IT Infrastructure and Platforms

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Chapter
IT Infrastructure and Platforms
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Management Information Systems Chapter 6 IT
Infrastructure and Platforms
OBJECTIVES

• Define IT infrastructure and describe the
  components and levels of IT infrastructure
• Identify and describe the stages of IT
  infrastructure evolution
• Identify and describe the technology drivers of
  IT infrastructure evolution

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OBJECTIVES (Continued)

• Assess contemporary computer hardware platform
  trends
• Assess contemporary software platform trends

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Management Information Systems Chapter 6 IT
Infrastructure and Platforms
IT INFRASTRUCTURE
Defining IT Infrastructure

• Includes hardware, software, and services
• A set of physical devices and software
  applications that are required to operate the
  entire enterprise
• Your firm is largely dependent on its
  infrastructure for delivering services to
  customers, employees, and suppliers.
• You can think of infrastructure as digital
  plumbing, but its much more than that!

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Management Information Systems Chapter 6 IT
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IT INFRASTRUCTURE
The Connection between the Firm, IT
Infrastructure, and Business Capabilities
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Management Information Systems Chapter 6 IT
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IT INFRASTRUCTURE
Levels of IT Infrastructure

• Three major levels of infrastructure
• Public
• Enterprise
• Business unit

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Management Information Systems Chapter 6 IT
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IT INFRASTRUCTURE
Levels of IT Infrastructure
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IT INFRASTRUCTURE
Evolution of IT Infrastructure 19502005

• Electronic accounting machine era (19301950)
• General-purpose mainframe and minicomputer era
  (1959 to present)
• Personal computer era (1981 to present)
• Client/server era (1983 to present)
• Enterprise internet computing era (1992 to
  present)

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IT INFRASTRUCTURE
Eras in IT Infrastructure Evolution
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IT INFRASTRUCTURE
A Multitiered Client/Server Network (N-tier)
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Management Information Systems Chapter 6 IT
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IT INFRASTRUCTURE
Technology Drivers of Infrastructure Evolution

• Moores law and microprocessing power
• The law of mass digital storage
• Metcalfes law and network economics
• Declining communications costs and the Internet
• Standards and network effects

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Management Information Systems Chapter 6 IT
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IT INFRASTRUCTURE
Moores Law and Microprocessor Performance
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Management Information Systems Chapter 6 IT
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IT INFRASTRUCTURE
Falling Cost of Chips
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Management Information Systems Chapter 6 IT
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IT INFRASTRUCTURE
The Capacity of Hard Disk Drives Grows
Exponentially, 19802004
Source Authors.
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Management Information Systems Chapter 6 IT
Infrastructure and Platforms
IT INFRASTRUCTURE
Exponential Declines in Internet Communications
Costs
Source Authors.
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    INFRASTRUCTURE COMPONENTS
Seven Key Infrastructure Components

• Computer Hardware Platforms
• Operating System Platforms
• Enterprise Software Applications
• Data Management and Storage

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    INFRASTRUCTURE COMPONENTS
Seven Key Infrastructure Components (Continued)

• Networking/Telecommunications Platforms
• Internet Platforms
• Consulting and System Integration Services

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    INFRASTRUCTURE COMPONENTS
The IT Infrastructure Ecosystem
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    INFRASTRUCTURE COMPONENTS
Computer Hardware Platforms

• 110 billion annually spent in the United States
• Dominance of Intel, AMD, and IBM 32-bit processor
  chips at the client level
• Server market increasingly dominated by
  inexpensive generic processors from the same
  manufacturers

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    INFRASTRUCTURE COMPONENTS
Computer Hardware Platforms (Continued)

• Strong server market growth for 64 bit generic
  processors from AMD, Intel and IBM
• Blade servers replace box servers
• Mainframes continue as a presence working as very
  large servers

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    INFRASTRUCTURE COMPONENTS
Operating System Platforms

• 100 billion annually spent in the United States
• Continued dominance of Microsoft OS in the client
  (95) and handheld market (45)
• Growing dominance of Linux (UNIX) in the
  corporate server market (85)
• Windows 2002 and 2003 Server remains strong in
  smaller enterprises and workgroup networks

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    INFRASTRUCTURE COMPONENTS
Enterprise Software Applications

• 165 billion annually spent in the United States
  for basic enterprise software infrastructure
• SAP, Oracle, PeopleSoft (now Oracle), and Siebel
  dominate this market.
• Middleware firms like BEA and JD Edwards serve
  smaller firms, and work also in the Web services
  space.

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Enterprise Software Applications (Continued)

• The enterprise market is consolidating around a
  few huge firms that have gained significant
  market share such as SAP and Oracle.
• Microsoft is expanding into smaller firm
  enterprise systems where it can build on its
  Windows server-installed base.

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Data Management and Storage

• 70 billion annually spent in the United States.
• Oracle and IBM continue to dominate the database
  software market.
• Microsoft (SQL Server) and Sybase tend to serve
  smaller firms.
• Open source Linux MySQL now supported by HP and
  most consulting firms as an inexpensive, powerful
  database used mostly in small to mid-size firms.

