Information technology (IT) is the application of computers to store, retrieve,

transmit and manipulate data,[1] often in the context of a business or other ent
erprise.[2] IT is considered a subset of information and communications technolo
gy (ICT). In 2012, Zuppo proposed an ICT hierarchy where each hierarchy level "c
ontain some degree of commonality in that they are related to technologies that
facilitate the transfer of information and various types of electronically media
ted communications."[3] Business/IT was one level of the ICT hierarchy.
The term is commonly used as a synonym for computers and computer networks, but
it also encompasses other information distribution technologies such as televisi
on and telephones. Several industries are associated with information technology
, including computer hardware, software, electronics, semiconductors, internet,
telecom equipment, engineering, healthcare, e-commerce and computer services.[4]
[a]
Humans have been storing, retrieving, manipulating and communicating information
since the Sumerians in Mesopotamia developed writing in about 3000 BC,[6] but t
he term information technology in its modern sense first appeared in a 1958 arti
cle published in the Harvard Business Review; authors Harold J. Leavitt and Thom
as L. Whisler commented that "the new technology does not yet have a single esta
blished name. We shall call it information technology (IT)." Their definition co
nsists of three categories: techniques for processing, the application of statis
tical and mathematical methods to decision-making, and the simulation of higherorder thinking through computer programs.[7]
Based on the storage and processing technologies employed, it is possible to dis
1450 AD
tinguish four distinct phases of IT development: pre-mechanical (3000 BC
), mechanical (1450 1840), electromechanical (1840 1940) electronic (1940 present),[6]
and moreover, IT as a service. This article focuses on the most recent period (
electronic), which began in about 1940.