IT 118: AHLAEI Chapter 2

Chapter 2
Hospitality Technology
Components
Managing Technology in the Hospitality Industry
Sixth Edition
(468TXT or 468CIN)

© 2011, Educational Institute

Competencies for
Hospitality Technology Components
1. Identify and describe system input components.
2. Identify and describe system output components.
3. Explain the function of a system’s central processing
unit and distinguish read-only memory from random
access memory.
4. Identify and describe common external storage
devices.
5. Explain how the processing capability and speed of a
system are measured.
(continued)
2

Competencies for
Hospitality Technology Components
(continued)

6. Identify and describe components or devices
commonly added on to a system.
7. Explain computer hardware configurations and
interface connections.
8. Define two broad categories of software and
explain the function of an operating system.
9. Discuss types of computer networks.
10. Identify and describe components fundamental
to Internet operations.0
© 2011, Educational Institute 3

Hospitality Technology
Components
• Hardware
• Software


Hardware
• They are visible, moveable
and easy to identify.
• Has three (3) components:
– Input/Output (I/O)
– Central Processing Unit
(CPU) and;
– External Storage Device


Input Components
Keyboards
• Function keys
• Alphabet keys
• Cursor control keys
• Numeric keys


Touch screen Terminals
• Can employ a grid of tiny beams of light
over a display screen.
• Effective as devices for food service, self-
check in kiosks and navigational screens.


Other Input Components
• Computer Mouse
– Small pointing device that’s designed to fit
comfortable under a users hand.
– Conntected to the processor by a serial cable or
a wireless infrared sensor.


• Scanners
– Capable of translating a page of text or graphic
image into a machine readable format.
– Digitizes information to be recognized by the
computer
– Flatbed scanners, hand held scanners are
examples of this.


• Voice Recognition
– Instructions spoken using a human voice.
– Also known as Automated Speech Recognition
(ASR)
– Converts spoken data into electronic form.


• Handheld devices (mobile phone, palmtop
PC, personal digital assistant (PDA))


Monitors
• Color graphics adapter
(CGA)
– Low-end display RGB

• Enhanced graphics
adapter (EGA)
– Uses Digital signals.
– Clearer and has better
quality of resolution
compared to CGA

Monitors
• Video graphics array (VGA)
– Best for desktop publishing. Uses Analog
Signals
• Super video graphics array (SVGA)
– Uses both digital and analog signals (VGA and
DVI)


Monitors
• Liquid crystal display (LCD)
– Blue or Black letters on a grayish white
background (found on handheld units)
• Gas Plasma (GP)
– Orange letters on a black screen


Printers
• Impact printers
– Movement of a print
head or paper feeding
mechanism to place
data on the page.
• Dot matrix printers
– Form characters by
firing a vertical line of
pins through an inked
ribbon onto the paper.

Printers
• Non Impact Printers
– Print positioning is
achieved using electrical
signals.
– Techniques to print the
image on paper include:
Laser techniques, Inkjet
sprays Xerographic
processes Electrostatic
methods and
Electrothermal methods

Printers
• Thermal printers
– Also known as electro-thermal printers.
– Works by burning a protective layer off
specially treated paper to reveal ink
– Restricted to point-of-sale Printer applications


Printers
• Ink jet printers
– Sprays a minute and finely controlled jet of ink
onto a paper.


Printers
• Laser printers
– Quiet, highly efficient and more expensive
than ink jet printers.
– Uses laser technology to print documents.
– Electronically controlled laser beam traces out
the desired character to be printed.


I/O Components in the Hotel
Industry
• Most have adopted touch screen and hand-
held units.
• CRT units.
• Common equipment include: POS, Kitchen
Monitors and Specialty handheld devices.
• They also produce soft copies and hard
copies of output.

The Central Processing Unit
• The most important hardware
component found within an
automated system.
• Also called the brain of the
system. Responsible for
controlling most other system
components.


