C5- IT Infrastructure and
Emerging Technologies
Let us buy some Blade Servers!
Invest on hardware and software technologies that are
cost-effective, efficient, and energy-saving.
Computers
3
Input – Process - Output
Evolution of IT Infrastructure
• General-purpose mainframe and minicomputer
era (1959 – present)
• Personal computer era (1981 to present)
• Client/server era (1983 to present)
• Enterprise computing era (1992 to present)
• Cloud and mobile computing era (2000 to
Present)
IT Infrastructure Fit
6
• 1. Technological
– hardware/software
needed to operate
• Capacity, speed
• 2. Service
– Services provided
by the IT
infrastructure
• Computing
platforms,
telecommunicatio
ns, data
management, etc.
6
A client/server network
Web Server
Application Server
5-18
The future! Technology Drivers
9
Moore’s
Law
The power of microprocessors doubles every 18 months
Computing power doubles every 18 months
The price of computing falls by half every 18 months
Law of
Mass
Digital
Storage
The amount of digital information is roughly doubling
every year
Metcalf’s
Law
The value of a network grows exponentially as a
function of the number of network members
The cost of storage is falling at an exponential rate of
100 percent per year
Technology Drivers …
10
• Declining Communications Costs and the
Internet
– Rapid decline in costs of communication and the
exponential growth in the size of the Internet
• Standards and network effects
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
ASCII (1958)
COBOL (1959)
Unix (1969–1975)
TCP/IP (1974)
Ethernet (1973)
IBM/Microsoft/Intel Personal Computer (1981)
World Wide Web (1989–1993)
Network Effects
7 Components of an IT infrastructure
IT infrastructure Components …
• Computer Hardware Platforms
– Blade servers
• Operating System Platforms
– Unix and Linux
• Enterprise Software Applications
– SAP, Oracle
• Data Management and Storage
– Storage Area Networks (SANs)
IT infrastructure Components …
• Networking/Telecommunications Platforms
– Combination of telephone services, cell phone
connectivity, computers and peripheral devices,
handheld PDAs, and wireless services
• Internet Platforms
– Intranets/extranets using internet platform
• Consulting and System Integration Services
– Legacy Systems
Hardware Platform Trends
and Emerging Technologies
• Integration of Computing & Telecommunications
– Increasingly, computing takes place over the network
– Client level: The integration of cell phones and PDAs
– Server level: The integration of voice telephone and
the Internet bring together two historically separate
and distinct global networks
– The network in many respects is the source of
computing power
Hardware Platform
17
• The Emerging Mobile Digital Platform
– Netbooks, Smart Phones
• Grid Computing
– connecting geographically remote computers
– short-term access to large computational capacity
– compare with mainframes/super computers
• Virtualization
– multiple operating systems and application programs
on one server
– overall utilization rates, maintenance, upgrades …
TCO
Hardware Platform …
• Cloud computing
– On-Demand computing (Utility Computing)
– off-load to a remote and large-scale data processing
center.
• Cloud services
– Cloud infrastructure as a service
– Cloud platform as a service
CIBC out sources to HP
– Cloud software as a service
28,000
• Green Computing
e-mail;
41,000 desktops PCs,
4,500 ATMs, and
10,000 POS terminals.
Hardware Platform …
• Autonomic Computing
– Cost of managing them has risen 30%-50% to
prevent crashing!
– Features:
•
•
•
•
•
Configure themselves
Optimize and tune themselves
Heal themselves when broken
Protect themselves from intruders and self-destruction
Autonomic computing is an industry-wide effort
• High-Performance and Power-Saving Processors
Hardware Platform …
20
• Edge Computing
– A multi-tier, load-balancing scheme for Web-based
applications
– Processing load is distributed closer to the user and
handled by smaller, lower-cost servers
Software Platform Evolution
Five themes
• Linux and open-source software
– OpenOffice
• Software for the Web: Java and Ajax
• Web Services and Service-Oriented Architecture
– XML/SOAP for data transfer
• Software Outsourcing and Cloud Services
• Software Packages and Enterprise Software
• Software as a service (SaaS)
5-48
Software Platform Evolution …
• Linux and Open Source
– free and can be modified by users
– Developed and maintained by a worldwide network of
programmers and designers under the management
of user communities
Software Platform Evolution
Software Platform Evolution …
Software Platform Evolution
• Java is an operating system-independent,
processor-independent, object-oriented
programming language
– The leading interactive programming environment for
the Web
• Enterprise Integration
– Priority of integrating legacy systems with newer
Web-based applications
– Growth of enterprise-wide applications
– Use of middleware to create an interface or bridge
– Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) software
packages connect disparate applications
Management Issues
• Dealing with Platform and Infrastructure Change
• Management and Governance
• Making Wise Infrastructure Investments
– Consider TCO
Software Platform Trends and Emerging
Technologies
5-48
Software Platform Evolution
• Web Services
– a set of loosely coupled software components that
exchange information with each other using Web
communication standards and languages
• Foundation technology is XML
• Service-oriented architecture
• Major vendors provide tools for building software
using Web services
Software Outsourcing
28
 Today large and small firms purchase most of their
software from outside vendors.
 Three kinds of outsourcing:



Purchase of software packages
Using application service providers (may rent)
Custom outsourcing
Sources of Software
29
 Software package
 Prewritten off-the-shelf software
 Application Service Providers (ASP):
 A business that delivers and manages applications and
computer services from remote computer centers to multiple
users using the Internet or a private network
 Software outsourcing
 Contract the development of custom software
Management Challenges
27
 Making wise infrastructure investments
 Choosing and coordinating infrastructure
components
 Dealing with infrastructure change

scalability
 Management and governance
 Model total cost of ownership (TCO)