The University of Zambia

in association with

The Zambia Centre for Accountancy Studies

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN COMPUTING WITH

EDUCATION

PCE 132: EMERGING TRENDS IN ICT

Year 1
Semester 2

Author: Anderson Malumo

 Copyright

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording or otherwise without the permission of the
Zambia Centre for Accountancy Studies.

July 2014.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ............................................................................................................................. i

TABLE OF CONTENTS .............................................................................................................................. ii
1.0 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 1
1.1 MODULE AIM.............................................................................................................................. 1
1.2 OBJECTIVES ................................................................................................................................. 2
1.3 ASSESSMENT DETAILS ................................................................................................................ 2
1.4 READINGS ................................................................................................................................... 2
PRESCRIBED READING ........................................................................................................................ 2
RECOMMENDED READINGS OR SOURCES OF INFORMATION ON TRENDS ....................................... 3
1.5 TIME FRAME ..................................................................................................................................... 3
1.6 STUDY SKILLS .................................................................................................................................... 3
1.7 NEED HELP? ...................................................................................................................................... 5
2.0 UNIT ONE: PERVASIVE COMPUTING .......................................................................................... 6
2.1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................ 6
2.2 AIM ............................................................................................................................................... 6
2.3 OBJECTIVES ................................................................................................................................... 6
2.4 TIME REQUIRED ............................................................................................................................ 7
2.5 REFLECTION .................................................................................................................................. 7
2.6 CONTENT ...................................................................................................................................... 8
2.7 ACTIVITIES................................................................................................................................... 10
2.8 SUMMARY .................................................................................................................................. 10
3.0 UNIT TWO: CLOUD COMPUTING .............................................................................................. 11
3.1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 11
3.2 AIM ............................................................................................................................................. 11
3.3 OBJECTIVES ................................................................................................................................. 11
3.4 TIME REQUIRED .......................................................................................................................... 11
3.5 REFLECTION ................................................................................................................................ 12
3.6 CLOUD COMPUTING ................................................................................................................... 13
3.7 ACTIVITIES................................................................................................................................... 15
3.8 SUMMARY .................................................................................................................................. 15
4.0 UNIT THREE: GRID COMPUTING ............................................................................................... 16
4.1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 16

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 4.2 AIM ............................................................................................................................................. 16
4.3 OBJECTIVES ................................................................................................................................. 16
4.4 TIME REQUIRED .......................................................................................................................... 17
4.5 REFLECTION ................................................................................................................................ 17
4.6 CONTENT .................................................................................................................................... 18
4.7 ACTIVITIES................................................................................................................................... 19
4.8 SUMMARY .................................................................................................................................. 20
5.0 UNIT FOUR: MOBILE COMPUTING AND WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS ................................. 21
5.1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 21
5.2 AIM ............................................................................................................................................. 21
5.3 OBJECTIVES ................................................................................................................................. 21
5.4 TIME REQUIRED .......................................................................................................................... 22
5.5 REFLECTION ................................................................................................................................ 22
5.6 CONTENT .................................................................................................................................... 23
5.6 ACTIVITIES................................................................................................................................... 26
5.7 SUMMARY .................................................................................................................................. 26
6.0 UNIT FIVE: DATA MINING AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT ................................................. 27
6.1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 27
6.2 AIM ............................................................................................................................................. 27
6.3 OBJECTIVES ................................................................................................................................. 27
6.4 TIME REQUIRED .......................................................................................................................... 27
6.5 REFLECTION ................................................................................................................................ 28
6.6 CONTENT .................................................................................................................................... 29
6.7 ACTIVITIES................................................................................................................................... 32
6.8 SUMMARY .................................................................................................................................. 32
7.0 UNIT SIX: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ......................................................................................... 33
7.1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 33
7.2 AIM ............................................................................................................................................. 33
7.3 OBJECTIVES ................................................................................................................................. 33
7.4 TIME REQUIRED .......................................................................................................................... 34
7.5 REFLECTION ................................................................................................................................ 34
7.6 CONTENT .................................................................................................................................... 35
7.7 ACTIVITIES................................................................................................................................... 37
7.8 SUMMARY .................................................................................................................................. 37

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8.0 UNIT SEVEN: COMPUTER APPLICATIONS IN WEB SERVICES .................................................... 38
8.1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 38
8.2 AIM ............................................................................................................................................. 38
8.3 OBJECTIVES ................................................................................................................................. 38
8.4 TIME REQUIRED .......................................................................................................................... 38
8.5 REFLECTION ................................................................................................................................ 39
8.6 CONTENT .................................................................................................................................... 39
8.7 ACTIVITIES................................................................................................................................... 41
8.8 SUMMARY .................................................................................................................................. 42
9.0 UNIT EIGHT: INTRUSION DETECTION SYSTEMS ........................................................................ 43
9.1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 43
9.2 AIM ............................................................................................................................................. 43
9.3 OBJECTIVES ................................................................................................................................. 43
9.4 TIME REQUIRED .......................................................................................................................... 43
9.5 REFLECTION ................................................................................................................................ 44
9.6 CONTENT .................................................................................................................................... 45
9.7 ACTIVITIES................................................................................................................................... 46
9.8 SUMMARY .................................................................................................................................. 46
10.0 UNIT NINE: COMPUTER FORENSICS ......................................................................................... 47
10.1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................ 47
10.2 AIM ........................................................................................................................................... 47
10.3 OBJECTIVES ............................................................................................................................... 47
10.4 TIME REQUIRED ........................................................................................................................ 47
10.5 REFLECTION .............................................................................................................................. 48
10.6 CONTENT .................................................................................................................................. 50
10.7 ACTIVITIES................................................................................................................................. 54
10.8 SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................ 54
11.0 UNIT TEN: BIOMETRICS AND BIOINFORMATICS....................................................................... 55
11.1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................ 55
11.2 AIM ........................................................................................................................................... 55
11.3 OBJECTIVES ............................................................................................................................... 55
11.4 TIME REQUIRED ........................................................................................................................ 55
11.5 REFLECTION .............................................................................................................................. 56
11.6 CONTENT .................................................................................................................................. 57

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 11.7 ACTIVITIES................................................................................................................................. 62
11.8 SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................ 62
12.0 UNIT ELEVEN: ELECTRONIC GOVERNEMENT ............................................................................ 63
12.1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................ 63
12.2 AIM ........................................................................................................................................... 63
12.3 OBJECTIVES ............................................................................................................................... 63
12.4 TIME REQUIRED ........................................................................................................................ 63
12.5 REFLECTION .............................................................................................................................. 64
12.6 CONTENT .................................................................................................................................. 65
12.7 ACTIVITIES................................................................................................................................. 67
12.8 SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................ 68
13.0 UNIT TWELVE: GREEN COMPUTING ......................................................................................... 69
13.1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................ 69
13.2 AIM ........................................................................................................................................... 69
13.3 OBJECTIVES ............................................................................................................................... 69
13.4 TIME REQUIRED ........................................................................................................................ 69
13.5 REFLECTION .............................................................................................................................. 70
13.6 CONTENT .................................................................................................................................. 71
13.7 ACTIVITIES................................................................................................................................. 74
13.8 SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................ 74

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1.0 INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the Emerging Trends in ICT Module.

The module consists of 12 Units which you must study in full. The Units together
demonstrate and chart dominant trends and developments in the ICT industry. They explore
the technical, strategic and practical applications including benefits experienced by
individuals, organizations and the society while, at the same time, highlighting the challenges
faced by society at large regarding the use of ICTs in our every life and business operations.

It is important to observe that the speed with which the revolution in information and
communication technology (ICT) has taken place is unusual and the changes the ICT
revolution has created are not limited to one single sector of our society. Over the past four
decades, ICT has literally transformed the lifestyles of individuals; the way businesses
operate or function, the dynamics that form societies and ultimately the world’s political,
social and economic structures. The ICT revolution however clearly seems poised to go on.

This module as a whole attempts to address some of the issues associated with some current
as well as upcoming technologies. The module skillfully combines awareness of
technological implications and the computing requirements of the new ICT developments.
The Units integrate clarity and academic attention to ensure students have good
understanding of the practical or real-life influences created by the various kinds of ICT
components intended for individual consumers, businesses, organizations and institutions as
well as government establishments.

1.1 MODULE AIM

The aim of this module is to provide students with a medium to develop awareness
and understanding discuss and debate emerging trends or topical issues in the
global ICT industry as they relate to and affect individuals, organizations and society.

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1.2 OBJECTIVES

By the end of the course, students should be able to:

 Explore current global ICT developments and how they relate to individuals, business
and communities.
 Enhance awareness of ICT developments, benefits, challenges as well as risks created
by the proliferation of ICTs in the global economy.
 Explain the broad and general use of ICT across political, economic and social
frontiers of societies, nations and the global market place.
 Engage students in basic discussions and the evaluation of the penetration ICTs in the
world today.

1.3 ASSESSMENT DETAILS

 Coursework 1. ........................................................................... 30%

 Coursework 2……………………............................................. 70%

 Total…………………………………………………………… . 100%

1.4 READINGS

PRESCRIBED READING

Turban, E., King, D., Lee, J., Liang, T. and Turban, D. (2012) Electronic Commerce
2012 – A Managerial and Social Networks Perspective, PEARSON, 7th Edition

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RECOMMENDED READINGS OR SOURCES OF INFORMATION ON TRENDS

 ICT Journals and use of the Internet

 Articles from Academic Literature
 British Computer Society and ICM Magazines
 Reputable Broadcasting Corporations – BBC, CNN, Aljazeera, ZNBC and others
 Electronic/Online Libraries
 Electronic Forums for Special Interest Groups
 Computer Society of Zambia – Membership Networks & information exchange

1.5 TIME FRAME

60 Hours. You are expected to spend at least 60 hours on this module in order to
study the material and do the activities or exercises provided. You may require
additional time to visit and browse any suggested Internet sites intended to provide you with
more learning content, examples or other related educational items.

1.6 STUDY SKILLS

For you to be able successfully complete this module, you should do the
following:

1.6.1 Organize Yourself and your time:

You will need to organize yourself and your time. This is important for you to achieve the
learning objectives of this module and also give yourself a good chance of performing
satisfactorily in the module’s assessment requirements.

