IT INFRASTRUCTURE

What is Infrastructure?
 In information technology and on the Internet, infrastructure is the
physical hardware used to interconnect computers and users.
Infrastructure includes the transmission media, including telephone lines,
cable television lines, satellites antennas, routers, and other devices that
control transmission paths. Infrastructure also includes the software used
to send, receive, and manage the signals that are transmitted.

Information technology infrastructure is the integrated framework

upon which digital networks operate. This infrastructure includes data
centers,computers, computer networks, Database
Management devices, and a regulatory system.
INFRASTRUCTURE COMPONENTS

THERE ARE SEVEN MAJOR COMPONENTS THAT MUST BE

COORDINATED TO PROVIDE THE FIRM WITH A COHERENT IT
INFRASTRUCTURE.
1. COMPUTER HARDWARE PLATFORMS
COMPUTER HARDWARE PLATFORMS INCLUDE CLIENT MACHINES AND SERVER
MACHINES, AS WELL AS MODERN MAINFRAMES PRODUCED BY IBM. US FIRMS SPENT
ABOUT $145 BILLION ON COMPUTER HARDWARE.

2. OPERATING SYSTEM PLATFORMS

OPERATING SYSTEM PLATFORMS INCLUDE PLATFORMS FOR CLIENT COMPUTERS,
DOMINATED BY WINDOWS OPERATING SYSTEMS, AND SERVERS, DOMINATED BY THE
VARIOUS FORMS OF THE UNIX OPERATING SYSTEM OR LINUX. OPERATING
SYSTEMS ARE SOFTWARE THAT MANAGE THE RESOURCES AND ACTIVITIES OF THE
COMPUTER AND ACT AS AN INTERFACE FOR THE USER.

3. ENTERPRISE SOFTWARE APPLICATIONS

ENTERPRISE SOFTWARE APPLICATIONS INCLUDESAP, ORACLE, AND PEOPLESOFT,

AND MIDDLEWARE SOFTWARE THAT ARE USED TO LINK A FIRM'S EXISTING
APPLICATION SYSTEMS.
4. DATA MANAGEMENT AND STORAGE
DATA MANAGEMENT AND STORAGE IS HANDLED BY DATABASE
MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE AND STORAGE DEVICES INCLUDE
TRADITIONAL STORAGE METHODS, SUCH AS DISK ARRAYS AND TAPE
LIBRARIES, AND NEWER NETWORK-BASED STORAGE TECHNOLOGIES
SUCH AS STORAGE AREA NETWORKS (SANS). SANS CONNECT
MULTIPLE STORAGE DEVICES ON DEDICATED HIGH-SPEED
NETWORKS.

5. NETWORKING AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS

PLATFORMS
NETWORKING AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS PLATFORMS
INCLUDE WINDOWS SERVER OPERATING SYSTEMS, NOVELL,
LINUX, AND UNIX. NEARLY ALL LAN AND MANY WIDE AREA
NETWORKS (WANS) USE THE TCP/IP STANDARDS FOR
NETWORKING.
6. INTERNET PLATFORMS
INTERNET PLATFORMS OVERLAP WITH, AND MUST RELATE TO, THE
FIRM'S GENERAL NETWORKING INFRASTRUCTURE AND HARDWARE
AND SOFTWARE PLATFORMS. INTERNET-RELATED INFRASTRUCTURE
INCLUDES THE HARDWARE, SOFTWARE AND SERVICES TO MAINTAIN
CORPORATE WEB SITES, INTRANETS, AND EXTRANETS, INCLUDING
WEB HOSTING SERVICES AND WEB SOFTWARE APPLICATION
DEVELOPMENT TOOLS.

7. CONSULTING AND SYSTEM INTEGRATION SERVICES

CONSULTING AND SYSTEM INTEGRATION SERVICES ARE RELIED ON
FOR INTEGRATING A FIRM'S LEGACY SYSTEMS WITH NEW
TECHNOLOGY AND INFRASTRUCTURE AND PROVIDING EXPERTISE IN
IMPLEMENTING NEW INFRASTRUCTURE ALONG WITH RELEVANT
CHANGES IN BUSINESS PROCESSES, TRAINING, AND SOFTWARE
INTEGRATION.
MAKING WISE INFRASTRUCTURE
INVESTMENT

IT Infrastructure is a major capital

investment for the firm. If too much is
spent on infrastructure, it lies idle and
constitutes a drag on firm financial
performance. If too little is spent,
important business services cannot be
delivered and firms competitors will
outperform in the under investing firm.
DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
A DATABASEIS A COLLECTION OF RECORDS. DATABASE
MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS ARE DESIGNED AS THE MEANS OF
MANAGING ALL THE RECORDS. DATABASE MANAGEMENT IS A
SOFTWARE SYSTEM THAT USES A STANDARD METHOD AND RUNNING
QUERIES WITH SOME OF THEM DESIGNED FOR THE OVERSIGHT AND
PROPER CONTROL OF DATABASES.

