Learning Outcomes:

At the end of the lesson, students should be able to: (a) Define Information Technology (IT). (b) Describe the development of Information Technology (IT). (c) Identify the applications of Information Technology (IT).

1.1 (a) Definition of Information Technology (IT)

1. The information technology definitioncan be described with thetechnological improvement and innovation in the field of information technology. The field of Information technology is a very wide field in which you use the technology together with the computers.

Definition of Information Technology

2. Information technology or IT can be defined briefly as the use of computer hardware and software to store, retrieve, and manipulate information.

manage computer hardware and software information

Definition of Information Technology

3. ITAA (Information Technology Association of America) has defined information technology as being the study, design, development, implementation, support and/or management of any computer based information system

More about IT
- When covering the aspects of information technology as a whole, the use of computer and information are typically associated. - Everything from data management, networking, the Internet, engineering, computer hardware, software design, database design and management and administration of system is included in the term of information technology.

More about IT
- Information technology is also concerned with improvement of human and organizational problem-solving through the design, development and use of technology to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of using information.

Carreers in IT ...

History ...
In the 1960s and

1970s, information technology was limited to people working in the banking sector, mathematical engineers and computer scientists.

In 1980s, the arrival of personal computers

made it possible to be used in many more sectors and gave rise to a surge in the field of information technology. Computer has been used in the home and workplace, the world move into the information age.

By the early 21st century, nearly every

child in the world, knew how to use a personal computer and people have started communicating, using e-mails. It is an industry which deals with the usage of computer hardware , software and networking.

Advantages ...
1. Speed and accuracy in information

processing.

With the help of IT, more work can be done by individuals, business, services and government organizations. Function enhancement programs such as word processor, database programs also graphic can get work done in less time with increased accuracy and efficiency.

2. Global social interaction.

IT has made global social and culture interaction very simple. This is evident with the emergence and success of social networking such as Facebook and Twitter. More so, the use of information technology has eliminated language barriers with technologies such as language traslators.

3. Entertainment
The introduction and use of high tech

applications and gadgets such as iTunes, iPod and iPhone has been revolutionary. Downloading, buying, playing and organizing, music, videos, movies and TV shows has been made super easy and accessible.

4. Communication
the advancement of

the Internet and technologies such as VoIP (Voice over IP), organizations, businesses and individuals can communicate any time from different parts of the world through video and voice calls, web conferencing, seminars and virtual meetings.

5. Economic Advancement A major step to global economic advancement is the removal of distance and time barriers brought about by the application of information technology to buying and selling of goods and services (ecommerce). E-commerce gave room for tiny, small and big business players to emerge. Interconnection of businesses is made painless.

6. Education
Education has gone far

beyond the use of bricks and mortal classrooms or traditional blackboard. The world is now in the era of e-learning, using technologies such as VLEs (Virtual Learning Environments). Students can have access to all teaching materials and resources online; engage in virtual classrooms real time or asynchronously.

7. Health
The health care sector is positively impacted by

the use of electronic health records, virtual healthcare team technologies, telemedicine, ehealth grids and various specialist health care information systems.

1.1 Development of Information Technology 1.2 The Application of Information Technology

1.1 (b) Development of IT

Great technological advances have been made since the days when computers were huge pieces of equipment that were stored in big, air conditioned rooms, getting their information from punch cards.

Rapid changes of Technology

Cloud computing

Distributed

Client-server

Mainframe

Stand-alone

Stand-Alone Computer
What is a stand-alone computer?

A desktop or laptop computer that is used on its own without requiring a connection to a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN). Although it may be connected to a network, it is still a stand-alone computer as long as the network connection is not mandatory for its general use.

Stand-Alone Computer

Stand-Alone Operating System

What is a stand-alone operating system?

A complete operating system that works on a desktop computer, notebook, or mobile computing device. Some are known as client operating system that can operate with/without a network.

Stand-Alone Operating System

Examples of currently used stand-alone operating

systems are: Windows 7 Mac OS X UNIX Linux

Mainframe
A mainframe is a large, expensive, powerful

computer that can handle hundreds or thousands of connected users simultaneously.

Stores tremendous amounts of data, instructions,

and information.
Mostly used by major corporations for business

activities.

Mainframe

IBM System z10 mainframe

Example of mainframe system

Mainframe
Mainframes can also act as servers in a network

environment.
Servers and other mainframes can access data and

information from a mainframe.

People can also access programs on the mainframe

using terminals or personal computers.

Mainframe
Advantages : 1.Lots of processes, memory and channels
Mainframes support symmetric multiprocessing (SMP)

with several dozen central processors (CPU chips) in one system. They are highly scalable. CPUs can be added to a system, and systems can be added in clusters. Built with multiple ports into high-speed caches and main memory, a mainframe can address thousands of gigabytes of RAM. They connect to high-speed disk subsystems that can hold petabytes of data.

Mainframe
Advantages : 2. Enormous throughput
A mainframe provides exceptional throughput by

offloading its input/output processing to a peripheral channel, which is a computer itself. additional processors may act as I/O traffic cops that handle exceptions (channel busy, channel failure, etc.).

Mainframes can support hundreds of channels, and

Mainframe
Advantages : 3. Super reliable
Mainframe operating systems are generally rock solid

because a lot of circuitry is designed to detect and correct errors.