As a distance education student, you are expected to do most study and learning activities
away from ZCAS and the responsibility to succeed is mainly placed in your hands. In other
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words, you will be provided with assignments, exercises or activities but it is up to you when
and how you carry them out. You will also be expected to read around all the Units contained
in this module. Again, how much you do, will depend on you.

Distance Education is very different from full time education where lecturers may directly
exert pressure on you to work as they make contact with you on a regular basis.

You will therefore need to balance different activities such as social life, domestic
commitments, work schedules and of course studying this module. It is suggested that you
prepare a study plan that you should try to adhere to as much as possible. The study plan is
basically a timetable or programme you can develop outlining the days and times you feel
would be most convenient or suitable for you to do your studies for this Module once other
commitments have been attended to.

The study time table should help you to be organized in your approach to distance education.
Follow the units and study them in the order that they have been presented in this
instructional manual. Please note that there will be some challenges you may encounter
during the period of your learning across the Units in this module. You are advised to share
those challenges with ZCAS to ensure they are resolved in good time.

1.6.2 Do Online Searching:

You will need to do online searching to gather academic literature or additional learning
materials to support your study of this module. Online searching has many advantages and
some of them are:

Excellent resources – vast amounts of educational documents are stored electronically on the
Internet in various formats such as MS Word, MS PowerPoint and PDF files. A large number
of these are prepared by professional and academic institutions, researcher and scholars. So
they can be used to support your educational material requirements as a Distance Education
student.

Gaining an Overview – the range of resources available on the Internet will offer you with a
general overview of any of the Units contained in this module. You could conduct more
research on any of the Units in this module to access more knowledge regarding the
fundamentals of concepts covered in a particular Unit.

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Accessibility – Many materials on the Internet are not available elsewhere. Also, if material is
available online, you will not need to travel to libraries close to your location to view that
material. This will be especially beneficial for you as a student on the ZCAS Distance
Education Programme. But, be careful as some of the information on Internet maybe of poor
quality. Therefore, you will need to exercise personal judgment as to what resources appear
to be of integrity.

1.7 NEED HELP?

If you need help on the module, please use the following contacts:

Course Tutor

Email: information@zcas.edu.zm

Zambia Centre for Accountancy Studies (ZCAS)

Dedan Kimathi Road, P O Box 35243, Lusaka, Zambia

Tel: +260 1 232093/5, Fax: +260 1 222542

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2.0 UNIT ONE: PERVASIVE COMPUTING

2.1 INTRODUCTION

This Unit introduces you to Pervasive Computing and provides an overview of

related applications. Many experts believe pervasive computing is a major step in
the evolution of computing. In a pervasive computing environment, almost every object has
processing power and a wired or wireless connection to a network.

Pervasive computing is invisible, everywhere computing; it is computing capabilities that are

being embedded into objects around us, which may be mobile or stationary. In contrast,
mobile computing is usually represented by devices – handheld computers, handset phones,
headsets and so on – that users hold, carry or wear.

2.2 AIM

Introduce pervasive computing and its current applications.

2.3 OBJECTIVES

At the end of this unit you should be able to do the following;

 Define pervasive computing.

 Explain key characteristics and current uses of pervasive computing.

 Discuss issues and developments relating to pervasive computing.

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2.4 TIME REQUIRED

3 Hours. You are expected to spend at least three hours on this unit in order to
study the material and do the activities or exercises provided. You may require
additional time to visit and browse any suggested Internet sites intended to provide you with
more learning content, examples or other related educational items.

2.5 REFLECTION

The Use of Mobile Phones in our day to day life styles or needs:

Generally all mobile phone owners use the device to make calls as well as receive calls, and
in many cases to send and receive short text messages (sms). However, today, mobile devices
have many capabilities and so they provide users with a wide range of functions or services.

What do YOU use your mobile phone for? Please list a few services or applications.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………..

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

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2.6 CONTENT

Defining Pervasive Computing

Pervasive computing is also known as Ubiquitous Computing. Pervasive Computing

represents a major evolutionary step in technology developments of the mid 1970s such as
advances in distributed systems and mobile computing.

Pervasive means ‘spread throughout, having the tendency to pervade or permeate’.

Ubiquitous means ‘being present everywhere at once’.

Pervasive Computing emerged from distributed systems that, in turn, came about as a result
of exploiting personal computers and the power of local area networks. The body of
knowledge now includes many areas that form the foundation for pervasive computing such
as remote communications, remote information access and security.

From the mobile computing perspective, the development of laptop computers and wireless
local area networks in the early 1990s helped researchers deal with problems that emerged
when building distributed systems with mobile clients. Mobile computing continues to be a
key component of pervasive computing as well as a continuing field of research.

Therefore, a Pervasive Computing environment is generally characterised by computing and

communication capabilities.

In the everyday life of any person, motion is something that is happening all the time and so
technology must be able to support that mobility. Otherwise a user will easily observe or
realise the absence of the technology when the user changes position or moves from one
place to another.

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 Remote
communications

High availability

Distributed Mobile Pervasive

Fault tolerance
Systems Computing Computing
Remote information
access

Distributed security

Figure 1.1 – A basic illustration of how Pervasive Computing relates to Mobile Computing
and Distributed Systems

In addition to distributed systems and mobile computing, pervasive computing also depends
on human computer interfaces (HCI) and operating systems. HCI should provide special user
interface techniques needed to deal with a given environment such as the use of an iPhone or
Tablet to perform a financial transaction, use email or access services for booking a flight.

So Pervasive Computing is any scenario where you have computing capabilities integrated
into the environment that affects human life styles in terms of the needs for services, goods
and our wellbeing. Another important feature of Pervasive Computing is that many devices
users interact with are embedded or built-in. That is the user is not aware or mindful of them.

A common idea that has been used in discussing pervasive computing is that mainframe
computers had many users per machine. The mainframes then evolved into personal
computers which had one user per machine. Personal computers, in turn, have evolved to
Pervasive Computing which involves many machines for a single user.

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2.7 ACTIVITIES

Pervasive Computing and Mobile Devices

(a) Identify and list the various uses of mobile devices in our current times: You may
also consider interviewing or speaking to persons in your work place or the
community you live in or those you have social interactions with.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………..

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

(b) Two commonly used computing terms are ‘Pervasive Computing’ and ‘Ubiquitous
Computing’. Surf the Web to find out more about these terms. How are they similar?
How are they different?

………………………………………………………………………………………………..

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

2.8 SUMMARY

This Unit discussed pervasive computing and its usefulness to individuals in

accessing technology based services and functions while on the move or from any
place, anywhere and anytime.

The next Unit explores the concept of Cloud Computing.

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3.0 UNIT TWO: CLOUD COMPUTING

3.1 INTRODUCTION

This Unit introduces you to important concepts associated with Cloud Computing.

3.2 AIM

The aim of this Unit is to explore some of the fundamental concepts of Cloud
Computing technologies.

3.3 OBJECTIVES

At the end of this unit you should be able to do the following:

 Define Cloud Computing

 Explain the Cloud Computing Environment

 List the specific uses of Cloud Computing

3.4 TIME REQUIRED

You should spend about 3 hours to study this Unit.

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3.5 REFLECTION

Computers and the Services they Provide to Users, Businesses and Organizations

(a) You list the types of personal data a computer user might want to store on a computer

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

(b) You think about and list the types of data organizations may want keep on their
databases.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

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3.6 CLOUD COMPUTING

Generally, computer users and organizations keep data, information and applications on their
own computer systems or hard drives.

Cloud Computing is a framework for allowing the convenient, on-demand network access to
a shared collection of configurable computing resources like networks, server systems,
storage facilities, computer applications as well as services that can be quickly provided to a
user with minimal management effort or service provider interaction. This cloud model
encourages availability and is composed of five essential characteristics. That is three service
models and four deployment models.

Instead of managing computer resources in this way, cloud computing provides users with a
service over the Internet and at another location where data and information can be stored on
behalf of users and organizations.

When an individual stores personal photographs online instead of using a home computer or
uses a social networking site, then that person is basically using a “cloud computing” service.
In the case of businesses or companies, an online invoicing service maybe used rather than
updating the in-house one that has been in use for some years. Such an online invoicing
service would be regarded as a “cloud computing” service.

Cloud Computing is the delivery of computing services over the Internet. Therefore cloud
services allow people and organizations to utilize computer software and hardware that are
managed by third party companies at remote locations. Some common examples of cloud
services include online data storage, social networking sites and online business applications.
The cloud computing approach or model permits a user to access information and other
related computer resources from any point where a network connection is present. Cloud
Computing provides a shared pool of resources, including data storage space, networks,
computer processing power, and specialized corporate and user applications.

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Why Organizations may be interested in Cloud Computing

Cloud Computing can considerably lower the cost and complications of possessing and
operating computing facilities and networks. When a cloud computing provider is used by an
organization, then there is not need to invest money on buying and building a computing
infrastructure. Doing so means spending money on software and hardware, on employing
computing staff or engaging computer consultants to develop the required computer
resources including paying for software licences.

In most cases cloud services can be customized to meet particular user needs and are flexible
to use. If required, the providers can deliver advanced services that a specific organization
might not have the money or expertise to develop.

Cloud Computing promises to be the future of information technology services. This is

because it represents all major trends in the design and use of computer architectures, trends
in data management and Internet development.

The world has traditionally been accustomed to applications and services that live their lives
on specific components of computer hardware and software resources. Cloud computing is
changing this model of deploying computing resources to one where computing resources are
deployed flexibly and based on the needs of users.

Cloud Computing is therefore considered to be the next stage of open source platforms in
which resources and computing services are shared in self-service way.

It can be stated that cloud computing is the convergence of information systems and
information technology trends that make the computing infrastructure and applications to be
more dynamic, more modular and hence more consumable. Organizations and businesses are
able to access new services and re-organise computing resources rapidly and depending on
their needs. On the other hand, individual users are provided with self-service access to
computing resources while managing their own levels of preferred control.

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3.7 ACTIVITIES

You are to carry out the following two activities:

(a) Visit a social networking site such as FACEBOOK and identify the different kinds of
data and information users generally upload on the social networking site.

(b) Why is cloud computing on the increase?

To answer this question, You are advised to go on the Internet so that you can
conduct some research and collect information that will help you answer this
question.

