IT Infrastructure and

Emerging Technologies
Index

 What is IT Infrastructure
 Services of IT Infrastructure
 Evolution of IT Infrastructure
 Technology Drivers of Infrastructure Evolution
 Components of IT infrastructure
 Current trends in computer hardware platforms?
 Services of cloud computing
 1. What is IT Infrastructure?

 An IT infrastructure consists of a set of physical

devices and software applications that are
required to operate the entire enterprise. But IT
infrastructure also includes a set of firm wide
services budgeted by management and
composed of both human and technical
capabilities.
 IT infrastructure is defined broadly as a set of
information technology (IT) components that are
the foundation of an IT service.
 2.1 Services of IT Infrastructure
 Computing platforms : Computing platforms used to provide computing services
that connect employees, customers, and suppliers into a coherent digital
environment, including large mainframes, midrange computers, desktop and
laptop computers, and mobile handheld and remote cloud computing services.
 Telecommunications services: Telecommunications services provide data,
voice, and video connectivity to employees, customers, and suppliers.
 Data management services: Data management services that store and manage
corporate data and provide capabilities for analyzing the data.
 Application software services: Application software services, including online
software services, that provide enterprise-wide capabilities such as enterprise
resource planning, customer relationship management, supply chain management,
and knowledge management systems that are shared by all business units.
 Physical facilities management services: Physical facilities management
services develop and manage the physical installations required for computing,
telecommunications, and data management services.
2.2 Services of IT Infrastructure

 IT management services: IT management services plan and develop the

infrastructure, coordinate with the business units for IT services, manage
accounting for the IT expenditure, and provide project management
services
 IT standards services: IT standards services provide the firm and its
business units with policies that determine which information technology
will be used, when, and how.
 IT education services: IT education services provide training in system
use to employees and offer managers training in how to plan for and
manage IT investments.
 IT research and development services: IT research and development
services provide the firm with research on potential future IT projects and
investments that could help the firm differentiate itself in the marketplace
 3.1 Evolution of IT Infrastructure
 General-Purpose Mainframe and Minicomputer Era (1959 to Present)
 high performance multi user computer system (In 1965, the mainframe computer truly came into its own with the
introduction of the IBM 360 series. The 360 was the first commercial computer that could provide time sharing,
multitasking, and virtual memory in more advanced models. IBM has dominated mainframe computing from this point
on. Mainframe computers became powerful enough to support thousands of online remote terminals connected to the
centralized mainframe using proprietary communication protocols and proprietary data lines.
 Most computing histories point to the 1964 introduction of Digital Equipment Corporation's (DEC) 12-bit PDP-8 as the
first minicomputer )
 Personal Computer Era (1981 to Present)(The appearance of the IBM PC in 1981 is usually considered the
beginning of the PC era because this machine was the first to be widely adopted by businesses. At first using
the DOS operating system, a text-based command language, and later the Microsoft Windows operating
system, the Wintel PC computer (Windows operating system software on a computer with an Intel
microprocessor) became the standard desktop personal computer)
 Client/Server Era (1983 to Present) In client/server computing, desktop or laptop computers called clients
are networked to powerful server computers that provide the client computers with a variety of services and
capabilities
 Enterprise Computing Era (1992 to Present) : In the early 1990s, firms turned to networking standards
and software tools that could integrate disparate networks and applications throughout the firm into an
enterprise-wide infrastructure. As the Internet developed into a trusted communications environment after
1995, business firms began seriously using the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol
(TCP/IP)networking standard to tie their disparate networks together.
 Cloud and Mobile Computing Era (2000 to Present) : Cloud computing refers to a model of computing
that provides access to a shared pool of computing resources ( computers, storage, applications and
services)
3.2 Evolution of IT Infrastructure

