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Chapter 1 Information Systems in Global Business Today 51

Information Technology
Information technology is one of many tools managers use to cope with change.
Computer hardware is the physical equipment used for input, processing, and
output activities in an information system. It consists of the following: comput-
ers of various sizes and shapes (including mobile handheld devices); various
input, output, and storage devices; and telecommunications devices that link
computers together.
Computer software consists of the detailed, preprogrammed instructions
that control and coordinate the computer hardware components in an informa-
tion system. Chapter 5 describes the contemporary software and hardware
platforms used by firms today in greater detail.
Data management technology consists of the software governing the
organization of data on physical storage media. More detail on data organization
and access methods can be found in Chapter 6.
Networking and telecommunications technology, consisting of both
physical devices and software, links the various pieces of hardware and transfers
data from one physical location to another. Computers and communications
equipment can be connected in networks for sharing voice, data, images, sound,
and video. A network links two or more computers to share data or resources,
such as a printer.
The world’s largest and most widely used network is the Internet. The
Internet is a global “network of networks” that uses universal standards
(described in Chapter 7) to connect millions of different networks with nearly
2.3 billion users in over 230 countries around the world.
The Internet has created a new “universal” technology platform on which to
build new products, services, strategies, and business models. This same
technology platform has internal uses, providing the connectivity to link differ-
ent systems and networks within the firm. Internal corporate networks based
on Internet technology are called intranets. Private intranets extended to
authorized users outside the organization are called extranets, and firms use
such networks to coordinate their activities with other firms for making
purchases, collaborating on design, and other interorganizational work. For
most business firms today, using Internet technology is both a business
necessity and a competitive advantage.
The World Wide Web is a service provided by the Internet that uses univer-
sally accepted standards for storing, retrieving, formatting, and displaying infor-
mation in a page format on the Internet. Web pages contain text, graphics, ani-
mations, sound, and video and are linked to other Web pages. By clicking on
highlighted words or buttons on a Web page, you can link to related pages to find
additional information and links to other locations on the Web. The Web can
serve as the foundation for new kinds of information systems such as UPS’s Web-
based package tracking system described in the following Interactive Session.
All of these technologies, along with the people required to run and man-
age them, represent resources that can be shared throughout the organiza-
tion and constitute the firm’s information technology (IT) infrastruc-
ture. The IT infrastructure provides the foundation, or platform, on which
the firm can build its specific information systems. Each organization must
carefully design and manage its IT infrastructure so that it has the set of
technology services it needs for the work it wants to accomplish with infor-
mation systems. Chapters 5 through 8 of this book examine each major tech-
nology component of information technology infrastructure and show how
they all work together to create the technology platform for the organization.

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