3.8 SUMMARY

Cloud computing is the delivery of computing services over the Internet. Cloud
services allow individuals and businesses to use software and hardware that are
managed by third parties at remote locations. Examples of cloud services include online file
storage, social networking sites, webmail, and online business applications.

The cloud computing model allows access to information and computer resources from
anywhere that a network connection is available. Cloud computing provides a shared pool of
resources, including data storage space, networks, computer processing power, and
specialized corporate and user applications.

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4.0 UNIT THREE: GRID COMPUTING

4.1 INTRODUCTION

Grid Computing has been described as the world in which computer power in the
form of resources, services and data are readily available to users in much the same
way as the supply of electrical power and as other utilities.

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.

Grid Computing takes advantage of the fact that most computers in organizations or
government institutions under-utilise their central processing units much of the time hence
leaving these idle resources available for other processing tasks.

4.2 AIM

To provide students with a general understanding and awareness of Grid

Computing solutions.

4.3 OBJECTIVES

At the end of this unit you should be able to do the following:

 Define Grid Computing

 Discuss the basic fundamentals of Grid Computing and its present uses.

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4.4 TIME REQUIRED

3 Hours.

4.5 REFLECTION

Appreciating Grid Computing

As an example, a batch job that spends a significant amount of time processing a set of input
data to produce an output set is perhaps the most ideal and simple use for a grid. If the
quantities of input and output are large, more thought and planning might be required to
efficiently use the grid for such a job. It would usually not make sense to use a word
processor remotely on a grid because there would probably be greater delays and more
potential points of failure.

In most organizations, there are large amounts of underutilized computing resources. Most
desktop machines are busy less than 5 percent of the time. In some organizations, even the
server machines can often be relatively idle. Grid computing provides a framework for
exploiting these underutilized resources and thus has the possibility of substantially
increasing the efficiency of resource usage.

The processing resources are not the only ones that may be underutilized. Often, machines
may have enormous unused disk drive capacity. Grid computing, more specifically, a “data
grid”, can be used to aggregate this unused storage into a much larger virtual data store,
possibly configured to achieve improved performance and reliability over that of any single
machine.

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4.6 CONTENT

In Grid Computing, users with different levels of expertise and in different areas have access
to the computational facilities. Grid Computing has been advanced by revolutions in science
and business specifically improvements in computing, communications and storage
technologies.

The main aim of Grid Computing is to provide a service oriented infrastructure that allows
for the coordinated sharing of geographically distributed hardware, software and other
resources. Grid Computing has its origins based on work done in the area of parallel
programming and distributed systems.

The business case for Grid Computing involves cost savings, speed of computation and
flexibility. For example, the Royal Dutch Shell Group is using a scalable grid computing
platform that improves the accuracy and speed of its scientific modelling applications to find
the best oil reservoirs. This platform, which links 1,024 IBM servers running Linux, in effect
creates one of the largest commercial Linux supercomputers in the World. The grid adjusts to
accommodate the fluctuating data volumes that are common in this business.

Benefits of Grid Computing

Access to under-utilised resources is one of the key uses of grid computing. An existing
application can be run on a different machine because the machine on which the application
is usually run on is busy due to peak demand activities. The important factor however is that
the particular application should be executable remotely.

Another important factor in using grid computing is resource balancing. This involves
bringing together several resources contributed by separate machines into building one
system image. Unexpected demands can then be easily routed to relatively idle machines on
the grid. That is jobs or tasks get migrated to less congested parts of the grid to balance the
overall workloads on the grid. Therefore grid computing brings together computer resources
from multiple locations to achieve a common objective and process a single task.

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The extent or size of the grid may range from a small one such as in a network of computer
hardware within an organization to a large setup such as one involving public connections
across several organizations and networks.

The Grid Computing Market

There are two parts to the segmentation or partitioning of the Grid Computing market. These
are the provider side and the user side. The grid providers market includes the middleware,
service and utility computing markets and the software-as-a-service (SaaS) market. The user
side comprises various businesses and organizations that demand grid computing services.
Within this segment, users have different levels of requirements and so there are significant
implications to be understood in terms of strategies adopted by organizations.

Applications of Grid Computing

Grid Computing capabilities are useful in solving challenges presented by science and
business such as earthquake simulations, climate change, patterns involving modelling
situations as well as financial modelling.

4.7 ACTIVITIES

Commercial Examples of Grid Computing Applications.

Review the concepts and examples of Grid Computing discussed in this Unit and prepare two
examples where Grid Computing technologies would provide a useful solution towards the
maximization and efficient utilization of computing resources.

You are advised to conduct a search on the Internet to help you gather the necessary
information.

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4.8 SUMMARY

A grid is a collection of machines, sometimes referred to as nodes, resources,

members, donors, clients, hosts, engines, and many other such terms. They all
contribute any combination of resources to the grid as a whole. Some resources may be used
by all users of the grid, while others may have specific restrictions.

Grid Computing enables organizations (real and virtual) to take advantage of various
computing resources in ways not previously possible.

They can take advantage of under utilized resources to meet business requirements while
minimizing additional costs. The nature of a computing grid allows organizations to take
advantage of parallel processing, making many applications financially feasible as well as
allowing them to complete sooner.

Grid Computing makes more resources available to more people and organizations while
allowing those responsible for the IT infrastructure to enhance resource balancing, reliability,
and manageability.

The next Unit explores the Mobile Computing and Wireless Communication technologies
and how their contribution to business and society.

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5.0 UNIT FOUR: MOBILE COMPUTING AND WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS

5.1 INTRODUCTION

In the traditional computing environment, users require a desktop computer, and

networked computers are connected to each other, to networks, to servers, and to
peripheral devices such as printers, via wires in cables.

This situation has limited the use of computers and has created difficulties for people who
need to be mobile in their work. Specifically, salespeople, field service employees, law
enforcement agents, inspectors, utility workers and executives who travel more frequently
can be more effective if they use information technology while at their jobs in the field or in
transit.

Additionally, most people want to be able to connect to the Internet or use services at any
time and any place.

5.2 AIM

To explore mobile computing and its uses to business and society

5.3 OBJECTIVES

At the end of this unit you should be able to do the following

 Define Mobile Computing

 Discuss Mobile Computing and its applications to society

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5.4 TIME REQUIRED

3 Hours.

5.5 REFLECTION

Challenges of Using Mobile Devices

What would you say are some of the challenges, problems or difficulties of using mobile
devices in Zambia or in a country of your choice?

Think of mobile phones, Tablets, iPads, notebooks computers or laptop computers used by
people on the move or field workers such as sales personnel and field engineers who may
need to transfer data (upload or download) between a remote location where they may be
conducting work and their Head Offices.

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5.6 CONTENT

The first solution to meet the needs of mobile workers was to make computers small enough
so that they could be carried around easily. Portable specialized computing therefore
emerged. Some examples of these are Personal Digital Assistance (PDA), the Smartphone
and the Blackberry. These devices are explained in the exhibit below.

Exhibit 4.1 - The Wireless Mobile Environment:

Laptop computer Cellular phone

PDA Wireless laptop or PDA

Mobile

Blackberry

Smartphone

Desktop computer Free-to-air television

Fixed

Landline phone Commercial radio

Cable television

Wired Wireless

The second solution was to replace wires with wireless communication. Radios, televisions
and telephones have been wireless for a long time. So it was natural to adapt this technology
to the computing environment. The result is a combination of mobile and wireless solutions.

Some limitations of the mobile environment are:

a) Inadequacy of the wireless network

b) Frequent disconnections

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c) Limited communication bandwidth
d) Limitations Imposed by Mobility
e) Limitations of the Mobile Computer

The mobile computer has also some limitations and these have been identified as:

 Short battery lifetime, around five hours for some mobile computers.
 Subject to theft and destruction, hence can be unreliable
 Can be unavailable because it is normally powered-off to conserve the battery
 Limited capability in terms of display, memory, input devices, and disk space

Who needs Mobile Computing?

1) Energy supply companies

2) Public authorities and Institutions
3) Airlines
4) Industry
5) Commerce
6) Transportation
7) Services
8) Publishing firms
9) Banks
10) Insurance companies
11) Hotels
12) Universities
13) Hospitals

There is a wide range of applications, either under study or readily available, to support users
on the move. The applications and services range from personal guides and electronic news
services to collaborative applications for emergency services. Mobile context-aware
applications can be used as personal guides in museums and galleries which will allow users
to take personalised tours. Information about an exhibit is downloaded as a user moves
towards it and he or she could then download more detailed information about it.

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Personal guides are different from human guides in that a user can browse and download
information tailored to own personal interests. Objects of interest are sensed using active
beacons or identified using computer vision recognition. The hand-held devices might use
position measurement systems such as indoor beacons or the Global Positioning System
(GPS) to locate users, and an electronic compass or inertial navigation system to find user
orientation.

Mobile Computing technology can also be used to support field work and increase
collaboration among field workers by providing on-line access to information and interactive
communication facilities. One useful example here is the MOST projects. The MOST project
(Mobile Open Systems Technologies for the Utilities Industries) was established to examine
the impact of mobility on working practices and on the repercussions for computer systems
support. It focused on the IT requirements of field engineers within the power distribution
industry.

Engineers working in the field were traditionally coordinated by a single control centre
which approved all switching in the power distribution network and maintained an overall
picture of the current state. The centralised approach ensured that conflicting requirements
were resolved safely, but the centre became a bottleneck. The main disadvantages of this
approach were the global network state was not available to engineers in the field and
efficiency was reduced due to the bottleneck.

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5.6 ACTIVITIES

Commercial Banks, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and Mobile Service Providers

Identify one bank in your area and find out from them what services they provide to support
mobile computing requirements that some of their clients may have.

Choose one ISP or one Mobile Service Provide. It could one that provides you or your
organization with ISP or mobile services. Find out the range of services the organization
provides to support the needs of their clients with mobile service requirements.

5.7 SUMMARY

Mobile devices create an opportunity to deliver new services to individuals,

organizations and the society at large. They are useful and convenient for services
that are time-critical and appeal to people on the move. However, the small
screen size and limited bandwidth of most computing devices have limited the interest for
some consumers to really engage in the technology.

The next unit explores Data Mining and Knowledge Management.

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6.0 UNIT FIVE: DATA MINING AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

6.1 INTRODUCTION

Data Mining derives its name from the similarities between searching for valuable
organizational information in large databases and mining a mountain for valuable
minerals. Both processes require either sifting through a large amount of material or
intelligently probing it to find exactly where value resides.