Types of Database Management Systems:

There are four structural types of database
management systems:
 Hierarchical databases.

 Network databases.

 Relational databases.

 Object-oriented databases
USING DATABASES TO IMPROVE BUSINESS PERFORMANCE
AND DECISION-MAKING
Businesses use their databases to:
 Keep track of basic transactions
 Provide information that will help the company run the business more efficiently
 Help managers and employees make better decisions
In a large company, special capabilities and tools are required for analyzing vast
quantities of data and for accessing data from multiple systems, such as:
Data warehouse: a database that stores current and historical data from core operational
transactional systems for use in management analysis, but this data cannot be altered.
Data mart: A subset of a data warehouse in which a summarized or highly
focused portion of the organization's data is placed in a separate database for a
specific population of users.

Business intelligence (BI) tools: Data analysis tools used for consolidating,
analyzing, and accessing vast stores of data to help in decision making, such as
software for database query and reporting, tools for multidimensional data
analysis (online analytical processing), and data mining.
 Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) supports multidimensional data analysis,
enabling users to view the same data in different ways using multiple dimensions

Data mining finds hidden patterns and relationships and infers rules from these to
predict future behavior. The types of information obtainable from data mining include
•Associations
•Sequences
•Classifications
•Clustering
•Forecasting
Predictive analysis uses data mining techniques, historical data, and assumptions
about future conditions to predict outcomes of events, such as the probability a customer will
respond to an offer or purchase a specific product.
TYPES OF NETWORK
Common examples of area
network types are:
 LAN - Local Area

Network
 WLAN - Wireless Local
Area
Network
 WAN - Wide Area

Network
 MAN - Metropolitan Area
Network
 SAN - Storage Area Network,
System Area Network, Server
Area Network, or sometimes
Small Area Network
 CAN - Campus Area Network,
Controller Area Network, or
sometimes Cluster Area
Network
 PAN - Personal Area Network
 DAN - Desk Area Network
WHAT IS TRANSMISSION MEDIA ?
TRANSMISSION MEDIA IS A PATHWAY THAT CARRIES THE
INFORMATION FROM SENDER TO RECEIVER. WE USE DIFFERENT
TYPES OF CABLES OR WAVES TO TRANSMIT DATA. DATA IS
TRANSMITTED NORMALLY THROUGH ELECTRICAL OR
ELECTROMAGNETIC SIGNALS.

Types of transmission media:

Transmission media is broadly classified into two groups.
 1. Wired or Guided Media or Bound Transmission Media
 2. Wireless or Unguided Media or Unbound Transmission Media
Wireless or Unguided Media or Unbound Transmission
Media: Unbound transmission media are the ways of
transmitting data without using any cables. These media are
not bounded by physical geography. This type of transmission
is called Wireless communication.

Wired or Guided Media or Bound Transmission

Media: Bound transmission media are the cables that
are tangible or have physical existence and are limited
by the physical geography. Popular bound transmission
media in use are twisted pair cable, co-axial cable and
fiber optical cable.
WHAT IS INTERNET?
 The Internet is a global system
of interconnected computer
networks that use the
standard Internet protocol suite
(TCP/IP) to serve several billion
users worldwide. It is
a network of networks that
consists of millions of private,
public, academic, business, and
government networks, of local to
global scope, that are linked by a
broad array of electronic, wireless
and optical networking
technologies.
INTERNET BASED COMMUNICATION TOOLS
 There are many different kinds of Internet
communications tool, such as email, VoIP, forums,
online chat and social networking among others.
Using the latest tools and methods of communicating
over the Internet is essential for bringing your
business into the modern age of communication and
marketing.
WIRELESS REVOLUTION
 The revolution is expected to dramatically affect the way we
communicate and use computer technology. Wireless will change
the significance of location. Time-zone and cost now matter more
than mere distance. Indeed, in some ways, the mobile telephone
dispenses with physical geography even more effectively than does
the Internet. To tap into their e-mail, most folk still have to plug in
somewhere in the world (although that too will change as new
mobile gadgets