Understanding Internetworking Infrastructure
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Announcements
• Business Analysis Proposal due Tuesday next week
• Business Plan explained today
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Business Plan Project
• The objective of this project is to put together a business plan that sets out the strategic direction for a company utilizing information technology.
• The two primary objectives are:– To make realistic projections of opportunities and
risks– To present these in a compelling way that would
attract funding and support from the organization
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Options
• Option 1:– Choose your own
• Option 2– One-number dialing solution
• Option 3– Campus transportation network
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Option 1: Your own startup idea
• Be creative, use this opportunity to explore an idea you have
• Focus on document you would present to venture capitalist
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Option 2: One-number voice communication
• You have developed software to integrate all of the voice connections in someone’s life– home phone– work phone– mobile phone– online voice account– Other?
• Each user can set the system to recognize where you are, and one integrated voicemail system consolidates messages in one location.
• Business plan should include– Product release strategy– Target market segments – Potential revenue and costs – Risks – Alternative potential fee structures, and which you anticipate would be
the most attractive
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Option 3: Campus Transportation Management System
• You have been assigned by the director of operations for TAPS on campus to run a more cost-effective, efficient bus service.
• You have developed a system where the current combination of city buses and campus transport would be enhanced by– Detailed forecasting of demand as well as – Online response to fluctuations. – (For example,
• this could involve a less structured timetable, and more back-up capacity. • by installing cameras at each bus stop to monitor how many people are
waiting, the manager could send extra buses in response to high demand.
• Create a business plan of – how a program like this could be released, – including the technology requirements and costs. – Pay attention to risks to the existing infrastructure including what
partnerships would need to be entered into.
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Business Plan should include • Executive Summary
– Less than a page overview of the idea• Customer Need and Business Opportunity
– An argument for the potential of the product or idea• Business Strategy and Key Milestones
– Plan a timeline over about five years• Marketing Plan
– Who is the intended customer?– How will you convince them to adopt the product?
• Operations Plan– What is needed to pull this off?
• Management and Key Personnel– How many people– How will the organization be structured, and what changes are needed?– Give brief profiles of key individuals
• Financial Projections
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Estimates
• You are not expected to know exact numbers for costs etc. but the estimates should be realistic.
• Use charts and tables wherever appropriate. Venture capitalists and CEO’s do not like to do more work than they have to in evaluating.
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Due date(s)
• Project Due date: May 24
• Optional Early Draft: May 15 (for instructor feedback)
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Today: Understanding Network Infrastructure
• Module 2 of text
• ’75% of all IT dollars to go Infrastructure. Isn’t it time you learned what it is?’ – IBM ad campaign
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Key trends
• More reliance on IT infrastructure
• New services
• Distributed Processing
• New business models
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Challenges
• Poor IT decisions lead to– Products with insufficient support– Relying on outdated protocols/systems
• Technology / management divide– Who makes decisions?
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Fig. 5.1 Moore’s Law
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1980’s
• PC released
• People moved jobs to computers
• No longer needed staff for computing/data processing
• LANs allowed people to share files, printers etc.
• IT services provided over distributed servers
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1990’s
• Internet boom
• TCP/IP provided robust standard for messages between all computers on web
• Network resources available to individuals
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Fig 5.2 Evolution of Corporate IT Infrastructure
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Fig 5.3 Metcalfe’s Law
“The usefulness of a network increases with the square of the number of users connected to the network”
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Fig 5.4 Bandwidth Explosion
Growth faster than computer chips
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Components of Internetworking Infrastructure
• Network– Hardware/software that permit exchange of information
between processing units and organizations
• Processing Systems– Hardware/software providing ability to handle business
transactions
• Facilities– Physical systems that house and protect devices
• Trend: Increasing freedom to manage resources• See table 5.1
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Table 5.1: Fundamental components of internetworking infrastructure
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Networks
• Local Area Networks (LANs)
• Hubs, switches, wireless access points, network adapters
• Wide Area networks (WANs)
• Routers
• Firewalls, Security Systems
• Caching, Content Acceleration
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Fig 5.5 LAN
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Fig 5.6 WAN
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Processing Systems
• Client Devices and Systems
• Server Devices and Systems
• Mainframe Devices and Systems
• Middleware
• Infrastructure Management Systems
• Business Applications
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Fig 5.7 Servers in typical E-commerce configuration
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Facilities
• Buildings, physical space
• Network Conduits, connections
• Power
• Environmental Controls
• Security
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Fig 5.8 Modern Data Center
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Questions, Break, Presentation
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Discussion
• How much does a typical manager understand of computing networks?
• What educational opportunities are there?
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Operational Characteristics if Internetworking
• Internetworking Technologies are Based on Open Standards
• Internetworking Technologies operate asynchronously
• Internetworking communications have inherent latency
• Internetworking technologies are naturally decentralized
• Internetworking technologies are scalable
• See tables 5.2, 5.3
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Table 5.2: Measuring Network Bandwidth
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Table 5.3: Communication Technology, Bandwidths and User Groups
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Business Implications
• Quicker communications leads to efficiency
• More data leads to better-informed decisions
• Progress of processes become transparent
• Processes more efficient
• Make and sell becomes sense and respond
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Threats
• Automation can lead to chain reaction, cascading failures
• Outside attacks
• See table 5.4
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Table 5.4: Denial of Service Attacks
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New service models
• Physical location of computers less important
• Economies of scale for particular services
• New capabilities must be integrated into existing systems– Deal with legacy technology
• Reliability must improve– See next case!
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Discussion: Outsourcing
• What about outsourcing of infrastructure?
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Case Thursday
• iPremier
• Made-up case of IT failure
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Office hours today