Given databases of sufficient size and quality, data mining technology can generate valuable
opportunities for organizations or businesses. This Unit will therefore highlight some of the
useful opportunities created by data mining when this technique is applied in the
management of huge data volumes that may accumulate over time.

6.2 AIM

Understand the applications of Data Mining and Knowledge Management in

organizations.

6.3 OBJECTIVES

At the end of this unit you should be able to do the following

 Define Data Mining

 Define Knowledge Management

 Recognize the importance of Data Mining and Knowledge Management

6.4 TIME REQUIRED

3 Hours.

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6.5 REFLECTION

Consider International Retail Chains such as Game Stores or PepShop present in

Zambia, or Wal-Mart in USA, or TESCO in the UK.

These organizations generally stock a wide range of consumer goods or products to meet the
daily shopping needs of individuals and even purchasing requirements of organizations and
basically the society at large.

It is strategically important for these organizations to ensure that their outlets are well
stocked with goods or products so that they can maximize their sales and hence achieve a
satisfactory financial turnover or profitability at the end of a given period. It is also vital that
they also understand which items are bought more frequently and which ones are slow
moving.

In distributing the products on the shelves within a given shop or outlet, it is important that
the products are segmented or divided into categories depending on the nature of the products
they sell, for example, hardware items; frozen food stuffs; consumer electronics such as
cameras, television sets, music systems; clothing for babies, teenagers and adults and many
other products. They must have insights into how they place or locate certain goods because
some goods may have some association between them.

This means placing products that have some association close together impacts the sales that
the organization is able to make. Data mining is therefore useful in understanding trends in
product sales as well as some aspects of customer behavior. This information which is
helpful in making informed predictions is resident in databases that these organizations
manage but, the databases must be mined to extract the relevant patterns.

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6.6 CONTENT

Data Mining

Data mining is a concept that is intended to utilize the ever-increasing amounts of data held
or generated by organizations. Data mining is the analysis of data in a computer system to
unearth, detect or observe unknown relationships, patterns and associations among data
elements. Data mining attempts to turn data into information or some form of useful
knowledge for a business.

Decisions to respond to
data and patterns
Databases Find patterns and insights
(Data Mining)

Figure 6.6.1 – A series of analytical tools need to work with data stored in databases to find patterns
and insights for helping managers and employees make decisions to improve performance.

The types of information obtainable from data mining include associations, sequences,
classifications, clusters and forecasts. Data mining techniques are able to various analyses of
patterns or trends and they can drill down to display more detailed information if that is
needed.

Applications of Data Mining

In a business environment, the technique can be used to predict which customers are likely to
switch to a company’s competitors. Data mining can be used to identify which transactions
are fraudulent or identify common characteristics of customers who purchase certain
products and services. There is however some limitations associated with data mining. The
data held within a computer system maybe outdated and usually an efficient routine is
required to transfer or manage data.
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Knowledge Management

Knowledge is information within a person’s mind. Knowledge occurs when skills acquired
have been put into practice. To be knowledgeable means having skills and experience.

As the amount of data and information increases within an organization, there needs to be
some formal policy to actively manage the resource so it can be accessed and used by
managers. This process of storing, managing and providing access to data is commonly
called knowledge management. Effective knowledge management is a critical success factor
in many organizations; it is something that must be done correctly in order for that
organization to survive, perhaps by designing new products and providing good customer
service.

Implementing and maintaining a knowledge management policy or system implies that the
organization will be actively involved in the following:

a) Providing an appropriate IT infrastructure to store and distribute knowledge around the

organization

b) Employing staff to manage knowledge maintained in the organization’s databases and

possessed by staff in the form of talent, competences or abilities.

c) Ensuring that knowledge workers are trained and have appropriate access to the
organization’s knowledge base.

Many organizations are now employing a Chief Knowledge Officer (CKO) to be responsible
for the organization’s knowledge management program. The CKO will help design new
systems, find new sources of knowledge and generally ensure that effective use is being
made of the knowledge within the organisation

Data workers are employees who process the transactions and other data in the organization.
Their job literally involves capturing and processing basic data required by the organization.
They collect data such as invoices and stock requisitions and check them for accuracy before
processing them.

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Knowledge workers include people such as chemists, research staff, architects, engineers and
other professionals who either design new products using existing technology, or by some
form of experimentation add new products and knowledge to the organization.

Problems with Knowledge Management

There are many issues that will prevent knowledge being effectively captured and used
within an organization. Some of those issues, such as lack of appropriate IT infrastructure or
poor training of workers, could apply to almost any IT system.

There are, however, two specific problems associated with the use of knowledge within an
organization.

a) There is an inadequate system to process and distribute the data and information being
collected within an organization.

b) Workers within the organization simply do not know what knowledge is suitable to them.
This is partly a reflection of the lack of integration of databases.

Types of Knowledge

Two types of knowledge will be discussed here. Firstly, there is what is termed tacit
knowledge. This is expertise held by a person or people within the organization and has not
been formally documented. This kind of knowledge is difficult to manage because it is
invisible and intangible. That is it can not be seen or touched. Tacit knowledge represents the
cumulative store of the experiences, insights, knowhow or skills sets possessed by an
individual. It is in the mind.

Another type of knowledge is called explicit knowledge. For example, this comprises the
policies and procedures, guide lines and reports, designs, strategies and goals as well the
mission statement of an organization. Explicit knowledge is visible and tangible.
Where does Knowledge come from?

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There are a number of sources for knowledge. Informal networks in the organization where
the free exchange of ideas between staff take place can be a source or knowledge. Product
and service innovations have knowledge embedded in them that can be visible. In some
cases, knowledge can be created by an organization through the provision of technical
training to employees. However, in all cases, it is vital that the culture of the organization
promotes sharing, transparency and proactive use of knowledge. The Japanese industrial
sector offers some of the best examples and practices in this area.

6.7 ACTIVITIES

DATA MINING:

The types of information obtainable from data mining include associations, sequences,
classifications, clusters and forecasts.

You should go online and conduct a research on the Internet regarding the definitions of each
of these types of information that can be extracted using Data Mining.

Next time you visit a supermarket or a large retail outlet, you spend some time to analyze the
different pieces of data printed on the sales receipt that you receive. Assuming you visit a
large store and buy something, you will notice that the sales receipt has a number of
components or pieces of data printed on it. Normally, most consumers are interested in the
total amount paid and the change due to them. These are frequently verified. But beyond
these, the receipt shows product codes, product descriptions, quantities bought for each item,
the identity of the Counter Operator, date the purchase was made. This is the stream of data
that flows through to the databases and would be waiting to be analyzed through data mining.

6.8 SUMMARY

Data mining is more discovery-driven. It provides insights into corporate data by

finding hidden patterns and relationships in large databases. Data mining is both a
powerful and profitable tool, but it poses challenges to the protection of individual privacy.
Data mining technology can combine information from many diverse sources to create a
detailed data image about each one of us – our income, our driving habits, our hobbies, our
families and even our political interests.

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7.0 UNIT SIX: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

7.1 INTRODUCTION

Humankind has given itself the scientific name homo sapiens—man the wise—
because our mental capacities are so important to our everyday lives and our sense
of self. The field of artificial intelligence, or simply AI, attempts to understand intelligent
entities. Thus, one reason to study it is to learn more about ourselves. But unlike philosophy
and psychology, which are also concerned with intelligence, AI strives to build intelligent
entities as well as understand them.

Another reason to study AI is that these constructed intelligent entities are interesting and
useful in their own right. AI has produced many significant and impressive products even at
this early stage in its development. Although no one can predict the future in detail, it is clear
that computers with human-level intelligence (or better) would have a huge impact on our
everyday lives and on the future course of civilization.

7.2 AIM

To explore the fundamental concepts of Artificial Intelligence.

7.3 OBJECTIVES

At the end of this unit you should be able to do the following

 Define Artificial Intelligence

 Discuss the different approaches taken in defining AI

 Explain the role of AI in society

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7.4 TIME REQUIRED

3 Hours.

7.5 REFLECTION

The Manufacturing of Motor Vehicles in Japan and other Developed Countries

Take a moment and think about the different parts of a passenger car or any motor vehicle
you may wish to think about. You will realize that any motor vehicle is a complex work of
art demanding skill, knowledge and attention to detail, among other important aspects. If we
consider an aero plane, then we have a transportation vehicle where the utmost level of
accuracy is demanded.

Most vehicle manufacturing industries build millions of motor vehicle per year. Partly, this
has been made possible through the design and development of robotic engineering. This
form of engineering directly applies the fundamental concepts of AI to transfer human
knowledge or skill in the form of machine language or code. This, in turn, enables
specialized machines, called robotics, to carry out some of the jobs or tasks originally
performed by human beings. Robots that can spray paint a car or automatically weld or join
together pieces of metal have been developed. They form a critical part of the production and
assembly lines of the various models of vehicles we now see or use on our roads.

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7.6 CONTENT

What is Al? Exploring the view on the subject

"The exciting new effort to make computers think . . . machines with minds, in the full

and literal sense" (Haugeland, 1985)

"The automation of activities that we associate with human thinking, activities such as

decision making, problem solving, learning..."(Bellman, 1978)

"The art of creating machines that performs functions that require intelligence when
performed by people" (Kurzweil, 1990)

"The study of how to make computers do things at which, at the moment, people are

better" (Rich and Knight, 1991)

The study of mental faculties through the use of computational models"

(Charniak and McDermott, 1985)

"The study of the computations that make it possible to perceive, reason, and act"

(Winston, 1992)

"A field of study that seeks to explain and emulate intelligent behaviour in terms of

computational processes" (Schalkoff, 1990)

"The branch of computer science that is concerned with the automation of intelligent

behaviour" (Luger and Stubblefield, 1993)

Arising from the above and several other attempts that have been made in providing the
meaning for AI, the definitions of AI can be organized into four categories:

a) Systems that think like humans

b) Systems that act like humans
c) Systems that think rationally
d) Systems that act rationally

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AI addresses one of the ultimate puzzles. How is it possible for a slow, tiny brain, whether
biological or electronic, to perceive, understand, predict, and manipulate a world far larger
and more complicated than itself? How do we go about making something with those
properties? These are hard questions, but unlike the search for faster-than-light travel or an
antigravity device, the researcher in AI has solid evidence that the quest is possible. All the
researcher has to do is look in the mirror to see an example of an intelligent system.

