Chapter 5:

IT Infrastructure and Emerging

Technologies
Laurel Qi

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Content agenda
1. IT infrastructure and its evolution
2. Contemporary trends of hardware & software
platform
3. Management issues of IT infrastructure

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IT infrastructure and its evolution
 IT infrastructure is…

Not only a set of physical devices (e.g.,hardware)

and software

But also a set of firm-wide services/service platform

◦ Computing platforms providing computing services
◦ Telecommunications services
◦ Data management services
◦ Application software services
◦ Physical facilities management services
◦ IT management, standards, education, research and development
services Big companies spend 1/3 or half of
the capital investment in IT!

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IT infrastructure and its evolution
Mainframe and minicomputer era (1959- 1st Platform
present)

Personal computer era (1981-present)

Client/server era (1983-present)

2nd Platform

Enterprise Internet computing era (1992-

present)

Cloud Computing era (2000-present)

3rd Platform

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IT infrastructure and its evolution
 Mainframe and minicomputer era (1959-
present)

Nowadays…IBM mainframe computer dominates >

90%market, and mainly used by government and large
organizations for huge amount of data processing

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IT infrastructure and its evolution
 Personal computer era (1981-present)

Have functions such as word processors and spreadsheets.

These PCs are standalone systems..cannot be connected with
each other…

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IT infrastructure and its evolution
 Client/server era (1983-present)

• Desktop clients networked to servers, with processing work

split between clients and servers
• Network may be two-tiered or multitiered (N-tiered)
• Various types of servers (application, Web, database server)
• Distribute computing work across a series of small and
inexpensive machines…

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IT infrastructure and its evolution
 Enterprise computing era (1992 to present)

PC,
Mobile
devices
,
Smaller
Mainfra
networks
mes…

Move toward integrating disparate networks,

applications using Internet standards (TCP/IP) and
enterprise applications

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IT infrastructure and its evolution
 Cloud Computing (2000 to present)

• Definition: a model of computing that provides access to a

shared pool of computing resources (computers, storage,
applications, and services), over a network, often the
Internet.
• Cloud data center – IBM, HP, Dell, Amazon.
• Fastest growing form of computing.

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IT infrastructure and its evolution
 7 components of IT infrastructure

Getting familiar
with the
technologies and
vendor’s names…

There are seven major components

that must be coordinated to provide
the firm with a coherent IT
infrastructure.

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Contemporary trends of
hardware

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Contemporary trends of hardware
 The emerging mobile digital platform
◦ Business computing is increasingly moving from PCs and desktops to mobile
devices, and managers are increasingly using these to coordinate work and
communicate with employees.
◦ Cell phones, smartphones
 Have assumed data transmission, Web surfing, e-mail and IM duties
◦ Netbooks:
 Small, low-cost lightweight notebooks optimized for
wireless communication and core computing tasks
◦ Tablets (iPad)
◦ Networked e-readers (Kindle)

◦ Wearable devices (smart watches, smart glasses)

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Contemporary trends of hardware
 Two new technology trends:
◦ The device mesh
 refers to an expanding set of endpoints people use to access applications and
information or interact with people, social communities, governments and
businesses.
 The device mesh includes mobile devices, wearable devices, consumer and
home electronic devices, automotive devices and environmental devices – such
as sensors in the Internet of Things (IoT).

◦ Consumerization of IT and BYOD

 BYOD – “Bring Your Own Device”: Allowing employees to use their personal mobile
devices in the workplace.
 Consumerization: New Information technology that first emerges in the consumer market
spreads into business organizations. E.g., Google Apps, Dropbox, social networking sites.
 http://www.google.com/enterprise/apps/business/products.html

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Contemporary trends of hardware
 Cloud computing
What is
cloud
computing?

Through cloud computing …firms and individuals obtain computer

processing, storage, software, and other services as a pool of
virtualized resources over a network, primarily the Internet.

Businesses and employees have access to applications and IT

infrastructure anywhere, at any time, and on any device.

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Contemporary trends of hardware
 Cloud computing for Individuals
Examples
?

Personal storage – Google drive

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKJ9KzGQq0w

 Cloud computing for Business Key focus

On-demand (utility) computing services obtained

over network – pay what you have used! Rent!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ae_DKNwK_ms

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Contemporary trends of hardware
 Types of cloud computing:
◦ Based on service provided:
 Software as a service (SaaS) – customers use software hosted by
the vendor on the vendor’s hardware and delivered over a
network. Users can access these applications remotely.
 Platform as a service (PaaS) – customers use infrastructure and
programming tools hosted by the service provider to develop their
own applications
 Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) – customers use processing,
storage, networking, and other computing resources from cloud
service provider to run their own information systems.

