Download Hardware

Mgt 20600:
IT Management & Applications
Hardware
Tuesday
February 7, 2006
Reminders
 Reading
– For next week
 Fundamentals
section
text, Chapter Two, Software
 Homework
– Homework One due Friday, 2/10 by 5pm
 Submit
to Mgt20600.01, .02, .03, or .04
dropbox
 Next
week’s class session: Software
Information Systems:
The System of Hardware Components
Input Devices
Memory
and
Processor
Storage
and
Output Devices
Input Devices
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A huge variety to choose from
Must match input device to task
– Keyboard
– Mouse
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Biometric mice
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Microphones/voice recognition
Touch screens
Bar-code scanners
Point-of-sale devices
Radio frequency ID chips
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Self check-out counter input devices?
Cell phone input devices?
PDA input devices?
PC input devices?
Examples
Processing the Inputs
 Processing
device works hand in
hand with
 Memory (book uses primary storage
as a synonym for this)
– To process
 Data
transferred to the system by the input
devices
 Instructions from the operating system and
software applications
Communication Between CPU and
RAM
What a Processor Looks Like
Processing the Inputs:
The Processor

Processors can vary according to
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Size – how much data they can process at a time
Speed – how fast they execute instructions
Coordinated or multi-processing – how many processors work together
The materials from which they are made
How fast they can communicate with memory and with each other
Of course this affects the cost!
Intel’s Multi-Core Processors
The future
– Nanoswitches (2015)
– Spin transistors
– Crossbar latches


The trick is to buy the right processor for the task at hand!
Examples
– WalMart’s transaction processing system
– Individual executive’s spreadsheet analysis
Processing the Inputs: Memory

Memory varies according to
– Size – how much capacity it has
– Volatility – whether you lose what’s in it when the
electricity goes off
– Function – ROM (read-only memory) holds permanent
instructions whereas RAM (random access memory)
holds temporary data and instructions
– Speed - How fast it can communicate with the processor
(bus speed)
– How close it is located to the processor (cache memory)

Again, you must match your memory purchase to
the tasks you intend to perform
Different Types of Memory
What Memory Looks Like
Bits and Bytes
Storing the Output
Secondary or long-term storage is used to
permanently store data or output
 Greater capacity and greater economy
than memory
 Many different types of secondary storage
devices that vary by

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–
–
–
Capacity
Cost
Speed of data retrieval
Access method
Storing the Output

Secondary storage devices
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Hard disk (magnetic disk)
Floppy disk (magnetic disk)
Compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM)
CD-recordable (CD-R) discs
CD-rewritable (CD-RW) discs
Digital versatile disc (DVD)
Memory cards
Expandable storage, i.e., zip drives
Redundant array of independent/inexpensive disks (RAID)
Magnetic tapes
Storage Area Network (SAN)
The Future: Holographic Disks
– Can attain far higher density of data storage than standard magnetic disk drives
– Data stored as a holograph throughout the polymer material that makes up a
disk


The Future: Blu-ray Disc or HD-DVD as replacements for DVD’s
Guess what! You have to match your storage device to the tasks you are
undertaking!
What a Hard Disk Looks Like
Comparison of Secondary Device
Capacities and Cost
RAID
Storage Area Network
Displaying the Output
There are also countless ways to display
the output of your information processing
 Output device types

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Computer screen
Printer
Mobile device
Telephone
Head phones
A look at the future: Electronic paper
 Need I say it again! Match the output
device to your needs and budget!

Information Systems:
The System of Hardware Components
Input Devices
Memory
and
Processor
Storage
and
Output Devices
Computer System Types


Very often all the input, output, processing, memory, and
storage devices will come bundled together in a computer
system you buy as a whole
The major computer systems types are
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Handheld computers
Portable computers
Thin client
Desktop computers
Workstations
Servers
Mainframe computers
Supercomputers
Each type has a very different role in life!
Your job, of course, is to choose which best fits your
organization’s needs and budget
Comparison of Major Computer
System Types
MIPS: Millions of instructions per second
Teraflop: A trillion floating point operations per second
Heterogeneous IT Environments
 Corporate
IT infrastructure usually
includes many different types of
computers running different types of
software
 Hannaford Brothers Co., $5 billion
grocery retailer
– 2 IBM mainframes
– 200 Unix AIX servers
– 250 Windows servers
Mobile Devices
on the Corporate Radar
Wireless laptop
 Handheld computer
 Wireless email device
 Cell phone
 Smart phone
 Camera phones
 Tablet PC’s
 Handheld scanners
 RFID devices
 Hybrid Wi-Fi/cell phones

CFO Mobile Tech Use
Mobile Devices in the Corporate
Environment

Concerns
– Data carried from within the protected confines of the corporate computing
infrastructure
– Administrative costs of providing support for many different platforms

Good mobile device management strategy
– Ascertain if there is a business need for the device