If we are going to say that a given program thinks like a human, we must have some way of
determining how humans think. We need to get inside the actual workings of human minds.
There are two ways to do this: through introspection, that is trying to catch our own thoughts
as they go by or through psychological experiments. Once we have a sufficiently precise
theory of the mind, it becomes possible to express the theory as a computer program. If the
program's input/output and timing behaviour matches human behaviour, that is evidence that
some of the program's mechanisms may also be operating in humans. For example, Newell
and Simon, who developed GPS, the "General Problem Solver" (Newell and Simon, 1961),
were not content to have their program correctly solve problems. They were more concerned
with comparing the trace of its reasoning steps to traces of human subjects solving the same
problems.

This is in contrast to other researchers of the same time such as Wang in 1960, who were
concerned with getting the right answers regardless of how humans might do it. The
interdisciplinary field of cognitive science brings together computer models from AI and
experimental techniques from psychology to try to construct precise and testable theories of
the workings of the human mind. Although cognitive science is a fascinating field in itself,
we are not going to be discussing it all that much in this book.

We will occasionally comment on similarities or differences between AI techniques and

human cognition. Real cognitive science, however, is necessarily based on experimental
investigation of actual humans or animals, and we assume that the reader only has access to a
computer for experimentation. We will simply note that AI and cognitive science continue to
fertilize each other, especially in the areas of vision, natural language, and learning.

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Human and Artificial Intelligence

All successful artificial intelligence systems are based on human expertise, knowledge and
selected reasoning patterns. Most artificial intelligence systems can be developed only when
human knowledge can be effectively expressed in some form of text. AI systems can not
learn without being rewritten.

7.7 ACTIVITIES

Practical Applications of Artificial Intelligence (AI):

Using the Google Search Engine or any other search engine you may prefer, do a short
research on the use of Artificial Intelligence in the education sector or in organizations such
as banks, insurance or medical institutions.

7.8 SUMMARY

Artificial Intelligence is now widely applied in many sectors of human activities.

AI systems are now available for sectors such as legal services, medicine and
human health, financial services but AI continues to strongly support factory of industrial
operations.

The next unit explores computer applications in web services.

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8.0 UNIT SEVEN: COMPUTER APPLICATIONS IN WEB SERVICES

8.1 INTRODUCTION

Web Services in e-commerce and information technology are becoming more

generally considered and debated in our present time. Web services is a
general-purpose architecture that enables distributed applications to be assembled from a web
of software services in the same way that web sites are assembled from a web of HTML
pages.

Web service is a highly significant model for managing software and data within the
electronic business age. The web services model involves managing and performing all types
of business processes and activities through accessing web-based services rather than running
a traditional executable application on the processor of your local computer.

8.2 AIM

To Appreciate Web based services and current uses

8.3 OBJECTIVES

At the end of this unit you should be able to do the following

 Define Web services

 Identify technologies that support web services

 Explain typical uses of computer applications in web services

8.4 TIME REQUIRED

3 Hours.

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8.5 REFLECTION

You visit the site listed below and focus on the introductions and purposes of the site.

Site 1: www.b2business.net

This site is a major resource for B2B professionals that provide listings of business resources
in about 30 functional areas, company research resources such as credit checks, customs
research, financial reviews and information on start-ups.

8.6 CONTENT

Essentially, business applications and software services are provided through Internet and
web protocols with the application managed on a separate server from where it is accessed
through a web browser on an end-user’s computer. Sometimes, the phrase software-as-is-
service (SaaS) is used to refer to web services.

The Technologies Supporting Web Services

The major technologies behind web services include XML (Extensible Mark-up Language),
SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol), UDDI (Universal Description Discovery and
Integration) and WDSL (Web Service Description Language). It is not the objective of this
Unit to go into a more detailed explanation of these standards but rather to simply mention
them as the core drivers of web services. Therefore using these standards, Web services
allow different applications from different businesses or organizations to communicate data
without using any custom or standard coding. Because all communication is in XML, Web
services are not tied to any one operating system or programming language.

Therefore web services are viewed as building blocks for distributed systems. Many believe
that web services will trigger a fundamental shift in the way that most distributed systems are

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created. Thus, Web service will plays a major role in business to business (B2B) operations
because it makes it easier to meet the demands of customers and business partners.

Use of Web Services in Integration

As earlier explained, Web services mainly enable different Web-based systems to

communicate with each other using the Internet-based protocols such as XML. Specifically,
the Web Service Description Language or WSDL makes it practical to use the Web services
to connect different systems. For example, many companies still use legacy systems that are
expensive to maintain and provide poor customer service. Large companies may have a
mixture of networks patched together over the years, some of which use proprietary
languages and custom codes. Hence, whenever a change is made in one application, a
phenomenal effort is required to rewrite computer code in all connected applications. It is
therefore quite difficult to work under these kinds of conditions in business to business based
operations. By using Web services, both the time taken to connect complex systems as well
as development time can be greatly reduced.

EXERCISE:

Site 2 : www.b2btoday.com

This site contains listings of B2B services organized by type of service (e.g. Web site
creation, B2B marketing and B2B software) and product category (e.g. automotive, books).

Visit and browse this site. Ensure you navigate different parts of the site to appreciate the
content.

Benefits of Web Services

Web services are usually paid for on a subscription basis. So they can potentially be switched
on and off or in same cases, payments can be made according to usage. For this reason, they
are also known as ‘on demand’. The main business benefit of these systems is that
installation and maintenance costs such as upgrades are effectively outsourced. Cost savings
are made on both the server and client sides, since the server software and databases are
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hosted externally and client applications software is usually delivered through a web browser
or a simple application that is downloaded via the web.

Some common challenges of deploying Web Services

The most obvious risk of using web services is the dependence on a third party to deliver to
deliver services over the web, and this has the following potential problems:

a) Downtime or poor availability if the network connection or server hosting the application
or hosting the server fails

b) Lower performance than a local database. You may know from using Gmail, Yahoo or
Hotmail that although these maybe responsive, they can not be as responsive as using a
local e-mail package like MS Outlook.

c) Reduce data security since traditionally data would be backed up locally by in-house
computer personnel including arranging for off-site backups as well. Since failures in the
systems are inevitable, companies using web services need to be clear how backups and
restores are managed and the support that is available for handling problems which must
be explained in service level agreements.

8.7 ACTIVITIES

ACTIVITY

An example of a consumer web service for Word Processing would involve visiting a
web site which hosts the application rather than running a processor such as MS Word on
your local computer. The most commonly known consumer services for online word
processing and spread sheet use is Google Docs located at the site:

http://docs.google.com . Google Docs enables users to view and edit documents offline.

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8.8 SUMMARY

The ongoing evolution of web-based technologies earlier led to what became

known as Web 2.0 technologies. This further resulted in higher versions that
offered more functions to users or operators. Today, we see a more developed information
source with the potential to provide various specialised software applications.

There are also several standard computer-based applications that are now available online
such as calendar and diary tools, text editors and spreadsheets that can be used in a
distributed and collaborative arrangement. However, it is important to mention that
developing these applications can be challenging due to the rapid emergence of new
technologies and personnel skills needed.

The next unit explores Intrusion Detection Systems and Technologies.

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9.0 UNIT EIGHT: INTRUSION DETECTION SYSTEMS

9.1 INTRODUCTION

Even if an organization has a well-formulated security policy and a number of

security technologies in place, it is still vulnerable to attack. For example, most
organizations have antivirus software, yet most are still subjected to computer virus attacks.
This is why an organization must continually watch for attempted, as well as actual, security
breaches.

Due to the fact that the Internet and local networks have become widespread, the number of
intrusion events has grown. A security policy around these systems is essential for any
organization that depends on computer systems to conduct operations. The main objective
should be to reduce the risks relating to data confidentiality, integrity and system availability
among many other important aspects.

9.2 AIM

Describe intrusion detection systems and their uses.

9.3 OBJECTIVES

At the end of this unit you should be able to do the following

 Define intrusion detection software

 Explain intrusion detection technologies and practical applications.

9.4 TIME REQUIRED

3 Hours.

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9.5 REFLECTION

Firewall Systems:

A Firewall is basically a component in a network of organization and it consists mainly of

hardware and software that isolates a private network from a public network.

We can think of firewalls as being similar to a guard at the door of a social club. Like a guard
in a social club, firewalls have a set of rules, similar to a guest list or what people should
wear, that determine if the data should be allowed entry. In the same way that the guard
places himself at the door of the club, the firewall is located at the point of entry where data
attempts to enter an organization’s computer systems from anywhere on the Internet. But,
just as different social clubs might have different rules for entry; different firewalls have
different methods of inspecting data for acceptance or rejection.

Visit the Site: www.consumersearch.com

ConsumerSearch.com provides a review of a number of commercial firewall products.

Firewall systems can be created from scratch. However, most companies rely on commercial
firewall systems.

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9.6 CONTENT

Overview of the Technology

In the past, audit logs, which are produced by a variety of system components and
applications, were manually reviewed for excessive failed log-on attempts, failed file and
database access attempts, and other application and system violations. Apparently, this
manual procedure had its flaws. For example, if intrusion attempts were spread out over a
long period of time, they could be easily missed. Today, a special category of software exists
that can monitor activities across a network or host computers, watch for suspicious activity,
and take automated action based on what it sees – hence the emergence of intrusion detection
systems.

Therefore, today, organizations are gradually implementing systems that monitor computer
network security. For some years, companies have put in place several mechanisms in place
to deal with computer system intrusions like; firewalls are used to filter inbound network
traffics, antivirus is used to stop the spreading of worms, authentication in order to control
access to data and other technology components over the Internet.

Unfortunately, these mechanisms have limitations. Information systems have configuration

breaches that allow the attackers to bypass security mechanisms.

Intrusion detection systems (or IDS) aim at exposing attacks against computer systems and
networks or, in general, against information systems. Indeed, it is difficult to provide
continuously secure information systems and to maintain them in a protected state during
their lifetime and utilization. Sometimes, legacy or operational constraints do not even allow
the definition of a fully secure information system.