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Contemporary trends of hardware
 Types of cloud computing:
Users: Number of providers:
• End users SaaS • Thousands of applications in
the cloud (CRM, ERP, Email)
• Application
PaaS
developers • Few cloud platforms
(Microsoft Azure)
• Infrastructure and IaaS
Network architects • Elite group of providers (AWS)

Duty of the client company

Duty of the service provider

https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-difference-
between-IaaS-SaaS-and-Paas

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Contemporary trends of hardware
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJncFirhjPg

SaaS
SaaS

PaaS
PaaS

IaaS IaaS

A web browser
and a stable
internet

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Contemporary trends of hardware
 Types of cloud computing
◦ Based on location
 Public cloud: In Public cloud the computing infrastructure is hosted by the cloud
vendor at the vendor’s premises. The customer has no visibility and control over
where the computing infrastructure is hosted. The computing infrastructure is
shared between any organizations.

 Private cloud: The computing infrastructure is dedicated to a particular organization

and not shared with other organizations. Private clouds are more expensive and
more secure when compared to public clouds.

 Hybrid cloud: A mixed-up usage of both private and public cloud. Organizations may
host critical applications on private clouds and applications with relatively less
security concerns on the public cloud.

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Contemporary trends of hardware
 Types of cloud computing
 Differences between public, private and hybrid cloud

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Contemporary trends of hardware
◦ The rise of cloud computing is changing the nature of the IT
industry – “A sea change in the way computing is performed in
the organization.”

From the business perspective, what are the benefits and

problems of using cloud computing? What kind of company are
more suitable to use CC?

 Benefits: scalability, lower cost, more flexibility

 Problems: security, reliability, over-dependent on vendor, cost?
 Company: SMEs, large firms who are looking for more
flexibility in IT infrastructure, start-ups without too
many legacy systems.

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Contemporary trends of hardware
 Edge computing
 A method of optimizing cloud computing systems by
performing some data processing on a set of linked servers at
the edge of the network, near the source of the data.
 Brings computation and data storage closer to the location
where it is needed, to improve response times and save
bandwidth.
 Useful for the context of sensors/IoT devices that do not need
to be constantly connected to the central cloud; good for real-
time big data analytics; and financial services that milliseconds
of delay cannot be tolerant.

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Contemporary trends of
software

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Contemporary trends of software
 Linux and open-source software

◦ Open-source software:
Produced by a community of programmers, free and
modifiable by users. It permits users to study, change, improve
and at times also to distribute the software. E.g., Apache web
server.

◦ Linux: Open-source software Operating System

◦ MySQL: Open-source relational database management system

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Contemporary trends of software
 Software sources:
Originally Now

Make Make

Purchase software
package

Buy
Outsourcing

Rent SaaS (Cloud)

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Contemporary trends of software
 IT Outsourcing and cloud services
Software outsourcing (domestic or offshore)
◦ Domestic:
 Primarily for middleware, integration services, software support
◦ Offshore:
 Primarily for lower level maintenance, data entry, call centers,
although outsourcing for new-program development is increasing
Software as a service SaaS (Cloud service)
Services for delivering and providing access to software
remotely as a web-based service.
SaaS providers: Google,
Microsoft, SAP, Oracle,
Saleforce.com, Amazon.

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Contemporary trends of software
Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Computing Networking

Content
Analytics delivery

Amazon
Web Data
Services storage
Application
services

Database

Management
Deployment

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a collection of web services that Amazon

provides to users of its cloud platform. AWS is the largest provider of cloud
computing services in the United States.

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Management issues
 Dealing with platform and infrastructure change
◦ As firms shrink or grow, IT needs to be flexible and scalable
◦ Scalability:
 Ability to expand to serve larger numbers of users without
breaking down… in face of launching new applications, MA,
change in business scale…
New challenges:
◦ For mobile computing and cloud computing
 New policies and procedures to track, update, and control…
(management and security concerns)
 New contractual agreements with remote vendors to detail
security, reliability, and disaster recovery plans...

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Management issues
 Making wise infrastructure investments What kind of
company is
◦ Amount to spend on IT is a complex question suitable for
 Rent vs. buy, outsourcing “rent”?

After you make a decision…

◦ Total cost of ownership (TCO) model
 Analyzes direct and indirect costs
 Hardware, software account for only about 20% of TCO
 Other costs: Installation, training, support, maintenance,
infrastructure, downtime, space and energy
 TCO can be reduced through use of cloud services, greater
centralization and standardization of hardware and software
resources

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Management issues
Competitive forces model for IT infrastructure investment

“How much should our firm spend on IT infrastructure?”

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Closing words
 Key Points Today
 Evolution of IT infrastructure
 Contemporary hardware and software trends (mobile and
cloud computing)
 Management issues
 Home reading case:
• Is BYOD Good for Business?
• Are Cars Becoming Big Brother on Wheels?

Thank you! Have a good weekend!

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