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Data Management and Storage (Continued)

• 35 billion annually spent in the United States
  for physical hard disk storage
• The hard disk market is consolidating around a
  few huge firms like EMC and smaller PC hard disk
  firms like Seagate, Maxtor, and Western Digital

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    INFRASTRUCTURE COMPONENTS
Networking/Telecommunications Platforms

• 150 billion annually spent on networking and
  telecommunications hardware
• 700 billion annually spent on telecommunications
  services, e.g. phone and Internet connectivity
• Local area networking still dominated by
• Microsoft Server (about 75) but strong growth
• of Linux challenges this dominance

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    INFRASTRUCTURE COMPONENTS
Internet Platforms

• 32 billion annually spent on Internet
  infrastructure in the United States
• Internet hardware server market concentrated in
  Dell, HP, and IBM
• Prices falling rapidly by up to 50 in a single
  year for low-power servers

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Internet Platforms (Continued)

• Open-source Apache remains the dominant Web
  server software, followed by Microsofts IIS
  server.
• Suns Java grows as the most widely used tool for
  interactive Web applications.
• Microsoft and Sun settle a long-standing law suit
  and agree to support a common Java.

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CONTEMPORARY SOFTWARE PLATFORM TRENDS
The four major themes in contemporary software
platform evolution

• Linux and open-source software
• Java
• Web services and service-oriented architecture
• Software outsourcing

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CONTEMPORARY SOFTWARE PLATFORM TRENDS
The Rise of Linux and Open-Source Software

• Open-source software is free and can be modified
  by users.
• Developed and maintained by a worldwide network
  of programmers and designers under the management
  of user communities

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CONTEMPORARY SOFTWARE PLATFORM TRENDS
Java Is Everywhere
Java

• An operating systemIndependent,
  processor-independent, object-oriented
  programming language
• Applications written in Java can run on any
  hardware for which a Java virtual machine has
  been defined.
• Java is embedded in PDAs, cell phones, and
  browsers.
• Java is a leading interactive programming
  environment for the Web.

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CONTEMPORARY SOFTWARE PLATFORM TRENDS
Software for Enterprise Integration

• One of the most important software trends of the
  last decade is the growth of enterprise in a
  box or the purchase of enterprise-wide software
  systems by firms.
• Rather than build all their own software on a
  custom basis, large firms increasingly purchase
  enterprise applications prewritten by specialized
  software firms like SAP, Oracle, PeopleSoft, and
  others.

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Software for Enterprise Integration (Continued)

• The goal is to achieve an integrated firm-wide
  information environment, reduce cost, increase
  reliability, and to adopt business best practices
  which are captured by the software.
• Enterprise software firms achieve economies of
  scale by selling the same software to hundreds of
  firms.
• Today's enterprise systems are capable of
  integrating older legacy applications with newer
• Web-based applications.

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CONTEMPORARY SOFTWARE PLATFORM TRENDS
Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) Software
Versus Traditional Integration
EAI software (a) creates a common platform
through which all applications can freely
communicate with each other. EAI requires much
less programming than traditional point-to-point
integration (b).
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CONTEMPORARY SOFTWARE PLATFORM TRENDS
Web Services and Service-Oriented Architecture

• Web Services
• An alternative to enterprise systems is to use
  new Web-based standards to create a communication
  platform allowing older applications to
  communicate with newer applications.
• Web services refers to a set of loosely coupled
  software components that exchange information
  with each other using Web communication standards
  and languages.

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Web Services and Service-Oriented Architecture
(Continued)

• Web services permit computer programs to
  communicate with one another and share
  information without rewriting applications, or
  disturbing older legacy systems.

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CONTEMPORARY SOFTWARE PLATFORM TRENDS
How Dollar Rent a Car Uses Web Services
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Software Outsourcing

• Today large and small firms purchase most of
  their software from outside vendors.
• Three kinds of outsourcing
• Purchase of software packages
• Using application service providers
• Custom outsourcing

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CONTEMPORARY SOFTWARE PLATFORM TRENDS
Purchase of Software Packages and Enterprise
Software
Enterprise software packages prewritten
off-the-shelf software

• Application Service Providers
• A business that delivers and manages applications
  and computer services from remote computer
  centers to multiple users using the Internet or a
  private network

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Purchase of Software Packages and Enterprise
Software (Continued)

• Application Service Providers
• Rather than purchase hardware and software, firms
  can go onto the Internet and find providers who
  offer the same functionality over the
  entertainment, and charge on a per-user or
  license basis.
• Example Salesforce.com provides customer
  relationship management and sales force
  management services to firms

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CONTEMPORARY SOFTWARE PLATFORM TRENDS
Software Outsourcing of Custom Applications

• A firm contracts custom software development or
  maintenance of existing legacy programs to
  outside firms, often in low-wage countries.
• Example Dow Chemical hired IBM for 1.1 billion
  to create an integrated communication system for
  50,000 Dow employees in 63 countries.
• Why would Dow not build this system itself?