Therefore, intrusion detection systems have the task of monitoring the usage of such systems
to detect any image of insecure states. They detect attempts and active misuse either by
legitimate users of the information systems or by external parties to abuse their privileges or
exploit security vulnerabilities.

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Intrusion detection is the art of detecting inappropriate or suspicious activity against
computer or networks systems. Today, it is difficult to maintain computer systems or
networks devices up to date; numerous breaches are published each day. IDS monitor the
usage of such systems and detect the apparition of insecure states. This insecure state can be
either an attempt from internal users to abuse their privileges or outside users (or attackers) to
exploit security vulnerabilities.

Intrusion Responses

The type of the behaviour after an attack depends on the IDS used. The passive response is
available for all IDS; the active response is not very widespread.

Passive response: consist to register detected intrusions in a log file which will be analyzed
by the security administrator. That does not prevent an attack to occur.

Active response: The aim is to stop an attack at the moment which occurs.
For this, two techniques exist, the firewall rules reconfiguration, which depends
on firewalls, and the interrupt TCP connection.

9.7 ACTIVITIES

Honeynets and Honeypots:

Conduct a research on the Internet on what Honeynet and Honeypot technologies are. Find
out the difference between the two. You may use the Google Search Engine to gather
information on honeynets and honeypots.

9.8 SUMMARY

Intrusion detection systems generally depend on rules to analyze suspicious activity

at the perimeter of a network or at key locations in the network. The next unit
explores important aspects on the concept of computer forensics.

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10.0 UNIT NINE: COMPUTER FORENSICS

10.1 INTRODUCTION

Computer forensics which is the focus of this Unit is the scientific examination and
analysis of data held on or retrieved from computer storage media in such a way that
the information can be used as evidence in a court of law.

10.2 AIM

To explore the fundamental concepts of computer forensics.

10.3 OBJECTIVES

At the end of this unit you should be able to do the following

 Define Computer Forensics

 Explain the practical applications of Computer Forensics

10.4 TIME REQUIRED

3 Hours.

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10.5 REFLECTION

Computers Have been Used to carry out Unlawful or Criminal Activities:

Take a moment to read and think through the following situations or events involving the use
of computers, but in ways that are considered unlawful or relate to unlawful conduct:-

 Fraudulent actions involving large sums of money and committed using a computer

 E-mail sent from a computer and is connected to some unlawful act

 Human related abuses or offenses committed after being arranged using a computer

 Fake ATM Cards or forged identity cards made using a computer

 Drug dealers maintaining records or ordering supplies use a computer

 Child molester keeping records on children

 Pictures of the crime stored online

 Victim keeping diary or an electronic journal of personal activities

 Suspect searching the web for information about crime

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Further aspects for you to reflect on are presented below:

REFLECTION: (continued)
Some general examples of the types of crimes that may involve the need for digital evidence
to be obtained using computer forensic techniques:

1. Online auction fraud

2. Child exploitation/Abuse
3. Computer Intrusion
4. Homicide (or murder)
5. Domestic Violence
6. Economic Fraud, Counterfeiting
7. Threats, Harassment and Stalking
8. Extortion
9. Gambling
10. Identity Theft
11. Narcotics
12. Prostitution
13. Software Piracy
14. Telecommunications Fraud

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10.6 CONTENT

Computer forensics involves the preservation, identification, extraction, documentation and

interpretation of computer media for evidence or root cause analysis. Evidence might be
required for a wide range of computer crimes and misuses such as:

a) Discovering data on a computer system

b) Recovering deleted, encrypted or damaged information
c) Monitoring live unlawful activities
d) Detecting violations of corporate policy

Information collected assists in arrests, prosecutions, termination of employment and may

even assist in preventing future illegal activities.

What Constitutes Digital Evidence?

 Any information being subjected to human intervention that can be extracted from a
computer.
 Must be in human-readable format or capable of being interpreted by a person with
expertise in the subject.

Some computer forensics examples are:

 Recovering thousands of deleted emails

 Performing investigation post employment termination
 Recovering evidence post formatting hard drive
 Performing investigation after multiple users had taken over the system

Reasons for Evidence

There is a wide range of computer crimes and misuses for example:

In a non business Environment: this is evidence collected by governments or local authorities

for crimes relating to:

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 • Theft of trade secrets
• Fraud
• Extortion
• Industrial espionage
• SPAM investigations
• Virus/Trojan distribution
• Homicide investigations
• Intellectual property breaches
• Unauthorized use of personal information
• Forgery
• Perjury or false swearing

Computer related crime and violations in the business environment include a range of
activities issues such as:

• Theft of or destruction of intellectual property

• Unauthorized activity
• Tracking internet browsing habits
• Reconstructing Events
• Inferring intentions
• Selling company bandwidth
• Wrongful dismissal claims
• Software piracy

There are a number of stakeholder groups and institutions that use computer forensics in their
work and some of them are as follow:

• Criminal Prosecutors
– These rely on evidence obtained from a computer to prosecute suspects and
use as evidence.
• Civil Litigations
– Personal and business data discovered on a computer can be used in fraud,
divorce, harassment or discrimination cases
• Insurance Companies

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 – Evidence discovered on computer can be used settle costs, for example
concerning fraud, worker’s compensation or arson.

• Private Corporations
– Obtained evidence from employee computers can be used as evidence in
harassment, fraud and embezzlement cases.

• Law Enforcement Officials

– These may rely on computer forensics to backup search warrants and post-
seizure handling

• Individual/Private Citizens
– Obtain the services of professional computer forensic specialists to support
claims of harassment, abuse, or wrongful termination from employment

Steps of Computer Forensics

According to many professionals, Computer Forensics is a four step process. These are:

1. Acquisition
• Physically or remotely obtaining possession of the computer, all
network mappings from the system, and external physical storage
devices
2. Identification
• This step involves identifying what data could be recovered and
electronically retrieving it by running various Computer Forensic tools
and software suites
3. Evaluation
• Evaluating the information/data recovered to determine if and how it
could be used again the suspect for employment termination or
prosecution in court
4. Presentation
• This step involves the presentation of evidence discovered in a manner
which is understood by lawyers, non-technically staff or management
and suitable as evidence as determined by internal laws of a country.

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Handling Evidence

• Admissibility of Evidence involves:

– Legal rules which determine whether potential evidence can be considered by
a court
– Must be obtained in a manner which ensures the authenticity and validity and
that no tampering had taken place
• No possible evidence is damaged, destroyed, or otherwise compromised by the
procedures used to search the computer.
• Preventing viruses from being introduced to a computer during the analysis process.
• Extracted or relevant evidence is properly handled and protected from later
mechanical or electromagnetic damage.

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10.7 ACTIVITIES

Computer-based Crimes in Zambia:

The examples of computer based crimes discussed in this Unit were drawn from across the
world. It is possible that some of the types of crimes discussed could apply to the Zambian
environment as well. Take a moment and think about reports you may have heard made
through the Zambian newspapers or television services either by the Drug Enforcement
Commission (DEC) and the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) or even the Zambia Police
Public Relations Unit.

Have you ever heard of individuals or groups of people apprehended by the Zambia Police or
its Specialized Detective Units because of being in possession of equipment intended to
make counterfeit money or promote illegal activities? Some persons have been found to be in
possession of forged school certificates or professional training certificates. In all these cases,
it is possible a computer system may have been used to carry out these unlawful acts.

10.8 SUMMARY

Nowadays, more and more people are using computers and devices with
computing capabilities. For example, a person can send or receive e-mail messages
from hand held devices such as mobile phones or iPads, participate in online services or web
applications with other people over digital networks, including managing finances over the
Internet. Many businesses also conduct their transactions electronically and these may
involve individuals or customers and other organizations. This trend means that there are
chances that crimes can be performed using computer devices and networks. The next unit
provides summaries of the concept of Biometrics and Bioinformatics.

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11.0 UNIT TEN: BIOMETRICS AND BIOINFORMATICS

11.1 INTRODUCTION

A number of crucial societal applications like international border crossing,

electronic commerce, and welfare disbursement require reliable person recognition
systems.

That is, it is important that authorities are sure that a person about to initiate a transaction is
indeed who he or she claims or declares he or she is. Given that some kinds of identification
items such as credit cards or national identity cards can be forged, it becomes necessary that
the world turns to other forms of methods to identify individuals, citizens or workers.

11.2 AIM

To identify critical applications of Biometrics and Bioinformatics

11.3 OBJECTIVES

At the end of this unit you should be able to do the following:

 Define Biometrics

 Define Bioinformatics

 Explain practical uses and applications of the two technologies.

11.4 TIME REQUIRED

3 Hours.

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11.5 REFLECTION

Biometrics and Bioinformatics

1. Pose for a while and think about the various methods you know or have heard of that
are used by government authorities, organizations and educational institutions to
identify a person or distinguish one person from another.

Make a list of the methods here:

………………………………………………………………………………………..

………………………………………………………………………………………..

………………………………………………………………………………………..

………………………………………………………………………………………..

………………………………………………………………………………………..

………………………………………………………………………………………..

………………………………………………………………………………………..

2. Analyze the list you generated in (1) above. Now think about which methods have
been reproduced unlawfully according to reports you may have heard or read in
public media such as newspapers, radio or television.

………………………………………………………………………………………..

………………………………………………………………………………………..

………………………………………………………………………………………..

………………………………………………………………………………………..

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11.6 CONTENT

Background Issues on Biometrics

A number of crucial societal applications like international border crossing, electronic

commerce, and welfare disbursement require reliable person recognition systems. Traditional
person authentication methods based on passwords and identity documents often fail to meet
the stringent security and performance demands of these applications, which in turn have
spurred active research in the field of biometric recognition. Biometric recognition, or simply
biometrics, is the science of establishing the identity of a person based on physical or
behavioural attributes such as fingerprint, face, iris, and voice. Biometric systems are based
on the premise that many of the physical or behavioural attributes of humans can be uniquely
associated with an individual. By capturing these attributes using appropriately designed
sensors, representing them in a digital format, and comparing this recorded data against the
data acquired from the same person at an earlier time instance, it is possible to automate the
process of person recognition. Thus, biometric recognition can be viewed as a pattern
recognition problem, where the machine learns the salient features (patterns) in the biometric
attributes of an individual and robustly matches such patterns efficiently and effectively.