• Arithmetic and Logical Unit
– Responsible for all mathematical, sorting, ranking
and processing functions of the CPU
• Control Unit
– Determines which peripheral device in the system
can be accessed by the CPU.
– Determines what unit is capable of interacting
directly with the CPU.
– Online and Offline status of peripherals

• Operating System
– Orchestrates the hardware and the software within
the system.
– Establishes the systems priorities and directs its
resources to accomplish desired tasks.
• Internal (Primary) Memory


ROM/RAM
Read-only memory (ROM)
• “Reads” but cannot “write”
• Nonvolatile memory
• Does not require a constant power supply
Random access memory (RAM)
• Read/write memory
• Volatile memory
• Contents lost if power supply interrupted or
turned off

External Storage Devices
Magnetic tapes
• Sequential access medium
Magnetic disks
• Formatting
• Random access medium
• Diskette/floppy disks
• Zip disks
Hard disks
(continued)
26

External Storage Devices
(continued)

USB drives
• High-speed, high-capacity
• Hot-swapping, hot-plugging
Optical disks
• Compact disc—read only (CD-R)
• Compact disc—read and write (CD-RW)
• DVD—optical storage device

Measuring System Processing
Capability and Speed
Microprocessor
– The Central Processing Unit

CPU Speed—“Clock Rate” or “Clock
Speed”
• Megahertz (one million cycles per second)
• Gigahertz (one billion cycles per second)
• Dual-core processing
(continued)

(continued)

Bus Input/Output System
– BIOS
– The electronic circuitry over which power, data,
address and other signals travel.
– This is how signals get from one location to another
– Data bus: transports data
– Address bus: directs operations
– Control bus: transports instructions


(continued)

System Architecture
• Industry Standard Architecture (ISA)
• Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA)
• Micro Channel Architecture (MCA)


Computer Add-Ons
• Components or devices that are added to a
system to increase its storage capacity,
modify its architecture or upgrade its
performance.
• May require the insertion of a special circuit
board or through an external access point.


Common Computer Add-Ons
• Expanded memory
– Memory that resides outside the computers basic
memory.
– Can be accessed in revolving blocks
– Available through add-on circuit boards inserted in
the expansion slots
• Extended memory
– Built in to the system board.


• Modem devices
– Telecommunications device that
is used to transmit digital data
over telephone lines
• Fax boards
– Facsimile. Allows a computer to
send or receive images of
documents


• Interface Boards
– Composed of a series of
microchips on a circuit
board containing an I/O
port.
– Connects to the CPU and
allows communications
between the CPU and a
remote device

• Network Interface Cards
– Also called the Network Adapter
Card (LAN)
– Enables a computer to
communicate on a network.
– It can send and receive data


Hardware Configurations
• Client-Server model
– Uses a powerful file server PC to hold software
application and all relevant data, communicates
with the individuals PC workstations over the
LAN.


• Client-Server model
– In hotels, 2 servers usually run:
• Hotel specific applications
• General Purpose Software


• Remote-Server Model
– Application Software is physically located
somewhere other than the actual property.
– Workstations are connected to the server using
a Wide Area Network.
– Cloud Computing is a new configuration using
this model.


• Cloud Computing
– The emergence of the internet (cloud) as a way to
implement a distant configuration over virtual
private network.


• Cloud Computing
– The server (cloud) is the internet
with application software located
at different websites.
– Allows users to access data and
programs anywhere as long as
there is an internet connection


Software
• The set of instructions
followed by the Hardware.
• This commands the
automated system to
perform useful tasks.
• These can direct data
processing procedures
through operations.

Software


Software
• Has two broad categories:
– System Software
• Responsible for diagnostics and Maintenance of
hardware components.
• Managed by System Suppliers
– Applications Software
• Under the users control can be generic or industry
specific.


Operating System
• Controls interactions between
hardware components of an
automated system and
application software
programs.
• Needed to carry out
instructions generated by
application software
programs

Operating System
• Manages routine computer
functions while maintaining
system priorities.
• Controls how the system
receives, transfers and
outputs information at the
most fundamental levels.


Operating System
• Programs that control the
execution of programs.
• Relies on GUI for operation
• Has multi-tasking capabilities
• Designed to provide effective
data processing, sharing
storage and facilities.


The Internet
• A collection of diverse networks.
• It is a network of networks that
consists of millions of private,
public, academic, business, and
government networks, of local to
global scope, that are linked by a
broad array of electronic, wireless
and optical networking
technologies.

Internet Components
• Bridge
– Connects 2 or more
networks that use the
same data
• Gateway
– Means for two
incompatible
networks to
communicate

Internet Components
• Routers
• Intranet
– Internet Technology
Applied within a
company and these
pages are restricted
to its employees.
– Normally password
protected networks
that utilizes
firewalls.

Next Lecture can be seen at:
• http://prezi.com/vdtadasz8ter/reservation-
systems/


IT 118: AHLAEI Chapter 2

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