Reference:
p. 214
IT Infrastructure and Platforms
Chapter 6
6-17
116. A software package is a prewritten commercially available set of software programs that
eliminates the need for a firm to write its own software programs for certain functions.
Difficulty: Medium
Reference:
p. 216
117. An application service provider (ASP) is a business that delivers and manages applications
and computer services from remote computer centers to multiple users using the Internet or a
private network.
Difficulty: Medium
Reference:
p. 216
118. Outsourcing takes place when a firm contracts custom software development or maintenance
of existing legacy programs to outside firms.
Difficulty: Easy
Reference:
p. 217
119. Scalability refers to the ability of a computer, product, or system to expand to serve a large
number of users without breaking down.
Difficulty: Medium
Reference:
p. 218
120. The total cost of ownership (TCO) model can be used to analyze the direct and indirect costs
to help firms determine the actual cost of specific technology implementations.
Difficulty: Medium
Reference:
p. 220
IT Infrastructure and Platforms
6-18
Chapter 6
Essay Questions
121.
Identify and describe the stages of IT infrastructure evolution.
The five eras are automated special-purpose machines, general-purpose mainframe and
minicomputer computing, personal computers, client/server networks, and enterprise and
Internet computing.
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122.
IT infrastructure in the earliest stage (1930-1950) consisted of specialized
“electronic accounting machines” that were primitive computers used for
accounting tasks.
IT infrastructure in the mainframe era (1959 to present) consists of a
mainframe performing centralized processing that could be networked to
thousands of terminals and eventually some decentralized and departmental
computing using networked minicomputers.
The personal computer era (1981 to present) in IT infrastructure has been
dominated by the widespread use of standalone desktop computers and
office productivity tools.
The predominant infrastructure in the client/server era (1983 to present)
consists of desktop or laptop clients networked to more powerful server
computers that handle most of the data management and processing.
The enterprise Internet computing era (1992 to present) is defined by large
numbers of PCs linked into local area networks and growing use of
standards and software to link disparate networks and devices linked into an
enterprise-wide network so that information can flow freely across the
organization.
Identify and describe the technology drivers of IT infrastructure evolution.
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Moore’s Law deals with the exponential increase in processing power and
decline in the cost of computer technology, stating that every 18 months the
power of microprocessors doubles and the price of computing falls in half.
The Law of Mass Digital Storage deals with the exponential decrease in the
cost of storing data, stating that the number of kilobytes of data that can be
stored on magnetic media for $1 roughly doubles every 15 months.
Metcalfe’s Law helps explain the mushrooming use of computers by
showing that a network’s value to participants grows exponentially as the
network takes on more members.
Declining communications cost and the Internet are also driving the
explosion of computer use. The rapid decline in costs of communication and
growing agreement in the technology industry to use computing and
communications standards are driving the explosion of computer use.
IT Infrastructure and Platforms
Chapter 6
123.
Identify and describe the seven major IT infrastructure components. List at least three major
vendors within each component category.
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124.
6-19
Internet Platforms (Apache, Microsoft IIS, .NET, Unix, Cisco, Nortel, Java)
Computer Hardware Platforms (Dell, IBM, Sun, HP, Apple, Linux
machines)
Operating Systems Platforms (Microsoft Windows, Unix, Linux, Mac OS X)
Enterprise Software Applications (including middleware, SAP, Oracle,
PeopleSoft, Microsoft, BEA)
Network/Telecommunications (Microsoft Windows Server, Linux, Novell,
Cisco, Lucent, Nortel, MCI, ATT, Verizon)
Consultants and System Integrators (IBM, KPMG, Accenture, Capgemini)
Data Management and Storage (IBM DB2, Oracle, SQL Server, Sybase,
MYSQL, EMC Systems)
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Briefly explain why corporations are increasingly interested in using Unix or Linux for their
operating system.
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 opensource 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.
125.
Distinguish between grid computing, edge computing, on-demand computing, and autonomic
computing.
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Grid computing involves connecting geographically remote computers into a
single network to create a computational grid that combines the computing
power of all the computers on the network with which to attack large
computing problems.
Edge computing balances the processing load for Web-based applications by
distributing parts of the Web content, logic, and processing among multiple
servers.
On-demand computing also depends on networks for firms to purchase
additional processing power from large computer service firms and to have
that power delivered when they need it over a network.
IT Infrastructure and Platforms
6-20
126.
Identify and describe the four major themes in contemporary software platforms.
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127.
Chapter 6
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.
Java – is an operating-system and hardware-independent programming
language that is the leading interactive programming environment for the
Web.
Web services and service-oriented architecture – software for enterprise
integration includes enterprise applications and middleware such as
enterprise application integration (EAI) software and Web services. Unlike
EAI software, 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.
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.
Web services communicate through XML messages over standard protocols. Distinguish
between Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), Web Services Description Language
(WSDL), and Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI)
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Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) is a set of rules for structuring
messages that enables applications to pass data and instructions to one
another.
Web Services Description Language (WSDL) is a common framework for
describing the tasks performed by a Web service and the commands and data
it will accept so that it can be used by other applications.
Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI) enable a Web
service to be listed in a directory of Web services so that it can be easily
located.
IT Infrastructure and Platforms
Chapter 6
128.
6-21
The objective
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of infrastructure management is to provide a coherent and balanced set of
computer-based services to customers, employees, and suppliers. Identify issues that a firm
must deal with to meet this objective.
To obtain this objective a firm must deal with the following series of issues:
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129.
Cost of IT infrastructure
Integration of information, applications, and platforms.
Flexibility to respond to business environments.
Resilience
Service levels
Evaluate the challenges of managing IT infrastructure and management solutions.
Major infrastructure challenges include:
 Making wise infrastructure investments
 Choosing and coordinating infrastructure components
 Dealing with infrastructure change
 Agreeing on infrastructure management and governance
Solution guidelines include:
 Using a competitive forces model to determine how much to spend on IT
infrastructure and where to make strategic infrastructure investments
 Starting out new infrastructure initiatives with small experimental pilot
projects
 Establishing the total cost of ownership (TOC) of information technology
assets.
130.
What is scalability? Why is it essential to the success of the modern business firm?
Scalability is the ability of the computer, product, or system to expand to survey larger
number 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.