IT infrastructure can be defined from two main perspectives. These
are the technical and service perspectives. The Technical perspective is defined as the shared technology resources that provide
the platform for the firm’s specific information system applications. It
consists of a set of physical devices and software applications that are
required to operate the entire enterprise.
From
the service perspective, IT infrastructure is defined as providing the
foundation for serving customers, working with vendors, and managing internal firm
business processes. In this sense, IT infrastructure focuses on the services
provided by all the hardware and software. IT infrastructure is a set of firm-wide services budgeted by
management and comprising both human and technical capabilities.
IT infrastructure
today is composed of seven major components. These are: internet platforms,
computer hardware platforms, operating systems platforms, operating system
platforms, Enterprise Software applications, Network/Telecommunications,
Consultants and System Integrators, and Data Management an storage systems.
1. Internet Platforms:
These
platforms manage internet-related processes.
· They comprise hardware, software, management
services to support company Web sites, (including Web hosting services) intranets,
extranets.
· Internet hardware server market: Dell,
HP/Compaq, IBM
· Web development tools/suites: Microsoft
(FrontPage, .NET) IBM (WebSphere) Sun (Java),
·
Independent software developers like Adobe,
·
Real Media examples are: Cisco, Java, Microsoft IIS, .NET, UNIX, and Apache.
2. Data
Management and Storage: A
database is a group of related files. Databases could be better managed with
the use of a database management system. There are two main types of DBMS,
These are the relational database and object-oriented database. The relational
database organizes data in the form of two-dimensional tables. An
object-oriented database management system stores data and procedures as
objects. Examples of data management and storage software are: IBM DB2, Oracle,
SQL Server, Sybase, MySQL, and EMC Systems.
3.
Computer Hardware Platforms
These include PCs
like: Dell, IBM, Sun, HP, Apple, Linux machines.
4.
Operating Systems Platforms
Examples
are: Microsoft Windows, UNIX, Linux, and Mac OS.
5.
Enterprise Software and Middleware
Applications
Such
include: SAP, Oracle, PeopleSoft, Microsoft, and BEA.
6.Networking/Telecommunications: Examples
of such infrastructure are: Linux, Novell, and Cisco systems.
7. Consultants and System
Integrators:
Among prominent IT consultants, you find IBM/KPMG, EDS, and Accenture.
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