Benefit of using the tool versus the added overhead cost of accommodating the tool
– Segment employees by job function
– Decide on list of devices that IT will (and will not) support
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Standardize on particular devices
– Devise a training plan for users and help desk staffers
– Develop enforcement mechanisms that will ensure device security
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Ability to remotely perform a hard reset of a mobile device
Encrypt wireless transmissions
Power-on passwords
UPS example
– If user’s primary need is access to email and the Web, she gets a smart phone
– If user’s primary need is access to business applications to do her job, she gets a
laptop
Mobile Devices in the Corporation

Accepting payments on the go
– Cell phone and card swipe attachment
– Handheld with built-in swipe slot
– Used by merchants who want to accept
payment on the go like
 Plumbers
 Limousine
drivers
 Flea market proprietors
 Restaurants
 Car rental firms
 Sonic drive-in restaurants
Mobile Devices in the Corporation

GPS-enabled phones or handhelds
– Used by SuperShuttle to equip its drivers to
improve scheduling capabilities and customer
service
 Driver
benefits
– Dispatchers could guide them around traffic jams
– Drivers could choose fares by finding the closest ones
on a GPS map
– Drivers had more control
– Used by Del-Air, a Florida heating, ventilation,
air conditioning contractor
 Better
way to track its technicians
 Instituted bonus pay related to quick work –
validated by GPS data
Mobile Devices in the Corporation
 Wireless
in the warehouse
– Laptops, handhelds, smart phones
 Can
be used to monitor almost everything
that moves in a manufacturing environment
 More efficient
– Inventory management
– Enterprise asset management and maintenance
– Order fulfillment
– Field-support operations
Thin Clients
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Computers connected to a server in a network
and have no hard drives
Thin-client sales grew 46% from 2004 to 2005
Advantages
– Support telecommuting
– Better security
– Easier administration
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Faster and easier backups
Efficient disaster recovery
– Less expensive
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Can cut costs up to 70%
Thin client model has 35% to 40% lower TCO overall
– Centralized data
Thin Client Outlook
THIN OUTLOOK
Projected growth in worldwide unit shipments of thin-client devices between last year and
2009
2004: 1.6 million
2009: 5.3 million
COMPOUND ANNUAL GROWTH RATE: 17.3%
Source: IDC, Framingham, Mass.
Thin Client Computing
What is the most compelling business value case for thin client computing?
(16%)
Better security
(5%)
Ease of use
(32%)
Reduced cost of ownership
(38%)
Ease of management
(9%)
None of the above
Personal Computers
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Demise of the Desktop?
– Laptop to Desktop ratio in corporations
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Why?
1 in 5 in 1999
1 in 3 in 2005
1 in 2 in next few years
– Mobility!
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Outside and inside of workplace
– Changes in work habits
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Used on the road, in the home, into meetings
Facilitate collaboration as well as email access
Wireless connectivity improvements
Battery life improvements
Price/Performance gap between laptops and desktops has narrowed considerably
Availability of workstation-class laptops for computing intensive tasks like
software development and computer-aided design
– Laptop reliability has improved

Laptop concerns
– Security!
PC Virtualization
 PC
hardware moved into data center
as part of PC blades
– Fit into a chassis that can be centrally
managed
– Several users can share a single blade
– Simplifies PC management
 Thin
client on desktop that functions
as an extended keyboard, monitor,
and mouse
Servers
Midrange computers in data center that
provide applications, web services, and
storage to client devices
 Defining features

– Use faster, multi-core processors than pc’s
 64
bit processors
– Often run Unix or Linux as their operating
systems
– Often deployed in server farms or blades for
easy management and flexibility
– Less costly than mainframes
– Ability to load balance
Mainframes
 Large,
very fast computers that
support the enterprise
– Many legacy systems run on
mainframes
– Known for reliability and scalability
– Can replace many midrange servers and
can cut IT staff costs as a result
What a Mainframe Looks Like
Mainframe Example

AARP (American Association of Retired Persons)
– Members
 35 million members
 76 million baby-boomers preparing for retirement
– Central customer database
 Can be accessed by
– Members
– Trading partners
 Insurance providers
 Retirement communities
– Technology
 Mainframe used for customer database
– Centralized
 Member information can be maintained and secured
independently of the numerous IT applications that use it
– Reliable
– Scalable
 Will support increasing numbers of transactions as membership
grows
– Continuously updated
 Makes it easier to market products and services to its members
– Application-independent
 Common interface to the database for suppliers
 Standard method for integrating applications with the database
What a SuperComputer Looks Like
Terabyte: A thousand billion bytes or a thousand gigabytes
Gigaflop: One billion floating point operations per second
Corporate Supercomputing

Ping Inc., golf club maker
– Uses supercomputer to run simulations of golf club
designs
– Has drastically reduced development time

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.
– Uses supercomputing for tire simulations
– Reduces amount of money spent on building physical
tire prototypes, from 40% to 15% of the research and
development budget

Supercomputing also supports
– Digital animation
– Bioinformatics
– RFID chips and the huge databases they create