While biometric characteristics such as fingerprints have a long and successful history in
forensics, the development of automated biometric systems started only in the later half of
the 20th century. However, the deployment of biometric systems has been gaining
momentum over the last two decades in both public and private sectors. These developments
have been fuelled in part by recent government mandates stipulating the use of biometrics for
ensuring reliable delivery of various services. For example, the Enhanced Border Security
and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002 enacted by the United States Congress mandated the use
of biometrics in the issue of U.S. visas.

The Government of India has established the Unique Identification Authority of India
(UIDAI) to implement a nationwide biometric infrastructure to combat identity fraud and
provide access to social benefits for the underprivileged. It plans to issue each resident of
India a unique 12-digit identification number called Aadhaar that will be based on 10
fingerprints and two irises. Thus, it is clear that biometric technology has the potential to
profoundly influence the ways in which we are recognized for conducting various
transactions on a daily basis.
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Fundamentals of Biometrics

The term "biometrics" is derived from the Greek words bio (life) and metric (to measure).
For the purpose of this unit, biometrics refers to technologies for measuring and analyzing a
person's physiological or behavioural characteristics. It is the science of establishing the
identity of an individual based on physical, chemical, or behavioural attributes of the person.
These characteristics are unique to individuals hence can be used to verify or identify a
person.

There are seven factors that determine the suitability of a physical or a behavioural trait to be
used in a biometric application.

1. Universality – everyone should have it

2. Uniqueness – small probability that two persons are the same with this characteristic
3. Permanence – invariance with time
4. Collectability – can be measured quantitatively
5. Performance – high identification accuracy
6. Acceptability – acceptance by people
7. Circumvention – how easy to fool the system by fraudulent techniques

The following are some of the common problem areas with current security systems based on
passwords or Identity and swipe cards:

• Can be Lost.
• Can be forgotten.
• Even more serious, they can be stolen and used by a thief or intruder to access your data,
bank accounts, house or car and other kinds of personal assets or valuables.

Exercise: Security Authentication Systems

There are problems with current security authentication systems used in organizations,
businesses or even by governments in managing border control. What can be done about this
problem?

Answer: Consider implementing or using Biometric technologies.

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Some examples of different biometric traits:

a) Face or infrared facial

b) Fingerprint
c) Ear
d) Voice
e) Palm print, hand geometry, hand vein thermograms
f) Iris
g) Retina Scan
h) DNA
i) Signatures
j) Gait – the way a person walks
k) Keystroke dynamics – how one presses the keys on a computer key board for example.
l) Gait - the specific way one walks and this can be influenced by injuries involving joints
or injuries to the brain and the aging process

The Operation of a Biometric System involves using a pattern recognition system that:

a) acquires biometric data from an individual

b) extracts a salient feature set from the data
c) compares the feature set against feature set(s) stored in the database
d) executes an action based on the result of the comparison

Therefore, it is composed of four main modules namely:

1. Sensor module
2. Quality assessment and feature extraction module
3. Matching and decision making module
4. System database module

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Applications and Terminology

Identification:

Match a person’s biometrics against a database to figure out his identity by finding the
closest match. Commonly referred to as 1:N matching. This is very important in Criminal
Watch-list application scenarios.

Verification:

The person claims to be ‘John’, system must match and compare his or her biometrics with
John’s stored biometrics. If they match, then user is ‘verified’ or authenticated that he is
indeed ‘John’. This is important in access control application scenarios. This is typically
referred to as 1:1 matching.

Summary on Biometrics

Despite its rapid proliferation, the study of biometric technology has mostly been restricted to
a fairly small community of biometric researchers and practitioners due to two reasons.
Firstly, biometric recognition is often considered as a rather specialized field and is typically
taught only as part of a course on pattern recognition, computer vision, or image processing.

However, it is important to realize that biometric recognition is a broad and important subject
in its own right; challenges and issues involved in the design of biometric systems go beyond
pattern recognition and encompasses a variety of other topics including applied statistics,
sensor design, software engineering, information theory, and human factors. Secondly,
Knowledge about biometric technologies is primarily contained in research articles and
books written for the research community, which are accessible only to those with a prior
introduction to this field. The primary purposes in this Unit were to provide you with an
introduction to the basic concepts and methodologies for biometric recognition and to build a
foundation that can be used as the basis for more in-depth study and research on this topic.

To fulfil these objectives, we focused only on key illustrative techniques that are widely used
in the biometrics community, rather than providing a detailed analysis of the state-of-the-art

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advancements. The next paragraphs provides you with insights on the field of
Bioinformatics.

Bioinformatics

Only an elementary overview of bioinformatics will be presented in the following here and
this is intended to provide you with some few concepts relating to the subject. In brief,
bioinformatics deals with the computational management and analysis of biological
information: genes, genomes, proteins, cells, ecological systems, medical information and
robots.

Basic Concepts

The conceptual foundations of bioinformatics are based on the following elements:

1. Evolution
2. Protein folding
3. Protein function

Bioinformatics makes every effort to build mathematical models of these biological

processes in order to work out relationships between components of complex biological
systems. Let us consider a practical example here by exploring bioinformatics efforts in drug
development.

Bioinformatics in Practice - The Search for New Anti-Malarial Drugs

You may be aware that Malaria is one of the leading causes of loss of human lives in the
tropical regions of the world, Zambia included.
Globally, an estimated 300 to 500 million clinical cases and 1.5 million to 2.7 million deaths
per year are recorded around the world. Nearly all fatal cases are caused by a parasite called
plasmodium falciparum. The parasite's resistance to a conventional anti-malarial drug known
as chloroquine was found to be growing at an alarming rate. Through bioinformatics
technologies, new and more effective drugs have been developed. Bioinformatics contributed
some of the vital knowledge needed to create these new anti-malaria formulations.

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In general, bioinformatics is a broad term covering the use of computer algorithms to analyze
biological data. It differs from computational biology in that while computational biology is
the use of computer technology to solve a single, hypothesis-based question, bioinformatics
is the collective use of computerized statistical analysis to make statistical or comparative
inferences. That is to ultimately convert data into useful and meaningful information that
guide scientific developments and other related purposes.

11.7 ACTIVITIES

Potential Users of Biometric Technologies in Zambia:

Using the ZAMTEL Telephone Directory, go to the section for the Lusaka District telephone
subscribers. Go through the pages and identify which organizations or institutions are likely
to use the biometric technologies.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

11.8 SUMMARY

Biometric techniques can present far more reliable methods of measuring and
analyzing a person's physiological or behavioural characteristics. Every person’s
characteristics are unique and hence individual identities can be established much more
precisely. The next Unit provides you with a concise description of electronic government
(or e-government) and its key characteristics.

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12.0 UNIT ELEVEN: ELECTRONIC GOVERNEMENT

12.1 INTRODUCTION

Electronic government or e-government is an electronic commerce model in which

a government entity buys or provides goods, services or information to institutions,
organizations, businesses and individual citizens. This Unit will provide the definition and
scope of the e-government model.

12.2 AIM

To explore e-government and its influence to government operations

12.3 OBJECTIVES

At the end of this unit you should be able to do the following

 Define the e-government model

 Describe collaborative e-government initiatives and developments

12.4 TIME REQUIRED

3 Hours.

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12.5 REFLECTION

The Growing Use of E-Government for Citizens, Businesses and Government Functions

Governments, like any other organization, can use ecommerce applications for great savings
and increased effectiveness. Notable applications are electronic procurement using
electronic payments to and from citizens and businesses, auctioning of surplus goods and
electronic travel and expense management systems.

Governments also conduct electronic business with other governments. Governments can
also improve national security aspects using electronic commerce tools. Therefore
governments are providing a variety of services to citizens over the Internet. Such initiatives
increase citizen’s satisfaction and decrease government expenses in providing customer
service applications including electronic voting.

What do you consider to be some of the duties of any Government of a Country? In other
words, you think about what services citizens and residents of country expect their
government to provide for them.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

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12.6 CONTENT

Electronic government, or e-government, is a growing electronic commerce application that

encompasses many areas. Before the subject of e-government is looked into specifically, it is
helpful to briefly present an explanation of electronic commerce (e-commerce) and electronic
business (e-business).

Electronic commerce (EC) basically refers to the process of buying, selling, transferring, or
exchanging products, services and information using computer networks, mostly the Internet
and intranets. EC can be conducted in an electronic market where buyers and sellers meet
online to exchange goods, services, money or information. Electronic markets are connected
to sellers and buyers via the Internet or using intranets belonging to corporate or government
networks.

The term e-business refers to a broader definition of EC, not just the buying and selling of
goods and services, but also servicing customers, collaborating with business partners and
conducting electronic transactions within an organization. EC can take several forms
depending on the degree of digitization. As e-commerce matures and its tools and
applications improve, greater attention is being given to its use in improving the business of
public institutions and governments.

Modes of E-Government

In e-government, information technology in general and e-commerce in particular are used to

provide citizens and organizations with a more convenient access to government information
and services. Moreover, the goal is to provide effective delivery of public services to citizens,
business partners and those working in the public sector. This form of commerce is also an
efficient and effective way of conducting government business transactions with citizens and
businesses, and transacting effectively within governments themselves.

Some common types of e-commerce models for governments are the government-to-citizen
(G2C), government-to-business (G2B), government-to-employee (G2E) and government-to-
government (G2G).

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The G2G model is very important. It enables governments to collaborate easily and faster in
responding to international disasters, in mobilising resources to mitigate social calamities
caused by earth quakes, wars, floods or hurricanes in some parts of the world. So G2G may
involve units within the government or across different governments.

Internal Efficiency and Effectiveness

Governments have to set an example of efficiency and effectiveness of their operation in

order for them to inspire citizens and businesses to do the same. Unfortunately, only a few
governments or units within governments attempt to do it. E-commerce provides an
opportunity to significantly improve operations.

The following internal initiatives provide tools for improving the effectiveness and efficiency
of government operations. Mostly, the processes are intrabusiness applications implemented
in various government units. Some examples are:

E-payroll – This consolidates systems at several centres across the government.

E-records management – This establishes uniform procedures and standards for agencies in
converting paper-based records to electronic files.
E-training – This provides a repository or storage of government owned course resources.

Implementing E-government

Like most other organizations, government entities want to move into the digital era.
Therefore, one can find a large number of ecommerce applications in government
organizations.