Mainframe Computing Mini Computer Personal Computing

Enterprise Computing Cloud Computing

Client Server Computing
3. Technology Drivers of
Infrastructure Evolution
The changes in IT infrastructure we have just described have resulted from
developments in computer processing, memory chips, storage devices,
telecommunications and networking hardware and software, and software
design that have exponentially increased computing power while
exponentially reducing costs.
 Micro processing Power
 Mass Digital Storage
 Metcalfe’s Law and Network Economics
 Declining Communications Costs and the Internet
 Standards and Network Effects
3.1 Technology Drivers of
Infrastructure Evolution
1. Moore’s Law and Micro processing Power : In 1965, Gordon Moore,
the director of Fairchild Semiconductor’s Research and Development
Laboratories, wrote in Electronics magazine that since the first
microprocessor chip was introduced in 1959, the number of components
on a chip (generally transistors) had doubled each year. This assertion
became the foundation of Moore’s Law . Moore later reduced the rate of
growth to a doubling every two years.
3.1 Technology Drivers of
Infrastructure Evolution

Figure 5.4 illustrates the relationship

between number of transistors on a
microprocessor and millions of
instructions per second (MIPS), a
common measure of processor power.
 3.1 Technology Drivers of
Infrastructure Evolution
 Figure 5.5 shows the
exponential decline in the cost
of transistors and rise in
computing power. For instance,
in 2018, you could buy an Intel
i7 processor chip with 2.5
billion transistors for about one
ten-millionth of a dollar per
transistor.
3.2 Technology Drivers of
Infrastructure Evolution
2. The Law of Mass Digital Storage :
A second technology driver of IT
infrastructure change is the Law of
Mass Digital Storage. The amount of
digital information is roughly doubling
every year (Lyman and Varian, 2003).
Fortunately, the cost of storing digital
information is falling at an exponential
rate of 100 percent a year. Figure 5.6
shows that the number of megabytes
that can be stored on magnetic media
for $1 from 1950 to the present roughly
doubled every 15 months. In 2020, a 1
terabyte hard disk drive sells at retail
for about $50
3.3 Technology Drivers of
Infrastructure Evolution
 3. Metcalfe’s Law and Network Economics: Robert Metcalfe—
inventor of Ethernet local area network technology— claimed in 1970
that the value or power of a network grows exponentially as a function
of the number of network members. Metcalfe and others point to the
increasing returns to scale that network members receive as more and
more people join the network. As the number of members in a network
grows linearly, the value of the entire system grows exponentially and
continues to grow as members increase.
 3.4 Technology Drivers of
Infrastructure Evolution
4. Declining Communications Costs and the
Internet : A fourth technology driver
transforming IT infrastructure is the rapid decline
in the costs of communication and the
exponential growth in the size of the Internet.
Today there are more than 4.66 billion Internet
users worldwide (Statista 2022) . Figure 5. 7
illustrates the exponentially declining cost of
communication both over the Internet and over
telephone networks (which increasingly are
based on the Internet).
3.5 Technology Drivers of
Infrastructure Evolution
5. Standards and Network Effects : Today’s enterprise infrastructure
and Internet computing would be impossible— both now and in the future
—without agreements among manufacturers and widespread
consumer acceptance of technology standards . Technology
standards are specifications that establish the compatibility of products and
the ability to communicate in a network. Some important standards in
computing are American Standard Code for Information Interchange
(ASCII) (1958), Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)
(1974), Ethernet (1973), World Wide Web (1989–1993) etc.
4. Components of IT infrastructure

