Session-4-5

Manojit Chattopadhyay
Ph.D. (University of Calcutta)

Associate Professor-IT & Systems

Indian Institute of Management Raipur

Chairman- IT & Systems Area

Consultancy/Research Interest: Digital strategy, Digital economy, Data analytics, Social network
analysis, Blockchain, IoT, cellular manufacturing
Information Systems
Infrastructure

Manojit Chattopadhyay
Outline

 IT Infrastructure for Information Systems

 Case: Zara: IT for Fast Fashion

IT Infrastructure for
Information Systems

Definition
Distributed Systems Architecture
Contemporary Hardware Platform Trends
Contemporary Software Platform Trends
Management Issues

Ref: Text Book (Laudon & Laudon) & Harvard Case (Zara)
IS Infrastructure

Hardware
Infrastruc
ture

Systems
Software
Data
Infrastruc
IS ture
Infrastruc
ture

Network
Internet Infrastruc
ture
Defining IT Infrastructure

 Shared technology resource that provide the platform for the

firm’s specific information system applications.
 Hardware
 Software
 Services (Consulting, Education and Training)
IT Infrastructure

 Defining IT infrastructure:
 Set of physical devices and software required to operate enterprise
 Set of firm-wide services including:
 Computing platforms providing computing services
 Telecommunications services
 Data management services
 Application software services
 Physical facilities management services
 IT management, standards, education, research and development
services

 “Service platform” perspective gives more accurate view of

value of investments
IT Infrastructure Connection Between the
Firm, IT Infrastructure,
and Business
Capabilities

The services a firm is capable of providing to its customers, suppliers, and

employees are a direct function of its IT infrastructure. Ideally, this infrastructure
should support the firm’s business and information systems strategy. New
information technologies have a powerful impact on business and IT strategies, as
well as the services that can be provided to customers.
Evolution of IT Infrastructure

Cloud computing: computing power

and software applications supplied
Move toward integrating disparate
over the Internet or other network
networks, applications using
Fastest growing form of computing
Internet standards and enterprise
applications
Since 2000:
Cloud
Desktop clients networked to servers, with processing work Since 1992: Computing
split between clients and servers
Network may be two-tiered or multitiered (N-tiered)
Enterprise
Computing
Various types of servers (network, application, Web) Since
1983:
Client Server

Since 1981:
Personal Proliferation in 80s, 90s
Computer resulted in growth of
personal software

Since 1959:
Mainframe /
Less expensive DEC
Minicompute
minicomputers introduced
r Era
In 1956 when it took four men and a truck to transport 5MB of memory -
or the equivalent of 1 song on an iPod
 A MULTITIERED CLIENT/SERVER NETWORK (N-TIER)

In a multitiered client/server network, client requests for service are handled by different
levels of servers.
Distributed Systems Architecture

 Virtually all large computer-based systems are now

distributed systems.

 Information processing is distributed over several computers

rather than confined to a single machine

 Different Distributed-Systems Architecture

 Parallel/cluster/grid computing
 Client-server
 Distributed object architectures - CORBA; .NET; J2EE
 Peer-to-peer
 Service-oriented architectures
Distributed Systems Architecture
Characteristics

 Resource sharing - sharing of hardware and software resources

 Openness – use of equipment and software from different

vendors

 Concurrency - concurrent processing to enhance performance

 Scalability -increased throughput by adding new resources

 Fault tolerance - ability to continue in operation after a fault as

occurred

 Security

 Manageability
Distributed Systems Architecture
Middleware

 Software that manages and supports the different

components of a distributed system. In essence, it sits in the
middle of the system.

 Middleware can be off-the-shelf rather than specially written

Software

 Examples
 Transaction processing monitors;
 Data converters;
 Communication Controllers.
Distributed Systems Architecture
Client-Server Architecture

 Distributed system model where data and processing is

distributed across a range of components

 Set of servers which provide specific services such as

printing, data management, etc.

 Set of clients which call on these services

 Network which allows clients to access servers

 Clients know of servers but servers need not know of clients

Distributed Systems Architecture
Client-Server Architecture

Example: Film and Picture Library

Distributed Systems Architecture
Client-Server Architecture

Computers in a Client-Server Network

Distributed Systems Architecture
Client-Server Architecture-Tiering

 A two-tier architecture is one where a client talks directly to a

server, with no intervening server

 This type of architecture is typically used in small environments

with less than 50 users

 A three-tier architecture introduces another server (or an

"agent") between the client and the server

 The role of the middle-tier agent is many-fold - it can provide

translation services as in adapting a legacy application on a
mainframe to a client/server environment

 A plethora of software technologies have evolved to fill the

middle tier - middleware
Distributed Systems Architecture
Client-Server Architecture-Tiering

 Three-Tier Architecture
 In a three-tier architecture, each of the application architecture
layers may execute on a separate processor
 Allows for better performance than a thin-client approach and is
simpler to manage than a fat-client approach
 A more scalable architecture - as demands increase, extra servers
can be added
Distributed Systems Architecture
Client-Server Architecture-Tiering

Example: Internet Banking System

Distributed Systems Architecture
Client-Server Architecture

 Advantages
 Distribution of data is straightforward
 Makes effective use of networked systems
 May require cheaper hardware
 Easy to add new servers or upgrade existing servers

 Disadvantages
 No shared data model so sub-systems use different data organization -
data interchange may be inefficient
 Redundant management in each server
 No central register of names and services - it may be hard to find out
what servers and services are available
Distributed Systems Architecture
Service-Oriented Architecture

 Based around the notion of externally provided services (web

services).

