Understanding IT Infrastructure

2. IT infrastructure lies at the heart of most
companies’ operating capabilities.Changes in IT
lead therefore to fundamental changes in how
business operate. Because many companies
depend on these technologies, adept
management of this infrastructure has become
vital.

3. New technologies provide less value if they
cannot inter-operate effectively with the older
technologies still present in most companies.
IT infrastructure greatly determines a company’s
differentiating capabilities; effective
infrastructure enhances capabilities, while
ineffective infrastructure destroys them.

8. Network
Refers to the technologies (hardware and software)
that permit exchange of information between
organizations.
Core technologies – fiber optics, cable systems, DSL,
satellite, wireless, internetworking hardware (routers,
switches, firewalls), content delivery software, identity
and policy management, monitoring.

11. Internet
Browser
Database
Server
Client 1
Server A
Server B
Bank
Server
URL
HTTP
TCP/IP
Browser
Client 2 HTTP
Server
App.
Server
index.html
prog1.cgi
ERP
prog2.class

14. Processing Systems
Encompass the hardware and software that together
provide an organization’s ability to handle business
transactions.
Core technologies –Transaction software (enterprise
systems offered by companies such as SAP and Oracle
or more targeted solution), servers, server appliances,
client devices (PCs, handhelds), mobile phones.

16. Facilities
The physical systems that house and protect
computing and network devices, are the least
glamorous infrastructure components.
Core technologies – Corporate data centers,
collocation data centers, managed services data
centers, data closets

18. The emergence of real-time infrastructure
Better data, better decisions
Improve process visibility
Improve process efficiency
From make-and-sell to sense-and-respond
Broader exposure to operational threats
New models of service delivery
Managing legacies

19. Internetworking technologies must support all or
nearby all the elements of business transactions
that can occure in face-to-face transactions.
Companies will in the long run engage each other
in real-time transactions, negotiate the terms of
transactions, establish business linkages, and
settle accounts depends on standards and
technologies net yet fully developed.

25. 1. What does the public infrastructure of the Internet
mean to our business operations? Are we leveraging
this infrastructure to maximum advantage? How
Dependent are we still on proprietary technologies?
2. How close do our company operations come to running
in real-time? What value creation opportunities can still
be obtained by moving more in the direction of real-
time value capture?

26. 3. Has our company taken appropriate advantage of the
many degrees of architectural and operational freedom
offered by internetworking technologies? Have we
thought through the inherent complexities and risks in
those additional degrees of freedom?
4. Have we reexamined our management frameworks in
light of the new and more adaptive capabilities that
internetworking technologies offer? Most important,
do senior business managers play an active and
informed role in infrastructure design and planning
decisions?