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Chapter 5 IT Infrastructure and Emerging Technologies 209

enterprise networking environment, including the Internet. Windows Server
is predominantly used as a local area network operating system, followed by
Linux and Unix. Large, enterprise wide area networks use some variant of
Unix. Most local area networks, as well as wide area enterprise networks, use
the TCP/IP protocol suite as a standard (see Chapter 7).
The leading networking hardware providers are Cisco, Alcatel-Lucent, Nortel,
and Juniper Networks. Telecommunications platforms are typically provided
by telecommunications/telephone services companies that offer voice and
data connectivity, wide area networking, wireless services, and Internet access.
Leading telecommunications service vendors include AT&T and Verizon.
This market is exploding with new providers of cellular wireless, high-speed
Internet, and Internet telephone services.

INTERNET PLATFORMS

Internet platforms overlap with, and must relate to, the firm’s general
networking infrastructure and hardware and software platforms. They include
hardware, software, and management services to support a firm’s Web site,
including Web hosting services, routers, and cabling or wireless equipment.
A Web hosting service maintains a large Web server, or series of servers, and
provides fee-paying subscribers with space to maintain their Web sites.
The Internet revolution created a veritable explosion in server computers,
with many firms collecting thousands of small servers to run their Internet
operations. Since then there has been a steady push toward server consolida-
tion, reducing the number of server computers by increasing the size and power
of each and by using software tools that make it possible to run more appli-
cations on a single server. The Internet hardware server market has become
increasingly concentrated in the hands of IBM, Dell, and Sun (Oracle), and HP,
as prices have fallen dramatically.
The major Web software application development tools and suites are sup-
plied by Microsoft (Microsoft Expression Studio and the Microsoft .NET family
of development tools), Oracle-Sun (Sun’s Java is the most widely used tool for
developing interactive Web applications on both the server and client sides),
and a host of independent software developers, including Adobe (Creative
Suite) and Real Networks (media software). Chapter 7 describes the compo-
nents of the firm’s Internet platform in greater detail.

CONSULTING AND SYSTEM INTEGRATION SERVICES

Today, even a large firm does not have the staff, the skills, the budget, or
the necessary experience to deploy and maintain its entire IT infrastruc-
ture. Implementing a new infrastructure requires (as noted in Chapters 3
and 14) significant changes in business processes and procedures, training
and education, and software integration. Leading consulting firms providing
this expertise include Accenture, IBM Global Services, HP, Infosys, and Wipro
Technologies.
Software integration means ensuring the new infrastructure works with
the firm’s older, so-called legacy systems and ensuring the new elements
of the infrastructure work with one another. Legacy systems are gener-
ally older transaction processing systems created for mainframe computers
that continue to be used to avoid the high cost of replacing or redesigning them.
Replacing these systems is cost prohibitive and generally not necessary if these
older systems can be integrated into a contemporary infrastructure.

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