IT infrastructure today is
composed of seven major
components. Figure 5.8
illustrates these infrastructure
components and the major vendors
within each component category.
These components constitute
investments that must be
coordinated with one another to
provide the firm with a coherent
infrastructure.
 4.1 Components of IT infrastructure
1. Computer Hardware Platforms
1. mainframes, servers, PCs, tablets, and smartphones
2. Operating System Platforms
1. Microsoft Windows Server, Unix , and Linux
3. Enterprise Software Applications
1. SAP and Oracle
4. Data Management and Storage
1. IBM (DB2), Oracle, Microsoft (SQL Server), and Sybase (Adaptive Server Enterprise). MySQL
5. Networking/Telecommunications Platforms
1. Windows Server, Linux
6. Internet Platform
1. hosting services, routers, and cabling or wireless equipment
7. Consulting and System Integration Services
1. staff, the skills, the budget, or the necessary experience
5. Current trends in computer
hardware platforms?
 The exploding power of computer hardware and networking technology
has dramatically changed how businesses organize their computing
power, putting more of this power on networks and mobile handheld
devices.
 We look at seven hardware trends: the mobile digital platform,
consumerization of IT and BYOD, quantum computing,
virtualization, cloud computing, green computing, and high-
performance/power-saving processor
5.1 Current trends in computer
hardware platforms
 The Mobile Digital Platform: New mobile digital computing platforms
have emerged as alternatives to PCs and larger computers. The iPhone
and Android smartphones have taken on many functions of PCs,
including transmitting data, surfing the web, transmitting e-mail and
instant messages, displaying digital content, and exchanging data with
internal corporate systems.
 Consumerization of IT and BYOD :The popularity, ease of use, and
rich array of useful applications for smartphones and tablet computers
have created a groundswell of interest in allowing employees to use
their personal mobile devices in the workplace, a phenomenon popularly
called “bring your own device” (BYOD) . BYOD is one aspect of the
consumerization of IT , in which new information technology that first
emerges in the consumer market spreads into business organizations.
5.2 Current trends in computer
hardware platforms
 Quantum Computing : Quantum computing is an emerging technology
with the potential to dramatically boost computer processing power to find
answers to problems that would take conventional computers many years to
solve. Quantum computing uses the principles of quantum physics to
represent data and perform operations on these data. While conventional
computers handle bits of data either as 0 or 1 but not both, quantum
computing can process bits as 0, 1, or both simultaneously. A quantum
computer would gain enormous processing power through this ability to be in
multiple states at once, allowing it to solve some scientific and business
problems millions of times faster than can be done today.
 Virtualization : Virtualization is the process of presenting a set of
computing resources (such as computing power or data storage) so that they
can all be accessed in ways that are not restricted by physical configuration
or geographic location
5.3 Current trends in computer
hardware platforms
 Cloud Computing: It is now possible for companies and individuals to
perform all of their computing work using a virtualized IT infrastructure
in a remote location, as is the case with cloud computing. Cloud
computing is a model of computing in which computer processing,
storage, software, and other services are provided as a shared pool of
virtualized resources over a network, primarily the Internet. These
“clouds” of computing resources can be accessed on an as-needed basis
from any connected device and location.
5.4 Current trends in computer
hardware platforms
 Green Computing: By curbing hardware proliferation and power
consumption, virtualization has become one of the principal
technologies for promoting green computing. Green computing, or green
IT , refers to practices and technologies for designing, manufacturing,
using, and disposing of computers, servers, and associated devices such
as monitors, printers, storage devices, and networking and
communications systems to minimize impact on the environment.
5.5 Current trends in computer
hardware platforms
 High-Performance and Power-Saving Processors : Another way to
reduce power requirements and hardware sprawl is to use more efficient
and power-saving processors. Contemporary microprocessors now
feature multiple processor cores (which perform the reading and
execution of computer instructions) on a single chip.
 6.1 Services of cloud computing

Cloud computing consists of three different types of services:

 Infrastructure as a service (IaaS): Customers use processing, storage,
networking, and other computing resources from cloud service providers to
run their information systems. For example, Amazon uses the spare capacity
of its IT infrastructure to provide a broadly based cloud environment selling
IT infrastructure services. These include its Simple Storage Service (S3) for
storing customers’ data and its Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) service for
running their applications. Users pay only for the amount of computing and
storage capacity they actually use. (See the Interactive Session on
Organizations). Figure 5. 10 shows the range of services Amazon Web
Services offers.
 6.2 Services of cloud computing

 Software as a service (SaaS): Customers use software hosted by the vendor

on the vendor’s cloud infrastructure and delivered as a service over a network.
Leading software as a service (SaaS) examples are Google Apps, which provides
common business applications online, and Salesforce. com , which leases
customer relationship management and related software services over the
Internet. Both charge users an annual subscription fee, although Google Apps has
a pared-down free version.
6.3 Services of cloud computing

 Platform as a service (PaaS): Customers use infrastructure and

programming tools supported by the cloud service provider to develop
their own applications. For example, IBM offers a Bluemix service for
software development and testing on the IBM cloud. Another example is
Salesforce.com’s Force.com , which allows developers to build
applications that are hosted on its servers as a service.
Services of cloud computing