THE INTERNET AND THE NEW INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY INFRASTRUCTURE

1. What are the features of the new information technology (IT) infrastructure?
Answer : The new information technology (IT) infrastructure ; The new IT infrastructure links, desktop workstations, network computers, LANs, and server computers in an enterprise network so that information can flow freely between parts of the organization. The enterprise network may also be linked to kiosks, point-of-sale (POS) terminals, PDAs and information appliances, digital cellular telephones and PCS, and mobile computing devices as well as to the internet using public infrastructure, customers, supplier, and business partners may also be linked to the organization through this new IT infrastructure.

2. Why is connectivity so important for the digital firm? List and describe the major connectivity standards for networking and the internet.
Answer : Today’s firm can use the information technologies we have described in previous chapters to create an information technology (IT) infrastructure capable of coordinating the activities of entire firms and even entire industries. By enabling companies to radically reduce their agency and transaction costs, this new IT infrastructure provides a broad platform for electronic commerce, electronic business, and the emerging digital firm. This new IT infrastructure is based on powerful networks and internet technology

3. what is the internet ? List and describe alternative ways of accesing the internet.
Answer : The intrenet is perhaps the most well-known, and the largest, implementation of internet working, linking hundreds of thousanda of individual networks all over the world. Internet Service Provider (ISP)is commercial organization with a permanent connection to the internet that sells temporary connections to subscribes. Individuals also can accsess the internet through such popular on-line services as prodigy and America online and through networks established by such giant as Microsoft and AT & T

4. List and describe the principal internet capabilities.
Answer : major internet services
Capability Functions Supported
E-mail Person to person messaging; document sharing
Usenet newsgropu Discussions groups on electronic bulletin boards
LISTSERVs Discussions groups and messaging using e-mail mailing list servers
Chatting Interactive conversations
Telner Log on to one computer to computer
Gophers Locate information using a hierarchy of menus
World Wide web Retrieve, format, and display information (including text, audio, graphics, and video) using hypertext links
5. What is internet2 ? How does it differ from the first generation internet? What benefits does it provide?
Answer : Internet2 is a research network with new protocols and transmissions speeds that are much higher than the current internet. The intenet2 infrastructure is based on a series of interconnected gigaPoPs, which are regional high- speed points-of-presence that serve as aggregation points for traffic from participating institututions.

6. why is the World Wide Web so useful for individuals and business?
Answer : The World Wide Web (The web) is at the heart of the exlosion in the business use of the Net. The web is a system with universally accepted standards for storing, retrieving, foemating, and displaying information using a client/ server architecture. The web combines text, hypermedia, graphics, and sound. It can handle all types of digital communication, making it easy to link resources that are half-a-world apart. The web use graphical use interfaces for easy viewing. It is based on a standards hypertext language called hypertext markup language (HTML), which formats documents and incorporates dynamic links to other documents stored in the same or remote computers.

7. list and describe alternative ways of locating information on the web.
Answer : locating information on the web is a critical function, with the more than one billion Web pages in existence expented to double in eight months. No comprehensive catalog of web sites exists. The principal methods of locating information on the web are web site directories, search engines, and broadcast or “push” technology.

8. What are intranets and extranets? How do they differ from the web?
Answer : organizations can use internet networking standards and web technology to create private networks called intranets. Some firms are allowing people and organizations outside the firm to have limited accsess to their internal intranets. Private intranets that are extended to authorized users outside the company are called extranets

9. what is the wireless web ? How does it differ from the conventional Web ?
Answer : Wireless web is web-based applications enabling users to access digital information from the internet using wireless mobile computing devices

10. list and describe the types of m-commerce services and applications supported by the wireless web.
Answer : M-commerce, the use of the internet for purchasing goods and services as well as sending and receiving messages using handled wireless devices. With cell phones, PDAs, and other wireless computing devices becoming Internet-enabled, many believe m-commerce represents the next wave of internet computing. M-commerce will become a significabt subset of e-commerce. Business will increasingly incorporate wireless internet accsess into their information technology infrastructures so that employess can access information wherever thay are, and make decisions instantly without being tethered to a desk or computer. Wireless web applications enable mobile users to access digital information from the internet and be connected anywhere, any time, any place. Specialized portals steer users of Web-enabled wireless devices to the information they are most likely to need

11. Compare the WAP and I-mode wireless Web standards.
Answer : Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) is a system of protocols and technologies that lets cell phones and other wireless devices with tiny displays, low bandwidth cionnections, and minimal memory access Web-based information and services.I-mode is a rival standard developed by Japan’s NTT DoCoMo mobile phone network. It is widely used in Japan and is being introduced to Europe. I-mode uses compact HTML to deliver content, making it easier for business to converr their HTML web sites to mobile service.

12. Describe the organizational benefits of internet and web technology.
Answer : The internet, intranets, and extranets are becoming the principal platforms for electronic commerce, electronic business, and the digital firm because this technology provides so many benefits. The internet’s global connectivity; ease of use, low cost, and multimedia capabilities can be used to create interactive applications, and provide services and products. By using internet technology, organizations can reduce communication and transaction cost, anhance coordination and collaboration, and accelerate the distribution of knowledge. Internet benefits to organizations
• Connectivity and global reach
• Reduced communication costs
• Lower transaction costs
• Reduced agency costs
• Interactivity, flexibiliry, and customization
• Accelerated distribution of knowledge

13. list and describe the principal technologies for supporting electronic commerce
Answer : Business seriously pursuing electronic commerce and alectronic business need special tools for maintaining their web sites. These tools include Web server and electronic commerce server software,customer tracking and personalization tools, Web content management tools, and Web site performance monitoring tools. Web servers as the software necessary to run Web sites, intranets, and extranets. The core capabilities of web server software revolve around locating and managing stored Web pages.Customer tracking and personalizarion toolos have several main goals :
• Collecting and storing data on the behaviour of on-line customers and combining that data with data already stored in the company’s back-office system
• Analyzing the data in order better to understand the behaviour of on-line customers
• Identifyng developing customer trends

14. Under what conditions should firms consider Web hosting services?
Answer : Companies that lack the financial or technical resources to operate their own web sites or electronic commerce service can use Web hosting services. A web hosting service maintains a large web server computer or a series of servers and provides fee-paying subscribes with space to maintain their Web sites. The subscribing companies may create their own web pages or have the hosting service or a web design firm create them

15. Describe five problems posed by the new information technology (IT) infrastructure.
Answer : The challenge of managing the new information technology infrastructure
• Loss of managing
Managing information system technology and corporate data are proving much more difficult in a distributed environment because of the lack of a single, central point where needed management can occur.
• Connectivity and application Integration
We have already described the connectivity problems created by incompatible networks and standards, including connectivity problems for wireless networks
• Organizational change requirements
Enterprise-wide computing provides an opportunity to reengineer the organization into a more effective unit, but it will only create problems or chaos if the underlying organizational issues are not fully addressed (duchessi and Chengalur-Smith, 1998)

• Hidden costs of Enterprise Computing
Many companies have found that the savings they expected from distributed clients/ server computing did not materialize because of unexpected costs.
• Scability, Relyability, and security
Companies seeking to digitally enable their business require robust IT infractructures providing plentiful bandwidth and storage capacity for transmitting and maintaining all of the data generated by electronic business transactions

16. Describe some solutions to the problems posed by the new IT infrastrucute.
Answer : Organizations can meet the challenges posed by the new IT infrastructure by planning for managing the business and organizational changes; increasing end- user training; asserting data administration disciplines; and considering connectivity, application integration, bandwidth, and cost controls in their technology planning