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Management Information Systems
Chapter 5
Chapter 5 IT Infrastructure and Emerging Technologies
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
• Define IT infrastructure and describe its components.
• Identify and describe the stages of IT infrastructure
evolution.
IT Infrastructure and
Emerging
Technologies
• Identify and describe the technology drivers of IT
infrastructure evolution.
• Assess contemporary computer hardware platform
trends.
• Assess contemporary software platform trends.
• Evaluate the challenges of managing IT infrastructure
and management solutions.
5.1
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5.2
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Management Information Systems
Management Information Systems
Chapter 5 IT Infrastructure and Emerging Technologies
Chapter 5 IT Infrastructure and Emerging Technologies
DreamWorks Animation Turns to Technology for Production Support
IT Infrastructure
• Problem: Gaining an edge in an intensely competitive
market, working with technology-intensive processes.
• Defining IT infrastructure
• Solutions: Deploy custom-built E-motion software to
render more realistic animations and increase quality of
films.
• Evolution of IT infrastructure: 1950-2007
• Electronic accounting machine era: 1930-1950
• HP processors, Linux, and high-speed network facilitate
rapid production schedule, increasing productivity.
• General-purpose mainframe and minicomputer era: 1959 to
present
• Demonstrates IT’s role in strengthening a firm’s product
and productivity beyond what human talent can
accomplish.
• Personal computer era: 1981 to present
• Client/server era: 1983 to present
• Enterprise Internet computing era: 1992 to present
• Illustrates digital technology’s role in gaining an
advantage in a fiercely competitive market.
5.3
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5.4
© 2007 by Prentice Hall
Management Information Systems
Management Information Systems
Chapter 5 IT Infrastructure and Emerging Technologies
Chapter 5 IT Infrastructure and Emerging Technologies
IT Infrastructure
IT Infrastructure
Moore’s Law and Microprocessor Performance
• Technology drivers of infrastructure evolution
• Moore’s Law and microprocessing power
• The Law of Mass Digital Storage
• Metcalfe’s Law and network economics
• Declining communications costs and the Internet
• Standards and network effects
Packing more transistors into a tiny microprocessor has exponentially increased processing power.
Source: 2004 Intel Corporation; updated by the authors.
Figure 5-4
5.5
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5.6
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5/24/2012
Management Information Systems
Management Information Systems
Chapter 5 IT Infrastructure and Emerging Technologies
Chapter 5 IT Infrastructure and Emerging Technologies
IT Infrastructure
Infrastructure Components
The Capacity of Hard Disk Drives Grows
Exponentially 1980-2007
• Computer hardware platforms
• Computer software platforms
• Enterprise software applications
• Data management and storage
• Networking/telecommunications platforms
• Internet platforms
• Consulting and system integration services
From 1980 to 1990, hard disk drive capacities for PCs grew at the rate of 25 percent annual compound growth, but after 1990,
growth accelerated to more than 65 percent each year.
Figure 5-7
5.7
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5.8
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Management Information Systems
Management Information Systems
Chapter 5 IT Infrastructure and Emerging Technologies
Chapter 5 IT Infrastructure and Emerging Technologies
Hardware Platform Trends and Emerging Technologies
Software Platform Trends and Emerging Technologies
• The integration of computing and telecommunications
platforms
• The rise of Linux and open-source software
• Java is everywhere
• Grid computing
• Software for enterprise integration
• On-demand computing (utility computing)
• Web services and service-oriented architecture (SOA)
• Autonomic computing and edge computing
• Ajax, mashups, Web 2.0, and Web-based software
applications
• Virtualization and multicore processors
5.9
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5.10
© 2007 by Prentice Hall
Management Information Systems
Management Information Systems
Chapter 5 IT Infrastructure and Emerging Technologies
Chapter 5 IT Infrastructure and Emerging Technologies
Software Platform Trends and Emerging Technologies
Software Platform Trends and Emerging Technologies
Is It Time for Open-Source?
• Software outsourcing
• Read the Interactive Session: Technology, and then
discuss the following questions:
• Changing sources of software
• Software packages and enterprise software
• What problems do Linux and other open-source software
address? How does open-source software help solve these
problems?
• Application service providers
• Software outsourcing
• What issues and challenges do open-source software
present? What can be done to address these issues?
• What are the business as well as the technology issues that
should be addressed when deciding whether to use opensource software?
5.11
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5.12
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5/24/2012
Management Information Systems
Management Information Systems
Chapter 5 IT Infrastructure and Emerging Technologies
Chapter 5 IT Infrastructure and Emerging Technologies
Software Platform Trends and Emerging Technologies
Management Issues
Application Service Providers: Two Tales
• Dealing with infrastructure change
• Read the Interactive Session: Technology, and then
discuss the following questions:
• Management and governance
• Making wise infrastructure investments
• Compare Thermos’s experience with an application software
provider with the experience of ResortCom.
• Competitive forces model for IT infrastructure investment
• Why do you think Thermos had an easier time with a hosted
software service than ResortCom? What management,
organization, and technology factors account for this
difference?
• Total cost of ownership of technology assets
• If your company was considering using an application service
provider, what management, organization, and technology
factors should be addressed when making your decision?
5.13
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5.14
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Management Information Systems
Chapter 5 IT Infrastructure and Emerging Technologies
Management Issues
Competitive Forces Model for IT Infrastructure
There are six factors you can use to answer the question, “How much should our firm spend on IT
infrastructure?”
Figure 5-15
5.15
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