REVIEW BAB 4

IT Infrastructure: Hardware and Software

IT infrastructure is composed of five major components:

1. Computer Hardware
Computer hardware consist of technology for computer processing, data storage, input and output. This component includes large mainframes, servers, desktop and laptop computers, and mobile devices for accessing corporate data and the internet.

2. Computer Software
Computer software includes both system software and application software. System software manages the resources and activities of the computer. Application software applies the computer for a specific task for an end user, such as processing an order or generating a mailing list

3. Data Management Technology
Data management software organizes, manages, and processes business data concerned with inventory, customers and vendors.

4. Networking and Telecommunications Technology
Networking and telecommunications technology provides data, voice, and video connectivity to employees, customers, and suppliers.

5. Technology Services
Technology services is the people who run and manage the other infrastructure components, we have just described and to train employees in how to use these technologies for their work.


Computers are categorized as mainframes, midrange computers, PCs, workstations, or supercomputers. Mainframes are the largest computers, midrange computers are servers, PCs are desktop or laptop machines, workstations are desktop machines with powerful mathematical and graphic capabilities, and supercomputers are sophisticated, powerful computers that can perform massive and complex computations rapidly. Computing power can be further increased by creating a computational grid that combines the computing power of all the computers on a network. In the client/server model of computing, computer processing is split between “clients” and “servers” connected via a network. The exact division of task between client server depend on application.

The principal secondary storage technologies are magnetic disc, optical disc, and magnetic tape. Optical CD-ROOM and DVD discs can store vast anmounts of data compactly and some types are rewritable. Storage area networks (SANs) connect multiple storage devices on a separate high-speed network dedicated to storage. The principal input devices area keyboard, computer mice, touch screen, magnetic ink and optical character recognition devices, pen-based instrument, digital scanners, sensors, audio input devices, and radio frequency indetification devices. The principal output devices are display monitors, printers, and output devices audio.
The two major types of software are system software and application software. System software coordinates the various part of the computer system and mediates between application software and computer hardware. Application software is used to develop specific business application.

The system software that manages and controls the activities of the computer is called the operating system. Leading PC and server operating system include Wiindows Vista, Windows 7, Windows server 2008, UNIX, and the macintosh operating system. Linux is a powerful, resilient open source operating system that can run on multiple hardware platforms and is used widely to run web server.

The principal programming languages used in business application software include COBOL, C, C++, and visual basic. Fourth-generation languages are less procedural than conventional programming languages and enable end users to perform many software task that previously required technical specialists. They include popular PC cloud-based desktop productivity tools, such as word processing, spreadsheet, data management, presentation graphics, and web browser software. Java is an operating-system-and hardware-independent programming language that is the leading interactive programming environment for the web. HTML is a page description language for creating Web pages.

Web services are loosely coupled software components based on XML and open web standards that can work with any application software and operating system. They can be used as components of web-based application to link the systems of two different organizations or to link disparate system of a single company.

Increasingly, computing is taking place on a mobile digital platform. Cloud computing provides hardware and software resources as services delivered over the internet. In autonomic computing, computer system have capabilities for automatically configuring and repairing themselves. Open source software is proliferating because it allows user to modify the software at will and use it as a platform for new derivative applications. Mashups and widgets are the building blocks of new software applications and services using the cloud computing model. Software as a services (SaaS) delivers software remotely as an on-demand Web-based service.

Managers and information system specialist need to pay special attention to hardware capacity planning and scalability to ensure that the firm has enough computing power for its current and future need to balance the costs and benefitsof building and maintaining their own hardware and software versus outsourcing or using an on-demand computing model. The total cost of ownership (TCO) of the organization’s technology assets includes not only the orginal cost of computer hardware and software but also costs for hardware and software upgrades, maintenance, technical support, and training, including the costs for managing and maintaining mobile devices. Companies with global operations need to manage software localization.