Chapter 3: Managing the Information Systems Infrastructure and Services

The interconnection of various structural elements to support an overall entity, such as an organization, city, or country

Infrastructure

Information System infrastructure

The hardware, software, networks, data, facilities, human resources, and servicesused by organizations to support their decision making, business, processes, and competitive strategy

Software used to perform a specific task that the user needs to accomplish

Application software

A collection of related data organized in a way to facilitate data searches

Database

A software application used to create, store, organize, and retrieve data from a single database or several databases

Database management system (DBMS)

A very large computer typically used as the main, central computing system by major corporations and government agencies

mainframe

Any computer on the network that enables access to files, databases, communications, and other services available to users of the network

server

A microprocessor-based system optimized to perform a well-defined set of tasks

embedded system

A computer program that allows the computer to communicate with various different hardware devices

device driver

The sharing of data or services between computers using wireless or cable transmission media

computer networking

The physical pathways to send data and information between two or more entities on a network

Transmission media

Procedures that different computers follow when they transmit and receive data

protocols

The transmission capacity of a computer or communications channel

bandwith

A group of computers and associated peripheral devices connected by a communication channel capable of sharing data and other resources among users

network

Any computer or software application that requests and uses the services provided by a server

client

A microcomputer with minimal memory, storage, and processing capabilities, used for remotely accessing virtual desktops

thin client

Any computer that may both request and provide services.

peer

A network in which servers and clients have defined roles

client-server network

Networks that enable any computer or device on the network to provide and request services

peer-to-peer networks

A wireless network used to exchange data between computing devices using short-range radio communication, typically within an area of 10 meters

Personal area network (PAN)

A computer network that spans a relatively small area allowing all computer users to connect with each other to share information and peripheral devices such as printers

Local are network (LAN)

A computer network that spans a relatively large geographic area; typically used to connect two or more LANs.

Wide area network (WAN)

A type of network spanning multiple buildings, such as a university or business campus

Campus area network (CAN)

A local area network that uses a wireless transmission protocol

Wireless local area network (WLAN)

Wireless LAN, based on the 802.11 family of standards

Wi-Fi network

A system of internet servers that support documents formatted in HTML, which supports links to other documents as well as graphics, audio, and video files

World Wide Web (WWW)

A large worldwide collection of networks that use a common protocol to communicate with each other

Internet

A URL's suffix (i.e., .com, .edu, or .org) representing the highest level of Internet domain names in the domain name system.

Top-level domain

The protocol of the Internet, which allows different interconnected networks to communicate using the same language

TCP/IP

An internal, private network using Web technologies to facilitate the secured transmission of proprietary within an organization, thereby limiting access to authorized users within the organization.

Intranet

A private part of the Internet that is cordoned off from ordinary users, that enables two or more firms to use the Internet to do business together

Extranet

The prediction that computer processing performance would double every 24 months

Moore's law

The design of a product so that it lasts for only a certain life span

Planned obsolescence

A cloud computing model in which only the basic capabilities of processing, storage, and networking are provided

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

A cloud computing model in which the customer can run his or her own applications that are typically designed using tools provided by the service provider; the customer has limited or no control over the underlying infrastructure

Platform as a service (PaaS)

A cloud computing model in which a service provider offers applications via a cloud infrastructure

Software as a service (SaaS)

The ability to adapt to increases or decreases in demand for processing or data storage

Scalability

Cloud infrastructure offered on a commercial basis by a cloud service provider

Public cloud

Cloud infrastructure that is internal to an organization

Private cloud

A contract specifying the level of service provided in terms of performance warranties, disaster recovery, and so on

Service-level agreement

A software architecture in which business processes are broken into individual components (or services) that are designed to achieve the desired results for the service consumer (which can be either an application, another service, or a person).

Service-oriented architecture (SOA)

A network of servers in various physical locations that store copies of particular Web sites, so as to reduce latency

Content delivery network