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Chapter 5 IT Infrastructure and Emerging Technologies 205

Standards and Network Effects
Today’s enterprise infrastructure and Internet computing would be impossi-
ble—both now and in the future—without agreements among manufacturers
and widespread consumer acceptance of technology standards. Technology
standards are specifications that establish the compatibility of products and the
ability to communicate in a network (Stango, 2004).
Technology standards unleash powerful economies of scale and result in
price declines as manufacturers focus on the products built to a single standard.
Without these economies of scale, computing of any sort would be far more
expensive than is currently the case. Table 5.1 describes important standards
that have shaped IT infrastructure.
Beginning in the 1990s, corporations started moving toward standard comput-
ing and communications platforms. The Wintel PC with the Windows operating
system and Microsoft Office desktop productivity applications became the standard
desktop and mobile client computing platform. (It now shares the spotlight with
other standards, such as Apple's iOS and Macintosh operating systems and the
Android operating system.) Widespread adoption of Unix-Linux as the enterprise
server operating system of choice made possible the replacement of proprietary
and expensive mainframe infrastructures. In telecommunications, the Ethernet
standard enabled PCs to connect together in small local area networks (LANs; see
Chapter 7), and the TCP/IP standard enabled these LANs to be connected into
firmwide networks, and ultimately, to the Internet.

TABLE 5.1 SOME IMPORTANT STANDARDS IN COMPUTING
STANDARD SIGNIFICANCE
American Standard Code for Information Made it possible for computer machines from different manufacturers to exchange data;
Interchange (ASCII) (1958) later used as the universal language linking input and output devices such as keyboards
and mice to computers. Adopted by the American National Standards Institute in 1963.
Common Business Oriented Language An easy-to-use software language that greatly expanded the ability of programmers to
(COBOL) (1959) write business-related programs and reduced the cost of software. Sponsored by the
Defense Department in 1959.
Unix (1969–1975) A powerful multitasking, multiuser, portable operating system initially developed at Bell
Labs (1969) and later released for use by others (1975). It operates on a wide variety of
computers from different manufacturers. Adopted by Sun, IBM, HP, and others in the 1980s,
it became the most widely used enterprise-level operating system.
Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Suite of communications protocols and a common addressing scheme that enables millions
Protocol (TCP/IP) (1974) of computers to connect together in one giant global network (the Internet). Later, it was
used as the default networking protocol suite for local area networks and intranets.
Developed in the early 1970s for the U.S. Department of Defense.
Ethernet (1973) A network standard for connecting desktop computers into local area networks that
enabled the widespread adoption of client/server computing and local area networks, and
further stimulated the adoption of personal computers.
IBM/Microsoft/Intel Personal Computer The standard Wintel design for personal desktop computing based on standard Intel
(1981) processors and other standard devices, Microsoft DOS, and later Windows software. The
emergence of this standard, low-cost product laid the foundation for a 25-year period of
explosive growth in computing throughout all organizations around the globe. Today, more
than 1 billion PCs power business and government activities every day.
World Wide Web (1989–1993) Standards for storing, retrieving, formatting, and displaying information as a worldwide
web of electronic pages incorporating text, graphics, audio, and video enables creation of a
global repository of billions of Web pages.

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