IT INFRASTRUCTURE : HARDWARE & SOFTWARE

WHAT IS IT INFRASTRUCTURE AND THE COMPONENTS?

      Alright ! we will explain details about this topic. IT infrastructure is provides platform for supporting all information systems in the business. The components including by computer hardware, computer software, data management technology, technology service, networking and telecommunications technology.  

HOW ABOUT INPUT, OUTPUT AND STORAGE DEVICES?

Input devices prefer to gather data and convert them into electronic form. There are some of example :

Output devices also display data after they have been processed. For example :

Storage devices are the data storage devices that are used in the computer to store the data.

  WHAT IS OPERATING SYSTEM SOFTWARE?

operating system is a set of programs that coordinates all activities among computer hardware devices and allows users to run application software. PC operating systems and graphical user interface like GUIs, Windows Server 2003, UNIX and Linux.

EXAMPLE SOFTWARE TRENDS:

1. open sources software(Linux)
2. cloud computing(Google Apps)
3. mashups(Faceforce,ZipRealty)
4. widgets(Yahoo!Weather)
5. software as a service(Salesforce.com)

DATABASE AND INFORMATION SYSTEM

DATABASE
- Collection of related files containing records on people, places, or things.
- Prior to digital databases, business used file cabinets with paper files.

ENTITY
- Generalized category representing person, place, thing on which we store and maintain information.
- e.g., SUPPLIER, PART

ATTRIBUTES
. Specific characteristics of each entity.
          -  SUPPLIER name, address
          -  PART description, unit price, supplier


A RATIONAL DATABASE TABLE

RELATIONAL DATABASE
- Organize data into two-dimensional tables (relations) with columns and rows.
- one table for each entity:
          . e.g., (CUSTOMER, SUPPLIER, PART, SALES)
- FIELDS (columns) store data representing an attribute.
- Rows store data for separate RECORDS, or tuples.
- KEY FIELD: uniquely identifies each record.
- PRIMARY KEY:
         . One field in each table
         . Cannot be duplicated
         . Provides unique identifier for all information in any row.

TELECOMMUNICATION - THE INTERNET & WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY

Computer Network

A computer network is a set of connected computers. Computers on a network are called nodes. The connection between computers can be done via cabling, most commonly the Ethernet cable, or wirelessly through radio waves. Connected computers can share resources, like access to the Internet, printers, file servers, and others. A network is a multipurpose connection, which allows a single computer to do more.

Types of Networks

There are several different types of computer networks. Computer networks can be characterized by their size as well as their purpose.

The size of a network can be expressed by the geographic area they occupy and the number of computers that are part of the network. Networks can cover anything from a handful of devices within a single room to millions of devices spread across the entire globe.

Some of the different networks based on size are:

• Personal area network, or PAN
• Local area network, or LAN
• Metropolitan area network, or MAN
• Wide area network, or WAN

In terms of purpose, many networks can be considered general purpose, which means they are used for everything from sending files to a printer to accessing the Internet. Some types of networks, however, serve a very particular purpose. Some of the different networks based on their main purpose are:

• Storage area network, or SAN
• Enterprise private network, or EPN
• Virtual private network, or VPN

LAN and WAN network

Achieve competitive advantage with MIS

This video provide us understanding about using information system as our competitive advantage. Next video provide us function of Management information system in a business.

Based on this two video, we can conclude that information system give many benefit and make a company gain competitive advantage. The business also can survive and improve their decision making by using the data from information system.