The transformation from traditional delivery of government services to full implementation

of online government services may be a lengthy process. There are a number of issues and
stages involved in the transformation to e-government though the stages may not require to
be performed in a sequential way.

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By using Web 2.0 tools and the higher versions and embracing social networks, governments
can raise the effectiveness of their online presence. Doing so can enable governments or their
agencies to improve the quality and responsiveness of services in areas like education, health,
environmental management and, at the same time, deliver services with greater speed and
efficiency. Some governments are now using web based tools for collaboration,
dissemination of information, e-learning and citizen engagement.

12.7 ACTIVITIES

Government Services and Citizens

1. With reference to your earlier exercise under the Reflection section located at the
beginning of this Unit, take a moment once again to think about the services that a
citizen expects to be provided by the government. Next you spend some time and
think about services residents of a city may expect to receive from their municipality.
Use Lusaka City Council and the residents of Lusaka as an example. NB: Instead of
Lusaka, you may alternatively consider another City or District that you are familiar
with.

Now you create a list of the services you think can be delivered using e-government
technologies or systems.

2. Enter few.com and read the latest news on e-government. Identify initiatives not
covered in this Unit. Check the B2G (business-to-government) corner. Then enter the
gen.com. Finally, enter estrategy.gov. Compare the information presented on the three
sites.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

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12.8 SUMMARY

A number of governments have embraced e-government commerce and Zambia, in

particular, has taken some significant steps towards the implementation of

e-government related technologies. It is also worth noting that the development and
implementation of a fibre optic technology in Zambia means increased speed in Internet
related services and systems. This will, in turn, make the use of electronic commerce systems
even more practical and beneficial to all persons, companies and organizations needing
e-commerce services.

The next Unit explores green computing initiatives. Sometimes, green computing is referred
to as green IT.

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13.0 UNIT TWELVE: GREEN COMPUTING

13.1 INTRODUCTION

The growing power consumption of computing technology and high energy costs
are having a direct negative impact on organizations and the environment.
Enterprises or businesses are trying to reduce energy costs and increase the use of recyclable
materials. Computing technologies are now adopting environmentally friendly practices.

So with an increased awareness about the damage to the physical environment and
ecosystems, organizations and individuals are looking at potential improvements and savings
that can be made in the computing industry. These efforts are known as Green IT.

Green computing which is the study and practice of eco-friendly computing resources is now
a key concern of businesses in all industries – not just environmental organizations.

13.2 AIM

To explore Green Computing practices

13.3 OBJECTIVES

At the end of this unit you should be able to do the following

 Define Green computing

 Describe Green computing developments in society

13.4 TIME REQUIRED

3 Hours.

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13.5 REFLECTION

Understanding Green Computing:

What are your views regarding the use of recycled items?

For example, commercial practices where empty toner cartridges are sent back to factories so
that they are refilled with ink for further use by consumers. In the same way, used plastics,
glass bottles and old packaging materials are collected and sent back to factories as possible
raw materials.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Below is a snapshot of Green Computing:

Green Computing has become an innovative way on how technology and ecology cam
converge together. In the recent years, many industries and companies have turned their
attention in realizing how going 'green' can benefit public relations, reduce operational costs
and lower global emissions of waste materials from industrial manufacturing activities.

Although the term Green Computing covers a vast range of methods, from energy saving
techniques to the study of materials used in our lives, it all fundamentally breaks down to
finding ways not to damage or consume all of the earth's natural resources. Ultimately Green
Computing focuses on ways of reducing the overall environmental impact due to human
activities in the world. Its main purpose is to find and promote new ways of reducing
pollution, discovering alternative technologies and creating more recyclable products to
preserve nature and maintain a sustainable climate or environment.

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13.6 CONTENT

Green Computing is the term used to denote the efficient use of resources in computing. This
term generally relates to the use of computing resources in conjunction with minimizing
environmental impact, maximizing economic viability and ensuring social duties. Green
Computing is very much related to other similar movements like reducing the use of
environmentally hazardous materials like carbons, promoting the use of recyclable materials,
minimizing use of non-biodegradable components and encouraging the use of sustainable
resources.

One of the spin-offs of Green Computing is the EPEAT or Electronic Products

Environmental Assessment Tool. EPEAT products serve to increase the efficiency and life of
computing products. Moreover, these products are designed to minimize energy
expenditures, minimize maintenance activities throughout the life of the product and allow
the re-use or recycling of some materials.

The first manifestation of the Green Computing movement was the launch of the ENERGY
STAR program back in 1992 and ENERGY STAR served as a kind of voluntary label
awarded to computing products that succeeded in minimizing the use of energy while
maximizing efficiency. Indeed ENERGY STAR has been applied to products like computer
monitors, television sets and temperature control devices like refrigerators, air conditioners,
and similar items.

One of the first results of Green Computing is the sleep mode function of computer monitors
which place a consumer's electronic equipment on standby mode when a pre-set period of
time passes when user activity is not detected. As the concept developed, Green Computing
began to encompass thin client solutions, energy cost accounting, virtualization practices and
eWaste.

Green Computing Practices

Some common Green Computing practices include turning off the monitor when it is not in
use or using more energy efficient monitors like LCDs instead of traditional CRT monitors,
volunteer computing or file sharing practices, virtualization of servers, using more energy
efficient and less noisy cooling systems, like using liquid cooling systems instead of the

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conventional heat sinks and fans, temperature maintenance and regulation to reduce thermal
shock wear and tear to computer parts. Also increased online security measures through the
use of firewalls, anti spyware and anti virus programs to reduce the increasing amount of
eWaste on the Internet and on other networks.

Exercise: eWaste

What is eWaste? You go online and do search on what is meant by eWaste.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Distinctive Features of a Green Computer

Green computer features help in determining whether what the computer users buy is truly
green or not. Most computer manufacturers have introduced a series of green computing
devices or products but do not investigate the following features to ascertain how green their
computers are:

Low Use of Hazardous Elements: A lot of hazardous substances are used in the production of
a computer ranging from the more lethal ones like cadmium, lead, chromium, and mercury to
the relatively less hazardous ones like flame retardants, pesticides, and chlorinated plastics. A
green computer should ideally be completely free of these lethal substances. Thus the
Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineers (IEEE) environmental performance criteria
requires the manufacturers of green computers to explicitly declare the percentage
composition of these substances on the product. As for the less hazardous substances, the
focus is on the reduction of their use, since their elimination may not be completely possible.

Energy Efficiency is one of the features of Green Computers that pleases not only the
environmental enthusiasts but also the budget-conscious buyer. Every green computer will
have an energy star rating on it, and the more the stars the more energy efficient the computer
will be. Some green computers are also available with the option of running them on
renewable energy like solar energy, for which the manufacturers will supply with all the
required accessories.

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Recycled Materials Used for Manufacturing: A truly green computer will have most of its
components, especially the plastic ones, made of recycled materials. Indeed the
manufacturers are required to declare the percentage of recycled material used in the
production of the computer and it should be within a minimum threshold of 10 percent.
However, it is more environmentally friendly to opt for a computer built with more than 25
percent of recycled material. Ideally, printed circuit boards are the only things that may not
contain recycled material.

End of Life Recovery: The green computers are designed in such a way that at the end of their
life their components can be easily reused, disassembled or recycled. A minimum of 65% of
the parts of the computer should be recyclable or reusable. Apparently, some of the better
brands of green computers guarantee a minimum of 90% reusable or recyclable parts. Also,
the parts that are hazardous should be marked accordingly for easy identification and expert
handling.

There are several other factors important to green computing initiatives. These are presented
below:-

Use of Renewable and Bio-Based Materials: Another of the important green computer
feature is the increased use of renewable or bio-based materials. Again a minimum of 10
percent of such materials should have been used in the production of the green computer
components, and the same must be declared.

Longer Life: Green computers come in modular and upgradeable designs with the idea of
extending their life cycle. The manufacturers are required to provide a minimum of 3 years
warranty or guarantee, and they must also ensure that the replacement parts will be made
available to all buyers up to a minimum of five years and this is certainly a good reason to
buy a green computer.

End of Life Take-back Facility: Every green computer comes with a take-back policy,
wherein the manufacturer provisions to take back the computer at the end of its life and offer
the buyer a new purchase at a competitive price. Hence, it is mandatory to verify the brand of
Green Computer in buying or taking back.

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Manufacturer's Certification: Before settle on a particular brand of green computers, must
ensure that its manufacturer has ISO-14001 certification, which is the bare minimum for a
manufacturer to qualify as environmental-policy compliant.

Packaging Material: Further the question of the material used in recyclable packages is too
important. Hence checking the packaging material details is essential to see that the
material used is completely non-toxic and at least 90% of it is recyclable. It will be
even better if the packaging is made of recycled material.

13.7 ACTIVITIES

EPEAT (Electronic Products Environmental Assessment Tool ) Ratings:

Site: www.epeat.net
Before making the final decision of the purchase a bit of research on www.epeat.net, where
On this site, all green computers and laptops have been assigned a rating. This clearly tells
the buyers how Green the computer is. The buyer can basically find detailed reports on how
each of these computers score on the different environmental criteria.

You go on this site and explore the content as it relates to initiatives directed at effective
management of green computing issues in the ICT industry.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………..

13.8 SUMMARY

Modern computing systems rely upon a complicated mix of people, networks and
hardware. As such, green computing initiatives must cover all of these areas as well.

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You have now come to the end of the Emerging Trends in ICT module.

ZCAS and UNZA are glad that you have successfully completed this module on the
BSc. Computing with Education undergraduate programme. It is our hope that the module
has given you knowledge and skills in the area of current and emerging technologies in ICT
and how these are improving and impacting individual lifestyles, business operations and
environments, governments as well as all societies at different levels of development in the
world.

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Some Useful References

1. Chaffey, D. (2009) E-Business and E-Commerce Management – Strategy, Implementation and

Practice, FT Prentice Hall, 4th Edition.

2. Laudon, C.L. and Laudon, J.P. (2007) Management Information Systems – Managing the Digital
Firm, PEARSON, 10th Edition.

3. Turban, E., King, D., Lee, J., Liang, T. and Turban, D. (2012) Electronic Commerce 2012 – A
Managerial and Social Networks Perspective, PEARSON, 7th Edition.

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