Every subsystem may be continuously monitored for

potential failure, in some cases even triggering a list of parts to be replaced at the next scheduled maintenance. mean time between failure (MTBF) up to 20 years!

As a result, mainframes are incredibly reliable with

Client-Server Network
An architecture in which the user's PC (the client) is the

requesting machine and the server is the supplying machine, both of which are connected via a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN) such as the Internet.
One or more computers act as a server, and the other

computers on the network request services from the server.

Client-Server Network
The Clients
Other computers and mobile devices on the network that rely on the server for its resources

The Server (or host computer)

Controls access to the hardware, software, and other resources on the network and provides a centralized storage area for programs, data, and information. E.g.: Store a database of customers.

E.g.: Access customer database on the server

Client-Server Network

Example of client-server network

Client-Server Network
Advantages...
1. Computer can easily be added or replaced without purchasing any additional hardware or software.
It is because a client server is centralized, server can easily move files and applications from an old computer to a new one

2. Flexible to adapt and to change new technologies because it has a centralized management.

Client-Server Network
Advantages ....
3. Secure because servers ensure that everything that goes in and out of the network passes through stringent security measures.
- Servers can allow certain users to access the network from the internet or externally without compromising the network from hackers and unauthorized users.

Distributed Computing
Refers to the means by which a single computer program runs in more than one computer at the same time. In particular, the different elements and objects of a program are being run or processed using different computer processors. A type of computing in which different components and objects comprising an application can be located on different computers connected to a network.

Distributed Computing
For example, a word processing application might consist of an editor component on one computer, a spell-checker object on a second computer, and a thesaurus on a third computer. In some distributed computing systems, each of the three computers could even be running a different operating system
One of the requirements of distributed computing is a set of standards that specify how objects communicate with one another. There are currently two chief distributed computing standards: CORBA and DCOM.

Distributed Computing
Distinct characteristics of distributed computing: In a distributed computing setup, the program runs like it would in a single computer even when it is, in fact, using different computer processors.
This means that no single computer carries the entire burden on system resources that running a computer program usually implies.

Distributed Computing
Distinct characteristics of distributed computing: However, distributed computing is not actually used to lighten the load of an individual computers processor. It is in fact done to be able to process or run complex and resource-draining programs with greater speed and efficiency.
Distributed computing, in effect, can be deemed as an attempt to produce a virtual supercomputer out of hundreds or thousands of individual computers.

Cloud Computing
An Internet service that provides computing needs to computer users. Using the Web server facilities of a third party provider on the Internet (the "cloud") to store, deploy and run applications.

Cloud Computing
For example, an employee working during the day in Malaysia could use computing power in a Dubai network system located in an office that is closed for the evening. When the company uses the computing resources, they pay a fee based on the amount of computing time and other resources that they consume, much in the way that consumers pay electric company based on how much electricity they used.

Cloud Computing
Types of cloud computing service provider :
1. Software as a Service(SaaS) is the service based on the concept of renting

software from a service provider rather than buying it yourself.

The software is hosted on centralized network

servers to make functionality available over the web or intranet.

Cloud Computing
Types of cloud provider (service provider):
1. Software as a Service(SaaS) Also known as software on demand it is currently

the most popular type of cloud computing because of its high flexibility, great services, enhanced scalability and less maintenance and very effective

in lowering the costs of business.

E.g.: Google Apps., Yahoo Mail

Cloud Computing
Types of cloud provider (service provider): 2. Platform as a Service(PaaS)
offers a development platform to clients for

different purposes.
based on a subscription model so users only pay for

what they use without worrying about the complexity behind the scenes.

Cloud Computing
Types of cloud provider (service provider): 2. Platform as a Service(PaaS)
There are 4 types of PaaS: 1. social application platforms. E.g.: Facebook 2. business application platform. E.g.: CRM solutions 3. raw compute platforms. E.g.: Amazon Elastic

4. web application platforms.

Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) E.g.: Google APIs

Cloud Computing
Types of cloud provider (service provider): 3. Infrastucture as a Service(IaaS)
Provides rental services for hardware, operating

systems, storage and network capacity over the Internet.

Some services included in IaaS are managed

hosting and development environments.

IaaS is based on Pay as you go model ensuring

that the users pay for only what they are using.

Cloud Computing
Types of cloud provider (service provider): 3. Infrastucture as a Service(IaaS)
Some of the benefits of IaaS are dynamic scaling,

usage based pricing, reduced costs and access to superior IT resources.

E.g.: Office 365

Cloud Computing

Cloud (Service) Provider

Cloud Computing
Advantages ...
Reduced cost - users pay only for what they are

using
Easy maintenance - users dont have to worry about

the complexity behind the scenes.

Easy reallocation of resources Remote Accessibility - business is not restricted to a

particular location. You can access the services from anywhere.

Cloud Computing
Advantages ...
Easy Expansion you can quickly access more

resources if you need to expand your business without the need to buy extra infrastructure.
Security - offer real-time backup which results in

less data loss. In case of outage, customers can use the backup servers that sync with the main ones as soon as they are up, clouds are less prone to hacks as people dont know the whereabouts of your data.

Cloud Computing
Advantages ...
Environmentally Friendly - Usage of ready-made

resources tailored to your needs helps you reduce the electricity expenses. While you save on electricity, you also save on resources required to cool off computers and other components. This reduces the emissions dangerous to environment.