 A web service is a standard approach to making a reusable

component available and accessible across the web
 A tax filing service could provide support for users to fill in their tax
forms and submit these to the tax authorities.
Distributed Systems Architecture
Service-Oriented Architecture
Distributed Systems Architecture
Service-Oriented Architecture
Distributed Systems Architecture
Service-Oriented Architecture

 Characteristics
 Provider independence
 Public advertising of service availability
 Potentially, run-time service binding
 Opportunistic construction of new services through
composition
 Pay for use of services
 Smaller, more compact applications
 Reactive and adaptive applications
Distributed Systems Architecture
Service-Oriented Architecture

 An in-car information system provides drivers with

information on weather, road traffic conditions,
local information etc. This is linked to car radio so
that information is delivered as a signal on a
specific radio channel.

 The car is equipped with GPS receiver to discover

its position and, based on that position, the system
accesses a range of information services.
Information may be delivered in the driver’s
specified language.
Distributed Systems Architecture
Service-Oriented Architecture
Distributed Systems Architecture
Client-Server Vs Service-Oriented

Client server architecture Service Oriented Architecture

The application logic resides completely on
Application
Places the majority of application the service provider, sometimes provider can
logic
logic into client software. also be service requester.
Bulk of processing(about 80%) is
Application Processing is highly distributed. No fixed
on the client side. Processing ratio
processing processing ratio
is 80/20 (client/server)
Visual basic and power-builder,
Web technologies (HTML, CSS, HTTP)
Technology C++, oracle Sybase at the
and XML with SOAP messaging framework
backend
Security controlled within client
Security executable, OS level security can WS-security framework
also be incorporated.
Less maintenance cost, if web service need
Larger maintenance cost due to
Administration to be scaled to large group then it incurs
distributed application cost
large maintenance cost
Contemporary Hardware Trends
 Emerging Mobile Digital Platform
 Cell phones, smartphones (BlackBerry, iPhone) have assumed
data transmission, Web surfing, e-mail etc.
 Netbooks: small, low-cost lightweight notebooks optimized for
wireless communication and core computing tasks

 Grid Computing
 Connects geographically remote computers into a single network
to combine processing power and create virtual supercomputer
 Provides cost savings, speed, agility

 Cloud Computing and the Computing Utility

 Data permanently stored in remote servers, accessed and
updated over the Internet by users
 Organizations using cloud computing need only pay for the
computing power they actually use (on-demand or utility
computing)
Contemporary Hardware Trends

 Autonomic Computing
 Industry-wide effort to develop systems that can configure,
optimize themselves, heal themselves when broken, and protect
themselves from outside intruders
 Similar to self-updating antivirus software; Apple and Microsoft
both use automatic updates

 Virtualization and multicore processors

 Virtualization: presents computing resources so that they can be
accessed in ways that are not restricted by configuration
 Allows multiple operating systems to run on one machine;
increases server utilization rates from 10-15 to 70 percent of
capacity
 Multicore processors: reduced power requirements, enhanced
Contemporary Software Trends

 Linux and Open Source Software

 Open-source software: Produced by community of programmers, free
and modifiable by user
 Linux: Open-source software OS

 Software for the Web: Java and Ajax

 Java
 Object-oriented programming language (Sun Microsystems)
 Operating system, processor-independent (Java Virtual Machine)
 Leading programming environment for Web
 Applets, E-commerce applications
 Ajax
 Asynchronous JavaScript and XML
 Allows client and server to exchange small pieces of data without
requiring the page to be reloaded
Contemporary Software Trends

 Web services
 Software components that exchange information using Web
standards and languages
 XML: Extensible Markup Language
 More powerful and flexible than HTML
 Tagging allows computers to process data automatically
 SOAP: Simple Object Access Protocol
 Rules for structuring messages enabling applications to pass
data and instructions
 WSDL: Web Services Description Language
 Framework for describing Web service and capabilities
 UDDI: Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration
 Directory for locating Web services
Contemporary Software Trends

 Service oriented architecture

• Set of self-contained services that communicate with each other
to create a working software application
• Software developers reuse these services in other combinations
to assemble other applications as needed
• Example: an “invoice service” to serve whole firm for
calculating and sending printed invoices
• Dollar Rent A Car
• Uses Web services to link online booking system with
Southwest Airlines’ Web site
(https://www.southwest.com/html/rapidrewards/partners/travel/re
ntal-car/dollar.html)
Contemporary Software Trends
Contemporary Software Trends

 Mashups and Widgets

 Mashups: Combinations of two or more online applications, such
as combining mapping software (Google Maps) with local content
 Widgets: small programs that can be added to Web pages or
placed on the desktop to add additional functionality

 Software Outsourcing
 Three sources: external commercial vendor, online service
providers, offshore firms
 Software packages: prewitten set of software available
commercially
 Software as a service (SaaS): software delivered over the Internet
 Offshore outsourcing: usually governed by service level
agreement
Management Issues

 Desktop-as-Service (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure)

 Dealing with platform and infrastructure issues

 As firms shrink or grow, IT needs to be flexible and scalable
 How does firm remain flexible and still make long term
investments?
 Scalability: Ability to expand to serve larger number of users
 Firms using mobile computing and cloud computing require new
policies and procedures for managing these new platforms
 Contractual agreements with firms running clouds and
distributing software required
Management Issues

 Management and governance

 Who controls IT infrastructure
 Centralized/decentralized
 How are costs allocated between divisions, departments?
Management Issues

 Making wise infrastructure investments

 Amount to spend on IT is complex question
 Rent vs. buy, outsourcing

 Competitive forces model for IT infrastructure investment

Management Issues
Management Issues

 Total Cost of Ownership of Technology Assets

 TCO model: Used to analyze direct and indirect costs of systems
 Hardware, software account for only about 20% of TCO
 Other costs include: Installation, training, support, maintenance,
infrastructure, downtime, space and energy
 TCO can be reduced through greater centralization and
standardization of hardware and software resources